Hurricane Arthur

[aSiAnRiCk]

Hello,

 

We'll be on our first Canada New England cruise this weekend with the Maasdam.

 

Hurricane Arthur is "scheduled" to be in Boston on the 4th and Maine on the 5th. Honestly, I'm really concerned about this weather, especially since Maasdam is not a large ship.

 

In your experience, do they just postpone the departure date and change the ports? And what would the "substitute" ports be?

 

Thank you so much.

[KirkNC]

Hard to give an answer because each storm is different. They will do what ever they deem appropriate, they may stay in a port longer they may not. Given the timeline you describe thay may stay one extra day in Boston and than skip one of the ports to get back on track. The good news is once these storms pass, it calms down pretty quickly. And also this is a weak catagory 1.

[sapper1]

It's supposed to be here in New Brunswick/Nova Scotia on Saturday with torrential rain and high winds. They have yet to decide whether Halifax or Saint John will tale the direct hit. Regardless, it will certainly be felt to one degree or another in both places. Not a good day to be at sea for sure.

 

The Carnival Splendor is due here on Saturday so we will see what happens there.

Edited July 3, 2014 by sapper1

[nautica34]

The really bad weather is supposed to be here in Boston tomorrow. By Saturday morning the storm will be gone and it's supposed to be a nice sunny day with highs in the low 80's. You should be fine leaving. Hopefully Arthur won't effect Massdam arriving Saturday morning. Hope you have a great cruise. I'll be sailing on her next Saturday from Montreal back to Boston.

[KirkNC]

Hard to give an answer because each storm is different. They will do what ever they deem appropriate, they may stay in a port longer they may not. Given the timeline you describe thay may stay one extra day in Boston and than skip one of the ports to get back on track. The good news is once these storms pass, it calms down pretty quickly. And also this is a weak catagory 1.

 

I have to amend this as it is now forecast to become a cat 2.

[Susie51]

Hurricanes are hard to predict, but your captain will do a good job avoiding the worst of the weather. In 2008 a hurricane was affecting various ports on our Canada/New England cruise and the captain was very good about keeping us out of the bad weather. The hurricane also changed course and went out to sea.

 

Don't be upset about port changes that might be necessary. Try to keep a positive attitude and be sure to share your experiences with us.

 

Bon Voyage

[cruisenfreak]

Nine years ago we were on the Clipper Adventurer from iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada down to Charleston, SC. A hurricane interfered with some of that passage when we had to go into Halifax early, tie up securely and wait out the storm. I think we were there 3 days. Even though the weather was horrible, the hurricane turned, missed Halifax, left little to no damage, and allowed us to enjoy the wonderful hospitality from the city. They treated us well! Mary Jane

Edited July 3, 2014 by cruisenfreak

[sail7seas]

You'll have to wait to get word from HAL what they plan. They will eventually make an announcement on their web site but your TA (if you used one) could also be notified.

 

DH and I (along with another CC couple) were on Maasdam several years ago doing the cruise you are booked but we did it b-to-b.... Boston to Montreal to Boston. The first week was glorious weather. The second week was just about called off due to a huge hurricane coming up the coast and at one point, seemed to be heading for a direct hit on Boston.

 

We left Montreal as scheduled, stopped in Quebec City and Charlottetown and both port calls were wonderful with great weather.

 

When we returned to the ship at PEI, Captain made an announcement about the Hurricane and the change they had planned to our itinerary. He called for a 'live' meeting in Show Lounge and he, along with Hotel Manager and Chief Engineer told us the ship would skip all remaining ports and we would hurry back to Boston. We were scheduled to arrive mid day Thursday and the ship would tie up there and ride out the storm.

 

In essence, though we were all still aboard, the cruise ended from that moment on. Crew's morale sunk as they knew there would be unhappy guests, guests certainly were unhappy to miss so much of the cruise but weather and safety is the only thing that matters.

 

Because we live in Boston, DH and I left the ship as soon as it was cleared and HAL had a taxi waiting at the bottom of the gangway to help us on our way. Our stewards brought our luggage to the cut in the side of the ship and handed it to a stevedore waiting for us.

 

If this storm was to be so bad the ship had to go to these extremes to keep souls and ship safe, I had to go home and see to it we protected our house as well as we could. The cruise was supposed to have ended Saturday and all guests were permitted to stay aboard until then and almost all did.

 

In the end, the storm veered off and we didn't so much as get a wisp of wind.

 

[Susie51]

Sail7seas thank you for sharing your interesting experience.

[sail7seas]

Sail7seas thank you for sharing your interesting experience.

 

 

You're welcome, Susie. :)

As you know from your many cruises, if you sail long enough, a great many cruises, you likely have a story about many of the things one can experience aboard one ship or another. :) All in all, despite a few less than great experiences even the 'downers' were so well worth it seeing we enjoyed so very many fabulous times aboard blue hulled beauties.

 

Edited July 3, 2014 by sail7seas

[Snook]

We were on the Eurodam in the fall of 2012 when Sandy was forming off of Cuba. Our cruise was to come down the East coast to Port Everglades. Boston was our second to last call before heading for Port Everglades. We were scheduled to go into Newport, R.I. After departing Boston, the Captain announced that we would not be going to Newport because of the Hurricane. Being from Florida, I thought to myself, hurricane, what hurricane. We don’t have hurricanes in October!! But, sure enough, there was a hurricane forming and it was supposed to come up the East coast. They closed Port Everglades so we were to divert to Port Canaveral. They then closed Port Canaveral. We circled off Jacksonville for most of the Friday, then, went into Jacksonville. Jacksonville was not prepared for such a large cruise ship but we came in anyway. I had a rental car scheduled for Port Everglades, then changed it to Port Canaveral, and then to Jacksonville. It was quite an experience, but the Captain, I think made the right decisions.

[sapper1]

Our local TV news just reported that the Carnival Splendor has been re routed to Bermuda instead of coming to the Maritimes. Hmmmmmm---- I could live with that. :D

[sail7seas]

I agree........ that wouldn't be 'all' bad. :)

Different clothes though. Hope they got a heads up in time to take out the hoodies and add another swimsuit. :)

 

[Copper10-8]

All the best to all of you on the east coast; take care and be safe!

[PathfinderEss]

Our local TV news just reported that the Carnival Splendor has been re routed to Bermuda instead of coming to the Maritimes. Hmmmmmm---- I could live with that. :D

I read that on the Carnival board and most passengers seem to be pretty happy about going to Bermuda. We were just wondering if they brought their shorts and swimsuits.:D

[TiogaCruiser]

Way OT but Copper, what's the new avatar?

[Sam.Seattle]

Never leave home without them! A detour to Bermuda would also be a great reason to buy a new swim suit :-)

 

Per the weather channel - looks like the path will keep him off the US shores.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Sam.Seattle

[normr]

Hello,

 

We'll be on our first Canada New England cruise this weekend with the Maasdam.

 

Hurricane Arthur is "scheduled" to be in Boston on the 4th and Maine on the 5th. Honestly, I'm really concerned about this weather, especially since Maasdam is not a large ship.

 

In your experience, do they just postpone the departure date and change the ports? And what would the "substitute" ports be?

 

Thank you so much.

 

Let us know what happens, we were on the June 14th sailing of the Maasdam from Montreal to Boston and they eliminated Prince Edward Island from our itinerary and we stayed 2 days in Quebec City since they had to do repairs with divers on the ship

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Edited July 4, 2014 by normr

[POA1]

Way OT but Copper, what's the new avatar?

Looks like Holland's World Cup flag logo.

 

Personally, I don't trust a sport where they keep changing the ball. ;)

[sail7seas]

Looks like Holland's World Cup flag logo.

 

Personally, I don't trust a sport where they keep changing the ball. ;)

 

 

 

Hup, Holland, Hup :D

 

 

House of Orange

 

[summersigh]

We were very lucky on the mainland Carolina Coast with Arthur ... so much so that I worry about the next time we have a warning that folks will take it too lightly.

We had tourists from the mid-west bragging about how they "survived" a hurricane. Except for the outer banks, we pretty much had hard summer rain storms.:rolleyes:

 

The summer we did the TA on the Queen Mary2 we were on a course which would intersect with Hurricane Christopher making its way up the center of the Atlantic. The Captain announces that we'd be getting rough weather so be prepared. He adjusted our course, Christopher jogged its course a bit and overall we had some minimal rolling. We had to laugh when the Captain came on the next morning and "apologized" to all those passengers hoping for stories of excitement to take home with them.:D

[SharonN]

Just a quick note since I don't want to spend too much time reading the thread with the on-board internet :) but thought someone might want to know. We're on board the Maasdam now and will also be doing the return trip to Montreal. We were told this morning that we'd be leaving Bar Harbor by 1 (a few hours early) to try and avoid as much of the storm as possible and that we should still arrive in Boston on time tomorrow. It must have taken longer to get everyone back on board as we didn't leave until 2 but the captain just came on and said the storm is now supposed to be moving further out and it should be calmer than originally expected. They have already taken things off the shelves in some of the shops and all the deck chairs were taken off the Lower Promenade and back pool area this morning.

[garlinn]

Just a quick note since I don't want to spend too much time reading the thread with the on-board internet :) but thought someone might want to know. We're on board the Maasdam now and will also be doing the return trip to Montreal. We were told this morning that we'd be leaving Bar Harbor by 1 (a few hours early) to try and avoid as much of the storm as possible and that we should still arrive in Boston on time tomorrow. It must have taken longer to get everyone back on board as we didn't leave until 2 but the captain just came on and said the storm is now supposed to be moving further out and it should be calmer than originally expected. They have already taken things off the shelves in some of the shops and all the deck chairs were taken off the Lower Promenade and back pool area this morning.

 

Thanks for the update. We are in Boston looking forward to joining you tomorrow.

[POA1]

Just a quick note since I don't want to spend too much time reading the thread with the on-board internet :) but thought someone might want to know. We're on board the Maasdam now and will also be doing the return trip to Montreal. We were told this morning that we'd be leaving Bar Harbor by 1 (a few hours early) to try and avoid as much of the storm as possible and that we should still arrive in Boston on time tomorrow. It must have taken longer to get everyone back on board as we didn't leave until 2 but the captain just came on and said the storm is now supposed to be moving further out and it should be calmer than originally expected. They have already taken things off the shelves in some of the shops and all the deck chairs were taken off the Lower Promenade and back pool area this morning.

 

Thanks for the update, and special thanks for spending your money and vacation time to bring it. We appreciate it.

[sail7seas]

SharonN,

 

Thanks for the update.

Great to hear all is well aboard Maasdam as you make your way to Boston.

Safe sailing. :)