Carnival Ships Sail away from Tropical Storm Ernesto

Tropical Storm Ernesto, which could become a hurricane later this week, forced Carnival Cruise Lines (www.goccl.com) to announce shifts or time adjustments for certain ships late yesterday and early today.  

UPDATE: Just after noon on Monday, Carnival updated ship schedules, based on the latest weather conditions. Here is what we have at this point:

Carnival Freedom, which departed for a six-night western Caribbean cruise on Sunday from Port Everglades, FL, will essentially operate its normal schedule with only a few time tweaks. The ship will depart Grand Cayman at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Ochos Rios at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Carnival Legend, which departed on a seven-night cruise from Tampa, FL, on Sunday, is at sea as planned today, but will spend a second, unplanned day at sea on Tuesday. The planned port calls at Belize and Roatan have been dropped, given Ernesto’s direct path toward those destinations.
Instead, the ship will call at Montego Bay, Jamaica on Wednesday (a port not previously on the schedule), call at Grand Cayman on Thursday (rather than Friday) and call at Cozumel on Friday (a bit later in the week than scheduled). The ship will then spend a day at sea before returning to Tampa.
Carnival Triumph, which departed from Galveston, TX, on Saturday for a five-night cruise, will essentially sail its normal itinerary. The only adjustment is that it has flipped the port calls for Cozumel (calling there today) and Progreso, Mexico (now set for Tuesday).
Also sailing from Galveston, TX, on Sunday, Carnival Magic will operate its original schedule, with some timing tweaks as needed, according to Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival press spokesman. The line had previously said there might be potential route changes and that it would clarify later today.
In addition, Carnival Dream departed on Saturday for a seven-night cruise from Port Canaveral, FL. It has cancelled planned port calls at Belize, Roatan in Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico. Instead, it will call today at Cozumel and on Tuesday at Progreso, Mexico. The ship will spend a day at sea on Wednesday, and call at Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas, two ports not on the original itinerary, on Thursday and Friday, respectively, before returning to Port Canaveral on Saturday.  
TravelAgentCentral.com also asked Royal Caribbean International (www.cruisingpower.com) about any Ernesto-related adjustments in itineraries. Spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez reports that there are no changes to report at this time. 
Similarly, we asked Disney Cruise Line (www.disneytravelagents.com) for an update but we have not yet heard back from a spokesperson there.
Stay tuned to TravelAgentCentral.com for additional updates as they develop.