Passengers on a cruise sailing through the Gulf of Mexico experienced firsthand the force of Hurricane Milton as they faced the fierce winds of the cyclone before it reached the west coast of Florida.
The cruise ship Harmony of the Seas, from Royal Caribbean, set sail from Galveston, Texas, last Saturday, on a voyage that was scheduled to take it to Roatán, Honduras, and Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico.
But Milton prevented that from being possible. For safety reasons due to the advance of the powerful storm, the crew canceled the first two stops and several of the entertainment options within the ship's facilities, CNN reported.
A video recorded this Tuesday by one of the passengers of the Harmony of the Seas and shared on social media documented the intensity of the winds from Milton and the accompanying swells.
From one of the deck corridors, with balconies protected by acrylic sheets, several travelers can be seen buffeted by the wind as they struggle to hold on and maintain their balance. Outside, the sea is very rough and the waves are enormous, imposing.
Theresa Perrin, who captured the images, commented that the boat had no problems, but the trip had been very bumpy and felt "like you were walking completely drunk."
Perrin confessed that this has been one of the toughest travel experiences he has ever had.
He explained that, in addition to suspending stops in Roatán and Costa Maya, the pools, jacuzzis, and many entertainment shows were canceled.
“It’s not very fun not being able to go to our ports of call and being stuck on a ship without open pools and not enough entertainment due to the weather conditions,” Perrin admitted.
The woman stated that she feels bad for those who are traveling on a cruise for the first time and said that she is "sure this will make them not want to go on another cruise."
As it moves through the Gulf of Mexico and approaches the coasts of Florida, Milton has dropped more than once from category 5 to category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale (with a maximum of 5); and according to the latest bulletin from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), on the afternoon of this Wednesday, it decreased to category 3, with sustained winds of 200 km/h, making it still a powerful hurricane.
Milton is expected to land late Wednesday or early Thursday morning.
Thousands of residents on the west coast of Florida have evacuated their homes in search of shelter due to the imminent arrival of the cyclone, which has caused chaos on the state's roads.
Authorities have repeatedly warned about the danger of this tropical cyclone. The Tampa police said on Wednesday that, although evacuation is the recommended measure, those who decide not to do so should write their name and date of birth on their arm as a precaution.
"To those who do not evacuate voluntarily, I recommend that you take a photo, take a photo of your clothes, so that you can be identified when the storm passes, which will be deadly," was the stark exhortation from Rose Angelakopoulos, a Tampa police officer.
The day before, the mayor of that city, Jane Castor, issued a stark warning to her residents: “Helene was a wake-up call. This is literally catastrophic. I can say without dramatizing at all that if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
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