Two cruise ships scheduled to move port today will remain stranded due to the strike.

With no tug boats available because of the strike, the Zenith will remain in Hamilton rather than move to St. George's, and Norwegian Sea will stay in St. George's instead of moving to the capital.

As of yesterday evening, the Island's six regular cruise ships were still planning to arrive and depart on schedule, despite the threat of Hurricane Isabel battering the US East Coast tomorrow afternoon.

Captain John Moore of shipping agents Meyer said yesterday afternoon that he had no information of any of the cruise lines altering their schedules on account of Isabel.

Zenith is scheduled to depart St. George's tomorrow for New York, and Horizon is due to leave Hamilton at the same time for Philadelphia.

At 6 p.m. last night, Isabel was 500 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, and its closest point of contact is forecast at 495 west-southwest at 7 a.m. today.

Isabel, which had dropped from a category three to a category two storm, had top winds of 105 mph.

It is on course to hit the Outer Banks island chain off North Carolina on Thursday afternoon then track north through Virginia and close to Washington.