Cruise in september (hurricane season)

Hi,

Our next cruise is planned for January but we considering a cheap cruise for september to 'shorten the wait' a little. The problem is that the cheap cruises in september are in the hurricane sensitive areas.

Would you cruise in September or would you again if you allready have?

What should I take into account if I would book a cruise in that area? Should I avoid any ports?

Any help regarding this would be appreciated.

Get trip insurance and book it! If you have some flexibility, try to go at the end of September rather then early Sept. Although it is still hurricane season then, "typically" by October 1, the majority of hurricanes that develop off the Africa coast have subsided and more of them spawn off the coast of Mexico. I haven't sailed in early Sept before, but have sailed at the end of Sept and have been luck enough not to have any weather problems.

At least 5 of my ten cruises where in September. Never had a problem. Once we were in Bermuda and the ship left early because of hurricane. Their concern is your safety at all times. I am planning another SEptember cruise at this time.

The price is right why not go for it. After all we just had first tropical storm and here it is only June.

We cruised out of New York at the end of last August in between hurricanes, but had smooth sailing for our cruise to Bermuda, this year we are sailing out of Florida on a September 4th sailing to the Bahamas and to the Caribbean and hoping to be just a lucky... the prices are too good to pass up! Here's hoping for smooth sailing again this year!

Kathy

We were at sea when a hurricane was close by about 10 years ago. The captain changed course to avoid the hurricane; only loss was one port.

Wow! four usefull replies in only an hour. Thanks!!!

We have our vacation from september 17th till october 2nd. So it seams like this risk of a totally wasted cruise isn't that big. Right?

Any (embarkation) ports I should avoid? The cheapest ones are Miami and Cape Canaveral for departure. Should I try to avoid them are the risks not that great?

Hi! :)

We've sailed twice out of Miami in the middle of September on the Navigator and all was good. You'll be fine! :)

We only cruise between September and November. We've never had any real problems, but I agree, get trip insurance. Also the cruises as you say are cheaper then. Good sailing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with the posters here, when they said get trip insurance. If you already have that, and you also have flexability in your schedule, I say go for it!

We were on the Explorer in Sep 01, and there were 4 hurricanes around us in the carib, but we didn't get an ounce of rain once! So, with that, I'd not hesitate to travel again.

P.S. - Be sure to pack your patience and open-minded attitude. Your itinerary may change suddenly. :)

If you want to avoid hurricanes, I would suggest cruising the coast of California or Alaska. Pacific hurricanes usually hit Mexico--not California.

Try a 4 night cruise from LA to Catalina Island, San Diego and Ensenada for a good price.

I love cruising in September. Our last cruise on the Mariner was 7 days which turned to 9 days. We even got to go to Labadee and we were on the Eastern route. One bad thing was the ship couldn't get back into Port Canaveral and we had to dock in Miami and take buses back to PC. The cruise after us was cut to 5 days which I'm sure stunk for those people.

We have sailed several times at the end of August and begining of September. Last September we were on the Enchantment when Hurricanne Frances hit the US. We got a 7 night cruise for the price of 5 nights and we are still booked on 2 more cruises for the same week!!

Our very first cruise was in September 1989. Our first port was St. Maarteen. Hugo was heading there at the same time. Our captain and RCCL kept a close watch on Hugo and diverted us to the western Carribbean at the last moment. Hugo hit with a vengeance. We never saw a drop of rain the entire 7 days. Now, the downside was we had signed up for an eastern Carribbean cruise and ended up with a Western Carribbean cruise but never having done either it was fine with us. That cruise has led us to already completing 22 cruises and at this time 4 more booked this year and 2 next year already. Even have a September cruise booked to the western Carribbean.

I also have a Sept. 12 cruise on Empress. We've never sailed in Sept, but we live in Florida, how much worse can it get!!! Has anyone ever been on this ship? I've been reading good and bad reviews. I hope it's good, I talk my best friend & her husband to meet us on board!! We booked cabin 9164, which says it's a category SO, Superior Ocean View, has anyone had these rooms?

You can never plan on this year what happened previously. The height of hurricane season for South Florida is very late August through mid to late October. We have lived in Jensen Beach since 1993 and never put up shutters...last year we put them up twice within 3 weeks..we still booked a short cruise for September...like the original writer..to shorten the wait until April! Go for it.

There is a chance of sailing into a bad storm any time of year. Just ask the Dawn customers a few months ago.

We were also on the Mariner and got 9 days on a 7 day cruise. While DH & & I were happy, our sitter and DS (11) & DD (12) back home were not! We had insurance but the stress on the kids was not worth the extra sailing days. DD made me promise to not to do it again-- as if I caused the travel delays... :)

We're "hopefully" cruising the eastern Caribbean on September 4 on Mariner. I just spoke to Royal Caribbean last night and made sure all my trip insurance was paid for and ok...just in case. They told me not to worry..Royal Caribbean will always take good care of their passengers and told me "Happy Sailing". Hopefully we won't encounter any storms, but if we do...we'll deal with it and try to keep an open mind...if they shifted us to a western itenarary...that wouldn't be bad either, we've never done either one. We just look forward to a nice relaxing cruise! Anyone else on the Mariner on 9/4/05?

Kathy

Will Insurance pay if you miss a port or your trip is extended due to hurricane? Not worried about air as I drive to port. Just curious.

Snooze

Hi, not sure about a trip extension, but if you miss a port, it's a part of RCCL's exclusion policy. The cruiseline reserves the right to either cancel or change a port of call for just about any reason. Your insurance would not cover that.

We missed a port of call once due to an emergency where our ship had go and assist. It caused us to miss Grand Cayman. I would think either your insurance OR RCCL would make arrangments in case your ship arrived later and it caused you to miss your flight or something.

Wow.. I'm really impressed with this board. I spending a lot of time on all kind of boards but this is most definitly one of the most responsive. Thank you all!

We decided to take the change and booked the Majesty o/t Seas for a short Bahamas cruise for September 19th (till 23rd).

We will leave the 17th for Miami. We will stay there for two days and leave the 19th on the cruise. If we have our trip extended by a day or two due to the weather all that may go wrong is our flight. We arrive back the 23rd in Miami and will leave for the Netherlands the 24th so that is only one day.

I'm not sure what to expect if this may happen but I haven't got to go to work until october 2nd so worst case I would have to try to get another flight I guess.

I agree with the posters here, when they said get trip insurance. If you already have that, and you also have flexability in your schedule, I say go for it!

We were on the Explorer in Sep 01, and there were 4 hurricanes around us in the carib, but we didn't get an ounce of rain once! So, with that, I'd not hesitate to travel again.

 

P.S. - Be sure to pack your patience and open-minded attitude. Your itinerary may change suddenly. :)

I'm real patient person and don't get troubled easy but I do like to be prepaired. If the itinery would change or the trip would be cut a day short I would be disappointed but not upset.

I love cruising in September. Our last cruise on the Mariner was 7 days which turned to 9 days. We even got to go to Labadee and we were on the Eastern route. One bad thing was the ship couldn't get back into Port Canaveral and we had to dock in Miami and take buses back to PC. The cruise after us was cut to 5 days which I'm sure stunk for those people.

I guess the buses were arranged and paid for by RCCL? Of did you have to arrange this yourself?

I have also booked a cruise during this time (7 night Western Caribbean 8/28/05). My major concern is getting out of Miami on 8/28/05 and getting back for my flight on 9/4. My flight arrangements weren't made with RCCL so how is all that handled. If the ship is delayed getting back how are the changes to my flight handled? I have purchase trip insurance (TA set it up, not sure who through yet). Do I just try to call the airline from the ship to try to get on a different flight? Also do I have to pay whatever the difference is?:eek: I got a fairly cheap flight $200 round trip Tulsa, OK to FLL.

We were supposed to be on the Navigator last year when Hurricane Jeanne hit. We were stuck in Miami for two days during the hurricane, had our 7-day cruise cut to 5 days and went to the Western Caribbean instead of our planned Eastern Caribbean. (And, as CherylHaHa surmises, it stunk!!) Anyone who says, "you'll be fine", is giving you false promises. Cruising during hurricane season, especially late August through mid-October is simply a crapshoot.

The airlines were good last year about changing flights free of charge due to hurricanes. Of course everyone tries to change their flights at the same time to the same flights, so the first couple of days of flights after the airport reopens book up very quickly. You make your own arrangements (unless you originally bought your airline tickets through a travel agent, in which case you can contact him/her and ask that they rebook you). Of course, since you're rebooking while everyone else is, it may take long waits to get through to the airline and by the time you do the flights you want will probably be sold out. (A plane only has so many seats!) This can all be terribly stressful. Also, given high fuel costs, the airlines may take a page from the cruise lines and reduce their generosity this year.

The cruise lines, by contrast to the airlines, weren't very helpful. NOS was scheduled to leave Saturday at 5 p.m. We flew into Miami on Friday. We were already in Miami when the option was finally given by Royal Caribbean to let people reschedule the cruise (the option to reschedule was provided late Friday -- about 4 hours after we arrived in Miami). Up until then, despite being on the phone with RCI and our travel agent constantly, the only information we got was that the NOS was right on schedule. Since the only information we could get was that the NOS was on schedule, we had no choice but to fly to Miami on our originally scheduled flights. The airport closed a few hours after we arrived. We had no way of knowing whether the NOS would leave on time or not. If it did and we weren't there, we'd be out the entire price of the cruise and insurance wouldn't cover any of it. (As you can see, while highly recommended, travel insurance is not a panacea.)

Late Friday, we were told it would be a 6-day cruise, and would still go the Eastern Caribbean. It wasn't until 24 hours later (late on Saturday), that RCI advised it would be a 5-day cruise, leaving about 10 p.m. Monday night and that it would go to the Western Caribbean.

Also, RCI gave us a $500 per cabin shipboard credit. We got a coupon worth some amount off on a future cruise to be taken before 12/15/05. It's extremely difficult to calculate what the discount is. Believe me, I've consulted a travel agent about it several times. It's not simply 50% off the best price you can find -- it has to be calculated by RCI for the particular cruise you're interested in. Given that my sister bought a house and started a business recently, life events have made it likely that we won't be able to use the discount coupon before it expires. It's not transferable.

Would I rather have rescheduled the cruise. I answer with a resounding "YES". Was it too late when RCI provided that option? YES. We had, by then, flown to Miami and spent 1/2 of the $5,000 in airfare it cost our family to get to Miami from the west coast.

I called our travel insurer to see if they would cover our airfare if we chose to take the RCI option, reschedule the cruise and return to Miami later. The answer, not surprisingly, was absolutely not. Since we'd used the outbound portions of our tickets, the tickets were not refundable and insurance wouldn't cover them. So, we had no choice but to stay in Miami through the hurricane (luckily, our beach hotel was permitted by the authorities to let us and the other guests already there stay) and go on the 5-day cruise to the Western Caribbean (unless we were willing to "eat" the $5,000 in airfare). Getting a hotel room became impossible for many people on our cruise, and I spoke with many on the ship who slept in their cars the night Hurricane Jeanne hit. Our insurer did cover food and hotel for the extra two days in Miami. Also, you might think this will be a chance to get a cabin upgrade. No such luck because RCI bused Mariner passengers to Miami and put them on the Navigator since the Mariner departure was delayed until the following Tuesday.

Also, our waiters were surly and unhappy the first night, probably because the 9-day cruisers before us hadn't tipped for 9 days and those of us doing the 5-day would only be tipping for the 5 days we were on board. It took a fair amount of tipping the first night, and a lot of cajoling, to improve their attitude.

Do what you want, but we certainly don't plan to cruise the Caribbean during hurricane season again -- not even if the cruise were free! Way too stressful!

After taking a cruise in September, 2004 I do not recommend cruising during September to anyone! I don't care what the rates are it is not worth the worry about the weather and they are predicting hurricane season to be just as bad this year if not worse so why take a chance--forget it and go when that it not a concern. I know you never can be sure of perfect weather, but why go when you know there is a chance of hurricanes. Be safe and enjoy yourself whenever you go. There is nothing as much fun as a cruise vacation!

I live in Florida, I would not go on a cruise between June and the first of November. We had Erin in August one year and had Opal in October of the same year. Ivan really did a job here in the panhandle of Florida. You could not pay me to go on a crusie durning those months. I know how hard it was listen to the wind and hearing things go bump in the night, it would be awlful on a ship.

Just my opinon.

Fioirta:eek: