Has anyone had a cruise ruined by a cyclone?

[JacintaH]

From time to time I see threads here on the boards about avoiding the South Pacific or Far North of Australia in cyclone season with many of the suggestions being that the threat of a cyclone makes the choice of a cruise risky.

 

However I really wonder if anyone actually has experienced a ruined cruise due to a cyclone. I can imagine changes in itinerary to avoid bad weather (which can happen in any climate or time of year) but surely it would be super rare for a cruise ship to be caught too close to a cyclone in Australian or Pacific waters?

 

The reason I ask as that as a resident of Far North Queensland I see comments about cyclones and cyclone season that I feel are inaccurate and but being relatively new to cruising maybe I don't know enough of the "my cruise was crap because of the Cyclone Larry/Yasi/Anthony/Rona/etc etc etc" stories.

[bronte2]

I guess feeling as if your cruise has been 'ruined' is very personal and one person's ruined cruise is another's fantastic cruise.

 

Most of my cruises have been between Nov and March and the worst I have experienced is a bit of rain. However earlier this year, all excursions in Airlie Beach were cancelled due to the heavy rain and in Cairns the Kuranda railway was closed due to a landslide. This didn't bother the Aussies on board as far as I could tell as we have either been before or have the opportunity to visit again.

 

The visitors from the US or UK however were quite disappointed as some of them had travelled specifically to see the GBR but the visibility was poor. I don't think their cruise was 'ruined' though. Incidentally we missed Vietnam due to a typhoon in the area, so weather happens!!!!!

 

Perhaps others have had a very different experience, but we just pack some wet weather gear and cruise with the understanding that you can get bad weather anywhere and anytime.

I could imagine though, that if you had say 10 days of rain and rough seas, you may not have had the best cruising experience!

[aussie57]

We hit the tail-end of a cyclone on Pacific Star out of Auckland enroute to Tonga in 2008. We had 3 days of very rough seas with a large percentage of people sick onboard including crew. Outside decks & pools were closed & everything that could be tied down, was. Cruising speed was reduced for passenger comfort resulting in us having to miss 2 ports.

We didn't enjoy the seasickness or the violent ship movement, but after the third day, the seas were smoother & we had no more problems, thoroughly enjoying our holiday. We appreciated the Capt's efforts to keep us safe & comfortable.

Many pax, however were up in arms about the weather, even though the captain had kept us informed & changed direction several times for pax comfort. There was a lot of unpleasantness to the extent that the Capt didn't even attend the past passenger function because of a hostile minority who went to the media post cruise demanding compensation, refunds etc (which they didn't receive)....read the fine print LOL This cruise was in December.

[Debsta]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

Didn't ruin my cruise :D

 

We had a couple of rough days on the way over. The Captain on Rhapsody tried his best to avoid the worst of it. We had an itinerary change and made altered ports. Apparently P&O didn't and bobbed around in the ocean :eek:

 

The shots in the video were taken while you could still stand :p The average swell got up to 10m with the occasional 14m coming through......weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (can you tell I don't get seasick :p)

 

HAD A BALL! :D

[The_Big_M]

However I really wonder if anyone actually has experienced a ruined cruise due to a cyclone. I can imagine changes in itinerary to avoid bad weather (which can happen in any climate or time of year) but surely it would be super rare for a cruise ship to be caught too close to a cyclone in Australian or Pacific waters?

 

It's not so much the choppiness, although that can still happen, and they're unlikely to be close to the centre, but that the surrounding aspects such as the weather (windy and grey, so deck/pools are closed), and particularly the itinerary can be badly upset by avoiding the bad weather.

 

In other cases, you might miss one port due to storms, and more would be rare. But cyclones are increasing the risk of bad weather, and if you're making the trip particularly for certain ports then the increased risk of disappointment is high. If you were still targeting Noumea in that period even if not by ship, it is still a more risky time.

 

However, when you're on a ship if you don't get to where you wanted to go at all, and your onboard enjoyment is impacted as well, I think it's reasonable to call out that that may not be such a great time to go if you're trying for a certain destination.

[6andy6]

Not ever ruined.

 

I remember donkey years ago cruising in my teens with my parents on the original Oriana (1979 or early 80's). We were in Suva and were meant to leave that evening for Nukalofa (so) or somewhere like that but couldn't leave port due to a small cyclone and tropical storm. We just stayed 2 days in Suva and then the cruise continued. We only got the tail end of it in Suva...heavy rains, bit of wind and such.

 

For a teen it was fun (I've always liked storms anyway).

[ceejay3377]

My first cruise was to the South Pacific on the Pacific Sky and our cruise coincided with when cyclone Zoe all but wiped out the Solomons. There were days when the swell reached 12m and all outside decks were closed off. The outside disco on NYE had several hundred dancers all dancing in a very small space on the port side of the ship ... then all dancing on the startboard side ... then on the port side ...:D. I tried to do my washing in the laundromat but the washing machines were constantly out of balance.

 

From memory we missed/altered a port or two, but it was FUN (obviously mal de mer is not an issue for me). Now, I cruise mainly in summer, as I'm a teacher and this is the time when there is choice and dates that I can cruise. I don't mind the heat and humidity, and if there is a storm or two, well, that's just the way it goes. A cyclone didn't ruin my first cruise, since as you can see in my signature there have been many more cruises since that first one!

 

Cheers,

[AussieTJ]

Not ruined but was exciting !!!

 

We were on the Carribean Princess last year when hurricane Irene hit New York, we had to embarbark early because they were shutting down New York City so that was a rush.

 

When we left we headed out to sea to try and out run the hurricane we also missed one of our ports and were at sea for two days heading north to Canada.

 

The seas were really really rough with 50 knot winds and 26 meter waves, we all had to stay inside all the doors to all the decks were locked, there was alot of sick people on board.

 

The Princess crew were wonderful and had heaps of activities for us, it was a real adventure. A week before the cruise we were in Viginia when the earthquake hit so our holiday to America last year was one we will remember.

 

Would do it all again !!!!

[tangogulf]

13 Day South Pacific Cruise - Feb 1992. We were meant to go to Fiji but as luck would have it never made it past Port Vila. In fact we spent 4 days in Vila from memory. Safer to be moored in the harbour there than in the open sea. People in Vila were boarding up windows etc but they were lucky and the cyclone went by without a direct hit. We left to to Champagne Bay (not on the original itinerary) and got to see the volcano on one of the islands by night. We were however on a C deck cabin with a porthole. The swells were so high we got to see the little fishes swimming in the ocean. About 4 or 5 hours out of Vila the Captain ordered all the portholes closed. 2 days before we had them opened again.

 

Was a pretty rough ride for a few days. Even ex-Navy guys on the cruise ended up pretty green in their cabins.

 

Have been on 1 cruise since in 2002 which went to Vila again and was OK. Am going again 30th Dec and there is a stop in Port Vila - not getting off the ship this time. I think I've seen all there is to see in Vila but I have to say the locals are wonderful and friendly and just the portside markets are interesting.

[avalon007]

When I was a kid we went on a cruise that couldn't avoid a cyclone in the South Pacific, we had 2 Australian naval destroyers as escorts.

They were smaller than us, so not sure who was escorting who!

Our ship was also small compared to todays ships, only in the twenty something thousand tonne range.

 

My mum tells how the ship was heaving up & down & also rolling sideways, she was trying to get back to the cabin & had to drag herself along by the handrails. Once she opened the cabin the door, the ship heaved & she flew across the room! But she was not hurt at all.

We were not scared & slept through most of it.

 

 

This year we went on Radiance of the Seas late March & there was a cyclone forming north of Vanuatu.

Our captain kept us informed days prior advising that we may have to change course & they would moniter the situation & keep us updated.

 

In the end they decided to travel North towards the Cyclone before it arrived to visit Champagne Bay before Vila instead of as per the intinery, as it was better to run before the cyclone than meet it head on they advised.

On leaving Champagne Bay you could see the dark skys in the distance so we made it just in time it seems.

 

This was a big deal to change the itinery (more than you realise at first) as they have acts booked for the ships shows to be collected at set days from Vila etc, ports booked, ship excurisions to sort out etc etc.

 

But we didn't miss a port because of their decision & we were very impressed with how Royal handled the whole thing & kept us informed all the way, very professional & we felt like we were in safe hands. :)

[CroNich]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

Didn't ruin my cruise :D

 

We had a couple of rough days on the way over. The Captain on Rhapsody tried his best to avoid the worst of it. We had an itinerary change and made altered ports. Apparently P&O didn't and bobbed around in the ocean :eek:

 

The shots in the video were taken while you could still stand :p The average swell got up to 10m with the occasional 14m coming through......weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (can you tell I don't get seasick :p)

 

HAD A BALL! :D

 

I was on this cruise... Once we got to Noumea it was smooth sailings all the way home

[pacificlover]

Many moons ago, so long I can't remember the year. Left Sydney on a P&O ship and during the night I woke when the ship seemed to have stopped. Sure enough, Captain announced at breakfast that there was a cyclone heading for Noumea and instead of us "doing" the islands, we were heading up the coast of Australia.

 

In those days I was "sharing with a stranger". My cabin mate was a woman from Townsville. Guess where we ended up?? Townsville. She took it in great fun though and became our most knowledgeable guide when we got there.

 

One of the Russian ships sailing out of Sydney at the time, had preceeded us by a few hours and had continued on to Noumea. They were stuck there for about three days. The damage to the roof of the passenger terminal in Noumea, stayed for many years afterwards before the sails were replaced.

 

One disappointment was that on board were a group of famous cricketers, namely Tommo, Lenny Pascoe, etc etc who were to have played a cricket match with locals in Vila I think it was. Would have loved to have seen that. Still they interacted with the passengers and even became part of the entertainment, whereby they were interviewed one by one in a lounge by the head of the tour - the guy who used to draw Ginger Meggs.

[joejoe 59]

We hit the tail-end of a cyclone on Pacific Star out of Auckland enroute to Tonga in 2008. We had 3 days of very rough seas with a large percentage of people sick onboard including crew. Outside decks & pools were closed & everything that could be tied down, was. Cruising speed was reduced for passenger comfort resulting in us having to miss 2 ports.

We didn't enjoy the seasickness or the violent ship movement, but after the third day, the seas were smoother & we had no more problems, thoroughly enjoying our holiday. We appreciated the Capt's efforts to keep us safe & comfortable.

Many pax, however were up in arms about the weather, even though the captain had kept us informed & changed direction several times for pax comfort. There was a lot of unpleasantness to the extent that the Capt didn't even attend the past passenger function because of a hostile minority who went to the media post cruise demanding compensation, refunds etc (which they didn't receive)....read the fine print LOL This cruise was in December.

 

Wow thats amazing, what did they think the captain had to do with the weather:confused:

[stevelcqld]

We went on our first cruise in March 2010, to the south pacific, got in between 2 cyclones.. so very big seas on the way over.. missed Noumea but made the other ports..

 

We have very large seas with lots of ppl sea sick including a lot of the crew.. outside decks closed, pools empty etc..

 

My wife felt ill for a lot of the cruise, was taking meds for sea sickness.. did not throw up, but just felt off.. we later found out that the secret is to get sea sick and throw up, get the jab from the doc;.. have a snooze then your ok for a few days..

 

Even tho my wife felt ill, we still had a good time.. and she wanted to do another..

 

All in all, you just make the most of it and you find ways to enjoy it. We have had holidays much less enjoyable on land even with nice weather.. so just go with the flow.. Captains can't fix weather conditions, will make a change to an itinerary in the safety of the ship and the souls on board..

 

We head off our 2nd cruise in Feb 2013.. and can't wait.. its just luck of the draw as the cruises around ours in March 2010 had ripper weather.. Feb is our wedding anniversary so that's why we cruise or holiday that time of the year..

 

Make the most of it and enjoy your break..

 

Cheers

Steve

[musicorn]

I think a lot of 'the experience' has to do with the information the Captain shares and your attitude to life. We sailed through the edge of a cyclone earlier this year with 14 waves. The Captain informed us that he was trying to outrun it but thought it likely that it would catch us some time in the next day. We could prepare with sea sick meds etc.

 

We had meals falling from tables. Glasses crashing to the ground until all glasses were glad wrapped into their shelves. We had a ball.

 

We were very late getting into port and missed our flights and had to spend the night in a motel at Sydney....guess what....we had a ball.

[Bella cruiser]

I think a lot of 'the experience' has to do with the information the Captain shares and your attitude to life. We sailed through the edge of a cyclone earlier this year with 14 waves. The Captain informed us that he was trying to outrun it but thought it likely that it would catch us some time in the next day. We could prepare with sea sick meds etc.

 

We had meals falling from tables. Glasses crashing to the ground until all glasses were glad wrapped into their shelves. We had a ball.

 

We were very late getting into port and missed our flights and had to spend the night in a motel at Sydney....guess what....we had a ball.

 

 

We were on this one too and totally agree with Musicorn, it certainly didn't ruin our cruise, we had a great time. The Captain was great and kept us informed, we weren't worried at all. Although some people were a little disconcerted to see a number of times, the ship go down into a trough and bury it's bow with water hitting the superstructure, coming over the dome on top of the bridge and some seawater landing in the adults pool and massive amounts of spray continuing on overhead and hitting the big LCD screen, which on this ship is attached to the front of the funnel:eek: as she climbed the next crest. When the props got close to the surface of the water she would do this funny little tail shake.

 

 

Also many years ago I was on the Cathay and we went through a Typhoon in the South China Sea. The beautiful Cathay was only 13,000GRT so as you can imagine, it was quite a ride and most passengers were sick. She was only a 300 passenger ship so with so many sick or not game to emerge from their cabins, us hardy ones ate our meals with the officers.:cool: This was about half way through a 52 day cruise and didn't spoil it for us.....all part of the adventure.