HedwigTramp wrote:flamingosun wrote:A number of cruise ships returned to their home port earlier than scheduled, disembarked their passengers, and are now taking their crews and vessels to safer waters.
The safest place for a ship during a hurricane is at sea. Those ships will just cruise in circles till the storm is over. There were several ships within 270-300 miles of Irma when she battered the St Thomas area.
area.
The bigger question is: where will they return to if the Florida ports are heavily damaged.
Gulf swells animation map
http://magicseaweed.com/Gulf-of-Mexico- ... type=swell
I absolutely agree that at sea is safest. Have done that more than once. This time, we didn't luck out and are stuck on land.
The coast guard will not allow marine traffic in until the ports are declared safe. I believe the Corps of Engineers are involved in the inspections.
Ships will go to alternate ports until they can dock again at their home ports. Just have to hope that most of the FL ports remain undamaged. Otherwise, they'll have to use various out of state ones. Could do some serious damage to a critical part of state's tourist industry.
Hurricane Jeanne shoaled up channel entrance for Port Canaveral. We were at sea at the time, and had to disembark at Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades) after
they got the all clear. Ships home ported at Canaveral had to temporarily sail into and out of alternate ports for weeks (don't remember how many offhand) until Canaveral re dredging was done.