Carnival reroutes ships in Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean due to tropical storms

Three Carnival Cruise Line ships leaving from Miami, Galveston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana, have been rerouted to avoid two tropical storms.

Tropical Storm Bret formed Monday afternoon near the coast of South America and by Tuesday afternoon had dissipated into a tropical wave. The remnants of the storm continued to move northwest.

As a result, Doral-based Carnival Cruise Line is skipping a stop at Curacao scheduled for Wednesday aboard the 3,934-passenger Carnival Vista. The ship left Miami Saturday on an eight-day cruise and is expected back Sunday.

Meanwhile in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday afternoon about 265 miles from the southeast coast of Louisiana, threatening to dump heavy rains on the Gulf coast and the Florida Panhandle.

Carnival tweaked itineraries for two ships in the region, the 2,980-passenger Carnival Valor and the 2,754-passenger Carnival Triumph, to avoid the storm.

The Valor, which was on the third day of a five-day cruise to Mexico from Galveston, was rerouted from a stop in Cozumel, on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula south of Cancun, to Progreso, on the peninsula's north western coast.

The Triumph, also on a five-day sailing, from New Orleans to Mexico, spent the day at sea Tuesday. The ship will sail to Progreso instead of Cozumel Wednesday. The Triumph plans to stop in Cozumel Thursday.

Jennifer De La Cruz, a spokeswoman for Doral-based Carnival, said the line is "closely monitoring" Cindy and Tropical Storm Bret in the Caribbean and will make further changes if necessary.

Miami-based lines Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line have not yet made any itinerary changes due to the storms.

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Carnival reroutes ships in Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean due to tropical storms."