Sept--Hurricane Season

[Ariel35]

I know September, October is hurricane season in the Carribean. Has anyone actually cruised during that time, and if so did you experience any storms/hurricanes?

 

I also heard there is a thing called hurricane insurance...What does this entail?

[BillB48]

You really just need to flexible, don't have your heart set on being at Pancho's Backyard in Cozumel on Sept. 30 having paid a non refundable tour package of some sort. As long as a major storm is not at your port of embarkation you will get a cruise, it just may not go where you thought you were going. There are a lot more months than just those two you may have to be concerned about. For example, we were supposed to dock in Ft. Lauderdale to disembark. Instead we wound up in Tampa about 10 hours late in August. Another time they swapped out intinerary from Eastern to Western Caribbean for a 40mph tropical storm towards the end of November. They just don't know what they will turn into.

 

I just have the regular insurance, never looked into hurricane insurrance.

[ehfl]

The hurricane season is 6 months long.....it's hard to avoid if you are a frequent cruiser. Just be flexible. If you end up with a different itinerary, it's for your own safety and comfort so don't whine about it.

 

You should have travel insurance whether you are traveling during hurricane season or not.

[Ariel35]

If they do end up disembarking elsewhere, then are you responsible for finding your own flights back? Or will they adjust your flights for you?

[FLACRUISER99]

I cruise during Hurricane season every year, just be prepared for a possible change/cancel of some or all ports. Buy travel insurance either through RCI's or a broker like Insuremytrip or Squarmouth. The Captain is the last person onboard that wants to sail into a Storm and will avoid them.

[BillB48]

If you have booked air with RCI, then they will take care of it. When you book your own it's up to you to work out the details. In the case of the Tampa disembarking they opened up the phones at the main desk and let people call the airlines. Just to give you something else to think about, your arrival at your disembarkation port can be delayed by any numerous reasons. We were recently on the Voyager and could not dock until 5pm due to fog. What a madhouse of passengers trying to make adjustments to their flights out of Houston. They also may open up the computers to let you make other flight arrangements as well. At least my car was waiting comfortably at the dock!

[awboater]

Five of our Caribbean cruises have been in the late Sep-early Oct timeframe, and we're scheduled for another cruise during this time period this fall.

 

We even sailed in Oct 2005, the bumper crop for Hurricanes in the Caribbean.

 

In 2002, we were 3 days behind Hurricane Isadore and 3 days ahead of Hurricane Lili. We had beautiful weather, calm seas, and no change of itinerary.

 

In 2005, we were in the Eastern Caribbean while Wilma was messing up the Western Caribbean - and if I recall, that is when the docks in Cozumel were busted up. If we were to go to Cozumel during that cruise, we would have missed it.

 

And in 2010, we were in the vicinity of Hurricane Paula for a couple of days. The worst we experienced was a really cool lightning show one evening.

 

In all of those cruises, we never missed a port or had bad weather or rough seas. Fact is, in that time period, if there is not a hurricane nearby, its some of the most pleasant weather in the Caribbean.

 

The ironic thing is that the only time we ever missed a port in our 10 cruises was in March 2010 - the waves were too rough to tender in Coco Cay.

 

But the potential for an itinerary change is always present. In 2005 when Wilma was busting up the Western Caribbean, all of the cruise ships that were supposed to be in the Western Caribbean were with us on the eastern side. That made for some port congestion, but that was the worst of it.

 

We had dining room table mates on that cruise that were on a back-to-back cruise that was supposed to alternate between Eastern and Western Caribbean, and they ended up visiting the Eastern Caribbean twice.

 

And on that 2005 cruise, when we were returning to the US, there was a chance that we would be arriving a day late as Wilma was headed for the Florida coast. This would have meant we would get an 8 day cruise rather than a 7 day cruise. However, Wilma slowed down enough that we made it to Port Canaveral on time, and the next cruise left on time before Wilma made it to Florida.

 

Perhaps we have been lucky; but I think it's most likely that you may experience a change of itinerary. And the worst case scenario is that if a Hurricane is in the vicinity of the departure port, then the cruise could be cancelled or delayed. But in Jan this year, fog in Galveston prevented the departure of a couple of cruises, so its not always a given that other times of the year do not have problems either.

 

But we always buy cruise insurance. We pay way too much for the cruise to risk loss without insurance. Cruise prices in Sep/Oct are probably among the cheapest, and the savings you get more than make up for the cost of the insurance.

 

I think any of the major cruise insurance policies would cover hurricanes.

 

I would not hesitate to go on a Sep-Oct cruise in the Caribbean.

[LBumb]

imo a great time to cruise. great rates.

[cruzingduo]

We have rarely cruised during that time, but I do recall once where we missed a port and one of the couples onboard were to be married on the island. Unfortunate for them.

[BillB48]

On the cruise I mentioned earlier that swapped Eastern for a Western itin, our table mates were on a B2B. They were grousing a bit.... same menu, same ports and now the same jokes!!! LOL

[debshomespun]

We have cruised for the last 7 years in Sept/Oct/Nov timeframe, and never missed a port. Like others have said, we have had some of the nicest weather. Warm, sunshine, flat seas. We did miss the private island one October while on Holland America because of rough seas and rain. We missed Grand Cayman during one of our Jan. cruises due to rough seas. Guess it is the luck of the draw. We cruise in the fall for several reasons. It fits our schedules the best, along with lower prices and less kids on board. We also like to cruise in the middle of our winter, Jan/Feb. The weather in the Caribbean has not been as good to us then, as in the fall. Hoping to make it to Bermuda in fall of 2012.

[Saracruise]

In September 2004 our Honeymoon Cruise (and first cruise) on the Mariner, which was sailing out of Port Canaveral at the time. We had hurricane problems, but RCL did a great job of taking care of... The port had to be dredged after the storm and we had to be bussed from Orlando to Miami to meet the ship. We had RCL transfers, so they loaded us up (I think 4 busses from our pre-cruise hotel) and off to Miami we went. It was a long ride, but they provided movies for us to watch (we heard one bus's a/c did not work). When we came back we arrived back in Port Canaveral, people who drove to the Port we upset because they had to be bussed back to Miami to get their vehicles (Due to Customs we couldn't just drop those people off in Miami). We made it to all ports and it was relatively smooth sailing.

 

In October 2006 we sailed on the Freedom and had no problems.

 

In August 2007 we were on the Enchantment to go to Key West and Cozumel... made it to Key West, but then had to go to Nassau. Any day of vacation is better than a day at work, Right?

 

I would sail again in September/October, great prices and we have met a lot of great people then!

[Saberj]

We always travel in October. Cheaper prices and less kids are the big reasons for us. In 2009, on our FOS cruise out of Canaveral, they cancelled Coco Cay and gave us an extra sea day due to rough weather in that area. But we never saw any of it. The worst part was that the pools were freezing for half of the trip. But the weather (Once we got to the second day) was fantastic, the sailing was smooth, and it was a great trip overall. But potential storms are just one more reason to always travel with insurance.

[sadie8]

We cruised the week of July 4, 2005 and were rerouted because of hurricane Dennis. That year there were named hurricanes as early as June. It's part of cruising, I think you always need to be aware that your itinerary can be altered.

[damosen]

I cruised the 4th of september of 2010 on the Oasis and the weather was just amazing. We dont have ANY rain, storm, anything!

[Saracruise]

If you're on a ship it moves to divert from bad weather, if you're on an island you are stuck there!

[Ariel35]

Thank you all for all your replies!

 

I have held a room for the sept.17 sailing :) I did it through a TA.

 

Funnily enough, with RCI, if I book and pay in Cdn I cannot buy their cruise care insurance. Only if i pay the cruise in US.

 

Would ANY travel insurance be sufficient?

[awboater]

We've used TravelGard before, it was OK, but it's more expensive than the cruise line's. There are pros and cons on both sides to buying independent vs. cruise line insurance.

 

You might want to verify that CDN thing. We usually buy travel insurance from the cruise line and it goes on the same bill as the cruise itself.

 

Not wanting to say your Travel Agent is pulling a fast one, but they probably get a kickback or whatever you want to call it by selling you independent insurance. So it might be more profitable for them to steer you away from the cruise line's insurance.

 

Again, I am not accusing them of this, but it never hurts to make sure.

[jensambo]

I cruise every September for the low rates. Last September our ship went to Bahamas instead of Bermuda because there was a hurricane at Bermuda. It was a rocky ride from Baltimore but it was worth it! I like to cruise with friends after the kids go back to school. The weather is usually still nice and warm in September.

[krispi]

My only cruise (so far!) was in September 2008 on the Majesty of the Seas, and there was a hurricane at sea at that time. The first night on the boat, the waters were pretty choppy. We made all of our ports as scheduled, but several of the shore excursions that I pre-booked had to be cancelled due to rough waters. I had booked them through Royal Caribbean, so they were automatically credited back to my account. It was a disappointment figuring out what to do in port at the last minute, because I had been looking forward to the snorkeling and beach trips I had booked, but that was the only inconvenience and it was a great trip overall. I would recommend booking the excursions through the cruise line though, because it was so hassle free when something happened.

[maggieq]

I personally think it's a crap shoot either way. We have had some great cruises in August, September and October. We have also had some bad weather ones in April (solstice), October (Freedom and Oasis). We cruised on the Liberty in September and had one rainy day (which I figure is still pretty good). Other than that, beautiful and hot....

 

In hurricane season, just be prepared to change your flights and route that the ship goes and you'll be fine.

[mfk68]

I know September, October is hurricane season in the Carribean. Has anyone actually cruised during that time, and if so did you experience any storms/hurricanes?

 

I also heard there is a thing called hurricane insurance...What does this entail?

Hurricane season is from June 1 through November 31. Some years are worse than others, but there is always a chance of a hurricane any time in the caribbean during that time. In 2005 there were even storms being named well into December and January.