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

[dotshub]

we sailed thru hurricane erin on the dolphin cuise line. our kids thought it was the best cruise ever. they were never frightened. we just stayed in our cabin and watched the closet doors open and close and watched me who was sleeping on a roll away bed roll back and forth. I have to say it is a memory we won't forget. passed thru the storm during the evening and night and by morning there were calm seas and we just kept cruising. Dot

[critcatny]

Just wondering if anyone knows for sure....we are sailing on the Carnival Miracle out of NY in Sept to Bermuda. I know it is during Hurrican season and am keeping my fingers crossed all goes as planned. BUT if there should be any weather problems....is it possible they might redirect to another island somewhere (anywhere) or would it have to be redirected only to Canada?

[1stime cruiser]

I cruise every year during hurricane season because that is when my family can get together to cruise. I have not had a problem yet (knock on wood). This will be the 4th year in a row I have cruised during hurricane season

[echo]

We cruise alot in hurricane season. We have been effected by 3.

Hurricane Bonnie, had some rough seas one night.

I cant remember the other one, but it did roll me out of bed. We were sharing a room with BIL and SIL and I woke everyone up and popped a bonine in thier mouths and we all went back to bed.

 

The biggie was Hurrican Genee, I think that was the way it was spelt. We were with a large group on RCCL . A seven day became a 10 day. The captain kept us well informed through the day, we rerouted around the storm had great weather all 10 days. In the mornings he'd announce welcome to day 8 of your 7 day cruise and so forth. They took us to an extra port Labadee, thier private island. Which has been hit by the hurricane and its was in a civil riot due to the unrest. Which to think about it was alittle scarey, but the ship said that the locals needed our money from shopping and they left all the locals the food from the BBQ on the island. The ship did start to run out of certain items and we started the MDR menu over again. Overall it was handled fantasicly. The biggest problem was that we left from Port Canaveral and the hurricane hit there, dumping sand in the port. So we came back to Miami and had to bussed to PC. Ugh. got home really late. Oh and now I have a tip. Fill your car with gas before you leave on the ship, as the gas stations were closed in PC when we got back.

[BeccaBecca1713]

I just started doing October cruises last year. There was a major hurricane the week before and the week after our cruise. I think we had a small rain shower for about 5 minutes during our whole 7 day cruise. We had to cancel Belize 'cause the previous hurricane had torn up the channel that they tender boats used. But they replaced it with Costa Maya so I was happy! :)

 

Going on another Oct cruise this year. Me and DH agreed beforehand, that no matter what happens, it's always better than being at work!:)

[magic&buddy]

DH & I usually always crusie during hurricane season. In 2008 we had all our ports changed but it was probably one of our favorite cruises. We cruised out of NYC and we also wondered if we would end up in Canada - that didn't happen though.

 

Here is the review we did of that cruise............

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=842558&highlight=miracle+review+2008

 

We had a great time however not everyone felt the same way as you will see from the review!

[frito58]

10 cruises during H season now I am knocking on wood , never missed a port , never really had a rough seas that I recall. The worst and rainiest cruise we ever had was in April.

[tropicaledrink]

All 4 of my cruises have been during hurricane season and it hasn't been an issue yet. We have only experienced one stormy night at sea thus far!

 

If it happens, oh well is how I feel. It's not something I can help, and to me, any day on a ship is better than being at work!

[will773]

I haven't cruised during the "meat" of the hurricane season, but I have cruised in June, and there were no issues with weather. I'm cruising again in less than three weeks (WOOHOO!!!!!) and don't anticipate any weather issues.

[msbask]

Just wondering if anyone knows for sure....we are sailing on the Carnival Miracle out of NY in Sept to Bermuda. I know it is during Hurrican season and am keeping my fingers crossed all goes as planned. BUT if there should be any weather problems....is it possible they might redirect to another island somewhere (anywhere) or would it have to be redirected only to Canada?

 

I asked the same question in a separate thread, but somehow the thread disappeared so I don't know what answers people gave!

 

We're also traveling the Miracle out of NY in Sept (11th) to Bermuda, and are also wondering where we might re-direct to.

 

Does anyone know? :confused:

[oncruisecontrol]

Just wondering if anyone knows for sure....we are sailing on the Carnival Miracle out of NY in Sept to Bermuda. I know it is during Hurrican season and am keeping my fingers crossed all goes as planned. BUT if there should be any weather problems....is it possible they might redirect to another island somewhere (anywhere) or would it have to be redirected only to Canada?

 

Well (my geography is pretty good), since you're cruising out of New York, I don't think there is any other island between Bermuda and NY for the ship to go to. So, chances are likely you may be rerouted to Canada. Any other island would be way south of Bermuda, which might not be a problem if a hurricane heading toward Bermuda was coming in from the southeast and expected to turn toward the northeast. But, they'd probably err on the side of caution and take you north. But, you never know; depends on the circumstances. Mother Nature is fickle and does what she wants.

[nybumpkin]

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)?

I don't know of a percentage, but I would venture to say that most sailings are not affected. I mentioned three cruises in my post on this thread - but that was out of a total of nine summer cruises. Six were not affected by weather at all.

[critcatny]

Well (my geography is pretty good), since you're cruising out of New York, I don't think there is any other island between Bermuda and NY for the ship to go to. So, chances are likely you may be rerouted to Canada. Any other island would be way south of Bermuda, which might not be a problem if a hurricane heading toward Bermuda was coming in from the southeast and expected to turn toward the northeast. But, they'd probably err on the side of caution and take you north. But, you never know; depends on the circumstances. Mother Nature is fickle and does what she wants.

 

Thank you. I have the attitude any day aboard the ship is better than being at home/work. But I really hope that we get to Bermuda or at least an island...rather than Canada. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

[jordanaire]

We have actually been on 4 cruises that have been affected by hurricanes. However, only once was our itenerary changed. We were headed to Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Cozumel, but ended up in Key West and the Bahamas. That was OK with us because...."a bad day at sea is much better than a good day at work!"In fact, when we set sail on this particular cruise, a hurricane was between GC and Cozumel as we skirted the west coast of Florida. As we were setting sail from Freeport to head home, we could see another hurrricane forming behind us! It was a very active season that year!

 

:cool:Bill

[mimgan3]

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.

 

We were booked on the RC Mariner of the Sea in Sept. 2004, that was that classic year of hurricanes when Florida seemed to get hit almost every week in for several weeks. Let me give you a little back story, my family, myself, DW, DD and our best friends, and their DS.

 

This will end up being a mini review of the events of said occurance.

 

Our cruise was to leave on Sunday Sept 26 out of Port Canaveral, so we had booked a hotel in Cocoa for Friday and Saturday, thought we would go down early see the Cape and hang out with on the beach, to extend to vacation. As we are driving down I-95, we kept getting phone calls from folks back home, saying Hurricane Jeanne was changing course,, and was now scheduled to make landfall right in Cocoa, we kind of just ignored this for a while, but as the calls became persistant, we decided we better make some calls of our own. I called the hotel and sure enough Cocoa Beach and the surrounding areas were under a mandotory evacuation, and they were not allowing anyone into the area. OK, adapt and improvise, I give the news to rest of the crew, and the chorus of oh no, what now, to which I respond, please remain calm.

 

We pull into a rest area in north Georgia, and grab up some of those I-95 Travel Guides and start looking for places to stay in Central Florida. After a few calls, we were able to find 2 rooms at I believe it was a Comfort Inn, near International Dr. in Orlando. So at least for now we know we will have a place to stay the next couple of nights until Jeanne passes.

Hey, we are on vacation and we are going to make the best of it.

 

We arrive somewhere around 2 or 3 oclock in the afternoon, and it is already very breezy in Orlando, so I'm thinking did we book far enough inland, but by this time, after a few more calls, there were just no rooms left to be found anywhere within a couple hundred miles, so we went a grabbed something to eat and hunkered down to ride this out. Sometime around 6 or 7 it really got to howling, and the motel lost power. Fortunately they had a back up generator for lighting and some overhead ceiling fans but no A/C in the main lobby, but no the rooms. After some time, people started congregating in the lobby to try to stay cool, and of course a few brave, or foolish souls would step outside for a few moments. Jeanne finally made it past up around 8 or so and we start venturing out to see whats what, and of course there are a few downed trees, and minor roof damage to places but other than that not to bad.

 

We went driving around trying to find something open that might have food, as we were getting hungry again, unfortunately, there was nothing to be found, so we went to a convienant store and grabbed some snacks and headed back to the motel for the night. Now I guess in the spirit of accommodating their guest, the motel found a pizza place, that had enough generator power that they were able to get back in business, and had about 35-40 pizza sent over that we could purchase for $5.00 each, good gesture I thought, so at least we had something hot to eat before bed. After this we turned in for the night.

 

Saturday morning dawned with the return of power, Oh Happy Day, and lets find an IHOP. So after good hot showers, we go out and enjoy breakfast. Since Saturday was to be the day we were going to the Cape, we decided to do Epcot instead, much to the delight of the 2 kids, and the oldest kid in the group, me. I just love most anything Disney. So we made a day of it at the park, stayed for the fireworks, and headed back in to make sure everything on go for the Mariner on Sunday.

 

For good reason RCCL phone lines are jammed, so we go and find an internet cafe to check out their website, only to learn the Mariner had made so diversions to avoid Jeanne, and would not be returning to Florida until Monday. Oh great, now we have to book another night at the motel, but at least we are somewhere nice. So we make the most of Sunday around the pool, went and did a little shopping, eating, just trying to pass the time. Sometime around 3pm, we go by another internet cafe, to check on progress, to make sure everything is on go for Monday, only to learn that due to the Hurricane, Mariner will be delayed until Tuesday, now we are getting concerned. Fast forward Monday morning, Mariner will indeed be arriving in Florida Tuesday morning, however, due to the condition of the Port Canaveral, it will be arriving in Miami. !!!!!!!WHAT!!!!!!!!!, Ok what do we do now.

 

About the same time as we start calling an update appears on the computer screen, something the effect. "We realize that because of the storm many vacations have been affected, and as such, those not wishing to take this sailing, may without penalty, cancel and receive a full refund, however those who wish to sail on this cruise will recieve and $500.00 OBC, and voucher for 1/2 off a future cruise", now I'm thinking this is a no brainer, so we go for it. Oh how do we get there?. We were instructed to go the Port Canaveral as originally planned, and check in, and from there we were bussed to Miami. Now believe 3 1/2 hours in a bus was not my idea of fun, but we wanted to sail. So we did, and ended up having a very nice time, unfortunately, several port were missed, since this was now only a 5 day cruise, but hey $500.00 OBC and 1/2 off the next one so what.

 

In summery, I told all this to accent another major topic and this site, Travel Insurance, which we always purchase. This cruise for the 3 of us was about $1700.00 balcony cabin, and after the OBC, 1/2 voucher, trip interruption, covering foods and items deemed to be neccessities, trip delay and room costs, this cruise ended up costing us about $300.00. Sure glad we always buy insurance, and yes, will will travel during hurricane season.

 

Mimgan

[ImmortalxKiss]

We've done 2 during huricanne season ..and had it affected once. Missed Coco Cay :(

[HappyHappy1]

We have cruised 3 times during Hurricane Season. Each time there has been some rain. Twice was hurricane related.

 

Our Valor Cruise in November 2009 we were late coming into Grand Cayman due to winds from Hurricane Ida, but our Captain arranged for us to stay late. Still were in port 7 hours. Had huge waves and rain after leaving GC heading back to Miami. We had a balcony on the 7th deck. Sea spray and salt all over the balcony. Storm followed us the entire way home. :eek:

 

On Legend in September 2010, just some rain for a couple hours - no relation to a hurricane!:D

 

Our last cruise on the NCL Pearl in November 2010 we were drenched by rain from Hurricane Tomas heading to St Thomas then again two days later when heading back towards the Bahamas. (Tomas headed west origionally then turned north east catching us twice!) The weather was great in Port...Just lousy on sea days. Also caused us to miss our stop at GSC on the last day. The Ship rocked alot...even though the waves were not as big as on the Valor. The Carnival Valor was a much more stable ship.:eek:

 

Not detered by Hurricane Season...we are going again in November! Lets see if we can avoid going 3 for 3 with Hurricanes in November! :D Prices are too good to pass up!

[Mobius360]

Our last cruise had to be rerouted due to a hurricane. Ended up in Catalina and Ensenada instead of Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, still hit Cabo San Lucas and had an amazing time. We did get some onboard credit for the change in the itinerary too.

[nikita]

We have sailed on 14 cruises. Out of those 14 we have sailed about 6 times in hurricane season. It has affected us twice. Once we were rerouted - no big deal because we still got to go to great places. The other time a hurricane affected the places we were to visit in a few weeks so we asked if we could switch ships - they let us for $100 each...that was in the 90's so don't know how much that would cost now. That vacation also worked out fine. Both of these were before I scheduled independent excursions so it would probably be more of a pain (and expense) now. Both of these issues happened when we were sailing with Carnival.

[flcruiser4]

I have one booked in early September so I'm hoping for the best.

[flashdog_1]

When you think of hurricane season and cruising, it's usually to the Caribbean. But what about Alaska, when your airport is on the east coast? Something to think about, so go a day or TWO early in that case! ha

 

We have sailed two Alaska cruises during hurricane season, 1 Panama Canal at the tail end of the season, with only one port missed because an earlier hurricane had closed down Grand Cayman.

 

My DD with whom i usually cruise, does not want to book a cruise during hurricane season. I guess there's no use telling her that that's why you buy travel insurance! And if we can drive to the port, all the better, because we just won't go if we know a hurricane is coming. Those captains do not want their ship and passengers anywhere near a hurricane, so I think we can rest assured that you will be safe 1) by diverting to another location, 2) by skipping a port or 3) by cancelation of the cruise, in which case the cruise line usually offers you some alternate cruise date.

[sail-a-bration]

We were booked on the Conquest out of New Orleans when Katrina hit. They refunded our money.

[4FRCruising]

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.

Here are a few of the changes I've had:

 

Quite a few years ago...NCL scheduled to go to Cozumel then day at sea and back to MIA. Instead day at sea, Key West (had never really wanted to book a cruise going there but this totally changed my mind - now I LOVE Key West), then back to MIA.

 

Again-some years ago....Mariner of the Seas 7 day turned into a 9 day. Hurricane was between ship and FL (we were to go back to Port Canaveral..that got sand barred shut so had to go back to MIA and get bussed). They staffed Labadee so we got to spend a day there (so sort of extra port...again not a port I woudl book for until this...now LOVE Labadee) and then had to wait until ships left MIA so we could have a place to dock.

 

On HAL...hurricane hitting HMC so we had to go around and skip port. They had a Rum Punch Party by the pool. Entertiners did impromtu shows. When glass started to run empty servers just topped off with as much rum as you wanted (or fresh rum punch).

 

Overall, I've liked my "hurricane" cruises :D

 

Hoping to never be on the "other" end...land side worrying about getting there or ship being delayed. This better not jinx my Sept. Cruise :eek:

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

If it happens it happens

[CarolinaGirl87]

Knock on wood we have been on 2 cruises Mid September and didn't have any issue. I believe there was a hurricane that came right through our path the week before we left for our first cruise, but we felt nothing!

 

This year I am a little nervous...We sail October 29th Western Caribbean...Eeek.