Atlantic Hurricane Season Cruising: What You Need to Know
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"The aftermath aboard Carnival Sunshine after a severe storm," the tweet said. "The crew from Deck 0-4 evacuated to the theater, and anywhere they could rest... the crew bar destroyed." Even if the conditions do happen to get choppy, every Royal Caribbean ship has features and capabilities to help things go as smoothly as possible so that you’ll hardly notice. Hurricane season in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean officially runs from June 1 through November 30. Several passengers, including Brenda Goodwin Sherbert, posted on social media about broken glass on the ship.
What you need to know if you’re doing a hurricane season cruise
A Bermuda cruise can become a New England/Canada cruise, so make sure you've got at least one sweater and a long pair of pants no matter where you're supposed to be going. Additionally, if you need certain items on a daily basis (like medications or diapers for the little ones), make sure to bring a couple days extra supply just in case your sailing ends up being longer than you anticipated. Cruising during hurricane season may actually be advantageous with some excellent deals and often fewer crowds. Just remember to follow all of your cruise line’s onboard procedures and, in the safety of calmer waters, have fun. In theory, a hurricane could capsize a cruise ship, but a quick change in the itinerary or outrunning a hurricane is the solution to avoiding trouble while cruising. While increasingly sophisticated technology and mechanics can help ships evade storms, they can't avoid them entirely; rougher-than-usual waters are often found far from a hurricane itself.
Cruising in hurricane season: What you need to know
Hurricane or not, there can be "motion in the ocean", so no cruise is immune from waves. However, the reality is the cruise has been quite smooth sailing in terms of wave height. In our case, Allure of the Seas dropped a visit to Roatan so we could instead sail the long way around Cuba and circumnavigate the island as a way of avoiding Hurricane Ian, while still making out way south.
You won't get a refund if you cancel a cruise to avoid a storm
You may even experience storm remnants where you least expect to, such as on North Atlantic repositioning cruises coming out of Europe. So what happens when you do embark on time, but there’s a hurricane happening in the region? Most likely a hurricane will not impact your cruise, but you might incur an itinerary change if a hurricane is in the path of a port of call on your cruise itinerary. When a ship changes itinerary, they have the opportunity to sail waters far away from the storm. In addition, ships can sail closer to land to find protected waterways that can lessen the effect of the seas. While skipping Roatan is not ideal, it's something you have to assume could happen with any cruise on any sailing.
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Most insurance companies set time limits on purchasing policies that include hurricane coverage. Generally, you must have purchased a travel insurance policy before the hurricane is named in order to be covered. There are also travel insurance policies that require you to purchase within a certain timeframe (usually 14 to 21 days) of making your initial trip deposit. These conditions make it well worth your time to research and purchase a travel insurance policy not hastily, but certainly with haste.
How will the cruise line assist me with travel plans if we arrive back home late because of the storm?
When Grand Cayman closed, they switched it up again and moved her to Mexico. Allure ended up safely behind Hurricane Ian, slowly moving west as the storm cleared out of the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico. As well as following what your cruise line is advising, you can also follow meteorologists, such as Craig Setzer who is the chief meteorologist for Royal Caribbean, as well as accounts such as the National Hurricane Center.
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Each cruise line has a hurricane policy and they will advise passengers about any compensation due. If you book your cruise, flights and hotel independently yourself, you would not necessarily be entitled to a refund on all three elements and would have to call each company yourself. If you have booked your cruise with a travel agent, call them and they will sort everything out for you. I was advised that my cruise on Navigator of the Seas would be delayed and shortened from a four-night sailing to a two-night sailing.
What happens if my flight is cancelled and I can't get to the port because of the storm?
If you’d like to hear our story and have even more information, including how the cruise line dealt with compensation, you can watch this video below. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, hurricanes can affect the Northern Territory, the South Pacific, Queensland and nearby surrounds between November and April. As of now, however, there are no updates to the schedule announced by the cruise line. A major hurricane is defined as a Category 3, 4, or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, meaning that the cyclone reaches a maximum sustained winds of 111 mph (96 knots) or higher.
If you haven’t yet sailed when a hurricane is announced, you will be advised by email if your cruise is affected, although you may also be able to gather information from other sources to help you with your planning. If your cruise holiday is affected by a hurricane, your cruise line will give you information about what to do and will send you details of their hurricane policy. Lastly, the winter months of the year see hurricanes start to form back in the Southern Pacific near Australia. Yet it is also expected to see them hit the eastern coasts of Africa and certain Southeast Asian regions. The Colorado State team cited record warm tropical and eastern subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures as a primary factor for the elevated forecast. It’s important to remember, that no matter where you go on your cruise, you’ll have fun and there will be great things to see and experience.
Wave Season is the time to plan an escape to warmer weather or anywhere with Royal Caribbean—and for a great deal. Neither the port, nor the parking lot operators took responsibility for the damage, leaving the owners to take care of filing police reports, contacting insurance companies, filling out paperwork and making upfront payments. Passengers at the Brooklyn terminal, in particular, were not permitted to even try to turn on their cars and were required to get the cars towed out of the parking lots. Carnival Sunshine, which was headed from the Bahamas to South Carolina, arrived in Charleston behind schedule, according to the spokesman.
Other passengers on the ship shared details of their ordeal on social media, with some complaining about a lack of communication from the ship's crew. In the early hours of Saturday, Taylor said staff changed the television screens to tell passengers to stand by for an announcement. "We were no longer able to see where we were going, how fast we were going, what the wind speed was, or anything. We were blind to what was going on," he said. Ready to experience all the adventure, entertainment, dining, nightlife and more on your next vacation (rain or shine)?
That being said, the majority of cruises are able to successfully depart without any issues. Carnival Liberty did not stop at Princess Cays Wednesday during a sailing from Port Canaveral, and Carnival Horizon did not stop at Grand Cayman on its sailing from Miami, opting for a sea day instead. The ship is expected to get back to Port Canaveral Saturday, one day later than scheduled. While the devastation can certainly be serious, in reality, hurricanes are relatively condensed.
Unfortunately, you're out of luck if your car is damaged in a port parking lot while you're at sea. To claim on your insurance, fill out a police report, and contact your insurance company. That's because cruise line strategy is to avoid rather than confront a storm. We’ve contacted Norwegian Cruise Line for details of any possible changes and have yet to hear back. Virgin Voyages and Disney Cruise Lines show no itinerary updates as of now.
"Since Disney Cruise Line uses rotational dining, they simply assigned us two more nights of a restaurant. It's really operating like normal in many ways," Meeks said. Whether you’re looking to kick back by the pool with a cocktail and live music, take on thrills like the RipCord by iFly skydiving simulator or get a taste of the world of flavors on board, the weather will be an afterthought. When asked if the seas are rougher during hurricane season, Van Fleet said there’s no need to worry. One of the best parts about taking a cruise vacation is that you can easily head to better weather—think sun, sand and a cocktail in hand.
Rather than head toward Disney's private island, and toward the storm, the ship turned toward the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean where seas would be calmer. You’ll know rough seas are expected not only based on the captain’s daily briefings but also by actions by the crew—such as dampening tablecloths so that dishes don’t fall off. If the ship’s pools and water park close, time to take some seasickness medication if you’re prone. For the most part, cruises during early hurricane season will not net you any savings because those summer months (June to August) tend to have higher demand, and thus higher prices, a spokesman for Carnival Cruise Lines said. Flagg said you can definitely find values during peak hurricane season (mid-September to mid-October). Flagg said flexibility is key, adding it might not be the best idea to plan a beach wedding on an island in the Eastern Caribbean when a hurricane may cause your ship to reroute to the Western Caribbean.
On rare occasions, Royal Caribbean will cancel a cruise if a storm is projected to impact an area where the ship is scheduled to embark and/or disembark. If you are scheduled to visit the Eastern Caribbean but a storm arises, Royal Caribbean may drop a port of call or completely switch your itinerary, turning your Eastern cruise into a Western Caribbean one. The Atlantic hurricane season, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, runs from June 1 through November 30, but the season's peak is primarily between August and October. Mariner of the Seas also skipped a visit to Labadee, Haiti, Monday on a sailing from Florida's Port Canaveral, a Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson said in an email.
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