Two Disney ships change course to avoid Hurricane Sandy

USATODAY

The projected path of Hurricane Sandy as of 5 a.m. ET on Oct. 25, 2012.

Add Disney to the list of cruise operators that are re-routing ships to avoid Hurricane Sandy.

Disney says the 2,500-passenger Disney Dream will skip a call scheduled for Friday at Castaway Cay, the company's private island in the Bahamas, and instead remain at sea. A call in Nassau scheduled for Saturday will take place pending weather conditions, the line says.

"Unfortunately, the storm is expected to produce tropical storm and hurricane force winds near Nassau and ... Castaway Cay for most of the day on Friday and early on Saturday," the line notes in a statement posted on its website.

Also altering course is the 2,500-passenger Disney Fantasy, which is skipping a call today at Castaway Cay.

Both ships are based at Port Canaveral, Fla.

As previously reported, more than half a dozen other cruise ships in the region operated by Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line have altered course over the past 48 hours as Sandy has moved northward toward the Bahamas.

As of 5 am ET, Sandy was about 185 miles south of the central Bahamas and heading to the north at about 18 miles per hour. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour.

The National Hurricane Center expects Sandy to pass over the Bahamas over the next two days before continuing northward along the East Coast of the USA.