Questions About Cruises Effected by Hurricane Wilma

We are due to sail on the Imagination tomorrow, October 20th. I have been on the phone with Carnival reps and online at their websight (which by the way has not been updated since 10/17/05 when Wilma was a tropical storm). Anyway, no one will tell me when Carnival is likely to post an itinerary change or a cancellation. My flight is due to leave at 7 am tomorrow. I would think that since they are evacuating tourists from Key West (our first port of call on Friday), they really wouldn't want more tourists descending upon them! Does anyone have any experience with this- anything else I can do????

If I had to guess... and its just a guess.. my thought is that you are going to go East!

Good Luck!

Catrin

No worries, you will sail.

As to wether or not you go to Key West or somewhere else, keeping watching the website. You may not find out (and the decision may not be made) until after you sail.

Remain in a great fun travel frame of mind and this will be a big adventure. WE have slipped past and around a few hurricanes and never really knew they were there :)

Remain in a great fun travel frame of mind and this will be a big adventure. WE have slipped past and around a few hurricanes and never really knew they were there :)

The Holiday slipped past Dennis in July. We definitely knew he was there. Those little bags taped to the elevators told the story.

We are supposed to sail on the Celebration Saturday. This one will be another wild ride.

The Holiday slipped past Dennis in July. We definitely knew he was there. Those little bags taped to the elevators told the story.

Dennis left his mark on Conquest as well - aside from the little bags (which many pax went through rather quickly), I've never seen so many "Do not disturb" signs on cabin doors! While the ship was never in any danger, it was a rough ride for a while.

I called Carnival about 1 hr ago and the Cust Rep told me the earliest to look for an update is after 9 or 10 pm EST , and that was just an estimate.

He said that like us , they are waiting to see just where it will go before any cancellations or port changes would go into effect.

I was told by him they will post them on the site as soon as they have them.

Here is the link to check out the updates.

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/static_templates/weather_update.aspx

Kahhli

With Hurricane Wilma looming ( oh please Fred... control your wife )

I am working on a backup honeymoon plan... my fiancée and I were scheduled to go out of Port Everglades on Monday on the Legend.

While I have a friend who is of staff grade in CCL he told me on conditions of anonymity, that while there is a 99% chance they will head for Port Everglades, the track of the storm will determine where they ride it out ( somewhere along the coast near NC/SC/GA borders ).

My question is this... as I have never had to do this before...

If CCL can't for whatever reason get us out on time, if I request a refund of my cruise, will it go immediately onto my CC or will I have to wait some period of time?

The reason I am asking as I plan to turn around and book some tickets to Europe. My fiancée works for the government and getting time off is like pulling teeth. She had to get the wedding/honeymoon time off six months in advance.

We have to do something and while we are not poor, it would make life much simpler if we were able to turn around and reuse that cruise booking money on tickets and hotel accommodations in Europe.

I really hope we get to go (as I have never been to the Southern Caribbean)… just trying to hedge my bets here.

Sorry, but it took 2-3 weeks to show up on our credit card. Best of luck.

Thats what I figured...

My cruise was cancelled the very beginning of September, Carnival put the refund through about 3 weeks later, and it STILL hasn't shown up on my credit card (a month and a half later).

I was issued a partial refund because my Conquest cruise was shortened to 5 days instead of 7. The Carnival rep told me the refund would be processed within 5 days. That was the beginning of the week of 9/26. The credit actually showed up on my account the 10th of October. When my Sensation cruise was cancelled I told the rep that I was not going to allow them to charge another deposit on my card to re-book on Elation. By some miracle she agreed to use the charge that had already been made on the card (it hadn't been processed as a refund yet) as the deposit on my Elation booking so I wouldn't have to worry about having $800 off my available credit while waiting for the $400 refund of the original deposit. Maybe you could book a different cruise? I have read that they can expedite the refund, too...But I wouldn't count on it. Good luck!

Well...

I am still going on the premise that we will be going on our honeymoon cruise... BUT I do have two bags packed for each of us.

I just hope she likes what I packed for her, as she is already in FLL getting ready for the wedding.

Richard-

Where in FLL are you suppose to get married? I live there--(Thats what makes this so infuriating..soo close to the ports yet I still can't get out! Agghhh!

Leslie

IMAGINATION (hah!!!) 10/24/05

Conrats and good luck to you both. Hope you have a great wedding and blue skies for you honeymoon.

We are actually getting married in Davie, but most people don't know where that is.

While I have a friend who is of staff grade in CCL he told me on conditions of anonymity, that while there is a 99% chance they will head for Port Everglades, the track of the storm will determine where they ride it out ( somewhere along the coast near NC/SC/GA borders ).

 

.

I don't work for CCL but I am an experience sailor and have about 10,000 hours at sea. I've also ridden out a tropical storm aboard a sailboat.

As an experienced navigator, the above makes no sense. The boat will not ride out the storm along the SC/NC/GA coast because of the waves and the storm.

The boat will get out of harms way by heading south.

My best guestimation is that you may not depart out of your original port but elsewhere and immediately head south.

Heres the update as of 1 pm 10/20/2005

Tropical Weather Update – October 20, 2005 1:00 PM

We are closely monitoring the progress of Hurricane Wilma. At Carnival, the safety and comfort of our guests and crew is our number one priority. We will navigate all of our ships at a safe distance from the storm at all times.

At this time, we have made the following storm-related itinerary changes:

Miami Departures

Carnival Valor October 16 - This cruise will now visit San Juan (Tue.), St. Thomas (Wed.), St. Maarten (Thur.) and Nassau (Sat.).

Fascination October 17 - This cruise will now visit Key West (Tue.) and Nassau (Thur.).

Imagination October 20 – This cruise will now visit Freeport (Fri.) and Nassau (Sat.)

Tampa Departures

Carnival Miracle October 16 - This cruise will now visit Belize (Tue.), Cozumel (Wed.) and Progreso (Thur.).

Inspiration October 20 - We will make a final decision on the itinerary for this cruise on Friday.

Galveston Departures

Carnival Conquest October 16 - This cruise will now visit Costa Maya (Tue.), Cozumel (Wed.) and Progreso (Thur.)

Elation October 17 - This cruise will now visit Progreso (Wed.) and Veracruz (Thur.)

Florida Departures This Weekend

If you are scheduled to depart from a Florida port this weekend (Miami, Tampa, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral or Jacksonville), please understand that we have not made any itinerary changes at this time. We will update this information if changes are required, so we would suggest that you check back here on Friday.

Kahhli

We are actually getting married in Davie, but most people don't know where that is.

Leslie

for RGREENPC, Finally found someone going on Legend, we are sailing on it in mid November, was on same ship couple years ago. Would you please give us a report as to the entertainment, staff, etc. and congratulations on your wedding. Tnx, Jud

Well...

 

I am still going on the premise that we will be going on our honeymoon cruise... BUT I do have two bags packed for each of us.

 

I just hope she likes what I packed for her, as she is already in FLL getting ready for the wedding.

Ahh, what a nice guy! Hope everything works out for both of you. Best wishes!!!