Cruise ships were forced to re-route and hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday as Hurricane Irma strengthened into a Category 5 storm on Tuesday – ruining the plans of many trying to fit in a late-summer Caribbean vacation.
The hurricane is expected to hit the northernmost Leeward Islands tonight, which include the popular vacation destinations of Nevis, Antigua and St. Martin.
Irma will then push on towards Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and eventually south Florida. Visitors to the Florida Keys are now under mandatory evacuation.
The storm has caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled in the region.
About 20,000 passengers on cruise ships are having their vacations rerouted so that they stay out of Hurricane Irma. The Carnival Pride, one of the three largest cruise ships in the world, is among those ships
American Airlines was one of several airlines cancelling normally scheduled flights to the Caribbean.
But they added extra flights on Tuesday to help vacationers escape the islands of St. Kitts and St. Martin before the storm hits.
Many airlines are offering waivers for travel this week, so that vacationers who planned to fly during the storm can re-book their flights without paying extra fees.
Most of the preemptively cancelled flights were in and out of Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory’s largest airport.
The storm has also interrupted plans for about 20,000 people booked on Caribbean cruises this week.
Three of Carnival Cruise Line’s ships were rerouted form the eastern Caribbean to the western Caribbean in light of Irma.
A fourth Carnival ship, the Pride, will visit Charleston, South Carolina, Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas instead of the original itinerary for Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday as Hurricane Irma set its sights on the eastern Caribbean islands
Americans in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are already stocking up on supplies for the hurricane, which is expected to hit between Wednesday and Thursday
The Carnival Pride is one of the three biggest cruise ships in the world and sleeps 5,400.
MSC Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and the Disney Cruise Line have also been impacted.
MSC’s Divina ship was diverted to the western Caribbean from the eastern Caribbean. The Celebrity Equinox is skipping stops in St. Thomas and Tortola to visit Curacao instead and the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream are visiting ports in an altered order.