Curious - Tropical Storm/Hurricane Question

[Sunmom]

First time Disney cruiser here with a question. If there is a named storm in the Atlantic, and your ship is going to the Bahamas, what options do you have? Not much in the insurance contract except that a guest can cancel for any reason and get a 75% cruise credit. Cruise contract just says ship can be diverted to other ports to avoid bad weather, etc. Will Disney cancel a cruise if it is a high level hurricane? Anyone with experience in this area?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

First time Disney cruiser here with a question. If there is a named storm in the Atlantic, and your ship is going to the Bahamas, what options do you have? Not much in the insurance contract except that a guest can cancel for any reason and get a 75% cruise credit. Cruise contract just says ship can be diverted to other ports to avoid bad weather, etc. Will Disney cancel a cruise if it is a high level hurricane? Anyone with experience in this area?

Cruises typically are not cancelled. They may change course, or change/eliminate port stops, or (on occasion) the whole itinerary may be changed. I know DCL changed a Western Caribbean to an Eastern not too long ago due to hurricane activity.

Believe me, the captain doesn't want to take his ship into rough seas, so he will do all he can to find the calmer weather.

 

[lanejudy]

Insurance coverage will vary by policy -- sounds like you have the insurance offered through DCL. The storm itself is not likely to be a covered reason to cancel, though DCL does have the "extra" of offering a 75% credit "for any reason" so if you are really concerned I guess that is an option. The Captain will do whatever possible to avoid the storm. That may mean altering the itinerary, canceling or changing port stops, etc. Very rarely are cruises delayed or completely mis-directed, though it can happen. If you have port excursions scheduled through DCL and they are canceled, you won't be charged; if you scheduled through a third-party you'll need to check the cancellation policy of that vendor(s). Insurance may kick in if you end up having to pay for a missed port excursion.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[truck1]

There is no set plan of what to do in all honesty. A lot rides on the storm itself, followed by what the local port authorities do. For example. Hurricane x is supposed to hit PC at 10 am on departure day. The port closes at midnight the night before. DCL has a few options.
They can send the ship to Miami and board her there. They can go to FtL and do the same. They can keep the ship at sea for an extra day or more.

Now let's say instead hurricane x is projected to be in the Bahamas day 2 of the cruise. DCL can make Nassau the first stop followed by a day at sea then CC then home. It all depends on the track size of storm what the ports are doing etc.

 

[diznymom]

A couple of years ago we were on the Fantasy (Eastern Caribbean) and there was a tropical storm in the area. We got a whole new itinerary. We found out about it at the port during check-in. I think we did Castaway Cay first, then St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

First time Disney cruiser here with a question. If there is a named storm in the Atlantic, and your ship is going to the Bahamas, what options do you have? Not much in the insurance contract except that a guest can cancel for any reason and get a 75% cruise credit. Cruise contract just says ship can be diverted to other ports to avoid bad weather, etc. Will Disney cancel a cruise if it is a high level hurricane? Anyone with experience in this area?

Our first cruise was a 3 night on the Dream with Castaway Cay on our last day, well we were smack dab in the middle of a hurricane to the west and a tropical depression to the east. The captain tried several times to dock and the winds were just too severe, he couldn't do it. DCL kicked into plan B, make it a sea day. They printed a bunch of new Navigators adding on tons of new activities, opened more restaurants for lunch and made an amazing day for us. The did a great job, sure people were upset about missing CC, me included but we booked another cruise eventually and 2 years later made it to CC on the Fantasy.

To make a short story long, they will take great care to make a bad situation great, you just have to go in with the attitude that anything can change at a moments notice. You're at the mercy of weather patterns in a giant body of water.

Just my $.02, and I hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

[firepuppy]

Last year we were on the WBPC and lost 2 ports due to hurricanes. We lest port as quickly as we could to get ahead of the storms and went out to sea. The Capt. keep every one up to date on the storms and did a great job keeping every one safe. It was a great cruise and I think everyone had a great time. The ship held up great and we did not have any problems. I hope you have a great cruise.

 

[lowrider]

we may be on the same cruise. lol, we depart on the Dream on the 28th and asked about the storm yesterday. Since this is also our first cruise I was curious and everyone said the same thing, they'll change the itinerary. Hopefully it turns and heads back out to see, if not, I'll sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Sometimes they will sail around the storm, sometimes they will change ports, sometimes they will try to "sit" somewhere (keep the ship away from the storm and sailed in a holding pattern or barely moving), and they have at least on one occasion, sailed through the storm to make it back to Port Canaveral on time (while other cruise lines stayed away). It would be a new occurrence for DCL to cancel a cruise due to the possibility of a Hurricane or Tropical Storm.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We have had ports missed and changed, (Panama).
We have had change of ports, (Eastern to Western and a Castaway double dip).

I think 2016 summer will be an active hurricane season re El Nino.

 

[AquaDame]

We have had ports missed and changed, (Panama).
We have had change of ports, (Eastern to Western and a Castaway double dip).

I think 2016 summer will be an active hurricane season re El Nino.

Just the opposite for the poster actually:
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hurr/enso.rxml

Trends can always change, but it usually less active in the Atlantic and more active in the Pacific due to El Nino.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Just the opposite for the poster actually:
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hurr/enso.rxml

Trends can always change, but it usually less active in the Atlantic and more active in the Pacific due to El Nino.

Ok, but there is also a lot of evidence on this current event that the Caribbean and west coast is going to have an active season in 2016 after some quiet years, we shall see. My money is on a very active summer season.

 

[cheermom2four]

I think 2016 summer will be an active hurricane season re El Nino.

This is why I'm not booking any excursions except thru Disney (when the time comes next year to book) or where I know cancellations can be refunded on personally booked excursions on my Sept 2016 cruise.

 

[truck1]

Sometimes they will sail around the storm, sometimes they will change ports, sometimes they will try to "sit" somewhere (keep the ship away from the storm and sailed in a holding pattern or barely moving), and they have at least on one occasion, sailed through the storm to make it back to Port Canaveral on time (while other cruise lines stayed away). It would be a new occurrence for DCL to cancel a cruise due to the possibility of a Hurricane or Tropical Storm.

Not really. I forget what year it was off hand, but DCL has canceled at least 1 if not 2 cruises due to a hurricane. I want to say it was in 04 during Jean Charley and the other 2. The ships were so far out of the pattern it was easier to cancel the 1 or 2 cruises to get them back on schedule due to being so far behind they were early for the next.

As far as sailing into a storm, the Capts can only go by what the weather guessers and weather buoys tell them. Almost a year to the day of the incident in question, one of the other ships from PC left on a cruise and get beat up pretty good. They left on the weather centers prediction of relatively small waves. When the ship got out the waves were over 30'. So the Dream and the Carnival ship stayed in port. It was the same thing with the Fantasy with Sandy except the Fantasy was the ship that got there first. Its the luck of the draw. The other ships took the word of the Fantasy Capt and avoided the area based on first hand info. Same as the Dream Capt did a year earlier. Weather buoys aren't always accurate.

 

[teroot]

We were on the cruise a few years back I believe it was 2011 and we had Hannah, Ike & Gustov swirling around and Disney was amazing. The funny thing is when we got home to Cincinnati we had the storms here and we were in much worse shape on land with no ocean nearby. We were without electric for 2 days at home and trees downed and damage all over the place.
They changed our port days a little and we could only make it into Castaway cay one of the 2 days we were supposed to be there. Disney again as previously posted kicked into high gear adding activities and lunches and sailed as far from the storms as we could get to find sunshine and we did.
We did have some pretty rough waters and I even rolled out of bed from the ship tilting just as my sister and a friend of our was coming back to the room. It was really funny and we still laugh about it.
They did ask that ladies leave your heals in your rooms when going to dinner if you wanted to. You did have to hold on some walking down the halls but at no time did we ever feel unsafe or uninformed of what was happening.
We had a marvelous cruise and still talk and laugh about it often. We did have a friend of ours with us who is one of Cincinnati's finest firemen and he was in rescue mode one night throwing life jackets at his wife and kids and calling the rest of us to get up and come to his room. His wife was ready to kill him and told him to leave us alone. he is a great friend and would do anything to protect us any way he could.
We leave on September 7th for our 5th cruise and of course there is a storm brewing but that's ok we will have an amazing time no matter what and remember you are on Disney and they will take care of you.
Don't let the news put a wrinkle in your trip.
If any one has any other questions fire away.

 

[bethy]

I'm a first time cruiser and the only real thing I worry about with storms is the seasickness!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Not really. I forget what year it was off hand, but DCL has canceled at least 1 if not 2 cruises due to a hurricane. I want to say it was in 04 during Jean Charley and the other 2. The ships were so far out of the pattern it was easier to cancel the 1 or 2 cruises to get them back on schedule due to being so far behind they were early for the next.

As far as sailing into a storm, the Capts can only go by what the weather guessers and weather buoys tell them. Almost a year to the day of the incident in question, one of the other ships from PC left on a cruise and get beat up pretty good. They left on the weather centers prediction of relatively small waves. When the ship got out the waves were over 30'. So the Dream and the Carnival ship stayed in port. It was the same thing with the Fantasy with Sandy except the Fantasy was the ship that got there first. Its the luck of the draw. The other ships took the word of the Fantasy Capt and avoided the area based on first hand info. Same as the Dream Capt did a year earlier. Weather buoys aren't always accurate.

I think they just shortened/lengthened cruises during Frances, Ivan and Jeanne and they had to change to Fort Lauderdale as Port Canaveral was closed.

With Hurricane Sandy, it wasn't "luck of the draw". The DCL captain, based on the information available, chose to bring the Fantasy into Port. The Carnival and Royal captains, based on the information available, chose to stay at sea another day. The decision to head to port or not head to port as expected was made the day before not the morning of. I received an email from Carnival telling me that the Carnival Dream was not making port and that they would be refunding one day of costs to us and a reminder about using cruise insurance to cover any additional expenses. It wasn't that the Fantasy Captain came in and told the others, "Whoa, don't come in - the seas are too rough."

 

[truck1]

I think they just shortened/lengthened cruises during Frances, Ivan and Jeanne and they had to change to Fort Lauderdale as Port Canaveral was closed.

With Hurricane Sandy, it wasn't "luck of the draw". The DCL captain, based on the information available, chose to bring the Fantasy into Port. The Carnival and Royal captains, based on the information available, chose to stay at sea another day. The decision to head to port or not head to port as expected was made the day before not the morning of. I received an email from Carnival telling me that the Carnival Dream was not making port and that they would be refunding one day of costs to us and a reminder about using cruise insurance to cover any additional expenses. It wasn't that the Fantasy Captain came in and told the others, "Whoa, don't come in - the seas are too rough."

I think they just shortened/lengthened cruises during Frances, Ivan and Jeanne and they had to change to Fort Lauderdale as Port Canaveral was closed.

With Hurricane Sandy, it wasn't "luck of the draw". The DCL captain, based on the information available, chose to bring the Fantasy into Port. The Carnival and Royal captains, based on the information available, chose to stay at sea another day. The decision to head to port or not head to port as expected was made the day before not the morning of. I received an email from Carnival telling me that the Carnival Dream was not making port and that they would be refunding one day of costs to us and a reminder about using cruise insurance to cover any additional expenses. It wasn't that the Fantasy Captain came in and told the others, "Whoa, don't come in - the seas are too rough."

They started to change the lengths around and canceled the Wonders trip. Heres the link:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...y-cruises-century-cruise-ships-carnival-ships

As far as the Fantasy, yes the Capts go by what they have available. Until proven otherwise. Unfortunately the weather service got the forecast wrong 2x. RCCL paid for it, but warned of the weather, and Disney paid for it the 2nd time. It was luck of the draw that the Fantasy was the one to say the waves are bigger then forecast, which the other lines said well be over here if you need us. Same as RCL did the year before and the Dream said well be here if you need us. If the weather guessers say itll be 20 foot waves, that's what the ships go by. When they get there and its 40s and it would be faster and safer to go back to port then to get to open water, it is what it is.

 

[Sunmom]

Hey, thanks everyone for the interesting info. Our cruise actually sails tomorrow (8/21) and we've been watching Tropical Storm Danny. So happy it slowed down and hope it doesn't affect the waters we'll be in. We booked all our excursions through Disney just in case. We're from Fl and just didn't want our ship diverted to Key West - no thank you. It's our kids first cruise and we want it to be great, so they'll want more! We're looking forward to an exciting time. I'll reply back here next week with a brief of how the weather was. Thanks again!

 

[bumbershoot]

A couple of years ago we were on the Fantasy (Eastern Caribbean) and there was a tropical storm in the area. We got a whole new itinerary. We found out about it at the port during check-in. I think we did Castaway Cay first, then St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.

I don't know what your itinerary was, but what you ended up with sounds lovely.