Thread: Cruise during hurricane season?

If I did not live in Houston, I would have a different answer. But because I live in H-town, here's my take:

My first cruise was during hurricane season, because I wanted to take advantage of the cheaper fares. My TA warned me that is was during hurricane season, but my philosophy was that if I stayed home, I could get hit by a hurricane here. At home, I'd be stuck either in the house or on the road, while at sea, the crew could avoid it.

I looked at the how big the Atlantic and the Gulf are, and decided that the risk of running into a hurricane was a fairly low. Our main ports of call were where hurricanes rarely travel (Aruba and Curacao). We had travel insurance. All these things made it less of a problem for me. Keep in mind this was before the summer of 2005, the year with the record number of storms.

I also cruised in the summer of 2005. I had a harrowing day at the airport, because Hurricane Rita was aimed at my city. I was under mandatory evacuation, and everyone was trying to leave, even people who were "not supposed to". That weekend while my colleagues were stranded on freeways around Houston, I was on a ship. Due to the heat, one of the guys I worked with was hospitalized and one of my neighbors died on the road. Another co-worker was in her car for over 50 hours and she never made it out of the city limits. Trust me, I had better conditions on the ship.

If I lived away from hurricane country, and particularly if I lived where there is SNOW ( a four letter word for me), I would prefer to travel in winter. This is not because I would be avoiding hurricanes, but so I could thaw out.

Now that 2005 has passed, I think that the odds of travelling near a hurricane are low once again. We could have another peak year or two, but I still think that the risks do not go up that much. If you have to fly and if you have to change planes on the way to the cruise, you have the added risk of missing the ship. So I buy trip insurance and hope I never need it.

All of this is my opinion, based on my circumstances. Your own experience may vary.

UPDATE - DH says "Hurricane Season? That's the time to cruise! Cheaper fares!" I must caution you - this man is fearless unless he is around infants.

We tend to celebrate David's Birthday at sea.. he was a halloween baby..
Although it is towards the "end " of the Hurricane season .. we do remember a couple of years ago a little storm in late October of 2005 that caused us a few headaches however it did reinforce the lesson of buying travel insurance....

We cruise at the end of Hurricane season sometimes, once we cruised in Aug. and got chased but one, so now we try and not cruise during unless its at the end, we've had pretty good luck then, prices are down with little to none thread of hurricanes

Sometimes the best time to cruise is during a hurricane, especially when they drop the price 50%!! Also it's great to be on a ship if there's been a hurricane at home and there's no electricity!!

We've taken 2 cruises during Hurricane season and there have been plenty of storms both times. Even so, we're planning another cruising smack in the middle of next year's season.

So I say, What Hurricane Season?

Our cruise on the Crown Princess was the first we've taken during hurricane season. I usually cruise when I schedule my vacations. I don't care when I cruise, really. The ship can get out of the way of the storm, and it's possible to get an extra day at sea. (don't think the boss will fire me for that though).

Originally Posted by hanna

I have not booked a cruise during the hurricane season because I'm scared to death to do so. Big baby..yup

Me too! I've been through horrid inland hurricanes and would NEVER want to be At Sea!!!!

First, hurricanes are relatively slow moving storms and are fairly predictable. Whereas cruise ships are relatively fast and very manuverable. They would never purposefully put the ship or the passengers in danger, so they go around the storms or go where the storm isn't going.

We travel in September, which is the heigth of hurricane season, on a regular basis and have never had any problems. Yes, our cruise has changed itineraries because of hurricanes, but that's fine - any cruise is a good cruise. We just had to modify our excursions. Two years ago we were on the Caribbean Princess scheduled to do an Eastern Caribbean cruise and ended up doing the Western Caribbean instead. No big deal - weather was absolutely perfect and we had a wonderful cruise.

You just have to be flexible and I always highly recommend travel insurance during that time of year.

Besides, the lowest prices of the year to the Caribbean are the 2nd and 3rd week in September, so it can be alot cheaper to go then. Not only that, but there's hardly any kids traveling at that time.

Another option is the Southern Caribbean - relatively few hurricanes ever hit that area.

Pete

It is so hot here in the Sacramento Valley during the summer that we prefer to travel to cooler places during that time. We have cruised n November with great luck!

I cruise when I can get away from the office (and afford it). I don't care if it's hurricane season or not. I'm going to have fun no matter what!!!!