Hurricane Bill hits travel plans

August 20th, 2009 - 6:24 pm ICT by IBNS  

Hurricane Bill Aug 20 (IBNS) Hurricane Bill, the first Atlantic Hurricane of the 2009 season, has taken a toll on travel plans.

Bill has reached Category 4 strength, and two cruise lines have so far modified their itineraries to keep their ships out of harm’s way, reports USA Today.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued a hurricane advisory for the storm, saying it could strengthen over the next 24 hours. Bill currently has wind speeds of 135 miles per hour as it churns through the Atlantic 460 miles east of the Leeward Islands.

The Carnival Glory, on a seven-day cruise from Port Canaveral that left Aug. 15, will stay at sea instead of calling on St. Maarten, will visit Grand Turk instead of spending the day at sea, and will return to Port Canaveral on Saturday as planned.

Norwegian Cruise Line said that Norwegian Dawn and the Norwegian Majesty would most likely leave Bermuda early, but that so far no changes have been made to this weekend’s Bermuda cruises.

The NHC said that the storm would cause large swells in the islands of the Northeast Caribbean during the next day or two, and would then affect Bermuda and parts of the east coast of the United States as it heads north on Friday and Saturday.

JetBlue Airways also said that it will waive ticket-change fees and fare differences to let customers booked for flights to or from Bermuda to postpone their trip due to the approach of Hurricane Bill.

JetBlue operates daily flights to Bermuda from Boston and New York.

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