After Hurricane Dorian, Royal Caribbean plans to send cruises full of supplies to Bahamas

Sep. 4--Hurricane Dorian's path of destruction over the Bahamas earlier this week is prompting the cruise lines that rely heavily on Bahamian ports to step in with ships full of aid.

Royal Caribbean International announced Tuesday that it planned to stock its ships with goods, including generators, water, cleaning supplies, sheets and towels, for delivery to the Bahamas. The cruise line has not yet said when the supplies will be heading out or how much it's sending to the Bahamas, but after prior storms the line has used ships on rerouted or cancelled sailings to carry aid to the Caribbean.

After Hurricane Maria in 2017, the cruise line used its vessels to carry thousands of Puerto Rican hurricane victims and evacuees from St. Croix and St. Thomas to South Florida, as well as 900,000 cases of supplies to the battered islands.

Royal Caribbean is also donating $1 million to disaster relief and collaborating with the Bahamian government, non-profit the Pan American Development Foundation and Bahamian charities to distribute donations. The company will match every donation to the development foundation, up to $500,000, for the Bahamas.

Royal, like other major cruise lines, has a private island in the Bahamas and hundreds of employees who work at its destination ports in Freeport and Nassau.

And more help is likely on the way.

The Walt Disney Company, parent company to Disney Cruise Line, has also pledged to donate $1 million in cash and in-kind support to the Bahamas. The company will send donations to non-profit relief agencies undertaking relief efforts and providing supplies to residents in affected regions.

Carnival Corporation CEO, Arnold Donald, said the company looks "forward to supporting [Bahamian's] forthcoming hard work to rebuild, recover and again welcome tourists and cruise guests with open arms to their beautiful country."

Tourism is the lifeblood of Caribbean destinations and, in the past, the return of tourism has been critical to rebuilding efforts. To that end, Donald said Carnival remains committed, despite the storm, to its new cruise port development on Grand Bahama Island and Half Moon Cay, the company's private island, Donald said.

Carnival Cruise Line expects to return to Nassau and Freeport as soon as possible, cruise line president Christine Duffy said in a statement.

"We have been in close communication with government officials throughout the weekend and stand ready to provide humanitarian and economic assistance," Duffy said. "Our focus will be on the priorities as established by government and emergency relief officials."

Norwegian Cruise Line, which after Hurricane Irma pitched in sending supplies and picking up stranded travelers in St. Thomas, said it's also trying to return to the island as soon as it's safe.

"We also understand the economic impact our ships have on these communities, so we hope to return to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island and our private island, Great Stirrup Cay, very soon," the line said in a statement.

Contact the reporter at cherrera@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5660; Twitter @ChabeliH

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