A video showing a couple on a cruise ship amid Hurricane Erin has gone viral on TikTok.
The video, posted by user @alexandrap42, captures a man standing on an empty deck of the Carnival Venezia, a cruise ship from the Carnival Cruise Line. The man, clad in what appears to be several motion sickness patches behind his ears, peers out over the ocean as waves batter the vessel.
The text overlaid on the clip reads: “When your cruise ship is sailing right through Hurricane Erin.” The post’s caption adds: “The motion sickness patches aren’t enough.” The clip has amassed 1.8 million views since it was shared on August 21.
As worrying as the overlaid caption may have seemed, the poster, who did not share her name, age or location, told Newsweek that the cruise ship she and her boyfriend were on was met by some “rough waves” but “nothing major.”
The couple had embarked on a nine-day cruise from Manhattan in New York, aboard the Carnival Venezia. The original itinerary included stops in St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands, San Juan in Puerto Rico, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. However, Carnival altered the cruise’s route due to Hurricane Erin’s projected path. The new destinations became Nassau in the Bahamas, Celebration Key on Grand Bahama Island, as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands, the poster told Newsweek.
“We were mainly worried the week leading up to the cruise, if it’d be canceled/rerouted north. They sent out an email the day before we departed with very vague details about the possibility of Hurricane Erin changing plans. Then told us the day of about the changes. We’re all safe and in calm waters now,” the poster told Newsweek on Thursday.
The incident occurred during the heart of the hurricane season, which spans June 1 to November 30. According to the National Weather Service, an average of 14 tropical storms form in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of America each year during the hurricane season, with around seven becoming hurricanes. Of those, three hurricanes typically make landfall in the U.S., with one often categorized as “major,” defined by sustained winds of at least 111 miles per hour.
Hurricane Erin intensified rapidly in the Atlantic during the week of August 19 and several cruise lines rerouted their ships away from the hurricane.
Hurricane Erin held its strength as a Category 2 storm on Thursday, with sustained winds of 105 mph, and “life-threatening rip currents and high surf” impacted much of the East Coast through the end of the week,” the NWS warned at the time. The storm eventually weakened to a Category 1 storm and tracked away from the U.S. mainland coast.
Viewers on TikTok were alarmed by the thought of cruising through a hurricane.
“And that’s why I’ll. Never. Cruise. In. Hurricane Season! Never!!” wrote Kristina. Another user, @marianne.e_, added: “Absolutely NOT.”
“I am scared for you,” said user @jacelun.lipscomb4, while @bamban_ha commented: “This is why I will never get on a boat. Not just the hurricane but in general.”
Alyssa Hicks said: “Been there done that. Our cruise ship went through Hurricane Michael. Prayers for safety.”
Newsweek has contacted the Carnival Cruise Line for comment via email.
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