Hurricanes and DCL

[Rjw615]

Being from Florida, I know that storms are impossible to predict.

We are scheduled to leave out of PC on Friday September 8th on the Dream for our first Disney cruise.

We were well aware of the chances we were taking booking a cruise in September in the height of hurricane season. So no complaints here but just wondering if anybody had a general idea what DCL may do if the reliable model is actually accurate which shows a strong hurricane on Friday, September 8th right outside the Bahamas which is where the cruise is going for Nassau and CC.

We are fine with just riding around for three days on the boat if the above scenario plays out but is that something DCL would do in a situation like that or just cancel cruise altogether?

 

[csmith1004]

We were on the Dream during Matthew. Our 4 night Bahamas cruise was rerouted to Mexico. Port Canaveral was closed the day we were supposed to return so we ended up getting an extra night. Turned out to be the best of the 5 DCL cruises I've been on! On the flip side the cruise after ours had to be cancelled so you just never know. DCL will do everything in their power to ensure a great cruise regardless of the weather!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We were on the Dream in 2011 and were sandwiched between Hurricane Ophelia to the east and a tropical depression to the west. We missed our Castaway Cay day but the Captain of the ship did an awesome job keeping us safe. I was quite impressed with what a great job he did keeping the ship as calm as possible. They do a great job of keeping the guests out of harms way and keeping the ship in one piece.

 

[Bear3412]

We chased Sandy down. We had memorable seas. Unforgettable in fact.

I feel DCL learned from Sandy.

It's also someone else's turn to go first next time, into the storm.

I have a suspicion DCL will be steering clear of hurricanes for a while.

So no worries.

JMTs

ETA; No cruise line will cancel a sailing days out. That is almost unheard of.
Weather forecasts are often inaccurate.
The ship will sail. Be prepared regardless. One case, be prepared to board and sit docked in the port potentially, and go no where.

Good luck

 

[lanejudy]

is that something DCL would do in a situation like that or just cancel cruise altogether?

Canceling completely is highly unlikely. A change in schedule is possible, including embarkation/debarkation depending on conditions as predicted much closer to the date (like at best maybe day prior). Port stops and/or sea days may adjust. It's still much too early for any decisions to be made and announced. You should plan on sailing as scheduled, with the expectation that things may change on the fly.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Dug720]

IF things get really bad and a port is closed for the foreseeable future, cruises CAN be cancelled. Carnival cancelled all three of their cruises out of Galveston this past weekend AND the one due out tomorrow. RCCL (finally at 2pm on Sunday) cancelled this past Sunday's cruise due out of Galveston. So while rare, the possibility DOES exist if conditions are bad enough.

The biggest thing is do NOT do anything until the cruise line acts. If you opt to cancel on your own under "Cancel for any reason" insurance (your DID get insurance, right??) before the cruise line does anything, you'll only be eligible for the 70-75% that the insurance will cover but if you wait for the cruise line to act, you would be eligible for their offers (in the cases of the past weekend cruises a full refund and 25% off a future cruise if booked within 30 days (RCCL) or 60 days (Carnival).

 

[mevelandry]

It depends on the status of the departure/disembarkation port.

Ex: Right now, Carnival ships that were supposed to disembark last week-end are still at sea so the sailings that were supposed to happen were cancelled and they cancelled another one (that was supposed to depart thursday or friday, I think.) because they are not sure the ships are going to be back in Galveston on friday like they plan to.

Re-routing because of hurricanes is the norm: never take your ports for granted.

Last year, we were sailing on the Carnival Victory right after hurricane Matthew. We boarded the plane without knowing if our cruise was gonna happen. We only had our answer the night before the sailing. We were originally going to do Freeport and Nassau. Freeport was so damaged by the hurricane that our itinerary was changed to an overnight in Nassau... Except that Nassau was in a bad shape as well, they had no electricity on the island so there was nothing we could do. We stayed on the ship.

I call cruising in hurricane season "Lotto-Cruising": you never know if the cruise is going to happen, how many days you are gonna get or the ports you are going to get. LOL

Take note that when the cruise lines cancel, you get a full refund and some cruise lines might even give you a % off your next booking if you re-book within a certain number of days.

That being said, we are cruising soon. *fingers crossed*

 

[xiphoid76]

We are on the Fantasy leaving 9/9 and also watching that storm...out big stress is making it on the airplane to Florida. From there it is up to fate...we are flying in on the 8th and it looks like the storm will still be far enough away from Orlando to not affect the airport. Our cruise, however , is a different story - perhaps they will reroute us on a western Caribbean? We will make do with whatever they have in store for us. Worst case they cancel the cruise but they is highly unlikely - I wonder if they do that do they clear up some rooms at Disney world for people to make reservations?

 

[Barbydoll8]

I live here (about 75 miles due west of WDW) and this morning our local Tampa news said this storm deems serious watching. They have this at a 90% development over the next 5 days headed directly for the islands (Puerto Rico/Cuba/Hispaniola) as of right now. It's just too far away to tell. I have family flying in on the 13th and we board on the Dream on the 22nd so I'm watching the seas very carefully.
I hope it skirts us and even though I'm on the gulf side, if it spins into the gulf, the East will be spared. We'll wait and see how this one goes. Hope all goes well and everyone is safe.

 

[SteveMP]

I've been in/around a couple of them. We lucked out once and just got some rough seas, but our friends who did the same cruise the next week got redirected from puerto vallarta to cabo. On another one, we just avoided the port/area and gad a couple extra sea days.

 

[Mommb]

Disney Cruise Line will cancel a sailing completely only if the port is unusable (as it was last October). That is rare -- it is more likely that if there are storms in the Bahamas, the ship will be routed in a different direction. It has also happened, very rarely, that Port Canaveral is being hit and Miami is not (or vice versa) and passengers are bussed to the other port.

A cruise during a hurricane may or may not include different port stops. On a 3-night cruise, it is possible you'd get 2 sea days if it's not possible to find another port away from the storm. It is also possible that the storm will shift or weaken so that Nassau and Castaway Cay are not significantly affected. Sometimes the ship will leave a bit early or a bit late to increase the chances of avoiding a storm.

Certainly, you should monitor e-mails and messages from DCL and/or your travel agent, but plan to arrive for the cruise as scheduled unless told otherwise.

Good luck!

 

[MUN]

Being from Florida, I know that storms are impossible to predict.

Actually storms are not impossible to predict. In fact, I think the storm forecasters were fairly accurate with their predictions for Hurricane Harvey. However, storms are impossible to predict 100% accurately.

 

[Rjw615]

If you opt to cancel on your own under "Cancel for any reason" insurance (your DID get insurance, right??) before the cruise line does anything, you'll only be eligible for the 70-75% that the insurance will cover but if you wait for the cruise line to act, you would be eligible for their offers (in the cases of the past weekend cruises a full refund and 25% off a future cruise if booked within 30 days (RCCL) or 60 days (Carnival).

We have pretty good travel insurance through our credit card that we booked the trip on so yes we do have trip insurance.

Actually storms are not impossible to predict. In fact, I think the storm forecasters were fairly accurate with their predictions for Hurricane Harvey. However, storms are impossible to predict 100% accurately.

What I mean by my statement is, this is still over a week away and a lot can change with the forecasting for the storm of where its headed.

Thanks everyone for the replies. We're arriving at AKL this Saturday, staying one night then heading to WBC Sunday-Friday- driving over to PC Friday morning and we will see what happens.

We just want to get on the boat Where it goes and what it does from there wont matter to us as long as we're on the boat soaking in the Disney magic.

 

[jdg345]

We chased Sandy down. We had memorable seas. Unforgettable in fact.

I feel DCL learned from Sandy.

It's also someone else's turn to go first next time, into the storm.

I have a suspicion DCL will be steering clear of hurricanes for a while.

So no worries.

JMTs

ETA; No cruise line will cancel a sailing days out. That is almost unheard of.
Weather forecasts are often inaccurate.
The ship will sail. Be prepared regardless. One case, be prepared to board and sit docked in the port potentially, and go no where.

Good luck

What exactly happened with Sandy? I saw some pretty crazy videos of a Disney Ship being tossed about several years ago.

 

[GPaLarry]

After eight cruises to almost all points of the DCL compass, we have been rerouted in the Caribbean once and had a port canceled, but another one opened up the next day in the Mediterranean...all part of the adventure. Weather is a real grab-bag...i.e. Alaska.

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

We are on the Fantasy leaving 9/9 and also watching that storm...out big stress is making it on the airplane to Florida. From there it is up to fate...we are flying in on the 8th and it looks like the storm will still be far enough away from Orlando to not affect the airport. Our cruise, however , is a different story - perhaps they will reroute us on a western Caribbean? We will make do with whatever they have in store for us. Worst case they cancel the cruise but they is highly unlikely - I wonder if they do that do they clear up some rooms at Disney world for people to make reservations?

They do not clear rooms at Disney. If a room has not been booked, you can book it but they do not cancel someone else's vacation.

 

[Erintx7]

Reading this, what are the exact dates of hurricane season?

 

[xiphoid76]

They do not clear rooms at Disney. If a room has not been booked, you can book it but they do not cancel someone else's vacation.

Didn't mean they would cancel other people's vacations at Disney World Just thought they might hold some open rooms for those on a delayed or cancelled cruise. Wouldn't mind spending some extra time at the Magic Kingdom

 

[mhconley]

Reading this, what are the exact dates of hurricane season?

June 1 - November 30

Martin

 

[Dug720]

Reading this, what are the exact dates of hurricane season?

June 1 through November 30.

That does not preclude systems from developing outside that timeframe though.