Cruise lines in Caribbean scrambling to avoid tropical storm

Cruise lines are shifting schedules for ships already at sea Tuesday morning to avoid Tropical Storm Ernesto.

Ernesto is the first storm this year to pose a direct threat and comes at the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

At least a six cruise ships sailing in the Caribbean were switching schedules.

“The advantage of a cruise vacation is that you can change the ship’s itinerary to avoid bad weather,” said Rena Langley of Disney Cruise Lines.

The storm has made its way through Cuba headed for Florida, but the US National Hurricane Centre said the storm would probably not regain hurricane strength by the time it reaches the US.

Tourism officials in South Florida were preparing to open shelters and put emergency plans in place.

Central Florida was in the possible path of the storm, but tourism officials said it was business as usual.

“No one is changing their plans,” said a spokesman for Universal Orlando.

Some airlines announced cancelled or re-booking policies in the event of a hurricane.

One immediate impact it had was pulling back oil prices almost US$2 a barrel because of its threat to Gulf of Mexico energy production.

Report by David Wilkening in the US