Hurricane season...

[naturalbeauty2011]

Good evening:D

how many of you have traveled through the Caribbean during hurricane season?

Was it worth it?

Did the captain ever canceled a whole cruise?

How was the seas?

Did it effect your cruise experience in a negative way? if so how?

Thank you for your opinions in advanced.

[karen s]

Most cruises will divert/adjust sail times/etc to avoid storms....but not cancel outright. You may end up with a cruise to nowhere, but you'll still be on a cruise :o

 

Just keep your eye on the weather and prepare for the unexpected when sailing the Caribbean/Atlantic during hurricane season.

 

I felt bad for those expecting a Bermuda cruise last summer and ended up in Canada with just flip flops and shorts :eek:

[LMaxwell]

Hurricane season is May - November but peak action seems to be August - October.

[Ashland]

Have cruised the eastern caribbean many times in October and just recently cruised the southern in October...couldn't have had better weather.

[paradiseawaitsme]

Most cruises will divert/adjust sail times/etc to avoid storms....but not cancel outright. You may end up with a cruise to nowhere, but you'll still be on a cruise :o

 

Just keep your eye on the weather and prepare for the unexpected when sailing the Caribbean/Atlantic during hurricane season.

 

I felt bad for those expecting a Bermuda cruise last summer and ended up in Canada with just flip flops and shorts :eek:

 

Since our Canadian summers are normally in the 70's and 80's F, flip flops and shorts would be the norm. :)

[Justmekaren918]

I traveled on Vision; September 15, 2014 to the 20th in the western caribbean, and the weather was awesome, but really humid. Cut it with a chainsaw humid. The seas were almost glass bottom the whole trip, but I did get to see some neat storms behind us and next too us the last night!

 

 

 

[Coralc]

We had a really, really bad hurricane affected cruise on the west coast. We are more flexible now. This was in 1997:

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Big-Storm-Causes-Cruise-Ship-to-Detour-to-S-F-2804726.php

 

BTW. We also live very near San Francisco...and hadn't quite expected to sail home!

Edited January 19, 2015 by Coralc

[racerxspeedy]

Most of my cruises have been during hurricane season. Only had one really rough day and one missed port. I don't let it impact my decision to book a cruise.

[wendychloecruiser]

Several years ago I was on a ship, it was either RCI or X that danced around 3 back to back hurricanes. We were supposed to go to Cozumel, Belize, Costa rica, Panama etc and eventually got into most of the ports but in a very scattered route. It was great fun as we really didn't know where we were going. It was no big deal. Go with the flow.

[Natmom]

Since our Canadian summers are normally in the 70's and 80's F, flip flops and shorts would be the norm. :)

 

 

I was going to say the same lol. Canadian summers are as hot as Florida. It isn't automatically snowing and freezing the second you cross over into Canada!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Parramatta]

We were on the Oasis Auguest 2012, we left Saturday and then they closed the port that night and the Allure could not come in till Tuesday. With the Captain's expert steerage we did not feel anything.

 

For us other than the ports being reversed the hurricane had no impact. Not so the kids who threw a life buoy overboard - that actually impacted Nassau more than the hurricane.

 

The people who were on the Allure were probably less impressed.

 

Still happy to sail September this year.:D

[TravelerThom]

I had the "pleasure" of a 2004 cruise on Celebrity Galaxy that encountered TWO major (as in the names were retired) hurricanes - Ivan and Jeanne. It was bouncy and ports were modified, but all in all it was a good cruise. Basically you get good pricing at the risk of being diverted; a fair exchange in my book. You have to be willing to miss specific ports, but that could happen on any cruise, for any number of reasons. If you are flexible, go for it!

 

Thom

[cb at sea]

Just because it's "hurricane season" doesn't mean there will be a storm...the seas are no different UNLESS there is a storm....otherwise, it's the same as any other time!

[CaribSailor]

The worst seas we have ever had were in November, December and February. On enchantment we had 12-14' and on Oasis we had 14-16'. We prefer to cruise in the summer months. Have missed a few ports but never had an entire cruise cancelled.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Sherri914]

We prefer November. With the exception of a rainy (no wind, just rain) day in Cozumel once, we've had glorious weather on all sailings. The humidity also seems to be more manageable that time of year, and the water is still warm enough to enjoy as well. Here's to hoping the tradition continues as we have one planned for this coming November as well.

[stones902]

Good evening:D

 

how many of you have traveled through the Caribbean during hurricane season?

 

Was it worth it?

 

Did the captain ever canceled a whole cruise?

 

How was the seas?

 

Did it effect your cruise experience in a negative way? if so how?

 

Thank you for your opinions in advanced.

 

 

Yes we do every year. It's our favorite time of year to travel. Rates are cheap and very few kids on board.

 

We've had some weather but nothing horrible. Also, we've been reroute more than once - it just adds a sense of adventure to the trip.

 

One of the greatest cruise experiences we had was in the wake of hurricane Marilyn 20 years ago (1995). The Capt announced that we would not make our scheduled port in St. Thomas because the island had been devastated by the storm. Looking for somewhere to stop we ended up in the town of Ponce, Puerto Rico which is a beautiful area on the S end of the island. The locals really rolled out the red carpet for us and made it a special day. Never would have happened if not for the storm canceling our scheduled port.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[AlwaysNeedSun]

Not Royal related but we were on Disney years ago and there was a huge hurricane that hit Florida, actually sat over Florida for a long time. I can't remember the Hurricanes name but it was years ago. We were schedule to arrive in Port Canaveral but the water was too low for us to come in and we just sat there for awhile, I guess while they made a decision on what to do. Finally, we ended up going to Ft Lauderdale and they kept us on the ship over night while docked. The next day they let us off and they bused us all back to Orlando. It was a mess but they made due. That same trip we were scheduled for Bahamas and they took us to Cozumel and got some OBC, plus an extra night on the ship because of docking back in Fl. Seas were fine though throughout the trip.

 

I would still cruise during hurricane season if need be (depending on kids schedules) because I know they will do what they can to give us sunny days even if it's just sitting at sea!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[negc]

Since hurricane season technically runs from June 1 through November 30th, it is difficult to avoid sailing in it but, as others have pointed out, hurricane season doesn't mean that there are weekly or even more frequent storms. We have sailed when hurricanes were in the vicinity and the ships usually handled the rough seas pretty well. We also were bottled up in Boston harbor for two days as a hurricane battered the East Coast. Unless you are willing to forfeit half a year's cruising on the odd chance that your trip will be affected by a hurricane, "you pays you money and you takes you choice".

[molsonschooner]

Since our Canadian summers are normally in the 70's and 80's F, flip flops and shorts would be the norm. :)

That trip that got diverted to Canada actually happened later on in the fall if I remember correctly. At that time of year I think a lot of people were switching to jeans and sweat shirts.

[agp_mzk]

Since our Canadian summers are normally in the 70's and 80's F, flip flops and shorts would be the norm. :)

 

Haha. Maybe in Canada. Down here, the 70s are just barely t-shirt weather. I don't break out the shorts until the temperatures hit 90+!

[tiffanyhayden81]

I have been to Mexico and it was worth my vacation and irt

[Habanaro64]

Most of our cruises have been during hurricane season and have been lucky. We talked to the Captain once about storms and he said they will go around when they can and stay in the sunshine if possible. The main reason....they sell more adult beverages when it's sunny and hot. Oh, it's safer too.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sail7seas]

Since hurricane season technically runs from June 1 through November 30th, it is difficult to avoid sailing in it but, as others have pointed out, hurricane season doesn't mean that there are weekly or even more frequent storms. We have sailed when hurricanes were in the vicinity and the ships usually handled the rough seas pretty well. We also were bottled up in Boston harbor for two days as a hurricane battered the East Coast. Unless you are willing to forfeit half a year's cruising on the odd chance that your trip will be affected by a hurricane, "you pays you money and you takes you choice".

 

Were you on the Maasdam, Montreal to Boston?

 

We were on that cruise, b-to-b, and our first week Boston to Montreal was great with gorgeous weather. The second week we missed four of six ports and hurried back to Boston to beat the storm....... the storm that never hit Boston. There had been prediction it could be a huge hurricane but it veered off, thankfully. I'd rather miss some cruise days than have lives and property at risk from an awful storm. Ship arrived in Boston Thursday though initially scheduled to return Saturday. Guests were permitted to stay aboard if they wished. We went home.

[smeyer418]

We were diverted from Bermuda to Canada in September a number of years ago..needless to say some people were NOT happy. Canada although not freezing was not beach weather. I actually on one of the days we were in Canada went to the beach. I put my foot in the water and my leg froze...almost. It was way to cold to swim although some people swim in December in Coney Island(the polar bear club) but not me. Other than that we had a great time. I had always wanted to go to Halifax and that was my chance and I have been back twice since then voluntarily.

This was on NCL and at the same time a Celebrity ship also went the same way. Some of the passengers got so agitated with the Captain that he was going to Canada that he refused to let them board. Celebrity at first refused to refund the fare but X has a guarantee that if you are unhappy that you can get off at the first foreign port and get a refund. a small number of passengers did that. I don't know if the refused boarding passengers were refunded but I heard that they were eventually.

As I said we had a great time but I knew before we got to the pier we weren't going to Bermuda and some passengers who had flown in from far away places for a Bermuda vacation were much more disappointed but that is life. IMO.

BTW I have also been to Bermuda four or five times as well. Its easy from NYC

Edited January 21, 2015 by smeyer418

[iheartbda]

Sid, friends were on an NCL cruise sometime in the past year that was supposed to go to Canada/New England. Must have been a storm on the east coast so they were diverted. She said everyone in the terminal started hooping and hollering when it was announced they were going to BERMUDA.:D