Any Advice on Cruising in September?

[disneypoor]

I need to sit down, relax, and take a few big breaths! We just booked the 3 night Wonder for September 27th, and I'm like a big kid running around the house all hyped up! We were able to book the cruise for about the same amount of money Disneyland was going to cost us in October, so after a lot of begging, my DH caved and said to book the cruise.

Well, we've only cruised in June and March. I know September is hurricane season, and I'm going to be saying a lot of prayers for good weather for this trip, but can someone tell me about their experiences with cruising in September? In March, the water at CC was very cold, and I'm assuming it will be very nice in September. Let me know what kind of weather you've had and if you'd cruise again in September. TIA!

 

[Grandma4ever]

It's about the only time I will cruise. If there is bad weather they just take the ship in another direction. I am on the 9/8 cruise this year. Enjoy yourself.

 

[disneypoor]

Grandma4ever--Wow! I was totally worried about travelling during hurricane season, but it sure does look like that's the only time you travel. I'm so glad to hear that you like that time of year so much! I'm hoping for beautiful weather, and I had heard that hurricanes don't generally affect cruise lines because they can travel around them. I guess I should be more worried about being able to get to the ship, huh? Thanks so much for responding.

 

[disneypoor]

It's about the only time I will cruise. If there is bad weather they just take the ship in another direction. I am on the 9/8 cruise this year. Enjoy yourself.

By the way, I see that we are neighbors. I'm only about 30 minutes south of Olathe.

 

[kcashner]

We have cruised in September at least 7 times. Yes, it is hurricane season, but hurricane season is officially 6 months of the year. On two occasions, our trip was altered due to the weather. In one case, we visited unscheduled ports and missed one of the scheduled stops. We considered it an adventure cruise. We have also had situations with rough seas when tender ports were not accessible.

They will NOT take the ship into bad weather--they will go somewhere else. If you are ok with that, you will have a great time. If you are determined to adhere exactly to your schedule, this is not the time of year to cruise. DCL puts your safety and the safety of their ship and crew above the schedule.

On our other affected cruise, Jeanne turned our 7 day cruise into a 4 1/2 day cruise. DCL provided appropriate discounts, etc....and we were notified in advance and given the alternative of a full refund. However, since we were already at WDW, that wasn't an option for us. My suggestion here would be trip insurance.

The weather in September is generally wonderful (unless you get caught with a hurricane.)

If your attitude is that you want to be on the ship and you will have a wonderful time no matter where she sails, you will enjoy a great vacation. If you feel that "if I don't get to xyz port, my trip is ruined," maybe this isn't the season for you to sail.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

We pretty much cruise every September as that's our anniversary month.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We hop on the boat just after you are getting off.

I 2nd the trip insurance.

Otherwise, just don't stress about mother nature.

 

[Cindi0511]

Advice: Buy insurance, and have an OUTSTANDING trip! Bon voyage!

 

[dahuffy]

Our first cruise was in June and the second was in Sept. Weather is usually pretty good. We'll be going on the 15 day Eastbound Repo cruise next year,which will bring us into Sept. Make sure you bring lots of sunscreen and a wide brim hat for those shopping excursions. And have a wonderful time!!

And may I suggest that you plan to fly in a day early. When we flew in last year,we had to divert to Melbourne for about 2 hrs because of Wind Shear. And this was after being delayed in Oklahoma City for 1 1/2 hours in the morning. We were to land in Orlando at 12 noon, finally got off the plane at 5pm. If we had flown in the day of,we would have missed the ship and because we didn't schedule our flight through Disney,they wouldn't have held it for us.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We've never cruised in Sept. but we did an Oct. 1 sailing (non-DCL) and the weather was perfect. We knew we were taking a chance and that if anything happened, we'd have to be flexible and just go with the flow.
My coworkers thought we were crazy but remember this:
hurricane season starts in June. Yes, Sept is probably peak but Katrina happened Aug. 13, I believe, and no one questions why people cruise in August right?
I wouldn't even mind a cruise to no where. Just being on the ship is heaven. Steer us around the storms and I'd be happy!
Enjoy your cruise and the $$$$ you saved going that time of year.

 

[disneypoor]

Thanks for all of the replies. I don't care at all about the ports because it's Nassau, and we've already been there. In fact, we're planning to just stay on the ship and sortof count it as our sea day.

As for insurance, we got free flights from Midwest for giving up our seats on our last cruise, so we did not buy insurance from DCL. In fact, the DCL rep that assisted me with the reservations also said that the insurance wouldn't benefit us since we didn't have our air booked with them. The rep said DCL would cruise no matter what, so we just have to be worried about making sure we get there. Are we crazy? I've had two different reps tell me that the insurance wouldn't cover us at all if the ship sailed and that it has always sailed. Please let me know all of your thoughts on this.

By the way, we are flying down a day early. I always go down a day in advance just to make sure we get there safe and sound.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That doesn't sound right.

I live a 30-40 minutes from the terminal, I am not flying--but you bet your bippy if there is a hurricane on my doorstep...I will be cancelling b/c i will be busy evacuating. TA mentioned nothing of this. Trip insurance does cover those that.


But if your flight is delayed for any reason---you are responsible for catching up with your cruise--so in that regard the DCL rep is correct in that you are not covered. But you could probably buy other trip insurance on your own that would cover all portions of the cruise and if you have flight delays or cancellations for any reason...then your trip insurance would cover catch up or reimbursement. The more seasoned folks may be more familiar with that.

 

[staceymerrill]

the weather will be "sultry".....but dont worry about hurricanes....odds are vastly in your favor.....September is a great month to cruise....

 

[disneypoor]

the weather will be "sultry".....but dont worry about hurricanes....odds are vastly in your favor.....September is a great month to cruise....

I sure hope you are right! I'll take sultry weather over cold any day! I'm trying not to get too hung up on the whole hurricane thing. Time will tell. We did just add another family of four that will be cruising with us, so we'll have 13 in all. It should be a GREAT cruise!

 

[staceymerrill]

you'll have a blast....we've cruised 3x before with friends and their kids and it is a great experience.....lots of fun...

 

[disneypoor]

Ooooh! I'm getting so excited! I just can't wait!

 

[scrapperjill]

I don't know about 'sultry'...but the weather when we cruised in Sept was PERFECT In Orlando when we landed from the flight it was very humid...but once we were on the ship we really never noticed. It was nice, hot and yes every now and then we had some nice rain. The seas were perfect. Matter of fact on more than one day of our 7 night cruise the water was as smooth as glass. We did get rerouted and sent to diffrent ports...but like other posters have mentioned it made it into an adventure cruise.

The ship goes around the hurricanes..and can sail faster than the hurricanes can move so there's really no worry of being caught in on. Like others have said it's a good idea to get trip insurance just in case something should happen and your sailing....and go with the idea that anything goes. If there happens to be a storm/hurricane in the area your suppose to sail...then chance are you'll be rerouted (I really don't think that happen all that frequently).

You'll have a blast.