Re-Routes on Hurricane paths?

[jmb153]

Hi there, my husband and I cruising in August, just wondering what kind of insurance you purchased for the cruise? I've bought thru "Insure My Trip.com" before but not for a cruise. Any advice on what type of insurance is best for cruisers?

[LorrieB]

Our very first cruise was on the Conquest September 7-14, 2008 from Galveston. This was during Hurricane Ike which devastated Galveston. We were diverted to debark from New Orleans but hey, we got an extra two days on the cruise ship and we lost our car!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!! The next year we were on the Conquest November 8-15, 2009. We were able to enjoy rough seas thanks to Hurricane Ida. What are the odds. So, we are now booked on Carnival Freedom for November 6-14, 2010.

 

I wonder which Hurricane we will be blessed with this time?????

[Chief Cruiser]

I've had two cruises affected by hurricanes and one was totally unique. It involved my Canada/New England cruise. Early in our cruising experiences, I chose that itinerary in September to purposely stay out of the Caribbean during the peak hurricane season. We were relatively new to cruising and my wife was very concerned about the hurricane threat. Well, just so happened that there was a hurricane out in the Caribbean bearing down on the Bahamas and we were sailing out of New York. No problem, right? Well, it got to the east coast and took a due north course affecting the entire ease coast. The hurricane actually made landfall in Halifax a day after we were there! We circumnavigated the hurricane on the way back but got into heavy wind and high seas, the worse I have ever experienced. But, I never felt like we were in danger, just got tired of walking on one side of the hall for two steps before being pushed over to the other side for two steps. The halls were quite smelly due a LOT of people getting sea sick and the crew had quite the time keeping up with cleaning the messes. It was just part of the experience and I had no issues with the cruise. The crew done the best they could under the circumstances. After that experience, both my wife and I both had a hurricane experience under our belts and had a lot of fears settled about how the captain handles those types of situations.

 

Now, from that cruise on, I figured what the heck???? I then began booking cruises in September to the Caribbean and did not have a problem until two years ago. My eastern itinerary was changed to a western one due to Hurricane Ike (Cat 4) sitting out over the Turks and Caicos islands wreaking havoc. We ended up going to a port we had never been to (Isla de Roatan) so everything was fine. You just go with the flow. Hurrican Ike finally began to move came on through and into the gulf of Mexico and we caught some pretty good wind and some waves on the way back in after the hurricane had come through the day before. Nothing like the Canada adventure for sure. I think we had like 4-5 ft seas and it was rather windy, but nothing to be alarmed over.

 

Other cruises have seen hurricanes the week before and the week after our cruise so it is a crap shoot. Just rest assured that the Captain is going to cover his rear end and if he keeps himself safe, then I feel sure I'll be safe. They go where the the hurricane isn't with either an iternary change, reversing ports of call, canceling ports of call, adding sea days....whatever it takes. If I am ever going to get caught up in one, then I hope it is one where I get to stay on the ship for a couple of extra days. Remember hurricanes only move 8-10 MPH as a general rule and cruise ships can run much faster than that so nothing is going to sneak up on them! The captain stays in touch with Miami HQ who constantly monitors the national hurricane center. They have backup plans and emergency plans in place to deal with these type situations. Don't sweat anything.

 

I have another cruise booked for this September to the eastern carib and bahamas, I think number 14, so I hope we get lucky and not have to deal with a hurricane. Not all, but a great majority of my cruises have been in hurricane season and this one will be no different. But, if there's one lurking out there, then we'll just go with the flow and go where ever the ship takes us and feel confident and safe all the way.

 

Hope this helps calm your fears. :)

[momof4boys]

Hi there, my husband and I cruising in August, just wondering what kind of insurance you purchased for the cruise? I've bought thru "Insure My Trip.com" before but not for a cruise. Any advice on what type of insurance is best for cruisers?

 

 

We always use insuremytrip.com. I compare what I want covered and always make sure the company is at least A rated, preferabley A+.

 

Have a great time!

[sam2goody]

Did anyone have issues with visas due to rerouted cruises? For e.g. if the western Carribean cruise gets routed through eastern caribbean, can you still board the ship? I am a non-US citizen and do require visas to some places. If the itinerary changes right before departure, I might not get the chance to apply for another visa.

[Crusin6]

Never missed a cruise!!! Always salil during hurricane season (great prices and not as many people and not as hot!). The might change the ports, stay a day out at sea instead of porting, even had a debark at Ft. Lauderdale instead of Pt. Canaveral (buses supplied for return) and once heard of a cruise where people were bused to Fl Lauderdale to embardk. Never missed a cruise though! They do not cancel.

yep...that was us...Hurricaine Frances in 2004....Disney Magic had to debark in FLL and not PC...plenty of buses ready to take you anywhere you needed to go...DW...PC to get your car if it were still usable...MIA.....Orlando.......they even gave pax a couple of days on the house at DW if they couldn't get flights out right away. We skipped Key West and added Costa Maya...the switched some port calls around and made a special stop in Galveston to add neww entertainment...supplies....and to let anyone off who wanted to get off and bussed them...for a fee to Houston...where they could try to get flights back home.....and apparantly we had 600 Brain Surgeons on board that were willing to leave their families on the ship and fly home on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend....because the sky would fall if they didn't get back to their desks....BY TUESDAY MORNING!!!!

 

What eventually happened was that the ship spent 3 gorgeous days at sea...making it a 10 night cruise...with all the bells and whistles...at no extra charge to the pax who remained......upon debark at FLL....DCL offerred transport to wherever you needed to go in Florida....PC...DW...MIA...FLL (airports) and the fabulous JetBlue airline...who had many many pax unable to make their flights over the previous 3 days...as the airports were shutdown....brought in a number of extra flights for their stranded pax....so we got 3 extra days..which was Labor Day weekend BTW...and got home on Tuesday afternoon just in time for Hurricaine Frances to hit NYC!!!:(

 

 

Also, our insurance covered the out of pocket costs...which were minor as DCL took care of us.....one cost in particular...the cost of the limo home from JFK was fully covered because we had arranged for a family member to pick us up on Saturday...when he wasn't working....but on Tuesday ofcourse he was at work...so the insurance picked up the cost...because we had no other way to get home from the airport.