sept.cruising and hurricane

[gfowler911]

Have booked a cruise in sept 18 for the exotic western carribean.We have never cruised during this time,and because of hurricane preditions for this year we don't know what to do . We are booked on The Carnival Dream anyone elsed booked for sept? and will any of you be cancelling because of pred?

[jbellpower]

Make sure to purchase the trip protection.... that way, you are safe if you decide to cancel.. If Carnival has to cancel, they refund or give you a voucher anyway.. but if they sail and you don't want to go... you will lose your money unless you have the trip insurance.

[paul929207]

Do you have travel insurance? If not, I would either get it or cancel unless you are willing to take the risk that you may not be able to get to the ship and would lose the entire cost of the cruise.

[Traveler353]

I cruise every year during Hurricane season and pretty much every other season. I have been diverted 3 out of 8 cruises for named storms and once for the Swine flu scare. You cruise during Hurricane season and you take your chances. I don't cruise for the destination so makes no difference to me where the ship ends up.

[okgirl]

8 of my 20 cruise have been during hurricane season and we only had to reverse itinerary once.

 

It's highly unlikely that your cruise will be actually cancelled (unless there is a mandatory evac of your embarkation port) and if there is weather while you are on the cruise the ships stay well clear of it.

[Langley Cruisers]

There is nothing you can do about the weather, obviously. It's completely out of your hands. So - would you feel better if you cancelled? What if you did and nothing bad happened, the cruise went as planned and you weren't on it? Bummer. :(

 

We have cruised during hurricane season, and in fact have been diverted twice around a storm. The Captain will always put the interests of his passengers and crew first; you don't have to worry about any danger. The ship can outrun a hurricane if necessary but these days with the modern equipment, trust me, he'll be on top of the situation.

 

The predictions are just that; no one knows with any certainty what will happen. Enjoy this time leading up to your cruise and try not to worry.

 

Have fun. :)

[MIZZ_K]

I also am crusing in September and I am going!!!!!! I'm not going to cancel my trip because of a prediction, I hope you do go on your cruise and have a wonderful time:)

[zacc]

I have cruised during the second or third week of Sept for the past seven years and will be doing the same this year. All but one was in the Caribbean and never had a problem....well all except once. We got hammered by Hurricane Ivan during a Canada/New England cruise!

[gfowler911]

Thanks ...Is anyone going on this trip ...Carnival Dream on sep.18 2010

[broberts]

Thanks ...Is anyone going on this trip ...Carnival Dream on sep.18 2010

 

Check the Roll Call section when you have questions like this. There is quite an active thread for that sailing. You'll find it here.

[seashinesunshine]

You will find a lot of people who are scared to cruise during that time simply because of what might happen. I cruise in Jan/Feb simply because that is what works for me, but I think I am taking just as much of a risk of getting stuck home due to a blizzard.

Buy insurance and don't worry, there is nothing any of us can do to change the weather hurricane or blizzard.

[compozer]

I just booked two weeks in the Carribean for November 8th. I completely forgot about hurricane season.

[Ttowntreasures]

Have booked in August, Sept., Oct., & Nov. Only had one cruise last for two extra days (woo hoo!) because of hurricane Jeanne.

 

Never have let that stop us - only some of the cruise lines don't do the Caribbean during those months.

[clinthi]

We thought November would be safe enough-- but Hurricame Paloma (2008) had other thoughts and our cruise was changed to the EXACT itinerary we had cruised 10 months earlier :( Very disappointing, but hell, we were still on a cruise so...whatever!

[navybankerteacher]

There have been predictions that this will be an active hurricane season --- there were similar predictions last year, and in many prior years, which did not prove correct. The predictions are speculations based upon hunches - which may prove right, and just as likely may prove wrong. Even if there are a record number of storms, thy could all be in July and October - leaving September in the Atlantic like a mill pond.

 

Play it safe and buy (fairly expensive) insurance which will reimburse you if you decide not to go; or play it very safe and never go anywhere.

[Earthworm Jim]

The predictions are speculations based upon hunches - which may prove right, and just as likely may prove wrong.

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. They're certainly far from reliable, but you make it sound like they just get up one day and say "You know, I think I'll forecast a busy hurricane season this year". There is science behind it.

 

Play it safe and buy (fairly expensive) insurance which will reimburse you if you decide not to go; or play it very safe and never go anywhere.

 

Why would you do that? If it's fairly expensive insurance (which as you imply it would probably have to be to cover it if you just decided not to go) then it will cost, what, at least 10% of the price of your trip? Perhaps as much as 20%? Do you really think there is a 10% or 20% chance of your cruise being canceled? Of course not, way lower than that. You'd be wasting your money insuring a trip for that reason.

 

The main reason for insurance is for the medical evacuation coverage, because that can cost tens of thousands of dollars if you don't already have that coverage from your health insurance. But to recoup the cost of the cruise? That's a losing bet if you are healthy and think you are unlikely to miss the cruise. If you take 15 cruises and miss one because of a hurricane, or being snowed in at home, or because your mother-in-law died, you'd be better off financially to not buy the insurance and eat the loss that one time rather than to pay the insurance each time and use it once.

 

Buy insurance for the medical evacuation, not for the price of the cruise, unless you think you are at high risk for canceling due to your health, the ill health of a close relative, of some other such reason.

[mitsugirly]

I am cruising in September. I don't plan on changing my plans or canceling.

 

My very first cruise was back in the 80's and in February. There had been a hurricane right before we went on the cruise and I seen the devastation (or at least the tail end of it). We had to divert to another stop in Jamaica instead of where we were suppose to dock instead.

 

The second cruise I went on in the 90's with my 3 young children in December, they were predicting hurricane weather and we woke up one morning to find our ship way out away from the island we were to dock at (the ships private island) and it was raining and they informed us that we would not be able to dock or go to the island because of the huge ___ ft wave from the storm. You could actually see them. There was no way to dock. So we spent the day at see in choppy waters.

 

So the Captain is there to keep you safe. I won't be changing my plans and hoping for the best. The rest of my cruise went well on both of those and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. :)

[cruisinlawn]

cruise often in Sept/Oct with no worries, if you want destination it may not be wise as yes it could change. We don't care so not a big concern. OUr concern is more about getting into/out of port of embarking if there is a storm headed towards FLA. Enjoy.

[DonnaK]

We usually cruise the last week in August and so far, have not encountered any problems with hurricanes. We purchase insurance (we like AccessAmerica), we arrive at the embarkation port a day or two early (to protect us against weather related flight delays), and we go with an open mind not to be disappointed if the ship has to be diverted to other ports or cannot stick to the itinerary.

[broberts]

The only time I cruise the Caribbean in September we nearly missed a port and ended up reversing our itinerary . . . due to a medical emergency, not the weather.

 

Any voyage can miss ports, change routes, encounter heavy seas.

[grandmato4]

No cruise booked this year for hurricane season but if we did we wouldn't be cancelling because of the predictions. We'd already know that we'd booked during hurricane season and know upfront that can mean doing an entirely different itinerary than we originally thought we were doing. Dosn't happen often but could mean less days than we originally booked or more days than we originally booked. The capitain does all he can to stay away from stormy weather but can mean we could have rough seas. Weather problems could delay our flights into our port city or return flights home. But we also know first hand that most cruises during hurricane season go off exactly as originally planned without any problems or change in plans.

 

With all that said I am a firm beleiver that if one is going to spend a great amount of time being worried before their cruise and/or does not deal well with changes to the cruise they originally booked then hurricane season is not the time for them to book their cruise as even though all those things can happen on any cruise at any time of year there is a greater possiblity during prime hurricane season for those things to happen.

[gfowler911]

Any one sailing on the Dream Sep18 2010 from Jacksonville Fl.????:):)

[gfowler911]

tks:):)

[gfowler911]

are you going on the Dream?

[zoncom]

Many years ago encountered a huge low with 30 ft. seas on RCL. 10N cruise. Captain kept trying to outrun it. We had 1 port in 10 days. Ship was locked down-could not go outside. Most people ate in cabin. Went down to dinner one night; it was me And 25 Canadians They can take anything. My last RCL and hurricane time cruise.