Hurricane Dorian talk

[rolloman]

15 minutes ago, blueridgemama said:

 

Do you stay put during these storms/hurricane threats or do you high tail it to higher ground! What are you planning for this one?

To date, I have survived around 10 of these storms in my lifetime so far. I can tell you first hand a direct hit (eye wall) from a cat 3 is a terrifying experience. Therefore if it is a Cat 3, these days we evacuate. It just so happens my evacuation for this probable cat 3 is via a cruise ship. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

https://www.local10.com/weather/hurricane/hurricane-dorian-8-29-19

[rolloman]

22 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

They keep putting it off, giving people less and less time to make changes.

The big issue is they are trying to figure out along with the port what their timeline for closing is. When the port decides what they intend to do....  example: shut down Sunday morning after passenger drop off....then Royal will deliver definitive news.  They are in a tough situation. After all, first and foremost...it is a business.

[tface023]

Just now, rolloman said:

The big issue is they are trying to figure out along with the port what their timeline for closing is. When the port decides what they intend to do....  example: shut down Sunday morning after passenger drop off....then Royal will deliver definitive news.  They are in a tough situation. After all, first and foremost...it is a business.

I can get there by drop off! Let me on!

[AshleyDillo]

7 minutes ago, rolloman said:

The big issue is they are trying to figure out along with the port what their timeline for closing is. When the port decides what they intend to do....  example: shut down Sunday morning after passenger drop off....then Royal will deliver definitive news.  They are in a tough situation. After all, first and foremost...it is a business.

That's the thing if they come in to let passengers get off they have to have enough time to get the ship out of there when the port closes.  There's lots of logistics in play and unless they can stay in port until 90 minutes before the scheduled sailaway, which would be cutoff for the 9/1 passengers to board, they can't expect nor require those folks to arrive early so they can leave early.  I don't know if they arrange something special for CBP to clear the ship without having the personnel there to do it either.

[bouhunter]

13 minutes ago, tface023 said:

I can get there by drop off! Let me on!

If the ship is there...........

[tface023]

I’m in touch with a crew member on board the harmony now. He’s hearing that they are talking about delaying arrival until Monday.

 

Im not optimistic, though. Some predictions say the storm may not even make landfall until Monday or Tuesday.

[bouhunter]

41 minutes ago, kruzerci said:

Very irritated at the 1PM "update". Nothing even changed. They have Mariner and Navigator in the Bahamas still... Pretty poor communication.

Regardless what they decide or when, there will be angry customers.  Whether it's delays, cancellations, changes.....the cruise lines are in a no-win situation with these storms.  What exactly are they supposed to communicate on Thursday regarding a storm that is now predicted to hit Florida next Tuesday?  And of course that can change.

[tface023]

1 minute ago, bouhunter said:

Regardless what they decide or when, there will be angry customers.  Whether it's delays, cancellations, changes.....the cruise lines are in a no-win situation with these storms.  What exactly are they supposed to communicate on Thursday regarding a storm that is now predicted to hit Florida next Tuesday?  And of course that can change.

Exactly.  If they play it safe and the storm turns north or peters out, people will be pissed they missed their flights and cruise.  If they don’t, they risk stranding a lot of people in airports. 

[ryano]

55 minutes ago, tface023 said:

 

I don't know think that it's intentional.  Some reports are showing that the storm might not make landfall until as late as Tuesday.  There are a lot of factors to consider. They don't want to strand people on a ship longer than necessary, or delay people waiting to embark if they don't have to.

 

I just cancelled my hotel reservation regardless.  Im not coming down even if I lose everything at this point. Gonna be an expensive lesson learned if so but there is no way I am subjecting myself to that kinda stress and chaos.  Its wishful thinking at this point to think this cruise will leave out on Sunday IMO and they know this already. 

[blueridgemama]

6 minutes ago, tface023 said:

Exactly.  If they play it safe and the storm turns north or peters out, people will be pissed they missed their flights and cruise.  If they don’t, they risk stranding a lot of people in airports. 

 

Category 4 is a really major storm. It seems to me that Florida would not want multiple thousands of people coming to Florida when a storm of this magnitude is expected. I know cruise lines are a business but for the sake and safety of everyone involved I think they should bring their ships home before the storm and then cancel all cruises until the storm is over. Just my opinion.

[smplybcause]

18 minutes ago, tface023 said:

I’m in touch with a crew member on board the harmony now. He’s hearing that they are talking about delaying arrival until Monday.

 

Im not optimistic, though. Some predictions say the storm may not even make landfall until Monday or Tuesday.

 

That makes no sense. Monday is when things will start picking up. 

[tface023]

1 minute ago, smplybcause said:

 

That makes no sense. Monday is when things will start picking up. 

I agree. He said that the ship made an announcement to everyone yesterday that they would likely be delayed a day.  RC isn't giving any official word until 6 tonight, so at best I'm sure it's just gossip based on outdated info.

[tface023]

4 minutes ago, blueridgemama said:

 

Category 4 is a really major storm. It seems to me that Florida would not want multiple thousands of people coming to Florida when a storm of this magnitude is expected. I know cruise lines are a business but for the sake and safety of everyone involved I think they should bring their ships home before the storm and then cancel all cruises until the storm is over. Just my opinion.

I'd be sad, but you're right.  The forecast keeps getting worse, and at least we'd all know and could stop worrying about the what ifs

[thrifty99]

Does anyone recall if a cruise line has returned a ship a day early and then departed for the next week a day earlier than originally scheduled?  While it looks like that could be doable, based on the current tracking, for Sunday cruises (move them up a day to Saturday), I'm not sure if that would even be on the table or ever done before.  It could be a logistic nightmare trying to be sure all the passengers departing could get to a safe place before the storm hit Sunday or Monday.  

[Clarea]

Just now, thrifty99 said:

Does anyone recall if a cruise line has returned a ship a day early and then departed for the next week a day earlier than originally scheduled?  While it looks like that could be doable, based on the current tracking, for Sunday cruises (move them up a day to Saturday), I'm not sure if that would even be on the table or ever done before.  It could be a logistic nightmare trying to be sure all the passengers departing could get to a safe place before the storm hit Sunday or Monday.  

 

Yes, they have returned a day early in the past. 

[tface023]

1 minute ago, thrifty99 said:

Does anyone recall if a cruise line has returned a ship a day early and then departed for the next week a day earlier than originally scheduled?  While it looks like that could be doable, based on the current tracking, for Sunday cruises (move them up a day to Saturday), I'm not sure if that would even be on the table or ever done before.  It could be a logistic nightmare trying to be sure all the passengers departing could get to a safe place before the storm hit Sunday or Monday.  

It would be a logistical nightmare to get everyone there early on such short notice, too.  

[blueridgemama]

There is so much uncertainty with this hurricane that we have decided it is not worth the chaos and safety issues of driving into a hurricane zone instead of out of it. We are not coming down for our cruise. If they cancel the cruise then I assume we will get some sort of a refund. If the cruise is shortened then we would get some money back for the days missed. Would we still get that if we just do not show up for the cruise and it does go out a day or so late or do you have to be on the ship? I' m not planning to cancel the cruise officially just not show up for it

We live in SC so we are in the cone of uncertainty so it is probably wise for us to stay home and protect our house.

This is so disappointing as I have been looking forward to this cruise on the Symphony for over a year.

[ticketsunlimited]

10 minutes ago, thrifty99 said:

Does anyone recall if a cruise line has returned a ship a day early and then departed for the next week a day earlier than originally scheduled?  While it looks like that could be doable, based on the current tracking, for Sunday cruises (move them up a day to Saturday), I'm not sure if that would even be on the table or ever done before.  It could be a logistic nightmare trying to be sure all the passengers departing could get to a safe place before the storm hit Sunday or Monday.  

The ship would sail half full if they did that.  A lot of people risk their vacations and come in the day of the cruise.  Can you imagine the panic when the text went out to everybody all over the country, Europe..."We are happy to inform you that the ship will be leaving 24 hours early, be there or be square".  Not going to happen

[thrifty99]

IF Dorian appeared to be shifting to a Monday landfall as models have begun to show, then bringing Harmony in early Saturday could be a viable option.  

 

For the current sailing passengers, it gets them home.  It also gets those who drove the opportunity to get their vehicles out of the hurricane area.  

 

For next week's sailing passengers, yes there would be many who could not make it to an early departure.  But maybe about the same as who would bail if they had to shift it to a 4-5 day cruise next week and were offered to cancel anyway.

 

I was just wondering if it would even be on option on the table they are considering.  If the next update shifts the landfall to later Monday or Tuesday, then that may be an even stronger reason to move the Sunday arrivals / departures up a day to Saturday versus pushing them back to Wednesday.  

[rolloman]

10 minutes ago, tface023 said:

It would be a logistical nightmare to get everyone there early on such short notice, too.  

The ship could come in early and then depart without passengers. However with revenue paying customers already onboard, I would assume staying out at sea would be a better deal in their minds. This whole thing will boil down to when the port decides to close.. then they can get the blame lol.... 

[janrey1234]

11 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

I just cancelled my hotel reservation regardless.  Im not coming down even if I lose everything at this point. Gonna be an expensive lesson learned if so but there is no way I am subjecting myself to that kinda stress and chaos.  Its wishful thinking at this point to think this cruise will leave out on Sunday IMO and they know this already. 

Good choice,  it would be worse to end up in the middle of a category four hurricane then losing the money. 

 

I live near Daytona beach. At 8:00 am on Sunday it is expected to be 291 miles off the coast by 8 am on Monday it is expected to be 133 miles away.  While it is expected to hit at Indian River Shores it could go north or south and that may not be known until Saturday.   If the Captain decides to book it back tonight to Florida it could make it in on Saturday but then that would put anyone who is waiting on a flight searching for hotels or having to camp out at the Orlando airport, plus does the cruise line want to have the ship in dock when the hurricane hits, most likely if it did come in on Saturday and it could  scoot out after unloading they would do that.  If it doesn't make it in it will most likely sit out there until at least late Monday.   All this could change and more accurate forecasts won't be until at least Saturday.  If the ship continues to the next port on Friday I don't think it will risk it going back to Port Canaveral.  That is my opinion.  Now I need to decide what to do.  This is the biggest issue of where to go because waiting until Saturday to decide which way this thing is headed means not being able to leave due to traffic and what if we head north into Georgia or South Carolina and it changes course for there.

[rolloman]

4 minutes ago, janrey1234 said:

Good choice,  it would be worse to end up in the middle of a category four hurricane then losing the money. 

 

I live near Daytona beach. At 8:00 am on Sunday it is expected to be 291 miles off the coast by 8 am on Monday it is expected to be 133 miles away.  While it is expected to hit at Indian River Shores it could go north or south and that may not be known until Saturday.   If the Captain decides to book it back tonight to Florida it could make it in on Saturday but then that would put anyone who is waiting on a flight searching for hotels or having to camp out at the Orlando airport, plus does the cruise line want to have the ship in dock when the hurricane hits, most likely if it did come in on Saturday and it could  scoot out after unloading they would do that.  If it doesn't make it in it will most likely sit out there until at least late Monday.   All this could change and more accurate forecasts won't be until at least Saturday.  If the ship continues to the next port on Friday I don't think it will risk it going back to Port Canaveral.  That is my opinion.  Now I need to decide what to do.  This is the biggest issue of where to go because waiting until Saturday to decide which way this thing is headed means not being able to leave due to traffic and what if we head north into Georgia or South Carolina and it changes course for there.

Those tropical force winds will be well out in front of the storm...so I would not get to caught up in the "not supposed to hit until Monday or Tuesday etc. The port will close well ahead of this...

[thrifty99]

28 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Yes, they have returned a day early in the past. 

Thanks Bob.  The bigger question is if you ever recall them departing a day earlier for some reason in the past?

[Diver2014]

Please, no course changes for Dorian to Georgia or South Carolina!  I know, I'm barking to the wind but we moved away from Florida 4 years ago thinking we were getting away from all this (wrong....next thing we knew, we had Matthew at our doorstep).

It's just too risky to book Caribbean cruises during hurricane season.  The last few years has seen an increase in hurricane activity as far as I can remember.  Hurricane Andrew in Miami was my first encounter.  We have evacuated from Hilton Head Island here in South Carolina for the past 3 years.  No way should anyone consider riding out a hurricane.  It's not worth your life.