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How long do they close airports for hurricanes?


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We are scheduled to fly into Fort Lauderdale on Sunday and sail on the Enchantment on Monday.

 

We all know the hurricane will hit at some point.

We are in the process of weighing options for cruise credit/trip insurance/rescheduling, etc.

 

What are your experiences with flight cancellations/airport closures with hurricanes in the past?

 

I am concerned with making it there on time and even there at all. The idea of sitting in airports for hours at a time with a 16 month old isn't appealing either.

 

The amount of time flights are cancelled for makes a difference with reimbursement as far as travel insurance and it would make it easier to just get a lump sum from them. Otherwise we would have to hassle with the cruise line and airline.

 

Any past experiences with travel insurance and/or inclement weather/airports would be great.

 

Thank-you,

 

 

Leslie

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Leslie, I can't answer your question, but you might find some info on your airline's web site. I am sure they are thinking about the same thing. Sometimes they will let you change your plans for free. We recently had to, because of Hurricane Rita, at no extra charge. Maybe you could go a day early, and get a hotel for a night.

 

Best of luck and have a wonderful cruise.

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First the airport has to open after the hurricane and crews have to remove any debris on or near the runways. (They have been through many hurricanes so clean-up is very fast) Everyone else that has planes delayed or cancelled are also going to be fighting for flights as soon as the airport opens. I would keep in contact with the airline and try for the first flight you can get. Looking at the current path of the storm I'm not to sure Enchantment will be coming into port in Monday morning as the center of the storm will be over Ft. Lauderdale. My guess is the ship will be coming in Monday night or Tuesday morning. Keep an eye on three things - airline website, RCCL website, and the path of the storm http://weather.sun-sentinel.com/tropical/tracking/at200524_5day.html

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We are scheduled to fly into Fort Lauderdale on Sunday and sail on the Enchantment on Monday.

 

We all know the hurricane will hit at some point.

We are in the process of weighing options for cruise credit/trip insurance/rescheduling, etc.

 

What are your experiences with flight cancellations/airport closures with hurricanes in the past?

 

I am concerned with making it there on time and even there at all. The idea of sitting in airports for hours at a time with a 16 month old isn't appealing either.

 

The amount of time flights are cancelled for makes a difference with reimbursement as far as travel insurance and it would make it easier to just get a lump sum from them. Otherwise we would have to hassle with the cruise line and airline.

 

Any past experiences with travel insurance and/or inclement weather/airports would be great.

 

Thank-you,

 

 

Leslie

 

As far as I know, airports in this area of Florida close after the winds reach 27 MPH sustained. At least the WPB airport does. You might want to call MIA and find out if they are the same. They won't resume flights until the winds are below that.

 

I'm sure those of us in the path of this storm wished all we had to worry about was a missed flight/cruise.:o

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We already have a hotel booked for Sunday night. So far it looks as though the hurricane won't hit until Monday.

 

If they have ordered an evacuation of that area would they still allow us to fly in?

 

Would or hotel still allow us to stay there or would we have to move out of FLL?

 

We are thinking about chancing it and flying in anyhow if they will allow us to the day before the hurricane hits.

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No one can predict anything at this point! I'm just wondering why you would want to chance it with a 16-month old! There really are no specific answers to your questions right now, but you might want to consider scenarios where there is no power, no available hotel space, transportation between FLL and MIA, closed stores....etc. Just my thoughts!

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We already have a hotel booked for Sunday night. So far it looks as though the hurricane won't hit until Monday.

 

If they have ordered an evacuation of that area would they still allow us to fly in?

 

Would or hotel still allow us to stay there or would we have to move out of FLL?

 

We are thinking about chancing it and flying in anyhow if they will allow us to the day before the hurricane hits.

 

I would call RCCL, more than likely if the ship comes in late, you will probably get a credit towards another cruise. If the airline can't fly you there, most airlines will give you a credit towards another flight which you have use it within a year. I would call RCCL and your airline to confirm that though. Your vacation might be ruined but at least you won't be out of all your money. You may make it there on Sunday if your flight is early enough before it gets too windy. But I don't see this cruise leaving Monday looking at the path the storm is going to take. Another option would be to see if you can fly into Tampa, Orlando, Daytona, or Jacksonville and rent a car to drive to Ft. Lauderdale.

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We'll see. Of course we won't risk our son. There's a lot that can happen with this hurricane's path in the next 48 hours. Maybe it will disappear! I hope so for all the Floridians sake!

 

We're just trying to get some options thrown around. We can reschedule and my in-laws can as well because we all have flexible jobs that will allow us to do that. We're thinking of just picking another (any cruise) the second week of December after hurricane season has unleashed it's wrath.

 

My sister and her husband on the other hand are limited on their vacation and are trying to rebook a cruise out of L.A. on the Monarch for Monday.

My parents will probably go with them just to be nice. The ship and itinerary just didn't appeal to us.

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It looks as though this thing may not hit right away. We actually may have time to get down there and get on out to sea.

 

I've been talking to my sister all morning and she's thinking they might just "go for it". They're talking about flying in Sunday instead of Monday. They might even fly into a different city and just rent a car and drive to the port. She even started drinking because she's so worked up (I think I'm ready for a glass of wine myself).

 

We decided that we don't care where they take us. We want to all enjoy each others company, eat some good food, and drink A LOT of alcohol!!! Hopefully they'll give us a nice shipboard credit so we can do that. :D

 

We'll see what happens in the next couple of days. This is a slow moving storm and they keep pushing it's landfall back, which is good for us.

 

I wonder what alternate ports they would take us to? It's only a 5 day cruise. So they don't have a heck of a lot of options.

 

Bahamas? Labadee? I don't think they could make it all the way to the USVI.

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First the airport has to open after the hurricane and crews have to remove any debris on or near the runways. (They have been through many hurricanes so clean-up is very fast) Everyone else that has planes delayed or cancelled are also going to be fighting for flights as soon as the airport opens. I would keep in contact with the airline and try for the first flight you can get. Looking at the current path of the storm I'm not to sure Enchantment will be coming into port in Monday morning as the center of the storm will be over Ft. Lauderdale. My guess is the ship will be coming in Monday night or Tuesday morning. Keep an eye on three things - airline website, RCCL website, and the path of the storm http://weather.sun-sentinel.com/tropical/tracking/at200524_5day.html

 

Who says the center of the storm will be over Ft. Lauderdale? It is way to early to predict where it will go. My parents live there and they certainly haven't heard anything like that. I fly in myself tomorrow and plan to be on Enchantment when she sails...

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