How many of you who cruise during "hurricane season" have actually...

[rybreadsmomshubby]

I think the most important thing here is your attitude to travelling.

 

Things will go wrong on most trips, no matter where or when, and you need to be able to adapt and overcome such nuisances.

 

Obviously travelling in hurricane season has its inherent risks, and it's a matter of expecting the best but being prepared for the worst. :)

[Isasprings]

I've lived in the Fort Myers area for the last 11 years and I can tell you the hurricane season starts in June and ends about October with an occasional front in November. You can use that as a guide for most of the Caribbean. Some times you get lucky and you can do a cruise during that time without any problems and will experience calm waters. You can even get lucky for 3 or 4 years but in the end, it will catch up with you. The Captain will do all he can to avoid a hurricane but even the out skirts can have 15 footers.

 

So you look up the odds and throw the dice. If you want the best odds, avoid the hurricane season. I have been on 14 cruises with the 15th planned for March. That is a good month to cruise.

I agree with you. May is also a good month to cruise the worst August,September,October I wil never forget August 24 1992

Hurricane Andrew

[kle50]

We took Mexican Riviera cruise in October, 2008. As we were having the muster drill the Captain announced there was bad weather ahead and he didn't know which ports we would be able to make.

 

We were lucky, made all three ports. But, Hurricane Norbert was forming in the west and the rains and winds started as we were leaving Puerta Vallarta. We sailed right across the leading edge of the hurricane so there were some wild waves but I loved it. The hurricane hit land at Cabo San Lucas the next morning.

[debee1015]

Sailed through TS Otto on the Liberty last year and think he was trying to keep up with us.

 

 

At Half Moon Cay, all those clouds were bands of Otto.

 

The seas were rough:

(This was taken on the Panorama Deck 10 they were not small waves)

 

In St Thomas Otto kind of parked himself all day.

 

 

Couldn't port in Grand Turk as someone mentioned earlier so we ended up in Nassau. *yawn*

 

I found out that the water slide is open on days in port and there are limited numbers of Children around, so I had it to myself pretty much all day.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We are sailing on the Dream on November 5th 2011(eastern). Is that considered the end of hurricane season??

 

I think meteorologists consider hurricane season June 1 through November. However, it is unusual to have hurricanes occur after

Halloween. You should be safe sailing on Nov. 5.

 

Enjoy

[westview1]

Getting old and can't remember if I have responded to this or not...

:p

A few years back on HAL Westerdam at Halloween....Hurricane Noel was in the area so for two days we had 18-28 foot seas....

Really didn't affect our having a good time at all....kind of exciting to be out there....We obviously didn't travel right into the middle of it or anything...Interesting being in the pool and being in water up to our necks.....then dry.....then in water up to our necks, etc....

:D

 

Last year on the Caribbean Princess (NE/Canada) the waves were so bad the pool looked like a wave pool. :eek: It wasn't a named storm it was just very bad seas.

[RoofingPrincess]

Well, a hurricane didn't affect my one-and-only trip in hurricane season (and my first Carnival cruise). It affected my trip home.

I was on the Carnival Ecstasy. We pulled into Galveston, knowing Hurricane Ike was behind us, on a Thursday morning. At this point, the island was under an evacuation order. I hadn't made arrangements to get myself back to Houston, foolishly thinking that I'd have plenty of options and plenty of time, since my flight home wasn't until Friday morning. I was STUCK. Couldn't even get a cab - they didn't want to leave the island because they were afraid they wouldn't be allowed to come back on it, and their families weren't leaving (yet).

Well, thanks to a very helpful Carnival shore rep, and a party bus driver who was willing to break the rules, I did make it up to Houston Hobby. Checked into my hotel. Was dozing on the bed with the TV on when I heard that the airports would be closing at 9 am Friday. YIKES! My flight was scheduled for 9:30!! Called my airline and got onto the 6 AM flight. Back to dozing (too much partying the night before). Then the TV said the airports would now be closing at 6 PM. DOUBLE YIKES! Back on the phone with the airline. No flights left that would get me home that night, and they weren't willing to put me on a flight that would take me to, say, Chicago tonight and then home tomorrow.

And to compound matters, the hotel was booked solid for the next night...

Thankfully my mom's best friend lives on the northern edge of Houston. I called her and asked her for advice. She told me to get myself to Houston Bush and she'd pick me up there. I was shocked to hear that there are no buses or other public transport between the two airports (at least that's what they told me at the hotel desk) so I took a livery service. 85 bucks but I'm worth it.

Rode out the hurricane at Peg & Rick's house. Minimal damage other than loss of electricity. Helped clear beaucoup bags of leaves & branches out of their yard (earned my keep LOL).

Airports reopened on Tuesday and once I was checked in and knew I was on my way home I burst into tears...

By the way, travel insurance paid for both the livery service and the cab I took to the airport on Tuesday morning...

 

I've booked my second Carnival cruise... and it's during hurricane season again...

 

I took the Jewel of the Seas westbound transatlantic in September 2010 (technically hurricane season, but we were too far north for it to really be a factor). As we were leaving Iceland, the captain advised us that we would have to change our route to avoid going through a big Arctic storm. In doing so, we lost our port in Newfoundland and ended up having extra days at sea, and getting to Nova Scotia about 15 hours early (late afternoon instead of the next morning). He held a meeting in the theatre the next day, and the radar pix of that storm were really UGLY!!!

We were luckier than a Princess ship taking a very similar route. They lost quite a few ports, including Iceland...

[kenandteri]

We usually do our cruising in the fall (late September/early October). DH has fall break and of course, it's cheaper!

Last year was the only cruise that was affected by a Hurricane -Paula caused us to miss both of our ports (Cozumel and Progresso) and we were diverted to Key West instead....

[beachbum6264]

We usually cruise the last week of August/ first week of September, prime hurricane season.

We've had:

 

ports substituted (went to Nassau and Key West instead of Belize and Costa Maya due to damage from hurricane that had just gone through)

 

Itinerary totally changed - once we went Eastern Caribbean instead of Western, once we went Western instead of Eastern (it all equals out in the end!)

 

Had a 7 day turn into a 9 day - we spent an extra day in Cozumel and had an extra day at sea when Hurricane Frances closed the port of Tampa

 

And... we have one planned for late August again. Obviously it hasn't stopped us from cruising then. :D

[MissRabbit]

Our 2nd cruise, we just hit the extreme outer bands of the hurricane so we sailed without detour. Other than a very tippy ride and watching as the pools practically emptied as they sloshed from end to end, it was uneventful. This was in the month of August

 

Our 3rd cruise (just this past Nov), we had to deal with Hurricane Thomas. It was on the other side of the DR and Haiti when we tendered in Samana, DR. Except for lots of rain and some churning seas, it wasn't too bad. However after St. Thomas & Tortola, we headed back up for our last POC, Great Stirrup Caye. Unfortunately, Hurricane THomas was sweeping its way through the Bahamas right then so we had to cancel the port.

 

THe captain ended up going way out into the Atlantic to veer around the hurricane's path. There were disposable barf bags at every elevator, in the bathrooms and just about every entryway. Everyone walked as if they'd been on a 24 hour bender lol. Outer decks were closed for most of a day due to high winds. Other than that, things were fine :)

[lizi116]

We were on an Eastern Caribbean cruise in Aug. 07 on the Caribbean Princess that did one week Eastern Car. on week Western Car. We had a great cruise with fantastic weather, but a hurricane was being forecasted for the next week.

 

Probably on day 5 of the cruise, Princess announced that due to the forcasted hurricane in the Western Caribbean, the next week the ship would not be cruising to the Western Caribbean, it would do the same Eastern Caribbean route. This didn't affect us, but that were many people on board (mostly from Europe) that had booked back to back cruises, so they would have the same Eastern Carribean itinerary the next week. It didn't affect us, and people were disappointed, but they understood.

[Cruz Crazi]

had it effect your cruise? Like being rerouted or having rougher-than-normal seas? Or the opposite and your cruise hasn't been effected?

 

Just curious.

 

 

A majority of our Cruises are during Hurricane season.

We have cruised in 3 hurricanes.

Our very first cruise turned out to be during a hurricane, for an entire day we and 2 other ships just kept going around in circles, beause we couldn't go to the ships private island.

You have to expect to have a change of ports if there is a hurricane or just alot of sea days.

We always felt safe knowing the cruise lines are not going to send their ships and passengers into an unsafe situation.

[crustycrab]

We sail every year in the first week of Sept. Last we were rerouted from the 7 day Eastern to 7 day Western Carribbean. The only bad thing was I had the wrong travel guide books packed. But it was sort of fun. Terrific weather on new itineray. It was exciting. When we boarded we were informed that we would be notified of our destination by sail away time. Previous sailings have encountered rough seas sometimes so I pack dramamine. We will go again this year.

[CanadianMommyof2]

We went through a tropical storm, rough seas and a lot of barf bags but no missed ports. A hurricane hit Cabo after we left port! That was October 2009 on the Splendor.

[Mrs.C05]

Last year we went on a cruise in September and the few days leading up to it, there were about 3-4 storms lined up to come across the atlantic (if it wasn't already near the Bahamas) and I was so anxious about it. One would say "But you're on a cruise!".....I know, I know, but I was nervous about the rough seas. Well 1 day before we were to leave, they all disipated! We boarded the ship on a Friday and had THE CALMEST seas ever! It was a like glass. Plus, we got a terrific rate for booking last minute with all the storms that were out there.

We'll be doing this again this September hopefully.

[SASA13]

We have never had a problem. As a matter of fact, we have always had near perfect weather ( knock on wood for upcoming cruise).

[Nicki61]

We ran in to Ernesto on our way to the Bahamas.

We stayed in Bermuda for 4 days I think. At that time not even a cloud. BUT on our way home to NYC we hit the outerbands of Ernesto. Woke my DH and i up at 2am. Woke us up by sliding my 250# husband out of bed! I looked like a spider clinging to the bed not to slide off!. We could hear things crashing all aroubdwus. I wasn't allowed to look outside at the waves, hubby knew if I saw what he was seeing i would probably freak out! Thank god we made it back to NYC. Captain came on in the am and apologized for the bumpy ride. Just another cruise story. And being fro. The NE being stormed in to Bermuda is a far cry than being snowed in here at home!

[Cigar Dude]

We were re-routed in 2005 (Fantasy). Got to all the ports, just in different order.

 

 

Another year, on Glory, we had a port change due to a hurricane hitting one of our stops a week or so before we got there. Went to Progresso that year. Port missed; Costa Maya. We got to all the other ports.

[dotshub]

We were on the Seabreeze in 1995 and were affected by Hurricane Erin. Very rough seas during the evening and night, sick bags were put up all over the ship in all the corridors etc. it was formal night and the ladies were told not to wear high heels. The dining room was almost empty tho so they had another formal night later in the cruise.

We did not miss any ports but it was a most interesting night. Our cabin was on the lowest passenger deck and right near the back end of the ship, the rocking was so bad we could hear the propellers coming out of the water and back down on every big wave. The cabinet drawers would fly open and then slam closed again as the ship rolled from side to side.

[lillian marie]

We missed a port on one cruise several yrs ago and it was fine, rough seas for a few days and grey nasty rainy weather but we were all safe, entertained and well fed. No complaints from me.

[mazda]

One cruise re-routed from Western to Eastern a few years back, in Oct on Carnival Valor.

[Cruise, J.D.]

One time. We went on a short cruise in November 2009 that was affected by a hurricane. Very rough seas and bad weather.

[Crusing Nut]

We weren't sailing on a Carnival ship but rather on the Oasis of the Seas. Our port days were changed around to skirt around Hurricane Tomas. We didn't get to Haiti but instead ended up at Nassau. (Didn't really want to go there AGAIN) Tomas decided he liked us and followed us around.

[mahgobbi]

We're cruising this fall (first week of October). It's the week my kids have fall break from school, so it was my only option. I knew cruising in this season we'd risk weather problems, but this thread is kind of scaring me since it seems like MOST fall cruise are somehow delayed or redirected. I'm *hoping* that most of the people who have had no problems just aren't posting. Is anyone aware of a site which tracks the percentage of cruises that experience problems (missed ports and/or cancelled excursions)?

[Chief Cruiser]

Hurricane Juan in 2003 gave us 40 knot winds and 20 foot seas as it raced up the East Coast and we were on our way back from the NE/Canada cruise. Our paths mixed somewhat as we sailed back into the Port of NY on Saturday to conclude our cruise and Halifax took an almost direct hit from the hurricane the very next day. Made for an intersting walk along the promenade for sure!!!!!!! :eek:

 

Additionally, in 2008, our Eastern Caribbean itinerary became a Western Caribbean itinerary when Hurricame Ike decided to sit out in our travel path long enough to force Carnival to change our route. We were scheduled to have a port stop at Turks and Caicos, but Ike put it about 90% under water after sitting over it for about 3 days.

 

We caught an increase in wind and chop on the way back into Miami as Ike had crossed the southern part of the Keys and passed well to the west in the Gulf. Nothing major with the motion, but it was enought that you knew a storm had recently been through.

 

We have continued to sail in September, statiscally the most dangerous month for hurricanes, but those are the only two cruises that have been directly affected thus far. The prices can't be beat and as long as I am safe, I don't care if they change my itinerary or not. The ship is my destination! :cool: