Cruising during hurricane season

[CruisinMama33]

We are booked on the Fantasy 11-night southern Caribbean in June. I'm still a relatively new cruiser (5x) and have only cruised Caribbean in the winter. Do I have any safety reasons to be concerned with cruising during hurricane season? Is Disney super conservative when it comes to ensuring their vessels are not in rough waters or stuck out in a hurricane? Thanks!

[Shmoo here]

We are booked on the Fantasy 11-night southern Caribbean in June. I'm still a relatively new cruiser (5x) and have only cruised Caribbean in the winter. Do I have any safety reasons to be concerned with cruising during hurricane season? Is Disney super conservative when it comes to ensuring their vessels are not in rough waters or stuck out in a hurricane? Thanks!

 

In my experience, all cruise line captains do their best to avoid weather-related problems while at sea.

 

It's not really in their best interest to sail directly into a hurricane.

 

They will either change ports or sail out to sea to avoid them, if possible.

[moki'smommy]

We've done lots of cruises in hurricane season, in part due to a September birthday and in part because you can get some good deals then.

 

As above, the captain will do everything possible to re-route the cruise to smooth water. If you are the kind of person who will be upset with a change of ports, this season might not be for you. If you can "go with the flow," you can have some great adventures.

 

We went to Key West on the Magic before that was an official stop--the captain decided that we'd spend a day there to enable him to see which way the hurricane was heading and attempt to do as much of our schedule as possible. (we ended up missing one of the saints, going to the other and Castaway).

 

The worst situation we experienced was when a hurricane closed Port Canaveral. Our Saturday cruise departed from Ft Lauderdale (Port Everglades) on Tuesday. Disney did give us a refund of 40% of our cruise costs and provided transportation from MCO or WDW at no charge. That all sounds great till you realize that we spent all of that and more booking a rack rate room at WDW for the extra days. The Saturday and Sunday night at WDW cost more than the entire previous week and was spent literally locked in our room. I realize that they couldn't control the weather, but they really hit us in the pocketbook for those extra nights.

 

BUT those were two experiences. The other 8 or so had no problems at all....I I don't consider a change of ports to be a big deal. I do suggest that you buy travel insurance just in case.

 

DCL will find something/somewhere safe to take their ships and their guests.

Edited January 3, 2017 by moki'smommy

[bobkat12]

All good comments above. I may add that while June is considered the beginning of hurricane season, it usually doesn't ramp up until August through October.

 

 

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[cb at sea]

"Hurricane season" simply means the weather is warm and it COULD spawn a storm...doesn't mean it will...and if it does, it doesn't mean it will be near you! From June to Jan., hurricanes can happen....usually in the autumn...but not always...and that's a crap-shoot, too!

 

 

If you are a frequent cruiser, you've learned to by vacation insurance....that will cover you if a storm causes you to lose money from a storm or other problem!

[sanger727]

There's no need to worry about safety issues during hurricane season. Across all lines They will do everything possible to stay out of the path of a major storm. The main concern people have with cruising during hurricane season is that the itinerary could change at the last minute.

 

 

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[gometros]

Hurricane season goes from the beginning of June to the end of November, with the busiest times during the fall months. As previously stated, cruise line captains will do everything in their power to avoid a storm, which means at worst you might just have a change in itinerary. Only in very rare cases wee cruises cancelled all together.

[gatour]

You said you will be cruising in June. I wouldn't worry too much about hurricanes in June.