Just wondering about hurricanes

[wannagonow123]

First off, no, we do not get insurance. My husband says no, so no. I don't even try anymore.

 

I know ships can & will change ports & destinations due to weather. That is not a problem. I cruise for the experience, not the ports. My concern, question, is what if a hurricane/TS is due to hit an embarkation port on the day a cruise is to leave/ arrive. I know with SS Sandy, ships left early to avoid the storm. Did people got refunds or compensation if they cannot get to the port earlier?

 

I have 5 cruises booked & paid for between now & November. If I have a day or 2 notice, I can get there earlier, but I was just wondering what SOP would be.

[Kamloops50]

First off, no, we do not get insurance. My husband says no, so no. I don't even try anymore.

 

I know ships can & will change ports & destinations due to weather. That is not a problem. I cruise for the experience, not the ports. My concern, question, is what if a hurricane/TS is due to hit an embarkation port on the day a cruise is to leave/ arrive. I know with SS Sandy, ships left early to avoid the storm. Did people got refunds or compensation if they cannot get to the port earlier?

 

I have 5 cruises booked & paid for between now & November. If I have a day or 2 notice, I can get there earlier, but I was just wondering what SOP would be.

 

depends on the "Passage Contract " you agreed to. If you are making your on arrangements and are arriving on cruise day , you might not get compensated if they have to leave early.

I can't understand why your DH doesn't want to buy insurance for a cruise . It covers you not only if you have to cancel .Unless you can afford to self insure the cruise and medical in a foreign country you can be out of pocket big dollars.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Kamloops50

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/08/31/travel/hurricane-season-cruising/

 

An old article but one that does answer some questions.

 

Best bet...buy trip insurance and make sure you are "covered" for weather.

 

If you choose not to, you are throwing the dice and may end up having to pay, out of pocket, expenses incurred because the ship left early, etc.

 

Also, the port authority "controls" departure times and if they say "leave" or don't go at all the cruise line will probably leave since it doesn't want a multi-billion dollar vessel in harms way.

 

Hurricane season in the Caribbean is no joke and should be taken very, very seriously. Consumers need to weigh the risks and decide if monetary savings, up front, are worth missing out on a trip or having travel plans interrupted. A cruise line can't control weather...they shouldn't be held liable if weather interrupts their itineraries.

[firemanbobswife]

What hubby doesn't know won't hurt him. Get insurance.

 

No way would I ever consider cruising, much less during hurricane season without it. There's always airfare that's not refundable and may not be able to be changed if they are leaving earlier/later than planned (hotels might not have occupancy for alternate dates). Or airlines could cancel flights for ANY number of reasons. None which will give you any money for your missed cruise. The Cruiseline might give your money back but I don't know that for sure in the event of a hurricane. It's not worth the added stress of possibly losing hundreds or thousands of dollars to worry about that. And that's just for the vacation part. It's also for if either one of you need to cancel due health or other covered reasons or if you get sick or hurt on the ship. How would he like to pay tens of thousands dollars for a medevac?

 

Seriously though. Just buy it. And if you ever need to use it you can say, "See I told you so. Now we don't have to come out of pocket all that money."

Edited July 5, 2016 by firemanbobswife

[Donh44]

First off, no, we do not get insurance. My husband says no, so no. I don't even try anymore.

 

I know ships can & will change ports & destinations due to weather. That is not a problem. I cruise for the experience, not the ports. My concern, question, is what if a hurricane/TS is due to hit an embarkation port on the day a cruise is to leave/ arrive. I know with SS Sandy, ships left early to avoid the storm. Did people got refunds or compensation if they cannot get to the port earlier?

 

I have 5 cruises booked & paid for between now & November. If I have a day or 2 notice, I can get there earlier, but I was just wondering what SOP would be.

 

 

 

One only has to experience once an emergency to know that travel insurance is very important. You are rolling the dice. An emergency evacuation off of a ship or from a foreign island or country can be thousands of dollars. For the amount that you are paying for those cruises, what is a few more dollars? Your DH is not thinking straight for himself or his family. Just saying.

[C Cruise Dude]

First off, no, we do not get insurance. My husband says no, so no. I don't even try anymore.

 

I know ships can & will change ports & destinations due to weather. That is not a problem. I cruise for the experience, not the ports. My concern, question, is what if a hurricane/TS is due to hit an embarkation port on the day a cruise is to leave/ arrive. I know with SS Sandy, ships left early to avoid the storm. Did people got refunds or compensation if they cannot get to the port earlier?

 

I have 5 cruises booked & paid for between now & November. If I have a day or 2 notice, I can get there earlier, but I was just wondering what SOP would be.

 

Last August I was on Norwegian and the day before the cruise we received notice that the cruise was changing from a Eastern to a Western cruise. Actually I was excited and prefered the change but by the time we arrived to board they changed to the original itinerary.

 

I recall one incident where Carnival bused their passengers from Miami (I think) to Port Canaveral. The next worst would be rough seas but I have gotten that in the early Spring. The worst that I have seen with hurricanes was the ship was a day late so, boarding passengers lost a day of cruise. :mad:

 

The Norwegian cruise went off fine and we avoided bad weather. Don't worry, enjoy!

[RuthlessBoss]

If they have 5 booked and paid for in the next 4 month, hubby isn't concerned about financial problems.

[wannagonow123]

We booked the cruises at vey reasonable rates. If you are not picky about room locations, and can stay in an interior cabin, prices are cheap.

[Rock_Dr]

Think in terms of probabilities.

 

On average there is 1 June hurricane every two years so if you are travelling in June there is a 1 in 60 chance of there being a hurricane somewhere in the Atlantic. Take into account the chances of it making landfall near you departure port and the chances are less than 0.5% that it will cause a problem in June.

 

July has a slightly higher chance as does August. September is the peak time with an average of over 3 Atlantic storms but few make landfall. October has little less and there is an occasional November storm.

 

Overall from June 1 to Nov 30 (the "hurricane season") there is an average of about 11 storms. That is 11 storms over about 180 days giving a propability of a little over 5%. Taking into account that the storm must make landfall near you departure point the overall chance of causing a departure problem is much less than 1%.

 

It does happen and will suck if it happens to you but the chances are very small.

[MommaBear55]

No, you do not get compensation if you do not have insurance. You do get assistance getting to your next port if you book through Cruise Air or whatever they call it now. Most airlines also have a change flights free to original destination with a window of dates around a proposed storm.

 

Even though we were two days late coming out of Boston for Hurricane Sandy, we had 250 people join us in St. Thomas, our first port.

[evandbob]

My 1st attempt at an Eastern/Western B2B in Oct 2014 turned into a Western/Western B2B due to a small hurricane off San Juan and St Thomas. The change was announced after boarding but prior to leaving Florida

 

Only change was an adjustment (small) in port charges. Several hundred people reportedly demanded refunds and left the ship. We were several hours delayed by the change in plans. Guest Services personnel should have received battle pay that afternoon.

 

BTW, I had a great time visiting the same ports twice.

[poz222]

Without insurance.... It depends. If airfare is involved, the issue will be with the airlines not cruise line (unless airfare is purchased through them). If the port is closed, it will be up to you to get yourselves to the port to embark. If they are delayed in returning, you will be responsible for the changes...

[dave_k58]

What hubby doesn't know won't hurt him. Get insurance.

 

No way would I ever consider cruising, much less during hurricane season without it. There's always airfare that's not refundable and may not be able to be changed if they are leaving earlier/later than planned (hotels might not have occupancy for alternate dates). Or airlines could cancel flights for ANY number of reasons. None which will give you any money for your missed cruise. The Cruiseline might give your money back but I don't know that for sure in the event of a hurricane. It's not worth the added stress of possibly losing hundreds or thousands of dollars to worry about that. And that's just for the vacation part. It's also for if either one of you need to cancel due health or other covered reasons or if you get sick or hurt on the ship. How would he like to pay tens of thousands dollars for a medevac?

 

Seriously though. Just buy it. And if you ever need to use it you can say, "See I told you so. Now we don't have to come out of pocket all that money."

 

Not to mention roads and highways to the port may not be open because of high water, remnants of storms etc

[Drose716]

I sailed a 3 nighter during a hurricane/TS. We made it out of Miami. Our stop in Nassau was cut short. The port of Miami ended up closing during our sea day. We were supposed to be in at 8am, but we weren't allowed back into port until around 6pm. We couldn't get off the ship until 8pm bc they were overloaded with late returning ships.

 

We had purchased our air through Carnival so they rescheduled our flights for free. Free phone calls were opened to all passengers to make other arrangements. Carnival put us up in a hotel overnight & provided a shuttle there & to the airport in the morning. The hotel offer was to all pax not just those who had booked through their air program. I dont know about shuttle to the airport for non-flyaway pax.

 

The pax on the next cruise basically lost a day. I heard they didnt sail until near midnight. I dont know if they went to nassau or not. I believe they were given a credit. Hurricane season is a gamble that way.

[Gallivanting Souls]

My family and I were booked on our first cruise (Carnival Holiday). As you might recall Hurricane Katrina hit most of the south pretty hard. Our cruise was to leave the very day of the Hurricane. We did have insurance, but as the hurricane is getting stronger and stronger, I am calling the airline and they are telling me everything is still a go. We cannot just stay home. We must make the attempt to get to our destination. :eek::eek::eek:

 

We were scheduled to fly into NOLA and drive to Mobile. I knew in my heart this cruise was not going to happen. We (family of 6) get to DEN and the hurricane is just starting to make landfall. We are standing in a huge line to find out what is going on. The girl tells me she can get us into Pensacola :eek: No way am I flying my family right into a hurricane and right into a shelter! We made our attempt, now what? She re-booked our tickets back to GEG. We had just enough time to eat at the DEN McDonalds and get on the flight. My kids were crying why aren't we going on the boat? I wanted to cry too when I got home and had to unpack 6 suitcases of clean clothes.

 

Don't think I take this lightly. MANY people lost their homes. Many people lost their lives. My family only lost a lousy vacation. I did also have my mom and dad in Mobile bunkered down for the hurricane. They came out ok, but it was scary. I didn't end up getting anything back from the insurance sine the airline refunded my money and carnival gave me my money back. I also remember that I got a letter from Carnival good for a free welcome gift the next time I sail on Carnival. :rolleyes:

 

Afterwards, Carnival used the Holiday and some other ships for the relief workers, so there was not a replacement cruise for us. We did get our money back for the cruise and the airfare. It was a huge pain in the butt though. Since then, I have still always made sure and purchased the trip insurance, no matter what! BTW, instead of a vacation, I got new living room furniture, and it has long since warn out. Finally this coming December we will give Carnival another shot.