Two additional cruises aboard the Majesty of the Seas were cancelled by Royal Caribbean International on Saturday as Hurricane Irma descends on South Florida.
The ship will now be used for humanitarian efforts, according to the company, including dropping off supplies and transporting evacuees from St. Maarten and St. Thomas. Norwegian Cruise Line is also employing a similar strategy, lending the Norwegian Sky to rescue efforts in St. Thomas.
The Majesty’s Monday departure was cancelled by the company that had chartered the ship, Thirty One Gifts, according to Royal Caribbean.
Later on Saturday, the cruise line made the same move with the ship’s Sept. 15 departure, and will instead opt to use the 2,744-passenger vessel for humanitarian efforts.
On Friday, Carnival Cruise Line also made the decision to cancel the weekend’s departure from Charleston about the Carnival Ecstasy.
The latest cancelled cruises join a host of other canned sailings that include cruises from Carnival, Bahamas Paradise, Disney and MSC, totally some 19 cruises altogether.