Three Cruise Ships Race Storm Austen, Reaching Southampton a Day or More Early
If you are booked on Arvia, MSC Preziosa or MSC Virtuosa, expect your ship in Southampton on the evening of Thursday, October 22, not the original Friday or Saturday. If you sail on MSC Preziosa on Friday, October 23, be at the City Cruise Terminal by 2 p.m. for the new 6 p.m. departure. The article says no itinerary changes are yet confirmed for the next sailings, including Arvia's 14-night Barbados crossing. Stay in close contact with your cruise line as official confirmations are made.
My read is that these lines are simply getting out of the storm's way. The article says only that the ships adjusted to stay ahead of its worst impact, and it gives no other motive. Moving Virtuosa up from Saturday, October 24, to Thursday evening is a big jump for a ship finishing a 5-night sailing. The Met Office has an Amber wind warning for Friday from 3 to 10 a.m., though its area is Cornwall and Devon, not Southampton itself. The winners are the ships and the guests who avoid the worst of the winds. The losers are Preziosa passengers, who now face a 2 p.m. terminal deadline and a 6 p.m. departure instead of 8 p.m. The ironic twist is that ships arriving a day or two early leaves less margin for the next sailing, and the article says those sailings are not yet confirmed. If I were booked, I would keep my phone on and my bags packed early, and treat the Barbados-bound Arvia sailing as unconfirmed until the line says otherwise.