Hurricane Irma: Royal Caribbean uses its own cruise ship to evacuate employees
HURRICANE IRMA has caused devastation through the Caribbean islands this week, and a Royal Caribbean cruise ship forced to cancel a trip this weekend is instead evacuating employees and their family.
Florida governor brands Hurricane Irma 'life threatening'
The Category 5 hurricane howled past Puerto Rico on Wednesday after hitting several smaller islands and its now on a collision course with Florida.
But to evacuate employees onboard stationary ships in hurricane-churned waters, Royal Caribbean is using one of its own ships to evacuate them.
Its 2,500 passenger Miami-based Enchantment of the Seas boat has set off to calmer waters the the company’s employees and families aboard.
The ship was scheduled to sail on Friday for a weekend cruise but was cancelled because of the storm.
Hurricane Irma: a Royal Caribbean cruise ship is being used to evacuate employees
We offered our employees and their family the option of evacuating on the ship.
The boat being used for the evacuation became available after the hurricane forced the cancellation of a scheduled cruise to the Bahamas.
“That sailing was cancelled. So we offered our employees and their family the option of evacuating on the ship,” a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman told CNNMoney.
The ship departed yesterday at noon to seek out calmer seas.
It will then return when the Port of Miami has reopened.
Hurricane Irma: Enchantment of the Seas left the Port of Miami on Friday
Where the ship headed has not been confirmed.
Hurricane Irma could reach South Florida on Sunday morning.
Carnival Magic was due to arrive at the bay on Wednesday September 6 with 3,690 passengers, but the stop has been cancelled.
.@RoyalCaribbean Enchantment of the Seas leaving #Miami - taking employees + fam out to safer waters before #Irma hits. pic.twitter.com/mgT9j3qDAa
— Erica Hill (@EricaRHill) September 8, 2017
So has Carnival Splendor's stopover, which was due on Thursday with 3,002 passengers.
Earlier this week Carnival and two other major cruise lines cancelled some of the planned destinations on their itineraries due to Hurricane Irma.
Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas and MSC Divina have been affected, changing from an Eastern Caribbean trip to a Western Caribbean one.
Four of Carnival Cruise Line’s ships including Carnival Glory have been affected.