Im seeing alot of...

[cptncrunch]

Im seeing alot of threads about the weather causing the ship to reroute and not go to its specified destination. How common is this? Im getting a little nervous about my trip on the 5th :eek:

[njdevil08]

Im seeing alot of threads about the weather causing the ship to reroute and not go to its specified destination. How common is this? Im getting a little nervous about my trip on the 5th :eek:

The 5th of December?

 

Ultimately, these decisions are up to the captain if sea conditions are dangerous. It's for the passengers' benefit. It's most common during hurricaine season, when ships will reroute to avoid storms, but by December, that shouldn't really be an issue (if you're going to the Caribbean).

[Coral]

Im seeing alot of threads about the weather causing the ship to reroute and not go to its specified destination. How common is this? Im getting a little nervous about my trip on the 5th :eek:

 

During hurricane and tropical storm season, pretty common. I think the dates are June 1 - Nov 30th. If I am wrong, I am sure someone will correct me.

 

Though, weather and sea conditions can affect ships all year long. The ship always considers safety first and acts accordingly.

[Colo Cruiser]

1 month from now? :eek:

[Coral]

The 5th of December?

 

Ultimately, these decisions are up to the captain if sea conditions are dangerous. It's for the passengers' benefit. It's most common during hurricaine season, when ships will reroute to avoid storms, but by December, that shouldn't really be an issue (if you're going to the Caribbean).

 

I agree - hurricanes should be over by then.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes.

[paul929207]

Hurricane season will be officially over by then. Most likely you will be OK.

[Pam in CA]

Im seeing alot of threads about the weather causing the ship to reroute and not go to its specified destination. How common is this? Im getting a little nervous about my trip on the 5th :eek:

Safety first. It's not unusual for a ship to miss a port; happens all the time. Re-routing so you go in a completely different direction is more unusual and is due to a major storm that would cause passengers (and crew) significant discomfort. Hurricanes and tropical storms are the more frequent reason. If a specific port is very important to you, a cruise will not be right for you.

[Passin Thru]

They changed the itinerary on Diamon and made Singapore the final instead of Bangkok on the Beijing to Bangkok cruise, then they changed from Taiwan to Busan Korea and Nagasaki Japan. :confused:

 

The only truly consistent people are dead

[RickEk]

They changed the itinerary on Diamon and made Singapore the final instead of Bangkok on the Beijing to Bangkok cruise, then they changed from Taiwan to Busan Korea and Nagasaki Japan. :confused:

 

The only truly consistent people are dead

 

But these were operational changes... not weather changes?

[itslin561]

You should be safe by Dec. 5th. We have been re-routed during hurricane season many times. Not a problem unless you had your heart set on a particular port. The captain will not take the ship into dangerous storms.

[BoPippy]

That is why i have never cruised during huricane season or even close:eek:

[jeffbrig]

Hurricane season is essentially over for 2010 - nothing on the horizon right now, and none of the models project anything developing in the next week. There's only a slight chance of anything happening before the season officially ends, but if it does it would likely be very small and would occur in the extreme southern caribbean.

[pmck]

Im seeing alot of threads about the weather causing the ship to reroute and not go to its specified destination. How common is this? Im getting a little nervous about my trip on the 5th :eek:

 

 

Hi,

I was just on the CB out of San Juan from 10-31/11-7 and we had to divert St. Lucia because it got hit by "Tomas". We went to St. Kitts instead but it was just fine...We had booked an excursion in St. Lucia, but they just credited back our account. We were disappointed, but we were still in "hurricane season" which ends at the end of November. This was an unusual year too. We usually sail this same week and have never had a problem before.. This years unusually warm weather had something to do with it...You'll probably be just fine and there's nothing you can do about it anyway, so why worry? Just go on your trip and have a wonderful time.. It beats work any day of the week:D!!

[BoardwalkBabe]

Hurricane season ends on November 30th so you should be in the clear for a December cruise.

[georoc01]

That depends, you can be blown out of ports in the winter in the caribbean, especially if its a tender port.

 

This happened to me in December in Grand Caymans.

[Pam in CA]

You can miss any port at any time of the year. There is never a guarantee. On our T/A in September, I booked a private tour in Belfast because they said no ship had missed the port in at least six years. Well, we missed the port due to weather and they refused to refund a dime to anyone on their tours. There were probably 75-100 passengers on the Crown that booked with them, going by the roll call. McCombs kept everyone's money (about $60/pp) saying that we knew they had a no refund policy and they went on to threaten anyone who bad mouthed them on CC. (I'm just stating the facts, ma'am. Take it whichever way you want.)

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes!! Where is your sense of adventure!! :D

[u2cruiser]

Hi,

I was just on the CB out of San Juan from 10-31/11-7 and we had to divert St. Lucia because it got hit by "Tomas". We went to St. Kitts instead but it was just fine...We had booked an excursion in St. Lucia, but they just credited back our account. We were disappointed, but we were still in "hurricane season" which ends at the end of November. This was an unusual year too. We usually sail this same week and have never had a problem before.. This years unusually warm weather had something to do with it...You'll probably be just fine and there's nothing you can do about it anyway, so why worry? Just go on your trip and have a wonderful time.. It beats work any day of the week:D!!

 

Is this you in Barbados on Friday morning, looking mighty fine? :D I was on Ventura. We were diverted to Dominica instead of St Lucia due to Hurricane Thomas.

[5fathom]

Just teturned from Grand Princess 10/23 to 11/8. When we left Curacao bound for Grenada Captain Bilton had to go 120 miles south of his intended route to try to come in a the back of Hurricane Tomas. He then cancelled our final two ports of Santo Domingo and Grand Turk because Tomas was still active. We called at San Juan instead. He also altered his course between San Juan and Port Everglades. It got a little bumpy at times but never rough. These Captains will never go near a hurricane.

[Pam in CA]

Just a note is that the Captains are in constant contact with the home office in Santa Clarita and decisions to cancel a port or re-route are made jointly. As the person on-scene, the Captain has a big say but they rarely do it without consultations. If the ship is going to an alternate port, arrangements need to be cancelled with one port and implemented at another. There's a huge amount of coordination involved, from arranging for docking space, shore excursions, to pilots, etc.

[pmck]

Is this you in Barbados on Friday morning, looking mighty fine? :D I was on Ventura. We were diverted to Dominica instead of St Lucia due to Hurricane Thomas.

 

 

Yes, I remember seeing the Ventura parked alongside of us in Barbados!! How was that ship? It looked nice too!! Did you love Barbados? We were there 20 years ago on our honeymoon and hadn't returned since...We fell in love with it all over again...!!:D

[PatriciaF]

Just returned from the 10/29 to 11/8 Emerald, Southern Caribbean. After we left port, it was announced that the itinerary would change due to Hurricane Tomas.

 

Rather than two sea days, Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St. Thomas, one sea day, and Princess Cays, we did Princess Cays, one sea day, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, and two sea days.

 

It was a bit bouncy, especially from Aruba back to FLL--but not as rough as some cruises especially the one that did sail very close to a hurricane.

 

If we had gone the original itinerary, we would have been sailing into the hurricane. We did get some rain on the first sea day (the captain announced approaching rain recommended seek shelter--we were soaked by the time we got under cover) and in Aruba. Many on our roll call were disappointed as they had a big outing planned for Domenica. We were in port with the Celebrity Summit in Bonaire. It had gone to Domenica the day before and said it had been heavily damaged by the hurricane.

 

Guess we were lucky we were on the Carnival ship that had electricity problems this past week.

[u2cruiser]

Yes, I remember seeing the Ventura parked alongside of us in Barbados!! How was that ship? It looked nice too!! Did you love Barbados? We were there 20 years ago on our honeymoon and hadn't returned since...We fell in love with it all over again...!!:D

 

Ventura was excellent. Identical build to the Emerald.

 

We had a great time in Barbados. We were overnight Friday/Saturday so didn't have to rush back. We walked all the way down past the Hilton and along the (deserted) South beaches until we came to the Boardwalk, which I can thoroughly recommend. Lovely day. On Saturday we had Silverseas Silver Spirit and Celebrity Millennium alongside.

[maxxedout2]

Captain's call.

 

Ports that require tender service can be

skipped due to sea conditions that make for unsafe

loading or docking; these conditions can be unrelated

to actual hurricanes and could be just local storms that

occur at the scheduled time of arrival.

 

A port such as Mahogany Bay, with a narrow channel,

might be skipped because of strong side winds and/or

bad visibility.

 

BTW, weather can also affect leaving a port and

thus the arrival at the next.

 

Last year two ships had to overnight in Mahogany Bay

until the conditions improved next morning, but they

missed their next stop, Cozumel.

 

No guarantees. Safe is better than sorry.

 

:cool::cool: