Cruising in August

[extractfairy]

I am anxiously awaiting the new itineraries for Summer 2010 for the Freedom of the Seas and thought I would ask a question. I usually like to get right to vacation as soon as my daughter gets out of school, but I was wondering if I would miss any of the crowd that are doing the same thing by looking for a cruise the 1st of August right before school takes in again?

With that in thought, I wondered how many of you have cruised in August and had their cruises squashed by tropical/hurricane weather? I know there are no guarantees with Mother Nature, just trying to get feel of what past experiences have been. Thanks for any comments!

[honeywell]

I don't think you will see much difference in crowds between June, July or August. As for tropical storms, you can encounter them any time from May through November, but the later you go in the season, the warmer the water becomes and conditions for hurricane formation improves.

[T2C]

I am anxiously awaiting the new itineraries for Summer 2010 for the Freedom of the Seas and thought I would ask a question. I usually like to get right to vacation as soon as my daughter gets out of school, but I was wondering if I would miss any of the crowd that are doing the same thing by looking for a cruise the 1st of August right before school takes in again?

With that in thought, I wondered how many of you have cruised in August and had their cruises squashed by tropical/hurricane weather? I know there are no guarantees with Mother Nature, just trying to get feel of what past experiences have been. Thanks for any comments!

We've usually cruised in the last week of July/first week of August with one exception, and the ships have always been full but we've never felt crowded and we've never really noticed the kids though we're sure there were plenty. We've never had any problems with storms, thats over the past 9 years when we started cruising.

[hazeleyez3]

On our last cruise there were a decent amount of kids..nothing overpowering.

 

We were in the midst of all the hurricanes in August/September last year...we missed CocoCay (which, to us was no big deal), but we did make it to St Thomas and St Marteen (just didn't have perfect weather).

 

I have also gone in July - they switched the route because we hit a hurricane but still made our ports. We were supposed to do Grand Caymen and then Ocho Rios but we ended up going to Ocho Rios first.

 

The cruise will get cancelled if its that bad of weather, or they just might change the ports. We don't usually set our hearts on a port so we really aren't mad when they change the itinerary...maybe a little disappointed, but not getting to a port just gives us an excuse to book another.

[chazg]

My kids don't start school till after Labor Day, so we have sailed the last week before Labor Day. There where enough kids onboard so they made plenty of friends.

 

We have not really had any bad weather issues while on the ship, except a few sun showers. We did have a tropical storm a few days ahead and behind us when we cruised on the MOS 2 years ago, but we really lucked out that it wasn't that bad during the week we where on board.

 

We did have an issue getting to Ft, Lauderdale last year from Atlantic City NJ. Our plane was delayed by about 5 hours. Luckily we chose to fly the day before so we had a little bit of a cushion. We arrived in FL at about 12:30 at night and got to the Pre-Cruise Hotel and slept for a few hours before heading off to the POM. If you can fly in the day before and you will feel a little less stressed if the weather is iffy.

 

We also purchase the insurance just before final payment so we are covered if things get a bit crazy.

[rclcruzer]

We took our family in 04', 05', and 06', the 2nd week of August each time- Carribbean. There were many kids-teens on board. It was just fine for us. In fact my DH and I are cruising w/o our teens this June for our anniversary. We were thinking about waiting until Oct. but it's our 20th and wanted to celebrate on board. Kids-teens don't bother us at all...easy decision.

 

Out of those 3 cruises above, only the latter gave us a little hurricance trouble.........the port of Miami was closed on the day of our return (Sunday) so we basically had a free day at sea, returning Monday morning. (yes, a bit harried, had to use the internet to re-do several things: airline, hotel etc... but it all worked out between us and our TA 's help!)

 

We were far enough away from any danger and we

"floated" for the day (us and about 5 other ships). You will always have that chance of Hurricanes if you book between roughly June and October, but we have been ok so far.

Enjoy your trip and have fun :D

[sandytoes03]

I've cruise in August 3 times and never had an issue with tropical storms. I found the August cruise to be less crazy then the spring break ones. I loved all the August cruises. So much fun!

[rclcruzer]

I've cruise in August 3 times and never had an issue with tropical storms. I found the August cruise to be less crazy then the spring break ones. I loved all the August cruises. So much fun!

ditto :D