Hurricane Rina scattering cruise ships

By Jamey Bergman and Ashley Kosciolek, Cruise Critic

Rina, the 17th named storm of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season, is currently a Category Two hurricane but is steadily gaining strength.

According to the National Hurricane Center's latest advisory, Rina is located about 280 miles east-southeast of Chetumal, Mexico, and currently has maximum sustained winds of about 105 miles per hour. The storm is moving toward the west-northwest at 3 m.p.h. (Click the image to see a larger version of the forecast path.)

Related: Hurricane Rina gaining strength on path to Cancun

At the moment, the storm is on a collision course with the popular Mexican ports of Costa Maya and Cozumel.

Cruise ship itinerary changes
At present, Carnival Cruise Lines is reporting the majority of the itinerary changes, with one additional change from Celebrity Cruise Lines:

Carnival Inspiration, on a five-night cruise from Tampa, is visiting Progresso on Tuesday instead of Cozumel.

Carnival Freedom, on an eight-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale, will call on Montego Bay on Wednesday instead of Limon, and it will stay at sea on Thursday, foregoing a call on Colon. A stop at Grand Turk on Friday will replace an originally scheduled sea day.

Carnival Destiny, on a five-night cruise from Miami, will forego a visit to Grand Cayman Tuesday in exchange for a sea day, and a sea day scheduled for Wednesday will be replaced with a call on Nassau.

Carnival Liberty, on a seven-night cruise from Miami, will substitute Ocho Rios in place of Grand Cayman on Wednesday and call on Grand Turk on Thursday instead of Ocho Rios.

Carnival Legend, on a seven-night cruise from Tampa, will switch its calls on Belize and Cozumel, visiting the former on Tuesday and the latter on Wednesday. It will also call on Progreso on Thursday instead of Roatan and swap Friday's planned Grand Cayman visit with a sea day.

Carnival Valor, on a seven-night cruise from Miami, will forego Belize on Wednesday for a sea day. The ship will also call on Grand Cayman on Thursday instead of spending the day at sea.

Carnival Triumph, on a five-night cruise from Galveston, is replacing Progreso with Cozumel on Wednesday and Cozumel with Progreso on Thursday.

Carnival Imagination, on a four-day cruise from Miami, is scrapping Cozumel for a sea day on Wednesday and replacing a sea day on Thursday with a visit to Nassau.

Instead of calling on George Town, Grand Cayman, today and spending tomorrow, Wednesday, October 26 at sea, Celebrity Millenium will spend today at sea and call on Nassau, Bahamas, tomorrow.

Weather outlook: Next affected ships and ports
Rina is currently a Category Two hurricane, but additional strengthening is expected and it could become a major hurricane by Tuesday evening. A hurricane warning is now in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun. Hurricane-force winds are expected to reach the coast by early Thursday, with eight to 16 inches of rain predicted to impact the eastern Yucatan.

New updates are released by the NHC every three hours, and we'll keep you in the loop as new information becomes available.

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Source: http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/25/8483900-hurricane-rina-scattering-cruise-ships

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