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bspin Is your Florida flight or cruise affected by Helene? A major airport will shut down
Hurricane Helene is affecting some Florida travel.
Tampa International Airport will suspend all commercial and cargo flights starting at 2 a.m. Thursday and remain closed until it can assess any damage from the storm. The Tampa airport expects to reopen on Friday after conducting a damage assessment.
In the Orlando area, theme parks are closely watching the storm for changes to their schedules.
The National Hurricane Center’s latest forecast has the system entering the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and strengthening into a Category 3 hurricane. It is expected to make landfall in the Big Bend region Thursday evening and also affect Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Miami-Dade and Broward were put under a tropical storm warning on Wednesday and can see rain bands through Thursday and into Friday.
Two Miami-based cruise lines have changed itineraries. Royal Caribbean changed five cruises, moving them out of the storm’s path. and Carnival changed at least two sailings.
MORE: Most of Florida blanketed with storm warnings ahead of Cat 3 strike from Helene
Here’s what is happening so far with travel to and from Florida:
Theme parksUniversal: Volcano Bay in Orlando will close Thursday, Sept. 26 due to Helene, the company said. It anticipates reopening the water park for normal hours on Friday, Sept. 27. The main theme parks and the rest of the resort including hotels will stay open. But Universal said it will continue to monitor conditions.
Disney: Typhoon Lagoon water park and miniature golf courses will close on Thursday, Sept. 26. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is also canceled that day. The major theme parks will stay open, including the Magic Kingdom, which will extend its hours until 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26.
AirportsFlorida’s largest airports are staying alert for potential impact:
Tampa: Ahead of announcing it would close early Thursday, the airport was open Wednesday with normal operations, and a job fair went on as scheduled, said Emily Nipps, director of communications. As of Wednesday morning, as evacuation orders in parts of Hillsborough County were issued, the airport had one cancellation and 17 delays.
Jacksonville: The airport is open. “Operations are normal at JAX,” said Greg Willis, an airport spokesman. “We have not had a notable amount of flight cancellations at this time.”
Orlando: Orlando International Airport was also fully open on Wednesday and had few delays.
Miami: Miami International Airport had 396 flights — departures and arrivals — as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, and 23 of them, or 6%, were delayed or canceled due to Hurricane Helene, said Greg Chin, communications director for Miami-Dade Aviation Department. On Tuesday, only flights to and from Grand Cayman were canceled due to the storm, Chin said.
How can you check your flight status?Miami International Airport has two online trackers you can use.
One of the flight trackers shows a list of all expected arrivals and departures with options to use a drop-down menu to narrow results. It displays the carrier, flight number and where the plane is going to or coming from. It also gives real-time updates on the flight’s arrival or departure status, which concourse the terminal is in and the location of baggage claim.
The other online tool lets you track by flight or route. If you know the carrier, the date and the flight number, this tool might be easier to use because it will only show information for your flight.
FLL’s flight tracker works by flight or route. You’ll need to know the date, along with the airline carrier and flight number or the departure and arrival airport. The tool also gives people the option to see a list of all expected arrivals and departures and details on the flight’s terminal and baggage claim, too.
Tampa International Airport — and Orlando International Airport — both have similar online trackers on their websites.
You can also check your flight status with the airline directly, which might be easier to do through the airline’s app. But you can also check via the airline’s website.
SeaportsFlorida’s ports are preparing for the storm:
Tampa: Port Tampa Bay issued an advisory on Sept. 25, saying that the U.S. Coast Guard expects the possibility of gale force winds that could affect maritime operations within 24 hours. The port said “the storm will cause an impact to our cruise schedule” and advised travelers to call their cruise companies for updates. The port said that “port waterways are preparing to close” while its landside operations would stay open. Carnival said under the current scenario, the Port Tampa Bay has already advised that their current cruise schedule for the next several days will be affected.
Space Coast: Port Canaveral remains open as usual, but but “anticipates possible limited waterside and vessel shore side port operations will follow as conditions change,” according to a statement from Steven Linden, communications and public affairs director for the port.
Cruises
Several ports of call have been changed:
Royal Caribbean: Cruise line changed five cruises sailing in the Western Caribbean, said Nathaniel Derrenbacher, manager of corporate communications for the carrier.
▪ Independence of the Seas’ 9/21 sailing that left PortMiami: Cozumel, Mexico, replaced with Nassau, Bahamas.
▪ Grandeur of the Seas’ 9/23 sailing: Cozumel, Mexico and Costa Maya, Mexico replaced with Nassau, Bahamas and Freeport, Bahamas.
▪ Serenade of the Seas’ 9/22 sailing: Cozumel, Mexico, and Costa Maya, Mexico, replaced with Freeport, Bahamas, and Nassau, Bahamas.
▪ Wonder of the Seas’ 9/22 sailing: Cozumel, Mexico, Roatan, Honduras, and Costa Maya, Mexico, replaced with St. Thomas and St. Maarten.
▪ Mariner of the Seas’ 9/21 sailing: Cozumel, Mexico replaced with a day at sea.
Carnival: Cruise line altered these itineraries to sail away from the storm’s projected path, said spokesman Matt Lupoli.
▪ Carnival Paradise: Cozumel on Sept. 24 canceled and replaced by Costa Maya.
▪ Carnival Valor: Cozumel on Sept. 24 canceled.
▪ Carnival Breeze and Carnival Horizon: Trips are being monitored for potential changes, Lupoli said.
MSC Cruises: One trip is affected.
▪ MSC Seascape: The cruise, which departed PortMiami on Sept. 21, was supposed to stop in Falmouth, Georgetown and Cozumel. Passengers who had shore excursions booked in one of those places have been refunded, said Sidney Sterling, director of media relations for the carrier. The ship decided to replace those calls of port with Grand Turk, Puerto Plata and Nassau.
Norwegian Cruise Lines: The company says it has no ships sailing in the area affected by Helene.
This story was originally published September 25bspin, 2024, 6:46 AM.