What if your trip is cancelled because of hurricane

[ciska40]

Hi,

 

We are thinking of taking a cruise on the zuiderdam 23 of october 2007. Has anyone of you ever travelled during this period. Are there many hurricanes in that time? What does the HAL do if the cruise can't go because of hurrican. Do they provide you with a hotel?

 

Thanks

 

Ciska

[Bases5]

I don’t think I can recall a cruise being cancelled due to a Hurricane, Now that’s not saying it hasn’t happened.

Now rerouting your Itinerary or changing your sail date by a day due to one hitting at home port is common.

The real stress in my eyes is getting to the ships homeport. Living in Florida I have seen airports close for days due to no power or damage. At that point you can be stuck, Always buy insurance, Fly in early if possible, Think of alternate transportation methods. Example: landing at a different airport and renting a car. Most of the time the ships sail on schedule but have a contingency plan in mind.

[ocngypz]

No, they don't cancel a sailing unless it is very short.. 3 or 4 nights.

 

When sailings are extended because they ship can't get back into port, the airlines aren't running either. The airlines do reticket you at no charge.

[kryos]

I sailed a b2b on the Zuiderdam during the hurricanes in summer 2004. The first half of my b2b ended up getting extended from seven to ten days only because Port Everglades was closed to cruise ship traffic. The second half of the b2b was reduced to five days. Passengers were offered steep discounts to take the shortened sailing, or they could cancel with full refunds. Even I made out like a bandit since I wound up getting close to half my cruise fare for the b2b converted to a combination of onboard credits and a 25% future cruise discount coupon. My onboard bill for those 14-days wound up being something like $13.00. :)

 

Frankly, I was shocked the boat did the second cruise. There were, I believe, less than 800 of us onboard. The Zuiderdam holds over 2000.

 

It was a mighty nice cruise ... I will say that. Sort of like being onboard a private yacht.

 

So, it is very, very rare that a cruise line will cancel a cruise because of hurricanes ... as long as they can get into the port on turnaround day to pick you up. If they can't, they will offer you a shorter cruise at a discount, and will pick you up just as soon as the port re-opens. Remember, a cruise ship makes no money if it is not sailing. In fact, if they are sitting at a port, they are paying out money to be there. They want that ship filled with passengers and out to sea. The hurricane affects the boat very little. The captain keeps you well away from any points of danger.

 

But, be aware that a hurricane somewhere out in the Atlantic can cause your itinerary to be completely changed. For example, you could have booked an Eastern Caribbean itinerary, and wind up with a Western Caribbean one. You may also have to skip some ports in favor of extra sea days because of weather considerations.

 

If you are going to cruise in hurricane season (I'm on a Carribean sailing myself aboard the Amsterdam that departs New York on the 17th of October), you have to be flexible. Don't get overly attached to any particular ports. Just make up your mind that you're onboard to have fun and wherever the boat goes, you can certainly still do that. Then, you'll have one of the best cruises of your life ... even though a hurricane may change things around a bit for you.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[ciska40]

Thanks for all your information.

 

We have sailed with the HAL many times but never in Hurican seeson. I have sailed with the disney cruise line last october but we never had any problems. I live in the Netherlands so we always get to america 3 days prior to the cruise, so there will be time enought to get to the harbour. We don't care where the cruise is taking us we love the ships. So thanks I will defenitly book my next cruise october 2007.

 

ciska