Hurricane Irma!

In eight weeks we are leaving for Fort Lauderdale to board the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas!  It's our 50th wedding anniversary and we've planned our family holiday for two years.  Our ports of call are St. Maarten, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Labadee a small island in the Bahamas.  It's reported St. Maarten has been devastated and the hurricane is en route to San Juan!  I worry about these islands as their livelihood depends on tourism.  Hurricane David devastated St. Croix back in 1979 and in 2005 Hurricane Wilma devastated Cancun.  The port was severely damaged and had to be rebuilt.  We sailed into Cancun shortly after the pier was replaced.  It took months.  I hope the piers in the path of Irma are saved so they can continue to accept cruises.  

It's been interesting to see what the cruise lines are doing with the ships whose home port is Florida.  NCL was the first to cancel cruises then Disney did the same thing.  Royal Caribbean have cancelled two cruises but they are moving their three mega ships into safe waters and letting the people who are sailing this week stay on until the hurricane has moved away from Florida.  People scheduled to board this weekend are being offered a shortened cruise when it's safe to return to Fort Lauderdale.  NCL and Oceania are closing their Florida offices. Royal Caribbean/Celebrity hasn't made an announcement but they are very close to the Port of Miami.

I follow James Van Fleet, Meteorologist for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines on Twitter.  He is doing an incredible job answering tweets from passengers on various ships.  He just posted the eye of Hurricane Irma passed directly over St. Maarten!  He was hired after one of the ships sailed into 30 ft waves. People were hurt and the ship sustained damage off the US east coast.  They are the first cruise line to hire a professional weather person!  He is sure doing a great PR job for RCCL on Twitter.  @JamesVanFleet

Let's hope the center turns away from Florida and the people in the South are spared from this storm!