The second named tropical storm of the 2014 hurricane season has formed as TS Bertha currently has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and is located to the south of Puerto Rico and west of the Virgin Islands. The storm is moving WNW at 22 mph.
Tropical Storm Bertha is expected to move north over the western part of Puerto Rico and the eastern part of the Dominican Republic before crossing over the Bahamas late Sunday and early Monday. The storm is then forecasted to move north bypassing Bermuda and is expected to become a hurricane by midweek.
Tropical storms become hurricanes when maximum sustained winds exceed 74 mph.
So far, a few cruise itineraries have been altered due to TS Bertha. It is not uncommon for cruise lines to make changes to itineraries so their ships can bypass storms for the safety and comfort of their passengers and crew members.
The Carnival Breeze will sail a reverse itinerary and will now have a sea day on Monday, and then stop in Aruba, La Romana, and finish the cruise with a stop in Grand Turk.
The Carnival Liberty will be canceling a stop in Grand Turk on Sunday and the stop will be replaced with a stop in Nassau, Bahamas on Friday. The stops in San Juan, St. Thomas, and St Maarten will also have modified times.
Cruise lines do everything they can to not cancel a cruise due to a tropical storm or hurricane. This means that a cruise that was scheduled to go to the Eastern Caribbean might sail to the Western Caribbean instead.
For the latest information on Tropical Storm Bertha, visit the National Hurricane Center.
Cruise Fever will continue to monitor the storm and will have all updates from Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, Princess, Disney, Celebrity, and any other cruise line if changes to cruises are made.
