Hurricane Helene impacts Port Canaveral: Cruisers stuck at sea because of storm

Coast Guard puts Port Canaveral on storm alert

Hurricane Helene is already impacting cruises out of Port Canaveral. The U.S. Coast Guard has placed the port under alert for heavy rain and wind gusts. This means many cruisers are stuck at sea and others have had their departures delayed.

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - Cruisers are stuck at sea because of deteriorating conditions off the coast of Florida from Hurricane Helene.

Port Canaveral could close as soon as midnight on Wednesday, and large ships aren’t allowed to dock because of the conditions.

FOX 35 News spoke with a passenger on an MSC cruise. She was supposed to dock at Port Canaveral on Thursday, but that’s impossible.

She’s stuck on a cruise ship as the Space Coast braces for high winds on land.

Darlean Sheets shared a photo of several cruise ships currently docked in the Bahamas, and she’s one of the passengers on MSC Seashore.

"It’s going to be some intense gusts and intense waves, so it might be a really bad night on the ship today or tomorrow. We shall see," said the avid cruiser.

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She took note of the rough conditions they could experience when the captain announced on Tuesday that they were stuck at sea because of the hurricane.

"We’ve never had to extend our cruise ever before," said Sheets.

She says the cruise line gave everyone Wi-Fi, so people can try and make alternate travel arrangements when they’re back on land.

"We’re just all taking it one day at a time and waiting to see what happens," she said.

Even with Hurricane Helene hitting the West Coast, Brevard County officials are bracing for impacts.

"This is a massive storm that’s going to blanket the entire state of Florida," said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey during his 1 p.m. hurricane prep briefing at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Wednesday.

The EOC will move to Level 2 on Thursday morning, and high winds are the biggest threat facing the Space Coast.

"We’re still talking about impacts for Brevard, and specifically we’re talking about winds. That’s our big one and increasingly some tornado threats," said Brevard’s EOC Director, John Scott.

At Port Canaveral, the Coast Guard makes the final call when they have to shut everything down. That could happen as soon as Wednesday evening.

The port posted on social media that cruisers are likely to face more delays. Anyone hoping to set sail on Friday or Saturday should contact their cruise line immediately to see if that will still happen.

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