A Hurricane Crawling at 2 mph Rewrote a Week of Mexico Cruises

Hurricane Simon spent much of mid-October creeping along Mexico’s Pacific coast, and cruise lines had to redraw itineraries around it. By the National Hurricane Center’s Wednesday morning update, the storm had weakened to a Category 1 with 90 mph winds, down from Category 4 over the weekend, but it was moving at only about 2 mph.

Carnival Panorama, on an eight-night Mexican Riviera cruise that left Long Beach on October 10, lost Puerto Vallarta on October 13 and Mazatlán on October 14. Its Cabo San Lucas call slipped from October 12 to October 14 after weather made the water shuttles unsafe, and La Paz was visited on October 13. Ensenada on October 17 was added as a replacement.

Shore excursions at the cancelled ports were refunded automatically to guests’ onboard accounts. Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas also had a sailing cut back to a single port, and other ships were scheduled to reach Cabo later in the week, including Carnival Firenze on October 16 and Discovery Princess and Brilliant Lady on October 19.

The forecast showed the track shifting toward the Baja Peninsula, with life-threatening surf and rip currents expected along parts of west-central Mexico and Baja California Sur, and the storm was expected to weaken to a tropical depression by Monday. Anyone booked on a Mexican Riviera sailing should check the cruise line’s latest itinerary notices, since the slow track meant changes came in stages.

Sources: Cruise Hive, Travel Extra