Royal Caribbean shares an urgent Hurricane Milton warning

While Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist Craig Setzer’s primary job is to help the cruise line make decisions for its ships, he also has a larger responsibility to humanity. Meteorologists may not be doctors, but during a time of dangerous storms, they 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 issues, protecting human life becomes the bigger issue.

Related: Carnival and Royal Caribbean offer updates on Hurricane Milton

That’s why Setzer took to X, his former Twitter account, on the morning of Oct. 7 to urge people in the path of the storm to make safe choices while they still can.

“Maximum storm surge forecast for Milton as Surge Watches issued for much of Florida’s west coast, including Tampa Bay. water, hide from the wind,” he wrote. “The color coding of the storm surge map corresponds to the heights. To illustrate this, the NHC has a storm surge pole by their front door. A few years ago I got a picture there of him.”

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Setzer dramatically illustrates just how big the storm surge will be.

Image source: Craig Setzer

Port Tampa will be the hardest hit

Setzer urged people in the path of the storm to be proactive when it comes to 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 tropical storm conditions occur. For Florida’s west coast, that means Wednesday through sunrise. But because it’s often dangerous to work in the dark, try to have everything packed by Tuesday evening,” he wrote.

Port Tampa Bay, which serves as home port for Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises and Margaritaville at Sea, has issued its own guidance.

“As of 2:00 p.m., Sunday, October 6, the US Coast Guard has established Port Status X-RAY, meaning the possibility of hurricane-force winds could affect our marine operations within 48 hours. Inbound and outbound vessel traffic to our port remains open and onshore operations will continue for as long as safely possible,” it posted on its website.

Port officials said Hurricane Milton will affect more cruise lines.

“The storm will affect our cruise schedule for Port Tampa Bay. If you have any questions about a particular sailing, we recommend that you contact the cruise line directly, as all changes to itineraries will be communicated by your cruise line. Cruise Lines Customer Service Lines sailing from Port Tampa Bay this week are:”

• Carnival Cruise Line: 1-800-764-7419
• Margaritaville by the Sea: 1-800-814-7100
• Royal Caribbean International: 1-800-256-6649

MAS has already moved the Islander’s sailing by a day to October 7 so it can be offshore when the storm hits.

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Royal Caribbean makes port changes

Royal Caribbean has sent emails to passengers and travel agents regarding ship-specific itinerary changes. Here is the email sent to people sailing on the Utopia of the Seas from Port Canaveral, departing Monday, October 7th.

dear guest,

Along with our chief meteorologist, Craig Setzer, we are closely monitoring Tropical Storm Milton, which is forecast to become a strong hurricane as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday. To safely avoid the storm and its widespread impact, the Captain and I decided to switch the days we would visit Nassau, Bahamas and Perfect Day at CocoCay.

We are terribly sorry for the last minute change due to the weather – your safety is our top priority. Please know, being on board is one of the safest places to be as our ship can quickly move out of the way of bad weather. Feel free to use this information for insurance purposes.

This is a fairly minor change and Royal Caribbean has not commented on voyages arriving and departing from Florida ports beyond similar letters.

Unfortunately, this is because the cruise line does not have the necessary information to make the necessary decisions. Storm paths can change and many of Royal Caribbean’s choices will be dictated by port closures.

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As of Monday, October 7, at 9 a.m., all Florida airports remained open.

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