Hurricane Florence

[emdia43]

My husband and I are in the same situation. Received two messages from Royal Caribbean this afternoon about our cruise leaving Baltimore, MD on September 13th. They're saying the ship should arrive 3-days later on the 16th now. We're standing by to see if the airlines are issuing waivers in order for us to reschedule our flight to the later date at no charge. RCCL already gave us the option of canceling the cruise. We're just standing by!:')

 

Ironically, we were on standby last year sailing on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston in September. The airport and port opened in time for us to get on the ship and we sailed without incident in between hurricane's Harvey, Irene and Jose.

Baltimore (BWI) and the DC airports are on travel advisory now. Check with your airline or go to their website and change your own flight, if you booked online.

[emdia43]

So when someone books a cruise in the caribben during hurricane season and a hurricane approaches and messes up a vacation, blame the weather man... when it's a real bad hurricane, sue the weatherman.

 

Or one could just choose to cruise to the caribbean when it's not hurricane season.

You should really read back as to his catastrophically wrong decisions last year. He should have been fired then. I am not looking forward to decisions being made about our 9/16 cruise itinerary on his say so.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

You should really read back as to his catastrophically wrong decisions last year. He should have been fired then. I am not looking forward to decisions being made about our 9/16 cruise itinerary on his say so.

 

Don't need to. Hurricanes have been hitting the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, and the Caribbean before ships were even conceptually thought of. Guess what? They aren't going to stop either. Aug & Sept is prime time for them but nevermind that, book a Caribbean cruise! They're cheaper then for a reason.

[rafinmd]

Grandeur is leaving Nassau tomorrow and spending at least two days in PC and not returning to Baltimore til Sat or Sun all thanks to Florence.

Better be Saturday or there could be a mess with Carinival Pride on her regular turnaround day Sunday.

 

Roy

[YlangYlangF9PB3E]

Except that neither of the Grandeur itineraries are Caribbean ones. If they had not redirected from Bermuda to Nassau, there likely would have been no issues, so yes, absolutely blame the weatherman since the first cruise did not depart until Saturday, when it was evident Bermuda was in the clear.

 

I do take your point though. People do often seem surprised hurricanes exist.

I thought it was odd that they changed the itinerary to Nassau when on Saturday it was evident that Bermuda would have been an easier route back to Baltimore. But maybe they just wanted Grandeur far, far away from Baltimore on Thursday, just in case the storm shifted north (which it did by a hair).

[DISFANS3]

Be safe...

[time4u2go]

Don't need to. Hurricanes have been hitting the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, and the Caribbean before ships were even conceptually thought of. Guess what? They aren't going to stop either. Aug & Sept is prime time for them but nevermind that, book a Caribbean cruise! They're cheaper then for a reason.

You really should read up on what happened. You are completely missing the point.

[SRF]

My guess is that Grandeur will be delayed getting back to Baltimore. On Wednesday and Thursday, it appears that Florence will be smack in the middle of the path between Nassau and Baltimore. If they left today, they MIGHT beat it, but since they've just pulled in, they're not going to decide to pull back out and make a speed run in front of the Hurricane path.

 

They really should have gone to Bermuda. :D

 

But also, the wind arrival map shows that the mouth of the Chesapeake will have tropical storm force winds as of 8AM Thursday, when Grandeur is supposed to dock.

 

So the departure would put her in the bay in the middle of tropical storm force, or higher, winds.

 

I suspect, she will stay out at least 1 extra day, maybe 2.

 

[emdia43]

They really should have gone to Bermuda. :D

 

But also, the wind arrival map shows that the mouth of the Chesapeake will have tropical storm force winds as of 8AM Thursday, when Grandeur is supposed to dock.

 

So the departure would put her in the bay in the middle of tropical storm force, or higher, winds.

 

I suspect, she will stay out at least 1 extra day, maybe 2.

 

I think they are coming back up to Port Canaveral to hang out for a couple of days until it's clear.

[kearney]

Someone posted revised itinerary of a facebook group. They arrived Nassau on Monday 1pm and stayed over night... leaving Nassau today at 3:30... then they go to Port Canaveral arriving Wed around 7 am and they will leave PC sometime on Thursday... time not specified. They will have two sea days and end up..in theory docking on Sunday the 16th. So the length of the cruise has been extended.

Perhaps the reason for Nassau... is that Bermuda was having rough seas which might have limited any snorkling, beach, diving and might make the ferry ride rough. This way they had some beach time. The worst of the storms is the NE quadrant... Bermuda might be in that as they head back. By going to Nassau... they will be following the storm ... so it might be smoother than sailing from Bermuda. I am just guessing. I think the issue now is.... what happens Sunday. Will passengers be able to fly home or drive home...

[billfish]

I think I'd rather sail through the hurricane.

 

 

Have you ever been in 30 ft. waves driven by 100 MPH winds ??? Not a good choice

[4774Papa]

Have you ever been in 30 ft. waves driven by 100 MPH winds ??? Not a good choice

We were on a cruise in the North Sea in 2014 and our ship was doing its best to avoid a Cat 2 hurricane. We had two days of 40 ft. waves the actually came up to our balcony on deck 6. Dear wife and I didn't get sea sick, but about 30% of the crew and passengers were ill. It was not fun and one afternoon, we spend most of the time just laying on our bed reading.

[cwms]

Supposed to be on GOS on Thursday for New England. We understand that we will hear by 7 tonight (Tues) what the new itiniary will be.

We may still go or maybe not. We will see what they say before making a decision.

I'm wondering if they will cancel New England completely and make a run to Bermuda instead. We love Bermuda but will probably cancel as we were just there 2 years ago.

[fred30]

Have you ever been in 30 ft. waves driven by 100 MPH winds ??? Not a good choice

 

I thought his post was funny. Not a great port.

[voyager70]

I thought his post was funny. Not a great port.

 

Yes, it was just a joke.

[ONECRUISER]

We were on a cruise in the North Sea in 2014 and our ship was doing its best to avoid a Cat 2 hurricane. We had two days of 40 ft. waves the actually came up to our balcony on deck 6. Dear wife and I didn't get sea sick, but about 30% of the crew and passengers were ill. It was not fun and one afternoon, we spend most of the time just laying on our bed reading.

Also not one to get sea sick either so for us was kinda fun. Think was this last week in mid 90's, not 100% which yr as we always cruised over Labor Day week(Fed Holiday) There was 4 named Storms/Hurricanes really stirred up the seas, huge waves, on smaller cruise ship. We had reversed itinerary, canceled one port and changed another. Back then didn't have internet so watched Weather Channel... Time of yr, things happen...

Edited September 11, 2018 by ONECRUISER

[FLACRUISER99]

Just remember what Ive learned after going through many hurricanes. The are really unpredictable and every one is different. As long as everyone is safe I'm OK with any of RCI's decisions.

[kidz_rn]

I just finished reading all 180 posts in this thread. :-)

 

We are supposed to sail Saturday on Anthem out of Cape Liberty to Bermuda. Waiting to see what happens. Right now, Anthem is in Halifax on a scheduled 9-day Canada/NE cruise, so no hurricane impact. If our itinerary does change, I wonder how close to Saturday we would be notified? I saw one poster say last year, it was 2 days early.

 

RE: the joker who said "I'd rather sail in a hurricane than go to Nassau." Well, haha. You know what? Nobody says you're forced to get off the ship when you're in ANY port, so if you're not a fan of Nassau, just stay onboard and enjoy having most of the ship to yourselves. We've done exactly that on more than one occasion and it was very enjoyable!

[amzn-grace]

I really feel your pain. We are scheduled to sail on the Grandeur of the Seas on Thursday, September 13th heading north into Canada. I was emailed yesterday and told the ship which is currently doing a Bermuda itinerary will not return to Baltimore until Sunday, September 16th. The ship will sail, but with a modified and shorter itinerary. The bummer is, since Baltimore isn't "directly" impacted by the hurricane, the airline isn't issuing waivers which means, we'll have to pay to change our air flights OR fly into Baltimore as originally planned and find something to do for 4 days. We have to leave at 3am tomorrow morning to catch our California to Baltimore flight or cancel it and pay $1,200 difference. Not a lot of time to make decisions. RCCL offered to cancel our reservation and they would issue a credit towards a future cruise but not refund our money (minus taxes). If they cancel the cruise, we'll be reimbursed. I wish you luck in your upcoming journey.

[kidz_rn]

FYI, Grandeur's Sept. 8 scheduled 5-day to Bermuda was changed to Nassau/Port Canaveral, so the ship will be returning to Baltimore from Florida, not Bermuda.

[time4u2go]

Yes, it was just a joke.

Thank you. Some people don't seem to understand that.

[emdia43]

I really feel your pain. We are scheduled to sail on the Grandeur of the Seas on Thursday, September 13th heading north into Canada. I was emailed yesterday and told the ship which is currently doing a Bermuda itinerary will not return to Baltimore until Sunday, September 16th. The ship will sail, but with a modified and shorter itinerary. The bummer is, since Baltimore isn't "directly" impacted by the hurricane, the airline isn't issuing waivers which means, we'll have to pay to change our air flights OR fly into Baltimore as originally planned and find something to do for 4 days. We have to leave at 3am tomorrow morning to catch our California to Baltimore flight or cancel it and pay $1,200 difference. Not a lot of time to make decisions. RCCL offered to cancel our reservation and they would issue a credit towards a future cruise but not refund our money (minus taxes). If they cancel the cruise, we'll be reimbursed. I wish you luck in your upcoming journey.

Which airline?

[PhoenixCruiser]

Nope.

 

But each year, during or right after hurricane season we all begin to read the posts of complaints of problems either w/ travel services or the cruiseline.

 

Please stop, you are embarrassing yourself.

[myacuna]

I just finished reading all 180 posts in this thread. :-)

 

We are supposed to sail Saturday on Anthem out of Cape Liberty to Bermuda. Waiting to see what happens. Right now, Anthem is in Halifax on a scheduled 9-day Canada/NE cruise, so no hurricane impact. If our itinerary does change, I wonder how close to Saturday we would be notified? I saw one poster say last year, it was 2 days early.

 

!

 

 

 

That was us last year. We flew to NJ with beach and some cold weather gear. Not optimal but I was personally just happy to have smooth sailing

 

 

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[ONECRUISER]

I really feel your pain. We are scheduled to sail on the Grandeur of the Seas on Thursday, September 13th heading north into Canada. I was emailed yesterday and told the ship which is currently doing a Bermuda itinerary will not return to Baltimore until Sunday, September 16th. The ship will sail, but with a modified and shorter itinerary. The bummer is, since Baltimore isn't "directly" impacted by the hurricane, the airline isn't issuing waivers which means, we'll have to pay to change our air flights OR fly into Baltimore as originally planned and find something to do for 4 days. We have to leave at 3am tomorrow morning to catch our California to Baltimore flight or cancel it and pay $1,200 difference. Not a lot of time to make decisions. RCCL offered to cancel our reservation and they would issue a credit towards a future cruise but not refund our money (minus taxes). If they cancel the cruise, we'll be reimbursed. I wish you luck in your upcoming journey.

Unfortunately your offer/situation is pretty standard. Happen's pretty much every yr. Feel for you though, good luck and safe travel's...