Carnival Cruise Lines and Disney Cruise Line are changing some of their itineraries to avoid Tropical Storm Ernesto as it moves through the Western Caribbean this week.
The Disney Fantasy, which left from Port Canaveral on Saturday, sailed an Eastern Caribbean itinerary instead of a Western Caribbean one as originally planned. It will call in St. Maarten and St. Thomas on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, and at Disney’s Castaway Cay on Friday.
The Carnival Freedom, sailing a six-day cruise out of Fort Lauderdale, will be at sea today and call in Key West on Tuesday, Ocho Rios on Wednesday and Grand Cayman on Thursday. It will be at sea on Friday before returning to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. The Freedom is calling on all ports as originally scheduled but changing the order.
The Carnival Legend, sailing a seven-day cruise from Tampa, will be at sea today and Tuesday and then will call at Montego Bay on Wednesday, Grand Cayman on Thursday and Cozumel on Friday.
It will be at sea on Saturday and return to Tampa Sunday. The change means it is spending one more day at sea. Montego Bay is a new stop; Carnival dropped Belize and Roatan from the itinerary.
The Carnival Magic, departing for a seven-day cruise out of Galveston, dropped Montego Bay and Grand Cayman from the itinerary.
It kept Cozumel on the itinerary, calling there on Tuesday, and added Nassau for Wednesday and will be at sea on other days. But that may change; it could drop Cozumel and call in Nassau on Wednesday and Freeport on Thursday, spending the other days at sea.
The Carnival Triumph, doing a five-day cruise out of Galveston, will switch the order of its ports of call, doing Cozumel today and Progreso on Tuesday.
Tropical Storm Ernesto slowed Monday and was predicted to pass by the north coast of Honduras later that evening, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm could intensify into a Category 1 hurricane before moving ashore over the Belize-Honduras border by midweek.
Jamaica had heavy rains over the weekend and the Cayman Islands remained under a tropical storm watch on Monday.
Mexico issued a hurricane watch for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.