Am I in trouble booking a cruise for mid September?

[Cantwaittosail1982]

First time booking a cruise and its in 10 days. It's in the Caribbean and its September 11th through the 17th leaving out of fort lauderdale. Is there a good chance I'm going to miss out on a port or have trouble on my trip? I'm so worried about this, that it will either be cancelled or I'll miss out on a lot. I know you can't predict the future but do I have a shot of having a normal cruise or is there a good chance I'll have problems?

Edited September 1, 2016 by Cantwaittosail1982

[CruiserBruce]

No, you aren't in trouble. Nobody have ever been arrested or sued for booking a cruise in September.

 

It is, of course, hurricane season. However, there is absolutely no way to predict whether or not a hurricane will impact your cruise, at least not until probably under 5 days prior. Yes, you have a chance- probably a pretty good chance, your cruise will be uninterrupted. Most importantly, you need to understand you can, and will have a great cruise, even if you miss a port.

 

No cruise line is going to put their passengers and their hugely expensive ship in harms way. Might you miss a port? Yes, if a hurricane is doing it's thing.

 

Some weather people theorize that a large storm, or a lot of activity is a short time, like is going on now, sometimes takes a lot of energy out of the atmosphere, and it takes a bit for that energy to restore. So, that theory may bode well for you. But nobody can say this far out.

Edited September 1, 2016 by CruiserBruce

[Sixtytwo]

Chances are that your cruise will sail as planned, however, with the storms that are already formed or forming, it is possible that your itinerary will change from what you booked. You understand this is covered in your cruise contract that is part of your cruise papers. The cruise line will take every precaution to avoid any possible damage to their ship and to the crew and passengers on it.

 

Unfortunately, it is that time of year but very few cruises are canceled due to weather. Sail times may change, itineraries may change, but you should be advised of any and all changes by the cruise line.

 

My advice, go ahead like it was June or January and plan on having the best time you ever had!! :D

[fishywood]

OK I'll assume you are worried about possible bad weather.

 

Hurricane season is six months of the year (June 1 to Nov 30) and ships sail full in the Caribbean--and the Gulf of Mexico, where the current Tropical Storm formed--every week of the season.

 

You Captain will be very experienced modifying the ship's course to avoid rough seas and winds of 45-65 MPH which can be encountered on the open ocean 365 days of the year.

 

Only you can say how serious "problems" are to the point it affects your cruise. Port changes and cancellations do happen. So does not cancelling the port call even if very windy and rainy there that day. Both are seemingly no-win situations that you just have to go with the flow of, on any cruise in any region any time of the year.

 

If you want to quit worrying: any time the TV news has a story about Hurricanes or Tropical Storms, just change the channel. We who live in the Florida peninsula know that all this chicken-little overhype that comes on whenever there is even the slightest threat of a storm system becoming organized is designed by the TV news producers to give more airtime to the tightly-dressed silicone-enhanced weather guesser who got her meteorology certificate by taking a couple online classes.

Edited September 1, 2016 by fishywood

[maldenmusic]

Lots of cruises in hurricane season and very few are affected

[ronandannette]

We've never sailed the Caribbean at any other time BUT during hurricane season and we've never once missed a port. Anything can happen I suppose, but the odds are completely in your favor. :)

Edited September 1, 2016 by ronandannette

[loubetti]

Don't worry about it! :)

[Capt_BJ]

by next week, today's blustery day will be but a news story to folk in FL and parts north. An IF that .....

 

today in Lauderdale and Miami and points south .... this is a news story ... not any concern

 

right now near Cape Canaveral ... I wish it would rain more ... my grass needs it.

 

Sleep well ......

Edited September 1, 2016 by Capt_BJ

[Cruisin' Chick]

Definitely don't worry about hurricanes. The cruise lines keep an eye on weather conditions (through the National Weather service). If it looks like one might be forming, as stated above, the ship will get diverted to other ports (western Caribbean to eastern and vice versa). If you're on a Mexican riviera cruise off the west coast, you might end up in Ensenada/Catalina, and may get additional sea days.

 

we were on a Caribbean cruise in November and a tropical storm formed when we were in Jamaica. So it started pouring, but the cruise wasn't halted and we even were on an excursion. Two days later, we returned as scheduled to Miami, and got on our flight home. Hours later, the storm was a hurricane.

 

If you're on a Caribbean cruise, expect rain just about every day but probably won't be all day. It shouldn't be a problem unless exposure to water causes you to melt.;)

 

and it's always a good idea to be ready if somehow you miss a port. Only happened to us for one port out of 11 cruises and some people will go on many, many cruises and never miss one. Just be sure if you have prebooked an independent excursion to have the company's contact info and tell them which ship you're on (they may actually keep tabs on your ship so they'll know if the ship will show up or not)

 

What other things might be worrying you? Maybe if we can read them, we can help reassure you.

[sadoan]

Go on your cruise and have fun!! We cruise on September 10 out of San Juan and this will be our 3rd cruise in the month of September.