Caribbean - Hurricane season

[beshears]

We are planning on cruising to the Caribbean the end of March/April. Do you know what time of the year, hurricanes come through? I want to avoid that time of the year.

[Coral]

June 1 - November 30.

 

I have sailed over Thanksgiving during a hurricane.....

Edited November 17, 2015 by Coral

[moki'smommy]

Officially "hurricane season is June-November. Hurricanes peak in the August-October period NORMALLY.

 

Reality, a hurricane can occur at any time and the Caribbean is a big area. We've done lots of September cruises and on 2 occasions the captain had to change course to avoid a hurricane...so we got to visit an unexpected port. Only one of these really impacted our cruise negatively because our 7 night cruise was transformed into 4 nights (boo hiss).

 

Buy travel insurance and have a great trip.

Edited November 17, 2015 by moki'smommy

[PenguinLife]

You should be safe in March / April, while it is possible for a hurricane to occur then, the vast majority form in Hurricane season June 1 - Nov 30, most commonly in Aug - Sept. A hurricane in April is about as common as a snow storm in July for your part of the country, it is very unlikely, but if you go back far enough you will find where they have happened.

[mrobstad]

I've traveled many times to the Caribbean during those months....always great weather! Feb-April rarely rains. I just came back and Ill never go in autumn again. Periods of rain mist days.

[OCruisers]

March/April is a wonderful time to take a Caribbean cruise! :)

[cb at sea]

July starts "hurricane" season...simply means it's getting warm enough for storms to form...doesn't mean they will...and the season doesn't affect the seas anymore than any other time.

[LeeW]

We are planning on cruising to the Caribbean the end of March/April. Do you know what time of the year, hurricanes come through? I want to avoid that time of the year.

 

Hmm - somebody who lives in Tornado Alley worried about hurricanes? :)

 

Since you are on the Princess board, note that they avoid the Caribbean during June-November (and now we sail RCI out of San Juan during the summer instead of Princess). Different parts of the Caribbean have different months of higher risk (see noaa.gov) so if you are concerned check the stats or completely avoid sailing June-November. But with only a half dozen storms a year your chances of a problem during the week you are sailing is far less than your risk of a tornado at home. If bad weather develops, the ship just goes somewhere else. Every couple of years a ship can't get into the home port on time and messes up a lot of flight schedules, but it is really rare.

 

You MIGHT miss a port due to weather, even if it isn't a hurricane. We missed Princess Cay last week because winds would have been over 40 mph when people were tendering back to the ship at 2 PM. Skipped the port and took about two hours to get around the south side of Tropical Storm Kate. The captain dodged most of the rain storms but we did get some light rain.

 

Personally, we don't worry about cruising in hurricane season. Would rather avoid the Noro and flu problems that seem to be mostly December-April. Plus March-April are expensive due to spring break.

[Keith1010]

Typically June/July thru October.

 

March and April are a great time to sail the Caribbean along with January and February.

 

Keith

[beshears]

Oh my, thank you "everyone" for your answers. You have really made me feel better about cruising during that time period.

 

Someone suggested taking out insurance, oh yes I definitely do when flying and crusing together. To say the least, it has come in handy on more than one occassion.

 

Someone mentioned about "tornado alley," well yes, you might say where I live it has been that way a few times. Being in Kansas City (Gladstone), about 5 years ago, the tornado was about 1 mile from us, leaving debra in our yard. Then 5 years before that, it was about 1 mile away, only another direction. That's why I was asking about the "hurricane" instead.:)

[AHS123]

"Being in Kansas City (Gladstone), about 5 years ago, the tornado was about 1 mile from us, leaving debra in our yard."

 

Prayers for poor debra.

Edited November 18, 2015 by AHS123

[Rala]

The "nice" thing about hurricanes is that there is plenty of warning that they are coming, and you can avoid them by moving away which is exactly what the cruise ships do if there might be a hurricane in the offing. Not so easy to do with tornadoes as the warning time is considerably shorter.

OP, go and enjoy your cruise and don't worry about hurricane season. :)

[TC1957]

"Being in Kansas City (Gladstone), about 5 years ago, the tornado was about 1 mile from us, leaving debra in our yard."

 

Prayers for poor debra.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Since my nephew named all their animals I am also wondering if debra is a cow, pig, chicken, dog, human...or typo :D

[AHS123]

I was thinking the same thing. Since my nephew named all their animals I am also wondering if debra is a cow, pig, chicken, dog, human...or typo :D

Small "d" in debra, probably a beloved pet ;)

[loubetti]

Just remember this:

 

June - Too Soon (first month)

July - Standby (for any news of a storm)

August - You must (prepare in case a storm comes)

September - Remember (to standby)

October - It's all over (last month)

 

That's been around for decades!

[beshears]

Sorry, I should have said leaving debris, in the yard, not debra. :(