Late August Cruise

[cruise_everywhere]

For me I just keep thinking and singing in my head a little bit of Marley............... Don't Worry - Be Happy!

 

Everything will be good! Chances are slim like everyone has stated and you'll be enjoying your cruise the entire time!

[bighairtexan]

70+ cruises, at least half of them during hurricane season in various ports (Gulf, E Coast and Pacific(. The closest I came to being impacted was hurricane Lester in the Pacific. They did their best to skirt the storm but at least one port (Cabo) was missed and the seas were very high. Not ideal but not awful (except for half the ship who were a bit green around the gills. We've skipped other ports in and out of hurricane season for various issues, mostly weather related. Sometimes delays due to medical emergencies, sometimes issues surrounding mechanical problems.

No matter when/where you cruise, stuff can happen. The only time I missed half a cruise was out of Galveston in 2014 WELL BEFORE HURRICANE SEASON. There was an oil spill and we spent half the week on board docked at Galveston b/c the coast guard wouldn't allow anyone to sail through the oil spill and drag the oil out into the open water. You know it wasn't what we expected to be doing but we still had a great time.

IMHO you are overthinking it b/c "STUFF" can happen any time. My advice:

Don't worry about it... don't let worry impact your vacation before it actually even happens (and most likely never will)

If you are flying in, fly in AT LEAST 1 day early. Or more. Galveston has some interesting historic tours and some decent restaurants. Start your vacation a day or more early.

Be flexible and relax.

[EBFURR]

Sharon, I love your handle. bighairtexan

[DebJ14]

We live in the suburbs of Houston. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. I am not about to lose 6 months sailing time because of "hurricane season".

 

Because of our desire to sail after school starts, we have sailed out of Galveston 9 times in late August, 10 times in September and multiple times in October and November.

 

Once out of all those cruises we were held out at sea for an extra day because the port of Galveston was closed due to a tropical storm that came ashore down at Matagorda. That was an early October cruise. We sat offshore under beautiful, warm, sunny skies enjoying an extra day for free.

 

On all the other Hurricane Season sailings we actually sailed, we had pretty much perfect weather the entire time.

 

After Katrina hit New Orleans the Sensation was unable to return to New Orleans to drop off passengers, so they brought her to Galveston to drop of the passengers. Our TA called and asked if we were interested in a last minute cruise. We got a cruise from Galveston on the Sensation on 9/1/2005 for $99.00 per person. It was too good to pass up. It was also the first cruise they issued Silver Cards for "Concierge Club" members. The staff had never seen them before and told us they didn't want our Discover card. We always remember that cruise because we can pinpoint the date we became Platinum, before there even was Platinum.

 

After what happened when people failed to evacuate New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, Houston was on edge later that month when CAT 5 Hurricane Rita looked like it was headed straight for us. We left Houston on Wed. September 21, 2005 and headed to our son't house in Dallas using back roads. It took us 8 hours, but that was nothing compared to the 24 or more hours it took some people. Others were not so lucky to leave work early etc and waited until the last minute to evacuate. I 45 became a parking lot and people ran out of gas, food and water and some died during the evacuation. The Hurricane hit further east along the TX/ LA border and Houston/Galveston was spared. To avoid another debacle on the roads, they restricted our return to the Houston area. We had to wait until we were allowed. to return according to our zip code. Our assigned day to return was Tuesday September 27. We were supposed to sail on the Conquest on Sunday, September 25. Where we were staying, we could not get on the road leading to the Interstate heading South without going through a check point and showing our TX driver's license. We tried to leave Dallas on the 24th to make the cruise, but got turned back. No sooner had we made it back to our son's house when my cell phone rang and it was Carnival asking if we were going to be able to sail. I explained that we were stuck in Dallas. No big deal they said and refunded 100% of our money without us even asking. I planned to cancel and then call the insurance company, but didn't have to. We rebooked the Conquest cruise for April 2006.

 

In recent history, Hurricane Alicia (CAT 3) hit SE Texas on August 18, 1983 and Hurricane Ike (CAT 2) hit September 13, 2008. We also have had some devastating flooding rains from Tropical Storm Allison, which dumped 35 inches of rain on Houston in June 2001. But, as you can see, our really bad storms have been thankfully few, and far between.

 

There are never any guarantees as to what the weather will be, but the odds are in your favor if you sail during Hurricane Season..

[Saint Greg]

I've done early September the past two years and haven't had even a threat of bad weather.

[Drose716]

My first cruise was the last week of August 2004. We were racing a tropical storm on the way back to NYC from Nova Scotia. I mean... the odds?! Made for an evening of sightly rough seas but nothing to write home about.

 

I sailed August 2012 on the Imagination ***** Aug 24th. Hurricane Isaac changed our late night sailing from Nassau to a 6pm departure. Didn't impact my plans 1 iota. We planned to be onbaoard before that anyway. That night remains the first & only time in 7 cruises I've gotten seasick. I made the best of it anyway & dragged my butt to the nightclub. Coming home, we were delayed 12 hours disembarking because POM was closed. Flights were missed. Carnival put us up in a hotel & we got new flights the next day. I call it an adventure. I still tell the stories of dishware flying off the tables. It remains one of the most fun cruises I've been on.

 

This past cruise, I booked in early October thinking we were safer from hurricanes at that point . Enter Hurricane Matthew. Our itinerary was reversed at the last minute, but we hit every port including tender at GC & experienced the smoothest seas.

 

Even through that, I'm booked Aug 27th on the Dream out of NOLA. I can't decide if I should expect weather given my record or if I'm due for some good luck. I'm not worried about cancellation. If we re-route, we'll live. I won't even think about it until a few days before when predictions are reasonably accurate.

[SkyPiglet]

tyeomans, don't worry about it, you will have an awesome time!

 

A cancelled cruise due to a hurricane is a very rare situation. More likely, but also very rare is in a tender port like Belize could get swapped out for a different port or cancelled if weather conditions are not good. This is still pretty rare. We also are doing a late August Western Caribbean out of Galveston on the Breeze (We might be on the same cruise, if so, Breeze is the best ship!). We bought travel insurance through Carnival, not for hurricanes but because we don't completely trust the airlines to get us there. That was just for peace of mind.

[AmberTeka]

We live in the suburbs of Houston. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. I am not about to lose 6 months sailing time because of "hurricane season".

 

Because of our desire to sail after school starts, we have sailed out of Galveston 9 times in late August, 10 times in September and multiple times in October and November.

 

Once out of all those cruises we were held out at sea for an extra day because the port of Galveston was closed due to a tropical storm that came ashore down at Matagorda. That was an early October cruise. We sat offshore under beautiful, warm, sunny skies enjoying an extra day for free.

 

On all the other Hurricane Season sailings we actually sailed, we had pretty much perfect weather the entire time.

 

After Katrina hit New Orleans the Sensation was unable to return to New Orleans to drop off passengers, so they brought her to Galveston to drop of the passengers. Our TA called and asked if we were interested in a last minute cruise. We got a cruise from Galveston on the Sensation on 9/1/2005 for $99.00 per person. It was too good to pass up. It was also the first cruise they issued Silver Cards for "Concierge Club" members. The staff had never seen them before and told us they didn't want our Discover card. We always remember that cruise because we can pinpoint the date we became Platinum, before there even was Platinum.

 

After what happened when people failed to evacuate New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, Houston was on edge later that month when CAT 5 Hurricane Rita looked like it was headed straight for us. We left Houston on Wed. September 21, 2005 and headed to our son't house in Dallas using back roads. It took us 8 hours, but that was nothing compared to the 24 or more hours it took some people. Others were not so lucky to leave work early etc and waited until the last minute to evacuate. I 45 became a parking lot and people ran out of gas, food and water and some died during the evacuation. The Hurricane hit further east along the TX/ LA border and Houston/Galveston was spared. To avoid another debacle on the roads, they restricted our return to the Houston area. We had to wait until we were allowed. to return according to our zip code. Our assigned day to return was Tuesday September 27. We were supposed to sail on the Conquest on Sunday, September 25. Where we were staying, we could not get on the road leading to the Interstate heading South without going through a check point and showing our TX driver's license. We tried to leave Dallas on the 24th to make the cruise, but got turned back. No sooner had we made it back to our son's house when my cell phone rang and it was Carnival asking if we were going to be able to sail. I explained that we were stuck in Dallas. No big deal they said and refunded 100% of our money without us even asking. I planned to cancel and then call the insurance company, but didn't have to. We rebooked the Conquest cruise for April 2006.

 

In recent history, Hurricane Alicia (CAT 3) hit SE Texas on August 18, 1983 and Hurricane Ike (CAT 2) hit September 13, 2008. We also have had some devastating flooding rains from Tropical Storm Allison, which dumped 35 inches of rain on Houston in June 2001. But, as you can see, our really bad storms have been thankfully few, and far between.

 

There are never any guarantees as to what the weather will be, but the odds are in your favor if you sail during Hurricane Season..

 

RITA hit Florida. Did a lot of damage in Miami. We LIVED in Florida, Had a cruise booked out of Miami. Got down there.......NO HOTELS. The Wiring for electricity had just started. A Hampton Inn on Commercial BLVD. booked us a room. they warned no TV, ETc. We did not care. We try to Stay at that SAME Hampton Inn when we are down in South Florida. they saved us that night.

[AmberTeka]

No One sane gets into the Political argument over Climate Change.

 

On thing I know. It was science that Florida would have massive Hurricanes all throughout the past 8 years. We have not. The ones we have had had hit elsewhere. Petered out. And did bring welcome rain. AND ONE could happen Tomorrow. Not wise to tempt Fate.

 

We have had fire issues. Most credit that to overpopulation. Most sane people do. Disneyworld once sat on a Swamp. Today millions of gallons of water have to be taken from the St. Johns River to supply water for that area. Salt Intrusion into the Florida Aquifer is the fear..........

 

Court battles going on between Florida. Georgia. North Carolina over who controls the Chattahoochee River.

Honestly, if we could put a birth control element in the drinking water, something that offended NO religion or Group of People........................I think our Climate Issues would Stop.

 

And I COULD NOT MAKE THIS UP..................30+ Top Climate Scientists released an article that We are in the End of a Warm Period. Our Weather Future is COLDER

 

So I don't think the left hand knows what the right hand is doing and Vice Versa. I think a Higher Being still calls the Shots.

[Lerin]

You are really overthinking this.

Worst case scenario: your cruise will be cancelled and Carnival will offer a full refund.