Hurricane Melissa - What a Beast!

Hurricane Melissa on Thursday 10/30/25

Shortly after booking this transatlantic cruise from Lisbon to Port Canaveral, this very ship Explorer of the Seas experienced a very scary weather incident resulting in high winds and rogue waves near the Canary Islands.  That sailing was scheduled to go from Barcelona to Miami, but had to divert to Tenerife causing a 3 day delay in their arrival in the United States.  Here is how the incident was covered by CBS News in Miami.

Of course having seen the home videos and personal accounts from several passengers, I had a slight bit of concern about this cruise choice especially since technically it would be during the end of the Atlantic Ocean's hurricane season.  But I also recognized these ships and the navigation systems are designed to prevent a catastrophic disaster at sea.  I didn't give it much more thought for the coming months prior to the cruise.

But just as we were getting ready to fly over to Portugal, there was increasing talk about a storm brewing that could impact our crossing the Atlantic Ocean.  Once our initial time in Spain was complete, it would be time to set sail for Florida.  With 7 sea days ahead, Captain Anton and his crew were already making adjustments to their navigational plans.

Initially leaving Canary Islands, the weekend plan was to head north ahead (or in front) of the hurricane's path, and then sail safely down along the eastern coast of the United States.  But with Hurricane Melissa projected to take an easterly turn back out to sea, it became necessary for the captain to adjust our course, and head due south to get behind the hurricane after she cleared Bermuda.

These are photos of the ship's navigation channel on the in-cabin television channel.  Taken about 12 hours apart on Tuesday 10/28/25, you can see how our direction had shifted southerly by nightfall.

I remember that evening there being a lot of chatter around the ship about the new course being taken.  Lots of folks were speculating.  The next morning cruise director Mark hosted Capt. Anton for his early morning update, allowing the captain to explain how things were looking and the rationale for the dramatic directional shift.

With the new game plan to sail south of Bermuda (rather than the initial plan of going north of there), it would put us safely 400 miles beneath the eye of the storm.  That said, we were forewarned that didn't mean we'd have clear, calm seas.  Capt. Anton was very thorough in explaining that while the safety of the ship and passengers/crew were paramount in his decision making, he also wanted to provide "the most comfortable experience" possible given the size and severity of this storm.  He was clear in saying we were going to have a couple of rough sea days ahead . . . AND WE DID!

The next afternoon, I went out to the pool deck to see how things were outside.  It was very windy and rather chilly.  The water in the swimming pools were sloshing around and out of the pool in large waves.  I was about 4 feet from the edge and got splashed several times over the course of about 30 minutes.  Eventually, the pool crew covered and closed the pool.  Here is the video I took of that happening. 

My husband David was following along via the CruiseMapper app online since I didn't have any internet or means to communicate with him over the 7 sea days.  He took screen shots of what he saw, and of course had lots of questions when I got home.  This is what our overall navigation across the ocean looked like as of Friday 10/31/25 (the day prior to our scheduled arrival in Florida).  You can see when our routing changed.  We made it safely and on time to Port Canaveral.  Everything in between was just an adventure.