Has anyone experience an hurricane while on a cruise?

[PoCo cruiser]

We are planning a cruise in the South Pacific and just realized that it is within the hurricane season (March). Love to hear some feedback.

[Keith1010]

We have experienced a hurricane on a cruise but that was in the Caribbean. A couple of our ports were revised on our itinerary in order to that the ship was not impacted by the

hurricane. We have sailed the Pacific Ocean a couple of times in March so I would not hesitate booking a cruise during that time frame.

 

Keith

[Langley Cruisers]

Many people here on these boards have cruised during hurricane season, ourselves included; it's impossible to avoid for some because of when they can travel. The captain will never put his passengers and crew in harm's way. They can "outrun" a hurricane if need be but more so, they have up to the minute navigational equipment and will always be aware of the path and location of any storm.

 

Book and prepare for your cruise; you can't do anything about the weather anyway so my advice is to hope and pray for the best. :)

[paul929207]

We sailed thru the remnants of a hurricane going from Sydney, Nova Scotia to NYC. It was pretty rough for a few hours.

[Capt_BJ]

absolutely nothing to worry about

 

[quepaquete]

Any cruise Captain will about a heavy tropical storm and a cruise ship can out run it. So no worries theres.

Once on a cruise to Tahiti a tropical storm was forming while visiting the Island of Rarotonga, the Captain decided to cut short our stay there because there was potencial of that storm becoming a thyphoon. Tendering back to the ship was a challenge for sure. That evenining we had very, very choppy seas, I couldn't make it to dinner. Later I learned that the very few people who did, hat to eat holding their plates so they wouldn't slide around the table. Lots of funny stories afterwards. A couple friend of ours ended up with everything that was on the table sitting on their laps. After that they decided to retire to their cabins to change clothes and ordered sandwiches from room service. We were in a suite with a wet bar and all the wine and drink glasses fell to the floor and broke. All the toilettries we had in the bathroom were on the floor. We felt sorry for the cabin attendant cleaning the glass while the ship was rocking. He did an amazing job and yes, we gave him a good tip. The storm was up to 69 knots, and I believe that to be considered a thyphoon it's 70 knots and up. We were never close to the center of the storm. Thank to the Captain decision to leave early. By next morning the seas were calm and had a wonderful rest of the trip.

No to scare you, but it happens that a ship may get close to a storm once in a while, just have to trust your Captian that he will make the right decision.

[romnan]

Just once and once is enough:eek:

[a123]

Yes, and they were delicious!

[PoCo cruiser]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. We have decided to take this cruise and hope for nice calm seas. We cruised from LA to Hawaii this March and only had one day of rough weather. I was a little worried when I was told Hurricane season was from November to April and we were sailing in March.

Linda

[mitsugirly]

Any cruise Captain will about a heavy tropical storm and a cruise ship can out run it. So no worries theres.

Once on a cruise to Tahiti a tropical storm was forming while visiting the Island of Rarotonga, the Captain decided to cut short our stay there because there was potencial of that storm becoming a thyphoon. Tendering back to the ship was a challenge for sure.

 

I just have to know...

 

if you are in port and you are on the island and the captain decides to pull out early because a hurricane or typhoon is headed that way...how the heck do the passengers on the island know this in order to head back to the ship?? :eek: Did a lot of people get left behind? I can't possibly see how this is accomplished.

[trish1c]

Sort of.

There was a hurricane coming up the east coast as we went south. We flew to Miami with no problem but didn't get to see a friend in Key West b/c he's a naval air traffic controller & the hurricanne was pounding Norfolk, VA. The waves at the private island were pretty rough but not so rough that they had to close it.

Our flight home was delayed for hours. But better on that end than this one. :p

[Langley Cruisers]

if you are in port and you are on the island and the captain decides to pull out early because a hurricane or typhoon is headed that way...how the heck do the passengers on the island know this in order to head back to the ship??

 

It would never happen. A hurricane moves slowly; the Captain and his/her crew have up to the minute nav equipment and can track the (projected) path of any storm. If there is the slightest chance that it could become an issue, they would not even pull into that port at all. The itinerary would be changed to accomodate the storm. There is absolutely no way the Captain would put his passengers and crew in harm's way.

[Cruise Girl Forever]

I have been in the caribbean when there were hurricanes. During a question and answer session with the capt. and some other officers

I believe he stated the stay 300 miles from the eye. An annoucement from the capt. informed us that we would not devert from our original course as the hurricane had changed direction. That night the ship really rocked and I looked out the balcony door the swells were very high. We ended up being the only ship at that port that day. After that it was normal.

[Jeanette1Piercy]

It would never happen. A hurricane moves slowly; the Captain and his/her crew have up to the minute nav equipment and can track the (projected) path of any storm. If there is the slightest chance that it could become an issue, they would not even pull into that port at all. The itinerary would be changed to accomodate the storm. There is absolutely no way the Captain would put his passengers and crew in harm's way.

 

It happened to us once. We were on the Miracle in 2006 at Costa Maya. We left 2 hours early. I don't know how everybody got back to the ship in time, but an announcement said everybody made it. :rolleyes:

[YoungDubFan]

When I did a cruise of the Mexican Riviera many years ago, on one of the sea days, we had to change course to sail around a hurricane. The captain kept the passengers updated. The seas got very rough - about 20 ft. if I recall. My cabin was on one of the lower decks and was very far forward. It was pitching and moving quite a bit. My friends and I went up to the pool deck and hung out and drank our way through the storm. The crew kept going around and placing sea sickness bags every 3 ft, up and down every hall and stair way. There were plenty of people taking advantage of it. By the time dinner came around, the seas had calmed a bit but things were still moving a bit. Luckily I didn't get sea sick and it made for an interesting story.

[Langley Cruisers]

It happened to us once. We were on the Miracle in 2006 at Costa Maya. We left 2 hours early. I don't know how everybody got back to the ship in time, but an announcement said everybody made it. :rolleyes:

 

Wow that's insane! I'm shocked! But glad everyone was safely onboard.

[Snoofer]

I just have to know...

 

if you are in port and you are on the island and the captain decides to pull out early because a hurricane or typhoon is headed that way...how the heck do the passengers on the island know this in order to head back to the ship?? :eek: Did a lot of people get left behind? I can't possibly see how this is accomplished.

 

They would probably announce a change in itinerary (leaving port time) BEFORE people got off the ship. If everyone, however, was in port at the time and they decided to leave early, they wouldn't leave until everyone was back on the ship...

[bluesea777]

As we live in the hurricane alley we've lived thru several major hurricanes while on land - been there done that.

 

Last Aug we went on back to back Western & Eastern Caribbean on Epic. During the latter part of the first week we saw on CNN that a new hurricane was forming and going toward East Caribbean. We geared up for rough seas OR an itinerary change.

 

When we got back to Miami we received a letter about itinerary change - back to Western Caribbean - we shrugged and said "storm happens". In fact we were glad about the itinerary change and so were tons of other pax. We ended up enjoying the second week as much as we did - we went on different excursions.

[Toto2Kansas]

Just once and once is enough:eek:

 

Same here.............I have never seen anything like it in over 40 cruises. It took me years before I had the courage to book another aft balcony cabin after that episode.:eek:

[sail7seas]

We had a few times when we skirted hurricanes and had itinerary changes. Was fine. No problem so far as guests knew. I have no clue what was happening on the bridge but do know the Captain took good care of his ship, crew and guests. We were all safe.

 

More stressful to deal with was when we were booked to embark in FLL for a 10 day cruise on Volendam. Miami and FLL airports were closed due to a hurricane a few days earlier and Port Everglades was closed. There was no way we could get to the port and no way the ship was going to be there.

 

We got a call that Volendam would be going to Canaveral and to quickly get a flight booked to Orlando or we'd be out of luck. There weren't that many flights or seats available. Thanks to the 'friendly call' we got just in time, we got a flight and all was well. However, when the cruise ended, the ship came into Port Everglades so we were juggling our air arrangements while on the cruise. We had scheduled to stay in FLL a few days post cruise but went directly home as the area was still not fully 'back up' and all straightened out.

 

All that being said, we'd still sail the Caribbean during Hurricane Season if HAL still had cruises from there those six months each year they reposition away from FLL.

 

[panoramaofthepast]

We were on Caribbean Princess out of New York, with the first stop in the Bahamas. When the hurricane moved in on the islands, and the ship really started rocking, the captain skipped the port completely and we got an extra sea day. They won't take chances.

[cruiserking]

Last summer, August 2010 aboard the Celebrity Summit. Hurricane Earl blasted us for a day and a half during our return from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

 

We dropped Saint John, NB to head out to sea. The next morning in the wee hours gigantic waves slammed against the hull and sent everything that wasn't nailed down crashing to the floor.

 

During the following day we were caught in a maelstrom of 30 foot waves and 45 mph winds. I will never forget sitting at breakfast, one moment we were all admiring a leviathan wave rear up like a prehistoric beast, the next moment the ship plunged and tilted precariously.

 

Suddenly a waterfall of cutlery, plates, coffee cups, glasses, tumbled toward me. It was rather like a game, to see how much of breakfast you could keep on the table without wearing it.

 

Other than that we had a swell cruise! ;)

 

Jonathan

[quepaquete]

I just have to know...

 

if you are in port and you are on the island and the captain decides to pull out early because a hurricane or typhoon is headed that way...how the heck do the passengers on the island know this in order to head back to the ship?? :eek: Did a lot of people get left behind? I can't possibly see how this is accomplished.

 

People on tours were asked to turn back (easy to do by radioing the guide) and since the island is rather small and most people stay close to the area where the tenders where droping off passengers -that was the only shopping area. Also the weather was a little rainy and windy so many passengers decided not to disembark on the first place. We had just finished a tour and were just looking around when heared the rumor that the captain may pull anchors early. By then it was challenge to get the tenders to line up with platform on the ship.

[sail7seas]

If you are in port and hear the ships whistle (Horn), immediately make your way back to the ship.

 

Hurricanes to not appear from out of nowhere and Captain and his Officers certainly follow weather conditions carefully but conditions can change quickly, particularly in the Caribbean. Captain may find wind direction has changed or speed has increased or whatever and may want/need to leave early.

 

Tours can be called back to the ship but, of course, it takes time to get them there.

 

[equusvilla]

Last year when I was getting ready for our Caribbean cruise I read a topic much like this one and a woman talked about a European cruise that was so bad that they were afraid to use the elevators.. however the pitching of the boat made using the stairs quite dangerous too. She said you would step up and the boat would go down and it was as if the stair was not there anymore!

 

Not that I would ever want to be in harms way.. but to those who have seen such weather events.. what an adventure you have to tell your children and G-children! :p