hurricanes

[jerzycruiser]

Has anyone cruised during a hurricane? What do the ships usually do? Do they sail around? Booked on Dawn to Bermuda leaving on 8/23! (ugg)

[Dave]

Cruise ships will stay away from hurricanes and tropical storms. While it is normal in the Caribbean to change the itinerary so as to avoid the storm, Bermuda offers a different challenge. The ship simply can't make a wide arc to miss the storm because that scrubs time off the schedule and it also can mean a rough ride. Remember that with a hurricane, sailing around it would mean a deviation of hundreds of miles.

If a hurricane is in the way of your cruise, or predicted to be, you could very well find your cruise going to New England/Canada and not Bermuda.

[Dave]

I see Hurricane Bill is predicted to be right where you don't want it to be this weekend. You need to keep an eye on the NCL website where they have a bright red update for hurricane information.

[cruzsnob]

what about Caribbean ports? I'm crusing at end of Septmeber (end of hurricane season). If they do need to avoid a storm, do they usually offer a different port, or location, or just at sea? I'm doing a western cruise so I assume that if there's a storm all ports will be cancelled (Belize & Cozumel). Would they do eastern instead, or just float around?

[Cruise Fanatic]

It depends on the port of departure, length of your cruise, and the itinerary. It also depends on the path of the storm. Once I was on a cruise that went out of Galveston and we were suppose to go to Cancun, Roatan, and Cozumel. The Captain did the itinerary in reverse order to avoid the hurricane.

[MCPayne]

Originally posted by cruzsnob:
what about Caribbean ports? I'm crusing at end of Septmeber (end of hurricane season). If they do need to avoid a storm, do they usually offer a different port, or location, or just at sea? I'm doing a western cruise so I assume that if there's a storm all ports will be cancelled (Belize & Cozumel). Would they do eastern instead, or just float around?

I would just keep checking the weather as well as the Royal Caribbean website for updates for your cruise. Like I said, I'm on the same ship about a week before you, so I'm going to do the same in the days leading up to my cruise. The important updates are right on their home page. You may need to click where it says something like "Show important updates" near the left of the image on the home page, then it will say "Tropical weather update."

[Dwayne]

The last time I was re-routed was on the Carnival Glory October 22, 05. The switched it from the Western to the Eastern itinerary. They didn't change it until 8PM the night before. I can assure you that the end of September is not the end of hurricane season. It is actually just a little past the peak. The official end is November 30th.

Dwayne

[billybuzzy]

I should not like to be aboard a cruiseship being rerouted from Bermuda to the Canadian Maritimes to avoid a hurricane! For one thing - the hurricane will be heading North from Bermuda into the Maritimes and for another - The ship has to return South thru the storm or the remnants of it (A rough North Atlantic passage if there ever was one -I know I was Midshipman on a DDE in such a storm in the same location - guess why I ended up in the USAF)!

BillyBuzzy

[Dave]

The Canada diversion happened last year. Many angry passengers. I forget which line it was. I recall our tour guide in Saint John saying they got on the cruise ship map because Princess had to find someplace to go when a hurricane hit Bermuda, and the rest is history.

Heading south to perhaps a Florida port and Nassau would be another option. That has happened too.

I remember our first Celebrity cruise on the Century in 1996. We were supposed to be doing the eastern Caribbean. A hurricane popped up (as I recall it nailed St. Thomas) and as we entered the terminal at Port Everglades they handed out our new itinerary which was the western run. We had perfect weather.

[spoheat]

My parents cruised in 1996 also on Princess and did Key West and points west instead of a Southern/Eastern itinery for which they were scheduled. They had great weather and no complaints. We got an alternative itinery once due to civil unrest on an island. Again, we were sad to miss our anticipated port, but satisfied with getting a different place to stop. If you read the fine print the cruiseline really isn't obligated to offer a substitution so were tickled to get one at all!

I really tip my hat to the cruiseline for putting customer safety first and going through the headache of changed intineries rather than just saying "sorry, have another buffet".