Is the cruise industry ready for the future?

[capriccio]

The storm hasn't happened yet, or at least hadn't at the time of posting. If the home was significantly damaged, then any decent travel insurance policy would cover the cancellation.

 

The OP posted on October 7. The catastrophic rains occurred on Saturday, October 3 after a couple of already substantial rain amounts. From what I hear, some rivers are only just now reaching flood stage. His cruise though isn't until tomorrow.

Edited October 9, 2015 by capriccio

[LHT28]

I guess the photos of cars floating in the streets were photo shopped :eek:

[navybankerteacher]

I guess the photos of cars floating in the streets were photo shopped :eek:

 

Irrelevant - OP's point appeared to be a call to arms to either somehow prevent serious storms or for the cruise industry to provide full insurance or generous refunds.

 

I hope OP is now either en route to Miami, or booked on an early flight tomorrow, ready to enjoy a welcome few days after the recent stress, or reviewing his existing cruise insurance - preparatory to filing a claim.

 

Pretty much anything else before sailing time tomorrow is idle speculation.

 

I share the expressed wish that he get back to us with an update.

[capriccio]

Irrelevant - OP's point appeared to be a call to arms to either somehow prevent serious storms or for the cruise industry to provide full insurance or generous refunds.

 

 

I thought LHT28's comment about the 'must have been photo shopped pictures' was replying to the posting below, not the OP. dsrdsrdsr incorrectly thinks that the OP was posting before the storms; he was not.

 

The storm hasn't happened yet, or at least hadn't at the time of posting.

[LHT28]

If your home is damaged a week before your vacation do you just lock the door with water still in the house & continue on with your plans ?

 

I know I would not

[legaljen1969]

And the Port of Charleston was open! So getting to Miami should not have been a problem.

 

Absolutely correct. However, as others have stated- perhaps the OP sustained damage to his/her home. Perhaps they lack appropriate transportation now. Who knows what the problem is! I am glad the OP is okay enough to be able to post on Cruise Critic and notify the world that he/she can't cruise. In 1989 when Hugo crushed Charleston- such would not have been possible for weeks. The recovery within one week has been astounding.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I'm a bit confused about the whole original post. What is he/she saying?

 

I'm guessing that maybe he had a cruise scheduled to start around this last week. But I'm not sure if he saying he can't get to the embarkation city (and was he trying to get there the same day???) or if he had substantial damage to his house and couldn't go on his cruise. I would imagine if it's the second, than that is his priority and hopefully he had "cancel for any reason" type of insurance.

 

Hopefully if he was trying to get his cruise changed at the last minute, he figured out a more clearer way to express it but realize it isn't the cruise line's responsibility (they didn't cause the hurricane).

 

My first cruise was two weeks to the day after my area got hit with a strong earthquake. Fortunately my power came back on about four days later (you can just imagine all the food from the fridge that everyone in my building had to toss out). At least I didn't get red tagged as some did (including some friends). My mother came over with her handyman to my place after I left on my cruise to take care of plastering, etc.

 

Some years ago, I had a flight cancelled due to the Mt. St. Helens eruption Because it was an "Act of God," and due to the special fare I had booked it on, I couldn't change the flight for less than 7 days after the original flight. That wouldn't have been so bad, but the new date didn't work too well for my company's vacation policy. That sucked, but what can you do?

[sail7seas]

If your home is damaged a week before your vacation do you just lock the door with water still in the house & continue on with your plans ?

 

I know I would not

 

Absolutely correct. However, as others have stated- perhaps the OP sustained damage to his/her home. Perhaps they lack appropriate transportation now. Who knows what the problem is! I am glad the OP is okay enough to be able to post on Cruise Critic and notify the world that he/she can't cruise. In 1989 when Hugo crushed Charleston- such would not have been possible for weeks. The recovery within one week has been astounding.

 

 

OP never said his home was damaged. Had he said so, of course, our reaction would be different. If his home was badly damaged, I wouldn't think he would have left out that very important detail when writing his opening post.

 

[dsrdsrdsr]

If your home is damaged a week before your vacation do you just lock the door with water still in the house & continue on with your plans ?

 

I know I would not

 

The OP said his reason for cancelling was that the President had declared a state of emergency. There was no mention of any damage or actual loss.

[leaveitallbehind]

What a sad take on where we are as a country.

OP comes here and with a rant as her first (and so far only) post to complain about the weather ruining her plans. Then she lectures us on how bad her situation is and tells us that 'Lo and behold, we will have hurricanes in the future because' ......oh well....there is no point in pursuing that line of drivel.

 

I would ask that OP do a quick search of the words Camille, Betsy, Andrew, Katrina and do some reading. If she is gonna book a cruise in hurricane season and not insure the trip.....she might be disappointed in the outcome.

 

As the OP calls themselves Tai Chi Guy, my guess is that (while perhaps sounding hideous and maybe wearing kahki's) she is really a he. But no knock on you, as with all the other comments appropriately made about his first post, this was really the only thing I could see left to criticize. :D ;)

Edited October 10, 2015 by leaveitallbehind

[Karysa]

OP the ship can and will avoid storms. I'm far more afraid of a bad outbreak on the line of SARS. In both cases though insurance may just be your best friend.

[navybankerteacher]

OP never said his home was damaged. Had he said so, of course, our reaction would be different. If his home was badly damaged, I wouldn't think he would have left out that very important detail when writing his opening post.

 

 

Good point -- I figure that he (somewhat prematurely) decided, three days ago, that he would not be able to get to the port. I do not know what the state of I-26 and I-95 is now in SC, but I cannot believe that he could have known back then that they, and alternate routes, would remain impassable.

 

He might even have been able to start driving early this morning - say 4:00 AM

[sail7seas]

Seeing he hasn't returned to this thread, let's hope he was busy getting ready to cruise and traveling to get there. :)

 

[sparks1093]

Seeing he hasn't returned to this thread, let's hope he was busy getting ready to cruise and traveling to get there. :)

 

 

Agreed.

[hondorner]

Good point -- I figure that he (somewhat prematurely) decided, three days ago, that he would not be able to get to the port. I do not know what the state of I-26 and I-95 is now in SC, but I cannot believe that he could have known back then that they, and alternate routes, would remain impassable.

 

He might even have been able to start driving early this morning - say 4:00 AM

I was visiting Myrtle Beach during the torrential rains. It pretty much missed us (although there was some flooding in low areas). It really hammered Little River, SC north of Myrtle Beach, and Georgetown County, about half way between MB and Charleston. Of course, the real damage was further to the West, in the Columbia, SC area, where dams were breaking. Charleston itself had a lot of rain, and some flooding,

 

We had to get home to Florida, so I spent a lot of time on the SC DOT website, looking at road closings There are two main routes -- I-95 from near Florence, SC, and US 17 through Charleston. I-95 was closed for 75 miles, and remains closed today, as the foundations of several bridges were washed out. But, US 17 was definitely open from Charleston to I-95 near Walterboro, and I-95 to Miami was open from that point forward.

 

I especially looked at the Mount Pleasant, SC area, north of Charleston. US 17 was definitely open, and there were only a very few routes partially closed, most to the west of Charleston.

 

Unless the OP's property was underwater or damaged, it sounds very much like a poor decision based on fear, not reality. The President declaring a disaster area? That is a general order for the entire state, not just for affected areas, and is declared primarily so FEMA can go to work and disaster loans can be made.

 

Because the OP cited the President's declaration and not much else, it is my sense that he didn't even try. I finally left Myrtle Beach on Wednesday, October 7, the very day Tai Chi Guy wrote, and reached home that same day. Miami is a bit further so he could have definitely made it by October 8 for his October 10 sailing. I traveled through Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston and on down US 17 and I-95, on a sunny day, with no flooding or delays of any sort.

 

Travel insurance will only paid if there is a valid reason. Deciding not to go because some parts of SC were flooded is not a valid reason.

[sail7seas]

What a wonderfully helpful post. Happy you made it made it home safely.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[navybankerteacher]

I was visiting Myrtle Beach during the torrential rains. It pretty much missed us (although there was some flooding in low areas). It really hammered Little River, SC north of Myrtle Beach, and Georgetown County, about half way between MB and Charleston. Of course, the real damage was further to the West, in the Columbia, SC area, where dams were breaking. Charleston itself had a lot of rain, and some flooding,

 

We had to get home to Florida, so I spent a lot of time on the SC DOT website, looking at road closings There are two main routes -- I-95 from near Florence, SC, and US 17 through Charleston. I-95 was closed for 75 miles, and remains closed today, as the foundations of several bridges were washed out. But, US 17 was definitely open from Charleston to I-95 near Walterboro, and I-95 to Miami was open from that point forward.

 

I especially looked at the Mount Pleasant, SC area, north of Charleston. US 17 was definitely open, and there were only a very few routes partially closed, most to the west of Charleston.

 

Unless the OP's property was underwater or damaged, it sounds very much like a poor decision based on fear, not reality. The President declaring a disaster area? That is a general order for the entire state, not just for affected areas, and is declared primarily so FEMA can go to work and disaster loans can be made.

 

Because the OP cited the President's declaration and not much else, it is my sense that he didn't even try. I finally left Myrtle Beach on Wednesday, October 7, the very day Tai Chi Guy wrote, and reached home that same day. Miami is a bit further so he could have definitely made it by October 8 for his October 10 sailing. I traveled through Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston and on down US 17 and I-95, on a sunny day, with no flooding or delays of any sort.

 

Travel insurance will only paid if there is a valid reason. Deciding not to go because some parts of SC were flooded is not a valid reason.

 

Thanks for the details - objective information is really helpful in understanding the validity of OP's approach.

[iancal]

Alas, the predisposition to blame others for one's own problems, actions or failures to act seems to be a growing trend.

Edited October 12, 2015 by iancal

[BillOh]

I would ask that OP do a quick search .

 

I doubt they will ever see your suggestion. One post wonder most likely, or complain and run.

[uncleg]

If your home is damaged a week before your vacation do you just lock the door with water still in the house & continue on with your plans ?

 

I know I would not

 

Depends, if I had already done all cleanup I could do, ripping up carpets, discarding furniture, removing wet drywall and insulation out of wall and under house.....I might just go, while waiting on contractor to get back to me. Fortunatley all we had was a roof leak...I'm number 20 on roofers list and I took my cruise two weeks before...and ALWAYS buy cruise insurance.

 

On another note some roads are still closed here but you can detour around, some major highways are still have portions closed due to bridge damage, but you can get around using back roads.

 

OP me thinks someone has global warming agenda

Edited October 12, 2015 by uncleg

[sail7seas]

Alas, the predisposition to blame others for one's own problems, actions or failures to act seems to be a growing trend.

 

We are missing too much pertinent information to know if it applies in this case but there certainly seems to be a huge lack of personal responsibility in our society. No matter what happens, there are some people who will always point a finger at someone else rather than knowing it is their own fault. Few people seem able to own their own mistakes, these days.

 

[luddite]

I doubt they will ever see your suggestion. One post wonder most likely, or complain and run.

 

I'm certain that he doesn't have a clue as to why I posted what I did.

 

He got clobbered by a storm and thinks it's a result of human-induced climate change.

My point was that we've had a LOT of storms and a lot of worse storms.