Active hurricane season predicted - how often do cruises get cancelled?

[RSLeesburg]

Do fall cruises get cancelled often during hurricane season, or just sent to different ports? How soon would they notify you of a change in schedule? Would hate to pack nothing but shorts for Bermuda, and find myself in Canada instead...:D

[Scrapnana]

They don't get cancelled very often - too much revenue lost. You might get rerouted but they would let you know as soon as possible. Chances are good that if there was a problem with getting to Bermuda you likely would not be able to get out of Baltimore.

[CruiserBruce]

Agree. Very rarely cancelled. Re-routing is an entirely different subject.

[toberman]

Do fall cruises get cancelled often during hurricane season, or just sent to different ports? How soon would they notify you of a change in schedule? Would hate to pack nothing but shorts for Bermuda, and find myself in Canada instead...:D

 

Very seldom, if ever will they get cancelled... just the ports changed.

 

Plus... so, what's wrong with Canada ?? :confused: We wear shorts and tees in Oct and Nov !! :D

[paul929207]

The cruise lines rarely cancel a cruise. That is only done when the embarkation port is unusable due to the storm. Other ports on the cruise can be skipped without any real problem. An eastern Caribbean cruise might become a western one or even go to the Bahamas or Bermuda. It could also have one or more unplanned sea days

[Keith1010]

The cruises rarely get cancelled but from time to time the itinerary is adjusted.

 

Keith

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Canceled not to often ...

[navybankerteacher]

Cruises are rarely cancelled. Another thing that is rare is a correct long term prediction of hurricane activity.

[firefly333]

Rerouting is also pretty rare. More often you just miss that port if weather is bad and go on to the next port.

 

They dont usually know far enough ahead to reroute you. Plus most ports are already full and cant take another ship on a moments notice.

[OCruisers]

Agree. Very rarely cancelled. Re-routing is an entirely different subject.

 

Very True!

 

LuLu

~~~~

[ShawninFL]

As everyone has said, a cruise is almost never cancelled due to weather. The itinerary changing is much more likely. I live in Florida, so I'm pretty familiar with hurricanes. We often cruise during hurricane season simply because we can frequently find a great deal during late August, September, and October. I've only had one cruise that was affected by the weather. We were supposed to go on a four day cruise to Cozumel, but ended up having to go to Nassau instead....not my favorite place, but what can you do. I'd much rather go there than through a hurricane. When sailing during hurricane season, you have to be flexible and realize you may miss a port or possibly go on a completely different itinerary. Even that is rare, but setting expectations accordingly and preparing for the possibility greatly increases you still having a great time if something does wrong.

 

Shawn

[boogs]

According the recent article in CruiseCritic news about the upcoming hurricane season, about 100 cruises were affected by hurricanes last year. Most, if not all, were itinerary changes, not cancellations.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5358

[sail7seas]

Agree. Very rarely cancelled. Re-routing is an entirely different subject.

 

We were on Maasdam, either 2011 or 2012. We were sailing Boston to Montreal and that segment was great. We stayed aboard for the return segment and after Montreal, Quebec City and Charlottetown, Captain called a meeting in show lounge and announced there was a big hurricane predicted to slam into Boston. We were to have disembarked on Saturday in Boston and that was to be during the storm. He cancelled the three remaining ports, announced we were hurrying to Boston and would tie up there to ride out the storm. (I won't get into the converation of riding a storm at sea vs. in port). The moment he made that announcement, for all intents and purposes, our cruise ended. Everything became perfunctory and the spirit and fun of the cruise ended abruptly, in our opinion. The ship arrived Thursday afternoon instead of scheduled Saturday and DH and I left the ship. We live in Boston and saw no reason to remain aboard.

 

Cruises do 'get cancelled' but it is not a common experience.

 

Very seldom, if ever will they get cancelled... just the ports changed.

 

Plus... so, what's wrong with Canada ?? :confused: We wear shorts and tees in Oct and Nov !! :D

 

 

Hurricanes hit Canada/Maritimes/Atlantic Canada......

The storm I just mentioned hit Halifax.

 

[RSLeesburg]

Very seldom, if ever will they get cancelled... just the ports changed.

 

Plus... so, what's wrong with Canada ?? :confused: We wear shorts and tees in Oct and Nov !! :D

 

Says the man with a polar bear as his icon :p

 

I would love to see Halifax, but my wife is looking forward to pink beaches.

[boogs]

We were on Maasdam, either 2011 or 2012. We were sailing Boston to Montreal and that segment was great. We stayed aboard for the return segment and after Montreal, Quebec City and Charlottetown, Captain called a meeting in show lounge and announced there was a big hurricane predicted to slam into Boston. We were to have disembarked on Saturday in Boston and that was to be during the storm. He cancelled the three remaining ports, announced we were hurrying to Boston and would tie up there to ride out the storm. (I won't get into the converation of riding a storm at sea vs. in port). The moment he made that announcement, for all intents and purposes, our cruise ended. Everything became perfunctory and the spirit and fun of the cruise ended abruptly, in our opinion. The ship arrived Thursday afternoon instead of scheduled Saturday and DH and I left the ship. We live in Boston and saw no reason to remain aboard.

 

Cruise do 'get cancelled' but it is not a common experience.

 

Although certainly disappointing, I wouldn't say that the cruise was cancelled. You did enjoy the ship for several days before it was diverted early to Boston. I would say it was shortened, not cancelled.

 

I hope you got some compensation for the missed days. But, if not, unfortunately the cruise line may not have had to give you anything since there is a clause in the cruise contracts that says in case of danger to the ship and passengers the captain may decide to change or cut short the cruise itinerary. The reality is that is the risk of cruising in hurricane prone areas during hurricane season. One of the reasons the cruises are generally less expensive during those months.

[sail7seas]

Call it whatever you want.......

 

the fact is we were to have cruised from Saturday to Saturday and our cruise substantially ended on Tuesday. It was rather going through the motions from the moment the Captain made the annoucement. It all became perrfunctory and no enthusiasm.

 

As I said, we left the ship Thursday.

Unless you were there, you really cannot speak to the mood aboard or level of enjoyment IMO

You cannot know the attitude of both guests and crew.

[sail7seas]

Although certainly disappointing, I wouldn't say that the cruise was cancelled. You did enjoy the ship for several days before it was diverted early to Boston. I would say it was shortened, not cancelled.

 

I hope you got some compensation for the missed days. But, if not, unfortunately the cruise line may not have had to give you anything since there is a clause in the cruise contracts that says in case of danger to the ship and passengers the captain may decide to change or cut short the cruise itinerary. The reality is that is the risk of cruising in hurricane prone areas during hurricane season. One of the reasons the cruises are generally less expensive during those months.

 

You are misinformed if you think it is low fare.

 

It is the highest per diem we pay on HAL ships for Suites. The per diem in height of season, which this was, is higher than World Cruise. We have sailed Maasdam well over 30 cruises and always our cost for Canada/New England "S" Suite is substantially higher than any other cruise we've sailed her including Europe.

 

If you wish, it's easy to check the HAL site and look at Maasdam, "S" suites and shock yourself at the per diem.

 

[Heartfruit]

Sail7, were there passengers doing a B2B Montreal to Montreal? Did they just stay on the ship during the storm?

[sail7seas]

Yes, they stayed on the ship. The storm veered east and never hit Boston.

Maasdam did her regularly scheduled embarkation on Saturday for those going Boston to Montreal.

 

[boogs]

Call it whatever you want.......

 

the fact is we were to have cruised from Saturday to Saturday and our cruise substantially ended on Tuesday. It was rather going through the motions from the moment the Captain made the announcement. It all became perfunctory and no enthusiasm.

 

As I said, we left the ship Thursday.

Unless you were there, you really cannot speak to the mood aboard or level of enjoyment IMO

You cannot know the attitude of both guests and crew.

 

You are misinformed if you think it is low fare.

 

It is the highest per diem we pay on HAL ships for Suites. The per diem in height of season, which this was, is higher than World Cruise. We have sailed Maasdam well over 30 cruises and always our cost for Canada/New England "S" Suite is substantially higher than any other cruise we've sailed her including Europe.

 

If you wish, it's easy to check the HAL site and look at Maasdam, "S" suites and shock yourself at the per diem.

 

 

My apologies, I honestly thought the prices were less. Whenever I have checked on cruises to the Caribbean, for instance, the cruises during the hurricane season were less expensive than those outside that window. I've never looked at upper east coast cruises on HAL so have no idea what the prices actually are. I made my comment based on cruises to the Caribbean I have researched. Perhaps I was making too large an assumption. I did not mean to offend you.

 

At least you were enjoying your cruise until the captain's announcement, correct? That part wasn't cancelled! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

A number of years ago, several hurricanes caused a mess with the Caribbean cruises. Some of the cruises were extended a day or 2 until they could get back to Florida safely. The next cruises were shortened. Yes people were unhappy and it was costly for the cruise lines. As a result many ships no longer stay in the Caribbean during the summer months.

A number of years ago I do remember a cruise that was suppose to go to Bermuda. But when people got on the ship, it was announced that the itinerary had been changed and they were headed to Canada/New England. And people were not prepared with the proper clothes. I think it was an NCL cruise.

In 2010 we were on the Ryndam. Left Tampa as usual. First port call was Key West. We didn't leave on time. Around 8 or 9 PM the captain announced that due to Hurricane Paula, instead of doing a Western Caribbean cruise we would be doing an Eastern Caribbean cruise. It didn't bother us -- we were on a ship and we were cruising. But the couple in the cabin next to us left the ship when we got to Nassau.

[RSLeesburg]

Thanks for the replies. Skipping a port is not really an option as we sail from Baltimore to Bermuda and back to Baltimore; 6 night cruise. We could go to a different port, and that would be fine. We are really laid back, go-with-the-flow kind of people (funny how living with a toddler teaches you that!). I just wanted to see if cancellation was a likely possibility.

 

But, if it did happen, does the cruise line just transfer the credit towards another cruise?

[MommaBear55]

Obviously Hurricane Sandy was an anomaly but many ships were re-routed, concelled or otherwise inconvenienced. We sat at the dock in Boston for two extra days then went out in seas up to 40 feet and winds up to 100 mph. It made for an interesting time and more food for those of us who didn't get sick! It gave me even more admiration for the dancers in the theater as the floor was rising and falling many feet.

 

Rumor was that 250 people caught up with us in St. Thomas I know there were some but 250 seemed to be very high to me.

 

One of the Princess ships was at dock with us in Boston and they were supposed to be in NYC- when they disembarked, they were sent home from Boston instead of NY and the next group had to be brought up to Boston from NYC.

 

Even though we had that experience I know that the odds of encountering that type of storm are very small, so we would not hesitate to go again in hhurricane season.

[Gunner22aa]

You may miss a port or two but I have yet to see a complete cruise binned. If you miss a port you can expect to have your port fees for that location refunded to you, normally in the form of a credit applied to your onboard account. I'ts not a lot of money normally. Some cruise lines will also give you a small onboard credit for the inconvience. We got $50 for a missed port once due to high seas and the inability to tender safely that day which was required at that particular port. If you had any ships tours booked at a port you miss that money will also be refunded to you. If you had a private tour booked the recovery of those funds such as a deposit pre paid will be between you and the tour operator. The ship will not get involved to assist you.

[Cruz77]

I will be on the 9/22/13 Allure Western (Labadee, Falmouth, Cozumel). IF we were to get re-routed are there standard ports they go to instead? I would like to do plan B research on a few places just in case.