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Is this hurricane going to affect my 9/3 cruise ?

riekl

By riekl,
in Princess Cruises

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KAJOKG

KAJOKG

Posted
Posted
not at all

 

Keep an eye on the tropcs tho as there looks like another storm is developing that could be a factor. however, at this point, it's way too early to say what it will do

YIKES!!! When did you hear that? Last night they said the tropics were quiet. I'm already getting worried about my Oct. 16 cruise. Nothing could be much worse than last year, right Roo???? At least we hope.

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atlcple2

atlcple2

Posted
Posted

We will be on the 9/3 cruise as well. If you go to weather.com and you will see the radar on the front page. Click on the the Tropical Atlantic radar and you can see it brewing. I'm a little concerned. What is Princess' policy if they have to shorten a cruise or cancel it? If it is shorter, do you get any $$ back? If you decide you don't want to go because of changes, do you get a refund? Just curious. I have never cruised this time of year before. Thanks!

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DrD

DrD

Posted
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They almost never cancel or shorten cruises, they just go around the weather and change around the itinerary, often adding more sea days. They are not required to compensate you at all but will usually give everyone some shipboard credit.

 

 

I'm not sure what happens if they can't leave the dock for a day or so, I think I remember a ship recently that couldn't leave and they offered everyone to rebook or get like $200 shipboard credit. But no full refunds.

 

Now what could be fun is if a hurricane prevented you from returning, and you had to stay out another 3 days waiting for it to pass! How cool would that be?!

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calikak

calikak

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I find that the National Hurricane Center's website is very handy for keeping up with the latest hurricane info. Here's their website:

 

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

 

If you click on the link for "Tropical Weather Outlook" for the Atlantic/Carib/Gulf of Mexico, it describes current storms as well as potential ones. Right now, they say that it looks like Katrina will be heading towards the gulf coast and possibly strengthening. They're also tracking a system in the central Atlantic that could become a tropical depression in the next couple of days.

 

There were a bunch of posts last year about how they handled lengthened/shortened cruises due to hurricanes. I did a quick search on the Princess board and came up with this one regarding the refund when a cruise was shortened last September:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=86002&highlight=hurricane+refund

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KAJOKG

KAJOKG

Posted
Posted

 

Now what could be fun is if a hurricane prevented you from returning, and you had to stay out another 3 days waiting for it to pass! How cool would that be?!

They did that this week. Miami and Port Everglades closed due to Katrina and an RCL ship had to wait to dock....pax got an extra day. The same thing happened last year. In fact, some ships were delayed 3 days. Lucky people there! But the next cruise was delayed 3 days and passengers on that sailing were compensated.

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merela

merela

Posted
Posted

Last year, my parents and my sister's family got off our Alaskan cruise and did a back to back out of Miami. They had so much trouble getting flights out to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (from Seattle) because their flights were cancelled. I remember it was a 7-day 9/4/04 cruise. Their ship ended up holed up in Miami for an extra day which allowed my parents to get to Miami on time to catch the cruise. Their flight was originally from Seattle to Miami direct the afternoon of 9/3, but they were rerouted from Seattle to Arizona then to Miami the next morning. So they had to find a hotel to stay in Seattle the night of 9/3. Their flight from Arizona to Miami was cancelled while they were flying enroute to Arizona. They ended up flying from Arizona to NJ, but that's as far as that airline was willing to take them. They ended up buying another one-way ticket from NJ to Miami. Their out-of-pocket expenses were the $500 plane tickets from NJ to Miami plus a $240 hotel stay in NJ and Seattle ($120 for each night) and taxi fare to and from the NJ airport. Since they didn't buy travel insurance, they had to foot this bill.

 

My sister booked on AA and was able to re-route from Seattle via Chicago, then Houston, then Fort Lauderdale. They bused into Miami from Fort Lauderdale. But their stress level was so high because they were travelling with an infant and a toddler. It was difficult finding milk at the hotel when all the stores were closed due to hurricane!!!

 

I remember this event clearly because after our Alaskan cruise, we flew back from Seattle to Los Angeles and I spent the entire afternoon of 9/3 on-line trying to get my parents flights out to Miami. I'm not even a travel agent. I saw available seats disappear each time I refresh my screen. I can imagine all these travel agents trying to get their clients to Miami any which way.

 

Although they were compensated for doing a 5-day cruise instead of 7, they were in the form of onboard credits and coupons for future cruise travel. The coupons had lots of restrictions, so not many people can use them. I knew lots of people couldn't even make the cruise because they bought plane tickets via the cruise line. The cruise line's flight coordinator just wasn't able to accommodate so many cancelled flights and get everyone to Miami on time for the cruise.

 

To make a very long story short. Buy travel insurance during hurricane season. Also book your flights on AA if you are travelling from westcoast to eastcoast. There are more flight re-routable options on AA than other airlines. Plan getting to the port early and have a contingent travel plan to get to the port even in hurricane situation.

 

Good luck and I hope you have a great cruise on 9/3.

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cfk2439

cfk2439

Posted
Posted

As of the 7 am. newscast this morning, Port Everglades will only be open today (Saturday, 7/27) for smaller ships and the Port of Miami is closed for the day. It looks like the Caribbean Princess will be off shore and not able to get in for today's cruisers.

 

Sorry folks!

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bjcanady

bjcanady

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As of the 7 am. newscast this morning, Port Everglades will only be open today (Saturday, 7/27) for smaller ships and the Port of Miami is closed for the day. It looks like the Caribbean Princess will be off shore and not able to get in for today's cruisers.

 

Sorry folks!

Bridge cam is showing the ship coming into dock.............looks good for todays cruisers...............hope so anyway........

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KAJOKG

KAJOKG

Posted
Posted

 

I remember this event clearly because after our Alaskan cruise, we flew back from Seattle to Los Angeles and I spent the entire afternoon of 9/3 on-line trying to get my parents flights out to Miami. I'm not even a travel agent. I saw available seats disappear each time I refresh my screen. I can imagine all these travel agents trying to get their clients to Miami any which way

QUOTE]

 

I remember it clearly too. While you were scrambling for flights, we were preparing to be right in the midst of the hurricane and to get battered!!!!

Those disappearing plane seats were folks trying to get out of east central Florida.

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