Cruise lines plan quick return to Jamaica

[OceanAngel]

Things aren't as bad as some had feared in Jamaica, which received a glancing blow from Hurricane Dean on Sunday, and cruise lines already are planning their return.

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen says the line expects to resume calls on the island next week, "based on the (positive) information that we've received by the port authority of Jamaica."

Royal Caribbean will be the first to test the waters. The line's record-breaking, 3,634-passenger Freedom of the Seas will arrive Wednesday in Jamaica's Montego Bay, as originally scheduled. The massive vessel, too big for many ports, was one of the only major ships scheduled to sail in the Western Caribbean this week that didn't switch course for alternative ports in the Eastern Caribbean as the storm approached.

The Freedom will continue on to the Cayman Islands on Thursday, as scheduled, as will another Royal Caribbean ship, Rhapsody of the Seas. The early word is that the Caymans also missed the brunt of Hurricane Dean's force as the storm passed 100 miles to the south of the islands on Monday. The Associated Press reports winds on the island never topped 60 miles per hour.

Carnival's Gulliksen says the line has been talking to the local authorities in the Caymans about returning as early as later this week, but is "awaiting final confirmation."

The big question now for cruisers is the fate of Cozumel and other ports along Mexico's Yucatan coast. Hurricane Dean roared ashore early this morning near the city of Chetumal, about 175 miles south of Cozumel. The storm packed winds of 168 miles per hour at the time its eye hit land, making it one of the most brutal storms of the past half century. It is the first Category 5 storm to hit Mexico in nearly two decades, and officials say hurricane force winds extended up to 60 miles from the eye, with tropical force winds covering an area up to 175 miles outwards (complete USA TODAY coverage here).

http://blogs.usatoday.com/cruiselog/2007/0...e-lines-pl.html

[hazelson]

They need that business - good to see that Jamaica didn't get hit as badly as it looked.