By Daniel Kline, TheStreet, 2024-10-07
While Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer's core job is helping the cruise line make decisions for its ships, he also has a greater responsibility to humanity. Meteorologists may not be doctors but in a time of dangerous storms, they do have a duty to keep people safe.
And, at some point, while people don't want to see their cruise canceled or miss it due to travel problems, protecting human life becomes the bigger issue.
Related: Carnival and Royal Caribbean share Hurricane Milton updates
That's why Setzer used his X, the former Twitter, page, on the morning of Oct. 7 to urge people in the path of the storm to make safe choices while they still can.
"Peak storm surge forecast for Milton as Storm Surge Watches issued for a large portion of the Florida west coast including Tampa Bay. 8-12 feet is higher than the recent very high values in and around Tampa Bay. Rule 1 with hurricane prep, flee the water, hide from the wind," he wrote. "The color coding of storm surge map corresponds to heights. To help illustrate this, NHC has a storm surge pole near their front door. A few years ago I got a picture there with it."
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Image source� Craig Setzer
Port Tampa will be hit the hardest
Setzer urged people in the path of the storm to be proactive when it comes making sure they stay safe.
"As I often say, your hurricane plan should be based on a timeline. And you should have all outdoor activities completed before the onset of tropical storm conditions. For the west coast of Florida, this means by sunrise Wednesday. But because it's often hazardous to work in darkness, try to have everything wrapped up by sunset Tuesday," he wrote.
Port Tampa Bay, which serves as a home port for RCL, CCL, NCLH, CELEB, and BALY, has issued its own guidance.
"At 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, the U.S. Coast Guard set Port Condition X-RAY, meaning the possibility of gale force winds could impact our maritime operations within 48 hours. Inbound and outbound vessel traffic to our port remains open and landside operations will continue as long as safely possible," it posted on its website.
Port officials made it clear that Hurricane Milton will impact multiple cruises.
"The storm will impact our cruise schedule for Port Tampa Bay. If you have any questions about a specific sailing, we recommend you contact your cruise line directly as all changes to itineraries will be communicated by your cruise line. The customer service lines for cruise lines sailing from Port Tampa Bay this week are:"
- Carnival Cruise Line: 1-800-764-7419
- Margaritaville at Sea: 1-800-814-7100
- Royal Caribbean International: 1-800-256-6649
MAS has already moved Islander's sailing up a day to Oct. 7 so it can be out at sea when the storm hits.
Royal Caribbean makes port changes
Royal Caribbean has been sending emails to passengers and travel agents about ship-specific itinerary changes. Here's the email that went out to people sailing on Utopia of the Seas out of Port Canaveral leaving Monday, Oct. 7.
Dear Guest,
Along with our Chief Meteorologist, Craig Setzer, we're closely monitoring Tropical Storm Milton, expected to become a powerful hurricane as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, reaching the west coast of Florida on Wednesday. In order to safely avoid the storm, and its widespread impacts, along with the Captain, we've decided to swap the days we'll visit Nassau, Bahamas and Perfect Day at CocoCay.
We're terribly sorry for the last-minute change caused by the weather – your safety is our top priority. Please know, being onboard is one of the safest places because our ship can quickly move out of the way of any inclement weather. Feel free to use this information for insurance purposes.
That's a pretty minor change and Royal Caribbean has not commented on sailings arriving and leaving from Florida ports beyond similar letters.
Unfortunately, that's because the cruise line does not have the needed information to make the needed decisions. Storm paths can change and many of Royal Caribbean's choices will be dictated by port closures.
ALSO READ: Top travel agents share how to get the best price on your cruise
As of Monday, Oct. 7 at 9 a.m., all of Florida's airports remained open.
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