OnCampus2k

I have now been on the phone with Carnival for 2 hours. I opted to take a credit instead of going with the changed plan. It took about 10 tries to get through (busy signal). It only took about 10-15 mins to get someone on the phone and cancel. I was then transferred to a booking agent to book a new cruise. I barely waited 5 mins for that. She got all the info quickly, the problem is she has to get a hold of someone in another department to verify the credit and get it applied. After the 1st hour she offered to call me back when she had the other dept. on the line. She did that but still having to wait because of the other dept.. She is very apologetic and I pretty much expected a wait like this.

 

 

 

P.S. I think I can recite every "Fun Fact"

"In-laws... cruise... in-laws... cruise... How about... take the in-laws ON a cruise!" That's what I heard for an hour yesterday.

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Vista was scheduled to depart Saturday for an 8 night Eastern Caribbean cruise.

 

Clearly that was a poorly worded statement, some evidence that they are rushing too fast to get statements out.

Carnival's website said that cruise (mine as well) has turned into a 5 day leaving Monday and if I want to cancel I can and get a credit to another cruise. Carnival on the phone is saying that information got out a day early and today's message should be "we will let you know tomorrow."

I think they're holding off hoping that people with insurance will cancel so insurance will take the hit, not carnival.

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So NCL cancelled Escape 7 day and Sky 3 day on 9th, offering full refund plus 50% refund on next reservation. RCI only offering 25% off and a one month booking time limit ??? Why isn't RCI offering the same?

 

 

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Carnival isn't offering ANY future cruise credits!! Like I said on another post, I'm not looking for a handout by any means, but the difference in how the companies is handling this is making me raise an eyebrow.

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Here we go again. NCL has canceled 9/8 and 9/9 cruises out of Miami, and Carnival has extended the current cruises and changed some ports.

Carnival: like the ones due back in Friday and/or Saturday?

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Yes, very strange and odd. I am very concerned with this vacation. I have called Carnival everyday to get an update and last night the rep told me that the Glory was sailing on the 9th and that there was no alerts as of last night. (Hello it was a category 4 hurricane last night) Maybe, I am just paranoid but I wish they would just cancel it so I can just re-schedule my cruise. Good luck, on your flight Saturday!

I read in my roll call that another person called Delta (my carrier as well) and they said if the cruise gets canceled, the flight would too. I'm wondering what the possibilities are of "switching" to another cruise that's unaffected. There is one out of Mobile, AL that one of my employees will be on.

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I am also flying out Saturday morning to Miami to sail on Carnival Glory 9/9. I have contacted the airlines and there is a very good chance flights on Friday will be canceled or delayed. I was told Saturday's flight was a go...so I suppose I will fly out on Saturday. This whole vacation so far has been nerve wrecking! Next time I will make sure I don't book any cruises during hurricane season.

So Friday flights will be canceled but Saturday flights won't?!? That seems strange given that Saturday is slated to be worse than Friday.

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We are supposed to be on the Vista that day as well. Getting a little nervous. :(

With every update, my optimistic light dims a little bit. Now I'm at: "I hope Miami survives and we are just delayed a day and have a fabulous 7 day cruise instead of an 8 day cruise."

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We live in Houston and just finished the Harvey drama, and we're sailing out of Galveston on the 9th on the Freedom to the Bahamas. I hope the trip isn't cancelled we really need a break

Our best wishes to your family and friends in Houston. I hope life is starting to get some normalcy to it.

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One other thought: You're about three hours north of us. (We actually were there visiting family yesterday.) We can make the drive to Port Canaveral in one shot. We'll be doing that in November, actually. Could we do it in one shot if we were starting in Knoxville? Maybe. Surely when we were younger we could. It'll be a last minute decision (airline cancels flight... do you jump in the car and drive yourself?) Something to consider and make a preliminary decision.

I've made it from Miami to Knoxville in a single day and it was ROUGH. It took about 15 hours, although we did stop in Asheville, NC to unload a family member. Straight A to B, I would say 13.5 hours, giving time to stop for gas, restroom breaks, and drive-thru's for food.

We actually thought about that as well, but decided against it. Driving towards a hurricane just adds an area of uncertainties. Plus then we risk our car getting flooded. And then driving home afterwards would be so exhausting; getting back on Sunday, and going to work on Monday, with getting in at close to midnight. I think that's the point where we just say "que sera sera". IF we lived a few hours south, that might be feasible, but not from here.

And again, I appreciate your suggestions and your out of the box thinking. :)

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The breadth of the storm depends on its strength, location and other factors. It is way to early to tell anything with any level of assurance, but based on my memory of how things have been affected in the past, if the most likely scenario becomes true, we'll see flights in/out of Miami affected starting Saturday afternoon, and flights in/out Orlando affected starting Sunday morning.

 

 

 

You'll probably need to make some quick decisions, and you could perhaps benefit from thinking up all the possible scenarios now, and making a preliminary decision for how you'll respond then. I'm a planner; I make sure I have contingency plans in advance, and I find it greatly reduces my stress in the moment. Some folks marvel at my composure in tough situations, but they don't know how much back-and-forth indecisiveness I struggled through prior to the situation presenting itself.

 

 

 

Very smart. The cruise lines are all going to do whatever they can to have their cruises embark as planned, and as long as there is any chance of that they'll hold out hope that it'll be the case. As soon as they're sure it can't happen, then they'll start making changes. You'll be well-served by being prepared.

 

 

 

It may be too late to employ some of the useful preparation: Buying travel insurance and booking your travel so you're staying overnight at a hotel near the port the night prior to the cruise. Personally, if you can actually accomplish either of those two now, I would absolutely do it. I would also be picky about where I stay the night before. We're staying on the beach in Cocoa Beach the night before our cruise - do you do that! You could stay in Orlando (and that way perhaps you could turn a canceled cruise into a theme park vacation). If you really want to stay nearer to the port, there are hotels in Cocoa (not Cocoa Beach!) that are safe from flooding and such, for example, the hotels by the I-95/FL 520 interchange.

Thank you for that info!!! I appreciate a second opinion. I've already started preliminary plans to switch my flight, just had not did it yet.

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The projections now seem to indicate that September 9 embarkation probably won't be affected, the hurricane not hitting the US mainland until at least that evening, and more likely Sunday or Monday.

I have a question to anyone that has experience in hurricanes.... How far out is the wind shear felt? I'm worried that our flight that morning is going to be canceled due to high winds even though the cruise will still embark normally.

The solution seems to be to try to fly in Friday night, but then what if the hurricane comes earlier and the cruise is delayed or canceled and now I'm stuck in Florida during a hurricane?

Experience has shown that Carnival seems to make very last minute decisions on these things, so I'm trying to look out for myself.

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It's tracking anywhere from the Gulf to Canada. Lol. No lie. We fly down to Miami and board Vista on 9/9. We are watching it CLOSELY. If our flight gets canceled, we miss the cruise. Thought about coming down the night before, but what if THAT's when it comes and THAT flight gets canceled and can't get down Saturday? OR what if we do make it down, but the cruise is canceled? Now we're stuck in Miami during a very powerful hurricane! So many scenarios, it makes my head spin... all we can really do is wait...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My husband and I are also boarding the Vista on 9/9.. I have been losing sleep over this dang Irma! We're supposed to fly in the 8th but that's my concern as well... will we get stuck there if the cruise is a no-go? If it makes a hit even near Miami, will Carnival still board us and have us ride it out? I don't want to fly in and get stuck either.. I barely missed Harvey (live south of Corpus Christi) so I don't need to make myself available to irma..

 

 

 

I think Mother Nature is gunning for you. If we are able take this trip and another hurricane appears to head for where we end up going, I'm jumping ship. (You have to have a little humor in all of this)

 

I just read a report today that said IF Irma does impact the US, it will be "late next weekend", whatever that means. I'm crossing my fingers for a hard turn back into the Atlantic, but if it does make landfall, hopefully it will be after we are well on our way southwest....

 

 

 

 

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Since the Weather Channel stopped minute by minute coverage of Harvey, Irma must be jealous! Any word on her prospective path? I know we'll need to wait for next week for a definitive answer, but it looked yesterday like she was offended by all the attention Harvey was getting so was taking her big ole' self north!! One can only hope she sulks all the way into the mid-Atlantic and leaves us all alone!

It's tracking anywhere from the Gulf to Canada. Lol. No lie. We fly down to Miami and board Vista on 9/9. We are watching it CLOSELY. If our flight gets canceled, we miss the cruise. Thought about coming down the night before, but what if THAT's when it comes and THAT flight gets canceled and can't get down Saturday? OR what if we do make it down, but the cruise is canceled? Now we're stuck in Miami during a very powerful hurricane! So many scenarios, it makes my head spin... all we can really do is wait...

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I'm torn on getting to Miami. Supposed to fly in Sat morning 9/9. Do I try to fly in Friday, 9/8? But what if I get there and they cancel the cruise and then I'm stuck in Miami during a hurricane?!? I'm going to wait until Monday or Tuesday and see what it does. #stressed!

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Yeah, it will be early next week before they have more than just an educated guess of what may happen. Only time will tell....

Hurricane Irma continues to gain strength. No one really knows for sure at this point which way it will turn.

Exactly!!! I'm just worried about getting on the ship. After that, I'm fine with whatever happens. We normally sail in the spring but we couldn't this year, so this was the ONLY time we could get vacation.

We are on the Vista 9/9 sailing along with you! I hope we get to keep the same itinerary, but as long as I can get on that ship I'm good!

We leave on the Vista on 9/9. This new model gives me hope! The last ones just had Florida and everywhere we were going right in the crosshairs.

Latest forecast model plots for Irma