Storm disrupts Caribbean cruises

It has not even achieved hurricane status, but Tropical Storm Isaac is bringing chaos to the Caribbean and causing widespread disruption to cruise schedules.
Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the island of Cuba have all been hit by flooding and now Florida is bracing itself for the arrival of heavy weather. On the east coast the ports of Miami and Port Everglades have been closed, as has Tampa on the Gulf coast. They are not expected to re-open before Monday at the earliest.
Allure of the Seas, the biggest cruise ship in the world, should have been turning round in Fort Lauderdale today but will not return to port until Tuesday. The ship had already changed its itinerary from the eastern Caribbean – visiting St Thomas and St Maarten – to Jamaica and Cozumel in the west.
The cruise has now been extended by two days, and next week’s scheduled voyage will be cut short by two days, missing out the Royal Caribbean private resort at Labadee, on the north coast of Haiti, and Falmouth, Jamaica.
A company statement said the changes had been brought about to “ensure guests enjoy safe and comfortable cruises, and to make certain our ships steer clear of the storm.”
Other ships affected by the storm include six operated by Carnival – Valor, Liberty, Dream, Ecstasy, Imagination and Destiny – Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Gem, and Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas. Some changed the order of ports to be visited, others abandoned calls where passengers would have been taken ashore by tender.
Isaac, the ninth named storm of the 2012 hurricane season, is also affecting flights into and out of Florida, and the opening of the Republican Party’s national convention in Tampa has been pushed back from Monday to Tuesday.