Cruising on Sept 24th and maybe WDW pre-cruise. How's weather and hurricane threat?

[halfmonkey]

We've never been to FL and although I know it's hot and humid, I'm not really concerned with that because it's a little easier to travel to a warm climate then to travel for vacation to a cold climate. Besides, it'll make for a nice day at CC and enjoying the water features on the ship.

My question is primarily focused on the threat of hurricane? We're from SoCal so we don't worry about hurricanes but I believe hurricanes run from June to November. Can someone confirm? Can someone give me some real world feed back on the threat of hurricanes? Are we very likely to encounter some effect of a hurricane or by Sept 24th, will it be very minimal? The prices are lower and the timing is perfect for us because our kids are in year round school and so at this time, they'll be on fall break so the timing is perfect for us.

I'd love to get your feedback on how much of a gamble it would be to book this cruise. I assume if there is hurricane activity, the ship will be rocking too, right? How bad would you say the ship might rock?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We've never been to FL and although I know it's hot and humid, I'm not really concerned with that because it's a little easier to travel to a warm climate then to travel for vacation to a cold climate. Besides, it'll make for a nice day at CC and enjoying the water features on the ship.

My question is primarily focused on the threat of hurricane? We're from SoCal so we don't worry about hurricanes but I believe hurricanes run from June to November. Can someone confirm? Can someone give me some real world feed back on the threat of hurricanes? Are we very likely to encounter some effect of a hurricane or by Sept 24th, will it be very minimal? The prices are lower and the timing is perfect for us because our kids are in year round school and so at this time, they'll be on fall break so the timing is perfect for us.

I'd love to get your feedback on how much of a gamble it would be to book this cruise. I assume if there is hurricane activity, the ship will be rocking too, right? How bad would you say the ship might rock?

We took 3 cruises last year beginning on Sep 14, Sep 20 & Sep 27. It rained most days. Not bad rain, just the typical "rain for 10 minutes every day" thing you often find in the Caribbean. We didn't run into any hurricane weather, but we certainly could have.

In fact 5 of our cruises were during the hurricane season in the Caribbean. We've been blessed to not encounter one. If there's rough seas (for whatever reason) the Captain does his best to find the calmest water.

I would cruise again at that time without hesitation, if that's when I wanted to go.

 

[codex57]

There's absolutely no way to predict whether a hurricane will hit. It's an act of nature. Weather is notoriously hard to predict to that degree. Asking if a hurricane will hit is the equivalent of asking if an earthquake will hit.

Safetywise, it's not a big deal. The ships have radar and will just go someplace the hurricane isn't. It may disrupt your ports and itinerary though. Don't worry about rocking ships or any of that. It's totally safe and all that. The main issue is travel disruptions. A minor disruption is having to miss ports. A major, but possible, disruption is the airport or cruise port being shut down. Had that almost happen to my honeymoon cruise when Wilma shut down everything 1 week before my cruise. Luckily, the airport opened up 4 days before and the cruise terminal opened 3 days before my sailing. Missed Cozumel cuz it was too damaged. We ended up stopping just to drop off relief supplies. Other than a lot of flattened trees, not much else was affected.

If anything, if cruising during hurricane season, I'd maybe look into buying cruise insurance.

 

[Sytrace]

Yes, hurricane season is from June 1st to November 30th. We are sailing on September 24th as well Out of our six cruises to date, five of them have been during hurricane season and we were fine. We live in Orlando and have learned over the last 30+ years of living here that hurricanes and TS are tricky to predict and can change course.
A little rain during the day, some winds that shut down Aquaduck for a little while, and one cruise had some rough water for a very short time. The captain and crew do an great job of sailing around or avoiding the trouble spots with as little disruption as possible to port schedules.

Do make sure you have vacation protection on all aspects of your travel plan.

 

[halfmonkey]

There's absolutely no way to predict whether a hurricane will hit. It's an act of nature. Weather is notoriously hard to predict to that degree. Asking if a hurricane will hit is the equivalent of asking if an earthquake will hit.

Safetywise, it's not a big deal. The ships have radar and will just go someplace the hurricane isn't. It may disrupt your ports and itinerary though. Don't worry about rocking ships or any of that. It's totally safe and all that. The main issue is travel disruptions. A minor disruption is having to miss ports. A major, but possible, disruption is the airport or cruise port being shut down. Had that almost happen to my honeymoon cruise when Wilma shut down everything 1 week before my cruise. Luckily, the airport opened up 4 days before and the cruise terminal opened 3 days before my sailing. Missed Cozumel cuz it was too damaged. We ended up stopping just to drop off relief supplies. Other than a lot of flattened trees, not much else was affected.

If anything, if cruising during hurricane season, I'd maybe look into buying cruise insurance.

With cruise insurance, can you tell me how it would work with a hurricane? Does it have some stipulation like if it's over a category 3, you can use the cruise insurance and cancel for a full refund or something like that?

Also, thanks for the other information. We're not necessarily looking for a prediction of when a hurricane might hit as I know that would be impossible to predict. I'm actually more asking about trends that people may have noticed especially from someone from the area. I read that the season runs from June to November. Maybe someone from the FL area can offer some more feedback as to for example, since Sept is towards the end of the season, a hurricane has not typically been a threat over the last 5 years. I'm just trying to get some feedback. Or if someone were to say that although Sept is approaching the end of the season, it actually is the highest likelihood of a hurricane because of such and such. I'm just looking for a little more insight as we've never been to FL and we've never been in any kind of hurricane threat/season. We're SoCal people.

 

[halfmonkey]

Can you offer a little details on the all aspects of the travel plan that you mentioned? Does Disney or Costco offer specific hurricane insurance and if so, what are the stipulations for you to be able to use it?

 

[halfmonkey]

Yes, hurricane season is from June 1st to November 30th. We are sailing on September 24th as well Out of our six cruises to date, five of them have been during hurricane season and we were fine. We live in Orlando and have learned over the last 30+ years of living here that hurricanes and TS are tricky to predict and can change course.
A little rain during the day, some winds that shut down Aquaduck for a little while, and one cruise had some rough water for a very short time. The captain and crew do an great job of sailing around or avoiding the trouble spots with as little disruption as possible to port schedules.

Do make sure you have vacation protection on all aspects of your travel plan.

Can you offer a little details on the all aspects of the travel plan that you mentioned? Does Disney or Costco offer specific hurricane insurance and if so, what are the stipulations for you to be able to use it?

 

[Sytrace]

The chances of a hurricane ARE higher in August and September due to the water temps and the air temps.
This past September we got off the cruise on September 26th and the one that left port on that date encountered Jouquin on the way back.
I don't think they were able to land at CC and were delayed arriving in port by weather and having to reroute the ship to avoid the bad weather.
Smooth sailing after that on remaining cruises.
It is important to note that Orlando has not had a hurricane since good old Charley came to town in 2004 followed by Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

I am sure that Disney has a cut off of category type where they would not sail but I have never heard of that happening. They might delay a trip, or they may change route and ports, but I don't think they would cancel the whole cruise. If they did, it would be at least a 24 hour notice if the storm stayed on its projected path and was not alterning course in any way.
In 2004 Charley, Orlando was pinpointed as projected landfall, BUT the storm actually moved away toward the south center line and the outerbands were the ones that were felt by Orlando. Many people left Orlando to head to the other coast and were surprised when it affected that area as well.

 

[Sytrace]

If you book your travel insurance thru Disney then you would be able to actually check the coverage that you are paying for when you book.
Likewise if you book thru Costco. Specific insurance information would best be found by going to the source of who you book with.

 

[Savikins]

There really is no way to know when and where a hurricane will hit. That being said, Florida hasn't gotten pounded by any hurricanes since 2004, when we got hit by 3 big ones in a row. My cousin was at WDW during Hurricane Charlie and she said they had characters in the lobby and stuff, that it was actually really neat and that she felt safer at WDW than she would have felt at home!

 

[jahber]

So yes, those three hurricanes in 2004 were bad. They were the only time in my life (all 38 years in Orlando) that I was really worried. We had some bad weather for a night or two. And by bad, I mean we had to hang out in the closet for a few hours because of tornado/wind warnings. And of course, the power outages. Hurricanes bad enough to impact travel significantly in one specific location are pretty rare.

I guess that means we are "due" for a storm, but what I tell friends from up north is that we think of hurricanes like they think of those really really bad blizzards that shut down towns and roads. They are rare enough that they don't factor into our decision-making--beyond planning wisely for travel and insurance. If we never planned anything for fear of hurricanes, we'd spend 6 months of the year inside. Ok, we kind of do anyway, but that's Florida weather . We happily sail during hurricane season because hurricanes are just a part of life (albeit a small one) in Florida. Just like snow scares lots of us Floridians, but most northerners don't bat an eye.

 

[alexce]

It's a risk to book during hurricane season, but I think most cruises aren't affected by that kind of weather in any given year. I don't think it's so much about Florida specifically, though - more about the hurricanes affecting the Bahamas and Caribbean.

Our first cruise was in mid-October of 2012, and we ran right into the edge of Hurricane Sandy on our way from St. Thomas to CC. The last two days of the cruise were bumpy, and we missed CC.
Our second was at the end of November 2013, and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful.

 

[codex57]

There really is no way to know when and where a hurricane will hit. That being said, Florida hasn't gotten pounded by any hurricanes since 2004, when we got hit by 3 big ones in a row. My cousin was at WDW during Hurricane Charlie and she said they had characters in the lobby and stuff, that it was actually really neat and that she felt safer at WDW than she would have felt at home!

So yes, those three hurricanes in 2004 were bad. They were the only time in my life (all 38 years in Orlando) that I was really worried. We had some bad weather for a night or two. And by bad, I mean we had to hang out in the closet for a few hours because of tornado/wind warnings. And of course, the power outages. Hurricanes bad enough to impact travel significantly in one specific location are pretty rare.

Man, I can't imagine how bad those 2004 storms were. A year later, in 2005, Hurricane Wilma nearly cancelled my honeymoon cruise. I didn't get a chance to look around much in Florida, but all the vegetation was flat and on the floor.