Tampa Fog

[reps23]

My husband and I booked the Carnival Legend for January 25, 2020 out of Tampa.  We were offered money off on a Royal Caribbean cruise so decided to book a cruise from Port Canaveral on February 2, 2020, the day we arrive back in Tampa.  We have never been on one of the large ships so wanted to try one and the price was right.  Our thoughts were there would be no problem to drive from Tampa to Orlando and board the same day we get in from Legend cruise.  Now I am reading on cruise critic that sometimes in January fog rolls in and ships cannot dock in Tampa.  

 

We are on medicare (young 70 but travel a lot) and I only buy year polices such as Geo Blue in case we have to ever be airlifted off a ship when we are out of the country to be sure I can get home.  Should I be concerned about the fog in case we cannot make our other cruise in Port Canaveral and consider buying travel insurance.  We also pay all trips with our Chase Sapphire Reserve card which has travel insurance.  

 

Has anyone had trouble docking in Tampa during January/February and how long were you delayed.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Phyllis

 

 

[Capt_BJ]

there have been times when Port of Tampa was closed for DAYS because of fog in late winter early spring.  This is rare but it has happened.  Delays of half a day happen more often but are still relatively rare.  A couple of times a year typically.  But if you were to be delayed until after noon to enter the port .... which has a LONG transit to the cruise terminal in Tampa ...  there's no way you'd make a same day departure from Port Canaveral without a private helicopter!

 

(remember Port Canaveral is a hour beyond Orlando when driving)

[kenlyn]

We have sailed out of Tampa twice. First time our departure was delayed by 5 hours due to ship not getting in. Second we were on the ship and were 3 hours late getting in. Maybe we were just unlucky but a whole lot of folks were in a bind with flights. We have not cruised out of Tampa since.  Its Miami for us now.

[iahawkfan21]

We did a b2b out of Tampa late Jan/early Feb this year.  On the first leg we returned on time with no issues.  The second leg fog closed the port and we sat outside the channel for several hours.   Instead of arriving @ 6am, we didn't get off the ship until almost 6pm.  Unfortunately there is no way to say whether it'll happen to your sailing, but you definitely have to be prepared for delays which in our case was several hours.  

 

Definitely recommend some form of travel insurance that would cover you just in case you were to miss your transfer.

[reps23]

Thank you to all of you who have replied to my post.

 

I will definitely be buying travel insurance for my February 2 cruise out Orlando just in case we encounter fog and the ship does not dock in time for us to drive to Orlando.  At least now I will be aware of that this problem could occur.

 

Phyllis

[hrhdhd]

3 hours ago, reps23 said:

I will definitely be buying travel insurance for my February 2 cruise out Orlando just in case we encounter fog and the ship does not dock in time for us to drive to Orlando.  At least now I will be aware of that this problem could occur.

 

Just because you mentioned "Orlando" again: Orlando doesn't have a port. You'll probably be cruising out of Port Canaveral. Do you mean you'll be picking up a cruise line transfer at the Orlando airport? If so, you'll want to make sure you know when the last one leaves for the port, which is about an hour away from Orlando.

[reps23]

You are right as I meant Port Canaveral.  We have rented a car in Tampa and will drive to Port Canaveral, hopefully.