For those of you who have cruised in October.......

[CLATHEN]

Hey All -

 

Taking my 1st RCCL cruise in October on Enchantment and just wondering what kind of impact hurricaine season has had on your cruise experiences.

[isujim]

If you look at our past cruises, we normally sail in September/October. Only once have we had a minimal impact from a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.........some of the calmest waters we have ever had were in October. Bottom line is you never know............

[lori450]

I have always cruised in October. I have been fortunate up until now, but do not worry too much, since the ships are moving targets, and, unlike my house, can move out of the way of the storm. The only impact would be a change of ports.

[eetonaee]

We cruised Southern Caribbean out of San Juan last year leaving in late October. We left Puerto Rico in pouring rain that eventually became a tropical storm. We couldn't use the pools the first day out because of the weather but by the next day we had beautiful weather which continued for the whole trip.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

I'm with these guys, we've cruised many, many times in October, and the only time we've run into a "problem" was back in October of 99 and we were on the Majesty--diverted to Nassau instead of Cozumel. That's it! You will most likely be fine, but keep an open mind, things can happen anywhere--at anytime.

 

BTW, I am sailing on the Enchantment in September, so I am in the same "boat" with you. Just going with an open mind ;)

[willysgrandma]

We always cruise between Sept. and Nov. and have never hit a hurricane. Just make sure you buy travel insurance in case weather prevents you from getting to the cruise port.

[wannasail4ever]

Clathen - we've cruised in October every year since '94 many times for 2 weeks. In 23 or 24 cruises, we've only had one time when we were edgy. And that was not about being at sea. It was about flying into FTL . Remember Wilma a couple of years ago? The port closed early and the ships all left early in order to get out of the way. It hit FTL the next a.m. about 6:00 a.m. and really made a mess. (Including the airport)

 

So.........two things.........fly in at least a day early and buy insurance.

 

Macy

[truffles2]

Like many others, we have cruised often in October. Only once did we play hide & seek with a hurricane. It was on Rhapsody and the hurricane was Isidore and Rhapsody became the first RCI ship to go to Belize--an unscheduled port at that time.

[MAXII]

Hi:

 

Dh and I always cruise September/October/November.

 

Though we choose itineraries according to ports, we don't assume we will definitely stop at them. Ships have the most up todate navigational equipment and communication systems and a captain has our safety as the priority so, if there is troubled waters out there - he/she may skip a port to avoid danger.

 

The only problems we come across involve getting to the port of departure - mother nature can play havoc with airports and roads, so you may want to consider your route to the port of departure. As other posters have said, plan to arrive a day or two early at your port if you can.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

We've had very good luck on October cruises. The closest shave we have had was on Enchantment. We were having fabulous weather, but when we got to Belize that particular morning, it was gloomy, very humid and almost chilly. The entire day was like that. Very weird.

 

Well, what was causing that strange weather unbeknownst to us was the birth of Hurricane Wilma. We had a nice trip back to Fort Lauderdale, but Wilma hit Palm Beach County where we live full blast just a couple days after our return. We joke that Enchantment dragged Wilma back to Florida from the Caribbean.

[burnsie]

We have cruised alot during hurricane season and have never had trouble with the weather. Have always had great weather we missed all the extra days at sea, obc, discount off our next cruise all of it!

 

I agree if you are flying in come a day early and buy insurance! Then relazx and enjoy!

[cot427]

We cruise every year in October (sometime late September), and it has been really great in the past. We have been very fortunate, except for in 2005 on the Navigator. We sailed during Hurricane Wilma, and we missed Grand Cayman and Cozumel and instead had an extra day at sea, Jamaica on a different day, and San Juan also. It wasn't too bad, but usually, the seas are really nice, smooth, weather awesome. In fact, the during the hurricane, our seas were still very smooth and weather was great too.

[sailor05]

Heck, for the great prices for Oct. sailings you can't go wrong even if there some sort of change to the ports. I'd prefer cruising in late Sept./Oct but due to DS starting college this year i had to go in Aug. which really has me a little worried about weather. And to think I paid roughly double to go then...:eek:

[lakette3]

Have cruised 5 times in October and never had anything but beautiful weather.

[Darkwolfe]

We were one week ahead of Hurricane Noel last year. Our cruise was great but the next week had several diversions on pretty much every cruise line. Still, I think they managed to keep all but the Grumpy Gus folks reasonably happy with alternate ports.

[bdoster]

Agree with above posters...the major issues occur getting to the port to depart...always come at least 1 day early

 

Remember well 2005...we flew to Vancouver to cruise to Hawaii late September...many folks did not make it due to the Hurricanes that year canceling flights...right off of Katrina, along came Rita & canceled our flights into Houston, I called early & changed the flight when it was heading that direction.

[yogimax]

We were on a Carnival Imagination 5 night cruise when a hurricane hit Miami.

 

We were FORCED to spend two extra days at no charge on the ship.

 

Love the hurricanes!

[aqhacruiser]

We love sailing in Sept/Oct.:D We hit hurricane Noel last year coming and going out of NY and numerous tropical storms also from time to time and even in June but it doesn't effect our cruises. The weather in ports have always been great and we did miss a couple in Oct/Nov due to the hurricane but diverted to St.Maarten which was even better:D I'd rather go thru a hurricane then a tropical storm but if you are on a big ship like the Explorer it's not that much of an issue as long as you do not get seasick. There are never any guarantees on the weather so you just accept what comes:)

[TigerLady]

Hey All -

 

Taking my 1st RCCL cruise in October on Enchantment and just wondering what kind of impact hurricaine season has had on your cruise experiences.

OCTOBER IS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO GO!! If I had my choice, that would always be my first pick. The weather was always perfect..

[alphakitty]

Hey All -

 

Taking my 1st RCCL cruise in October on Enchantment and just wondering what kind of impact hurricaine season has had on your cruise experiences.

 

A few years back, we were supposed to go on an Eastern itinerary and ended up on a Western itin. We found out when we boarded. There was a TS in the eastern Atlantic. We just went with the flow...not much you can do about it.....had a blast anyway. :)

[c.schless]

We have cruised evey October since 92 and have only had to miss 1 port. Last year was the first time we had more than 1 day of rain on a seven day cruise.

Have a wonderful time. We are cruising January this year for the first time.

[tlangell@tsc.com]

We have taken three cruises in October and unfortunately, we have been affected by hurricanes twice. First time was in '05 with Wilma. We were on the Mariner and had the western itinerary turned into an Eastern (which was one less port). That week there were also two tropical storms in the area as well.

 

Last year, we cruised the western itinerary on Carnival. We didn't have any port changes, however, there was a tropical storm coming in from the Baja area across Mexico that affected the weather in Cozumel and Belize.

 

We still cruise in October since my kids are on fall break and the prices are so much cheaper. We don't mind the uncertainty of it...as long as I am on the ship I don't care where we go.

[katiel53]

Last year we sailed in October on Mariner and had no trouble at all. Normally, we would sail in November, but we couldn't do so. This year we are again booked in October. I believe all will be fine and I am not worried.

 

We are looking forward to a great trip. Don't worry. Enjoy!

[CLATHEN]

Thank you guys soooo much for all the replies!

 

Unfortunately, I cant fly in the day before but I just added the trip insurance to my cruise so if there's a weather related delay, I'm sure I'll be ok. We have a really early flight (6:30 am from NY) so I'll try to relax a bit!

 

Thanks again and happy cruising!