help put my mind at ease please!!!!!

[princessonthebeach]

Hi All

I really want to go on a cruise for my 40th birthday. The only problem is that my birthday is in Sept. One minute I think it will be ok and then the next I have convinced myself it is will not be ok. Has anyone been on a cruise in Sept when there was a hurricane a brewin. What can I expect and is it really all that bad? I would love to hear everyones opions and advice.

[Tucker in Texas]

Go ahead and go. As one who lives in a hurricane zone, Galveston, (and spent 26 hours on the road evacuating for Rita), you learn to live your life as it comes and if a hurricane comes in, you deal with it. They don't come that often and when they do, they may not come your direction anyway. If you are on the ship, they will go hundreds of miles out of their way to avoid it. The itinerary may change because of it but, on the good side, you may get an extra day out of it, too, if they can't get back into port. Buy third party insurance to cover that contingency. Official hurricane season lasts six months or so and they don't have a calendar so nothing is to keep them coming early or late. If you don't cruise during hurricane season, then that really limits your "window."

 

Tucker in Texas

[ladyamazon]

Hello all! For the first time, I have just purchased a cruise without insurance. We are sailing on Aug 30th on the Ecstasy. After reading this thread, I am thinking I may have made a HUGE mistake!

I always thought that the reason for insurance was in case you needed to cancel because of med. reasons. So if the ship cannot sail, you are just out of luck if you didn't purchase insurance? Also, is there anyway to purchase after you have paid in full?

We have never sailed in August before....so I didn't even give a thought to it being Hurricane season...YIKES!

[Tucker in Texas]

You can buy the insurance after final payment from a third party it just won't cover any pre-existing problems. It will cover everything else if you get the right policy. Go to insuremytrip.com where they have a lot of policies listed and you can compare them as for coverage and cost. I usually get AIG Travel Guard Essential Expanded because it covers pre-existing. However, since you won't be covered for that, Travel Guard Essential is the same policy and costs less. My main thing is to have Medi-evacuation. It is easy to buy on-line.

 

Tucker in Texas

[PrettyLA]

A hurricane can come at any time. On our cruise on Mariner of the Seas in July 2005, Hurricane Dennis made us miss two ports of call. We are going on a cruise this August and am hoping a hurricane does not come. Try to relax about it. Hope for the best.

[ladyamazon]

We are driving into Galveston a day early, so a missed flight won't be an issue. Even if we were a day late returning, I don't think there will be a problem. If there were a hurricane to come into Galveston before the dates of the cruise and they had to get the ship out of Galveston Bay/Pier before out boarding time, would we get a voucher for a future cruise? Or is this one of the reasons we need insurance?

I guess med insurance would be a good thing also. Guess I better rethink the insurance.

Thanks for any and all advice. This is the first time I will be cruising without my DH and I guess I am a bit nervous about that also...lol.

[first_time_cruiser_sept06]

We went on our first cruise last year in the 3rd week of September. The weather was absolutely georgeous! Not one drop of rain.....

So, since we are taking one in September again.... I will be holding my breath and crossing my fingers!......................... :)

 

If a storm pops up most likely they will re-route you..............????

[cruisers7771]

Unless I was reading it wrong, I was under the assumption, "bad weather" including hurricane, they do not refund your money....meaning insurrance doesnt cover that. The ship will always go away from the hurricane should one come into path. And they will go to some other port not on your agenda. Another words, they "make up" for it. And like I said, it was my understanding they do not cancel cruises because of hurricanes......

But then again, who knows...

We are going on one on Aug. 26th. I read from a website that the "peak" hurricane season for the WESTERN caribbean is Mid-sept thru nov. althought the complete season is June thru Nov.

Good Luck!

[margretha]

We have gone out of Boston to Bermuda late every September for the past

8 years. Usually: gorgeous, warm, glassy seas, not a cloud or breath of wind, sometimes rain, sometimes not great. Twice we have had hurricane issues. A few years ago the whistles started blowing late in the afternoon on the day before we were scheduled to depart from Bermuda. We were in a restaurant and there was a general announcement: anyone on Norwegian, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean - you need to return to your ships right now. So we did. It was amazing to see this huge long conga line of ships pulling out as soon as the gang planks went up. Ahead of us: blue, blue skies. No one could figure out why we were leaving. About half an hour out you could look back and see black skies. The water got rough that night - not many at the midnight buffet, etc. But it more adventure than fear. Bring dramamine(?). The captain and cruise lines look out very closely for the safety of passengers. They will skip ports, detour widely to avoid these kinds of storms. Of course then people complain and moan they've missed a port or something. But we are safe and being waited on hand and foot so how bad can it be? We've been in some really bad storms at times when it isn't hurricane season. It is a big ocean out there. Even when green water came up on the lido deck and washed away the tiki shack where the bar and burgers were set up, it was more interesting than scarey. They had closed the lido and pools far in advance.

You'll be fine. Go. It will be an adventure either way. margareth:cool:

[TexJan]

We were booked out of New Orleans when Katrina hit and they moved the ship to Galveston and gave us credits on our ship account, then the week we were to leave the hurricane hit Galveston so they could not leave until Wednesday and offered us a discounted cruise or another week on the same cruise ship. We opted for the next week and carried over our credits from the original cruise change and also others from the delayed cruise. This was all without insurance and also our flights were changed free of charge because of the weather. We were thrilled and quit worrying about the weather and insurance so much. I'm not saying this is always the case, but I think if the ship can't leave or changes plans, they will issue you a cruise credit. Remember the ship travels faster than a hurricane. We always travel between Aug and Oct because of the price reductions. Don't worry so much and have a great time.

[Monkeythyme]

The best cruise we ever had in terms of weather and calm waters was from Mobile to Costa Maya and Cozumel aboard Holiday the week before Katrina made landfall in the Gulf. Since then, I have done some research and found that the ideal conditions for a hurricane to form are the same as the ideal conditions for a cruise. It seems to get the best you have to risk the worst.

[krazy4cruise]

My mom and a big group of family members were scheduled to leave out of New Orleans when the hurricane hit there (it hit the day before they were supposed to leave) they sent the ship to Galveston and my mom and her group went a week later and didnt have insurance but carnival took care of everything, the only thing that Carnival did not take care of was their air expenses but they had booked through a local travel agent and they fixed all that so it all worked out for them.