Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico

[KATHYMAC68]

I have been on over 100 cruises but never had a hurricane scare.

I’m flying from New York to Houston on Saturday, and sailing out of Galveston on Sunday on Harmony.

I started to hear that a hurricane is brewing and may hit the Gulf by the end of the week.

What do I do?

What happens if my flight is cancelled? Do I lose my cruise money?

Will the ship even go out if there’s a hurricane right in Galveston?

Anyone ever have this situation happen?

 

[leaveitallbehind]

Regarding the ship, if a hurricane would directly affect a departure port, typically for the safety of the ship she will leave port and put to sea before the storm would hit and would sail to the calmest waters possible.  If this were to happen prior to a scheduled departure then that itinerary obviously would be affected and you would be notified as soon as possible of this change by the cruise line.

 

Hopefully you have purchased cruise insurance to potentially cover any financial loses that you may incur resulting from any impact that a storm may cause.

[orville99]

56 minutes ago, KATHYMAC68 said:

I’m flying from New York to Houston on Saturday, and sailing out of Galveston on Sunday on Harmony.

I started to hear that a hurricane is brewing and may hit the Gulf by the end of the week.

What do I do

Currently, there is nothing forming. The best estimates are that if something does form, it won't happen until late next week, and none of the meteorologists have any idea what the track will ultimately be if something even forms.

[1025cruise]

The answers to your questions will depend on the terms of the insurance you bought. 

[Sunshine3601]

Right now,vi wouldnt worry, too early to tell if anything will come of the disturbance. 

 

To answer your question.  If you cannot get a flight to the area and the ship is sailing then yes, no refund from royal caribbean.   

 

Majority of sailings still happen they just change itineraries or delay a sailing by a day if the storm is bad enough to close the port.  

 

Did you purchase travel insurance?   Maybe your credit card used has some protection.

 

Try not to worry and hopefully you'll be boarding your sailing next Sunday.  

 

[ILCTCRUISER]

You’ve been on 100 cruises and you’re asking these questions?  Hmmm…..

[mo&fran]

49 minutes ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

You’ve been on 100 cruises and you’re asking these questions?  Hmmm…..

I am a Pinn , so more than 100, a lot in October out of FLL , haven't yet had a cruise impacted by a hurricane. 

Galveston has a lot of nasty weather, odds of being impacted are much greater.

 What op is asking, If there very bad weather in Galveston, the port will close, order of the US Coast Guard, not RC,  

[c-leg5]

Too early to call yet.  For no-hype forecasting

https://theeyewall.com

 

Hurricane insurance needs to be purchased before a named storm. Airlines will allow reticketing but there is always knock-on effects from airline disruption. However timing of storm and direction still uncertain at the moment. 
 

Hopefully Royal learnt its lesson from Hurricane Harvey that saw cruisers flying into Houston and stranded because they didn’t make a timely decision. You need to monitor carefully and hopefully have insurance. Texas is in peak hurricane season. Last minute changes are not unexpected.

[smokeybandit]

  

3 hours ago, KATHYMAC68 said:

I’m flying from New York to Houston on Saturday, and sailing out of Galveston on Sunday on Harmony.

 

I wouldn't sweat it one bit at this point.  It's entirely likely this future storm doesn't affect Texas at all.

Edited 21 hours ago by smokeybandit

[ARandomTraveler]

If they close the port and the ship can't sail, you'll get a refund or a future cruise credit. If the ship CAN sail, but you don't make it, then your options will be based on the travel insurance you bought. If you didn't buy travel insurance, you lose your money. 

Edited 20 hours ago by ARandomTraveler

[KATHYMAC68]

3 hours ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

You’ve been on 100 cruises and you’re asking these questions?  Hmmm…..

Yes.. Like I said, never had an issue with a hurricane happening before or during my cruises. 

[KATHYMAC68]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

  

 

I wouldn't sweat it one bit at this point.  It's entirely likely this future storm doesn't affect Texas at all.

Thank you! 🙏

[KATHYMAC68]

2 hours ago, mo&fran said:

I am a Pinn , so more than 100, a lot in October out of FLL , haven't yet had a cruise impacted by a hurricane. 

Galveston has a lot of nasty weather, odds of being impacted are much greater.

 What op is asking, If there very bad weather in Galveston, the port will close, order of the US Coast Guard, not RC,  

Thank you! I’m not the only one who has been lucky all these years!

[smokeybandit]

10 minutes ago, KATHYMAC68 said:

Thank you! 🙏

I would only start to be concerned if the storm was threatening the home port, in this case Galveston. At this point, any storm looks to be headed east to northwest Florida, give or take 100 miles.

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re getting ready to go on a 7-day cruise on the Wonder OTS tomorrow out of Port Canaveral and will be heading towards the western Caribbean and the potential storm after visiting the Bahamas on Monday, which I will also be posting our experiences to in a Live From thread.

 

I like to use Windy to see the weather forecasted for the next 10 days in any area of the world we cruise to.
 

https://www.windy.com
 

Just launch windy.com, move the map to the area you are interested in, then tap the arrow in the bottom lefthand corner and it will provide a graphic display of what is currently forecasted over the next 10 days. By default it selects wind speed. But you can change it to reflect forecasted rain, waves, or any other option listed on the righthand side of the page. 
 

As for the potential storm in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico later this week, its forecast keeps adjusting every 6 hours or so. But I’m sure the forecast will eventually start to stabilize over the next few days.
 

I know this doesn’t answer your what do I do question. But it’s a pretty reliable source to monitor the forecasted weather over a 10-day period.

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Ken the cruiser

[ONECRUISER]

One yr I Cruised in the 90's was Record year for Hurricanes up til then. We had 4 of them week I was onboard, 1 Port Changed and we did reverse stops as we went around them. Only issue was Gulf was stirred up but I don't like a Cruise unless Ship is rocking a little 

[firefly333]

6 hours ago, KATHYMAC68 said:

Thank you! I’m not the only one who has been lucky all these years!

I too have done over 100 cruises and have had many impacts, mostly out of Galveston. 

 

Hurricane Ike of course being the worse. We left sunday, it was forecast to maybe even miss texas and hit mexico, friday doglegged and hit Galveston. My car was parked at ezcruise. 6 months old, brand new from the show room. Never saw it again. Water up to the sun visor. At the port 17 feet of water threw cars around. We stayed a extra night in cozumel and then docked in new orleans. I was up all nignt hardly slept with 2 hc pax I was responsible for, my sister and her friend. I will never take another hc pax with me. I was on carnival conquest. 7 outside lines on conquest so trying to call from your cabin just busy signals, I stood in line for hours at guest services, finally found a midsize rental car, couldnt rent a small car because friend had one of those walkers that didnt hardly fold up. 

 

We had to go thru customs in new Orleans, Galveston of course closed. Take a taxi to rental car, pay for rental car out of my own pocket. Drive thru Louisiana scary as many gas stations out of gas, finally filled up, so sleepy, neither sister or her friend could drive. Found out car flood insurance completely different than accident, higher deductible and a team from allstate took forever to get down to evaluate my car. All my car contents gone, I had some valuable hawaiian music CDs I'd collected in the car.

 

All the rumors by people not on the ship claiming we were offered a bus ride home are false. Where would this bus have taken us. Carnival cheerleaders later made up all sorts of stuff saying we were taken care of. It is true you were allowed to reboard the ship after you went through customs in new orleans. Later the ship was given permission to go to the then new houston port, but that was after most left new orleans. Not known when we debarked. And what then had I gotten back on the ship, and done the ship bsck to the then not opened houston port, no infrastructure set up yet, no rental cars close. I'd still have had to figure a way back to north of dallas. I've heard a lot of untrue stuff how things werent as bad as they were. We were allowed 2 phone call from guest services and then bsck in line for a 2nd call to a 2nd rental car place all night is what happened and neither of my guests could help and sat in their rooms. I vowed never to do carnival again. 

 

I dont know what royal did, I was on carnival. I've been on ships to no where, to those who say it cant happen, out of Galveston there arent as many alternate ports. Once missed 2 of 3 ports. Hahahaha. We had a ship uprising. I kid you not. Some lawyer newbie cruiser knew his rights. They marched around the ship until we got a free happy hour. Security removed him from marching near guest services. They called radio and tv stations expecting this huge news how we were due 2/3 refund big news the tv stations would meet them at the dock. 

 

So anyone saying nothing will happen ... I've had lots of experiences were onboard things werent as calm as people here post.  ..bottom of line never cancelled...the ship will sail. 

 

Oh I remember some huge snow storm type thing affected royal I think too. Couldnt drive to the port. The ship waited until that night. Baltimore maybe? People who lived there their streets didnt get ploughed so they couldnt drive to the port,,..so close but couldnt drive. Too far to walk. If you didnt get a hotel right there near the port or on a main street the ploughs got down couldnt get to the ship. Too bad too sad, should have planned ahead they said. Gotten a hotel at the port.

Edited 13 hours ago by firefly333

[smokeybandit]

At this point there are no indications the impending storm will have any impact on next weekend's Galveston cruises.

 

It does look to impact western Caribbean port stops early/mid week then possibly be a nuisance to Tampa-based cruises depending on track.

[island lady]

16 hours ago, orville99 said:

Currently, there is nothing forming. The best estimates are that if something does form, it won't happen until late next week, and none of the meteorologists have any idea what the track will ultimately be if something even forms.

 

Yeah, I thought that was weird also.   As of this morning, it was not even an "invest" yet.  I guess the weather reporters are getting bored with no hurricanes to report on much this season...which suits me fine.  😉  

 

Being on a ship when there are hurricanes afoot?   Mmmm...I can't move my house out of the way of an oncoming hurricane...but the ship can move my temporary living quarters out of harms way.  😉 

[island lady]

15 hours ago, mo&fran said:

I am a Pinn , so more than 100, a lot in October out of FLL , haven't yet had a cruise impacted by a hurricane. 

Galveston has a lot of nasty weather, odds of being impacted are much greater.

 What op is asking, If there very bad weather in Galveston, the port will close, order of the US Coast Guard, not RC,  

 

Yup, B2B Oct. Enchantment coming up.  No worries on my end, unless indeed they shut down the port of Tampa should one brew up near there 😕...just getting the house prepped before we leave is all.  😉 

 

 

[orville99]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

 

Yeah, I thought that was weird also.   As of this morning, it was not even an "invest" yet.  I guess the weather reporters are getting bored with no hurricanes to report on much this season...which suits me fine.  😉  

 

Being on a ship when there are hurricanes afoot?   Mmmm...I can't move my house out of the way of an oncoming hurricane...but the ship can move my temporary living quarters out of harms way.  😉 

I think they are under orders to use up all of the names regardless of whether anyone actually gets wet. They are still showing Gordon even though it never materialized and just annoyed a  few fish.😇🐟🐠

 

 

 

 

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Yup, B2B Oct. Enchantment coming up.  No worries on my end, unless indeed they shut down the port of Tampa should one brew up near there 😕...just getting the house prepped before we leave is all.  😉 

 

 

You are much more likely in Tampa to get fogged in than stormed in 😉

[island lady]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

You are much more likely in Tampa to get fogged in than stormed in 😉

 

You got that right.  Wow, they have had some long...long fog delays.  Both coming and going.  

 

Well, that's doable...as long as they don't run out of Sauvignon Blanc...I am good to go...even if we are not going anywhere.  😄 

[mo&fran]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

You are much more likely in Tampa to get fogged in than stormed in 😉

Galveston does also.

[orville99]

7 minutes ago, island lady said:

Well, that's doable...as long as they don't run out of Sauvignon Blanc.

BTW, on our last cruise, they gave us KC Sauv as one of our amenities.😇