In preparation for the incoming Hurricane Irene, cruise ships were warned to leave the ports of Puerto Rico to ensure they would not get caught in the storm. However, when the ships left, they did so without all of their passengers.

Sunday afternoon, cruise lines were informed that due to the storms approach, harbor traffic was going to be limited, and they were advised to leave before they were originally scheduled. Upon this alert, Carnival Cruise’s Victory and Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas ship left four and six hours early.

Carnival left about 300 passengers in San Juan Sunday, and Royal left 145.

Left-behind Carnival passengers were provided hotel rooms by the cruise line, which also offered to fly them to the next scheduled port on Wednesday, Barbados. However, since the cruise was within a U.S. territory, only about half were able to take the flight to Barbados as they had not brought their passports. And while cruises urge passengers to bring passports, it is not required since they were leaving from a U.S. territory.

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