Hurricane Season Advice

I'm doing a lot of research to possibly book a cruise for next October. A very wise friend has advised me that October is hurricane season and that I would be smart to change my plans from the get go!! The cruise would be a Southern cruise out of Boston to King's Warf Bermuda, St. Maarten and Labadee. Has anyone cruised this time of year and had problems?

A lot of people had problems this year with hurricanes changing everything from departure port to departure days to ports of call. Essentially, you could be booking the ship and not the itenary.

In short, be flexible and don't get overly excited about any one port. I'd also recommend purchasing travel insurance just in case mother nature changes your plans. There were people that had to get from port carnival down to Miami when hurricanes closed the port. Some people had to spend an extra night in a hotel because the cruise ship couldn't get into port because of a hurricane and the people on the ship had to rearrange flights at the last minute because the ship got into port late.

Boy, you really do give me something to think about. Our whole reason for picking this particular cruise was mostly for Bermuda. I must admit, we would be pretty disappointed if we didn't get to make that stop! It also has some other great ports of call. Seemed like an all around great cruise, but.....maybe not a safe choice for that time of year. :(

Not to give you anything more to worry about but, if hurricanes disrupt a trip from Boston, there is a chance that you will be taken on a cruise north. Maybe even to Canada. You could sign up for an excursion and see the sights of Halifax!

Seriously, I would consider it risky that time of year. If you want to avoid the worry, think about another time of year or a different itinerary. There is a reason that sailings during the hurricane season are less expensive.

We took a cruise to Bermuda in September this year - right after most of the hurricanes. Water was smooth, everything went well. As the saying goes, you win some, you lose some. Haven't lost yet, but you never know! Nancy

I personally have never had a problem cruising in October, but after this last hurricane season I may think twice before booking at that time of year again. Whenever you choose to cruise insurance, as mentioned above, is a very good idea.

We cruise every year in either Sep or Oct. We have had some rough seas and missed Coco Cay about 50% of our trips but are already booked on Mariner for 10/23/05.

I would worrie less going to Bermuda. Most storms go in the gulf or hit the states and ride the coast up. I think out of all the storms this year only two went near Bermuda (One pretty hard).

Look at the bright side, you could pick up a couple extra days at no cost and 50% off of your next cruise.

we have always travelled in October, the prices are cheaper and it is a chance you take. We haven't had a problem yet.

October is fine...cruise ships can move around hurricanes. But, as a poster said, do not get completely hung up on a particular port.

A few comments:

-Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, and tends to get cool in the fall/winter. Check the average temps, etc and make sure it suits your expectations for the cruise.

-cruises from the North US, destined for the Carribbean are unique in hurricane weather, because unlike Caribbean only cruises, many times, they head NORTH when bad weather strikes. A storm destined for the east coast of Florida will keep a ship from up north from venturing to the south, since they do not want to risk the bad weather. There are plenty of sad stories of cruisers expecting a warm Caribbean beach and having to make port stops in Nova Scotia instead. A ship departing from Florida will typically leave and go somewhere in the Caribbean out of harms way (Western Caribbean when storms threaten the Eastern area), which means you may not get to go to Nassua, but instead perhaps Cozumel. Consider this....

We have cruised 12 times in October and luckily have never had a problem. We do take insurance, but not for that reason .

Bermuda is a little cooler that time of the year. We were there last October and it was nice for us, but cool for the locals. Certainly not warm enough to swim.

We actually are booked for a round trip out of Boston to Bermuda and the Caribbian next Sept, and haven't given the fact that it is hurricane season a second thought. We will look forward to visiting all the listed ports, but we do understand that we may not be able to. It will not ruin our cruise, as we just enjoy BEING ON A CRUISE.

If it will bother you, by all means book another time of year. If you are willing to take a chance, the pricing is lower and barring any storms, the weather is fine.

Happy cruising.

We have cruised numerous times in October and out of those we have run into problems from storms and hurricanes on two occasions. It is definitely not the safest time of year for cruising, weather wise, but it does have some of the best prices of the entire season.

It can happen, but if you are prepared, the cruise is still great...........just different.

Thank you so much for all the sound advise. Right now that particular cruise is only going in Sept. and Oct. Would early Sept. be better than late Oct. or visa versa? We also may just put the whole thing on the back burner and see what other cruises to Bermuda come up later. Maybe we'll cruise at New Years instead? Its soooo hard to decide. The idea of "The Jewel" and "Bermuda" all rolled into one, was like the jackpot cruise!!!! However, being on a cruise ship on New Years eve must be a wonderful experince too!

RCI isn't in the business of sailing their pax into hurricanes; they do just the opposite. We've sailed many a cruise in October / early November, and have had itinerary changes, but never the severity of this year's problems. We missed St. Thomas a few years ago, and spent an extra day at sea.

Go for the cheaper prices, and let RCI do their business as they have been for about 40 years.

1. Buy Travel Insurance

2. Be willing to accept that an itinerary change might happen and it won't ruin your cruise. In other words, be flexible.

3. If you feel that a particular itinerary or port of call is the promary reason for taking that sailing, choose another time to sail.

Not to be a spoilsport, but the National Hurricane Center is predicting next year might be almost as bad as this one was.

Anne

While the hurricaine "season" lasts from June to November, the absolute historical peak is the last week of August and the first week of September. The farther you are away from that, statistically, the better your chances are of not running into problems.

To begin, once again thanks for all your help and knowledge. It makes the planning process so much easier when you have all these ideas that you never would have thought of yourself. I understand that you would have to be God to know exactly what will take place in the Fall of 2005. If we decide to take this cruise, then we'll book the end of October and we will go knowing that things could change and we'll have an awesome time anyway. Also, we are still thinking New Years looks good. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of 7 night cruise choices for New Years that keeps you home for Christmas!!

hello all,we booked a three day disney wonder cruise to the bahamas for september second.this was while a hurricane[i think it was Francis]was aiming for the bahamas.the captain announced,while we were boarding that there would be a three hundred dollar room credit per cabin as this was going to be a sea only cruise. we set sail and after about an hour the captain said we were going to cozumel instead of nassau.after mexico we sailed towards port canaveral only to find the port closed due to damage and we turned about and headed to port everglades.then we were bussed back to a disney resort for the night and the next day we flew home.all this made a three day cruise into a six day adventure.The captain never ever put us anywhere in harm's way or even rough water.all we ever saw during the cruise was smooth sailing and sunshine.we were nervous about taking a cruise during the hurricane season.but now I think we will be booking once again in hurricane season,just with less tension than before .

1. Buy Travel Insurance

 

2. Be willing to accept that an itinerary change might happen and it won't ruin your cruise. In other words, be flexible.

 

3. If you feel that a particular itinerary or port of call is the promary reason for taking that sailing, choose another time to sail.

 

Not to be a spoilsport, but the National Hurricane Center is predicting next year might be almost as bad as this one was.

 

Anne

remember that most travel insurance won't pay merely because the ship changes destination. It will pay if you can't get to the ship.

It was a bad experience because RCI was not well informed and gave us bad info. We flew in a day too early because they told us we would leave only 1 day late. They also told us Port Canaveral was open and we would not leave from Miami. We told them we couldn't go from Miami as our kids would not make a 4 hour bus drive (they get carsick, but not seasick thank god). Well when we got there they told us to find a hotel and that the ship went to Miami and we had a 4 hour drive the next morning. We had to pay for the hotel, but those who booked air through RCI got it covered. Well, it may not be their fault, but they guaranteed us that it was going to Canaveral. We said if there was any chance of Miami to tell us so we could cancel. Anyhow, once we got on board things were better. We got a $500 per cabin shipboard credit and 50% off our next cruise of the same length.

We are planning on the same cruise you spoke about, Boston 10 day cruise. From what I saw we should be okay. There are more ways to avoid a hurricane leaving from Boston. Unless it goes up the coast, they can just change ports. I would hate it to go North though. Also, I went to Bermuda in October before and the weather was fine and we swam and snorkeled and it was warm and great. It was cold leaving Boston, but when we got out a day it was great.

Also, make sure you know the terms of your travel insurance. I don't really trust the different policies.