Offical Hurricane Frances thread!

[MBFergie]

For what it's worth:
Prepare for the worst, pray for the best.

It's so hard reading this board because as I'm hoping for it to turn north to protect my family, many are hoping for it to go south to protect theirs. I could not even imagine how I would feel if my cruise was this coming up and all this was going on...my kids would be devasted because they wouldn't understand the impact from a hurricane.

So for everybody out there be safe. If you are coming to Florida for a trip have a backup in case things change. Bring with you a list of all phone numbers you may need if you need to find a car or hotel. You can always cancel extra reservations.

As many who live here know, the stores are already getting crazy. Go now to get what you may need. My theory is if I am blessed not to need it I can send it to the area that does need it.

A storm is amazing to watch, but don't. I know people who watched thru their windows during hurricane andrew and saw sliding glass doors blow out, thankfully there were okay.

Do you think if everybody in florida blew out as hard as possilbe at the same exact moment would could turn it away? Just a wish!!

Pixie dust to all!!

Marie
Just north of Fort Lauderdale, with family from Miami to Orlando!

 

[twhipple]

Been lurking on this thread as we are leaving in 30 days! Don't want to see any problems with Castaway Cay. I found this web cam (the only live one I could find) on the Abaco Island.

www.rockybay.com/webcam/webcam_page.htm

At least now we can see just how bad it is close to CC. Good luck to everyone in the path of Frances.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by MBFergie

As many who live here know, the stores are already getting crazy. Go now to get what you may need. My theory is if I am blessed not to need it I can send it to the area that does need it.

Marie
Just north of Fort Lauderdale, with family from Miami to Orlando!

--------------------------------------------

What a GREAT idea - and so thoughtful of you!

I'll be keeping you - and everyone else - in my prayers as we try to get Frances to turn out to sea..

 

[starwood]

Originally posted by twhipple
Been lurking on this thread as we are leaving in 30 days! Don't want to see any problems with Castaway Cay. I found this web cam (the only live one I could find) on the Abaco Island.

www.rockybay.com/webcam/webcam_page.htm

At least now we can see just how bad it is close to CC. Good luck to everyone in the path of Frances.

How close is Abaco Island to CC ? Does anyone have latitude and longitude of CC?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hi all--I woke up in a panic this morning--I felt helpless without plywood. Got on my treadmill and felt useless without my plywood...so I loaded the kids, snacks, and packed a tike size suitcase with activities and we went and stood in line at home depot at 7:10am this morning.

the good news--after the truck ran out for those who were already there (3 truckloads this morning before I even got there)...by 9am another truck arrived and I was on the tale end of blessings for that load and got my lumber.

We will be boarding up our house and evacuating as we will be "in the zone"--the island zone that is.

 

[markey]

I too love CC, Disney has the money to rebuild and no one will be on the island as far as safety goes.
I didn't like my vacation disrupped because of hurricane Charley, but I stayed healthy had a house to come home to, we left on the 9th before the predictions were made.
We really should be concerned for the people who live in harms way of this storm and the damage and lives it could take.
The last thing Florida needs right now is a lot of people trying to make their way into the state, please if anyone can delay or reschedule now is the time to do it.

 

[pogopossum]

looking at the noaa hurricane tracking chart, i see the abacos at 77.5 w and 27.0 n. when you see the backwards c looking island there are two dots just inside the bottom curl, the lower one is cc. approx 77.5 w and 26.5 n.

 

[MBFergie]

Castaway Cay
26.07 N, 77.52 W

 

[pogopossum]

we went on four day cruise in may of 1999, and seven day cruise in aug of 2000. anyone who cruised before fall of 1999 has pictures of the magic facing the opposite direction than they dock now at cc, that is a result of hurricane damage and the work that had to be done in order to get back in to cc. we have pictures of the ship facing both front and back.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Governor Bush is now discouraging visitors from visiting Florida this weekend.

Just FYI.

 

[jfs9900]

If I was booked on the 09/04 sailing I think I would not be very happy with the way Disney is handling this.

Last week they decided to change the port at CC. The storm has an entire week to change direction. Now as projections become more and more consistent that it will hit the Florida coast Disney has still not confirmed it's plans.

If they announce now that they will dock at Tampa - it would give everyone lots of time to prepare. Book hotel rooms, rearrange transportation etc. etc. If they make the announcement now and stick to it - even if the storm changes course everyone has a lot of advantaged notice.

 

[Dancind]

Well, they HAVE cancelled a cruise before, but not due to a hurricane. A Nov. 2002 Magic cruise was cancelled due to Norwalk virus. Don't think there's been a hurricane headed directly to the port before, though.

They were pretty generous about cancellations right before Charley, there were no penalties. We made some changes so we could stay where we were, and there were no cancellation penalties one day out, at least on the resorts. I think I would be asking about this right now, seeing if I could change my trip. I think Charley proved that even being in Orlando is no guarantee of escaping a hurricane. That was only the second time the parks have closed for a hurricane, the only other time was 9/11.

If you are going to Orlando this weekend, try not to book in the Kissimmee area. It's the lowest lying area, and there's more flooding danger there. We were on-site at WDW, and that was the place to be! It just seemed like another bad storm from our room at BCV.

 

[Rachelizabeth]

I just spoke with Luna at DCL (12:15 est). She advised that they are having meetings this afternoon and to call back around 5:00pm. She mentioned that they "may" make a decision today ("may" being the important word). I think they are doing everything they can, it's just hard waiting and trying to plan.....not Disney's fault. They are still being very professional and pleasant, and I'm sure they are handling a lot of calls from worried cruisers, not to mention families of current cruisers who I'm sure are very concerned.

Rachel

 

[MBFergie]

Lisalovespooh...

Where are you located? I am in Coral Springs, in NW Broward County.

Be safe!

 

[femmfaerie]

Originally posted by jfs9900
If I was booked on the 09/04 sailing I think I would not be very happy with the way Disney is handling this.

Last week they decided to change the port at CC. The storm has an entire week to change direction. Now as projections become more and more consistent that it will hit the Florida coast Disney has still not confirmed it's plans.

I just spoke with a freind on the ship, she said the ship is on alert. Last she heard, they might dock in Ft Lauderdale. They are not going to CC, she told me where they were going, but i can not remember the name. She said she has never been. Should be interesting to hear what happens.

Anyhow, she said she heard talk of a nother hurricane next week, has any one heard about this? I looked on the hurricane site, but i did not locate anything.

 

[lbgraves]

They had someone from the weather channel reporting from Abaco last night. They were at the crowded airport where it looked like ALOT of people were leaving. They were hit hard by Floyd & they don't want to be there this time. I hope that the people on CC are able to get further away before this one hits.

 

[bpicard9]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb/danger_atlbw.gif

this is what I found on the NOAA site.

 

[Bigbaby]

Originally posted by Lisa loves Pooh
Governor Bush is now discouraging visitors from visiting Florida this weekend.

Just FYI.

Thanks, but what is one to do? I have watched waited and called. My TA called and said everything is still a go nothing has changed on DCL's part as of now. So time will only tell. I have rooms booked and just hoping for the best. I will travel with the numbers just in case. But I may just head down to Tampa to stay with some family if no indication of change in path, etc. for the better this evening. And keep in touch with DCL to see how they are going to handle this.

 

[pin]

My family will be sailing on the 9/2 Wonder tomorrow. We booked through Dreams Unlimited and I got the following email a little before noon today.

Disney has just released information concerning the 3-night sailing of the
Disney Wonder on September 2, 2004. Due to Hurricane Frances, this sailing
will not visit any ports of call. The ship will sail as scheduled on
Thursday, September 2, 2004 and spend the entire time at sea. Disney has
advised that they will give a $300 shipboard credit to each stateroom on
this sailing for this inconvenience.

 

[LindaBabe]

They can sail into safer waters, which I as a passenger would surely appreciate. Days at sea are SO much fun - there will be non-stop entertainment. Much better than trying to visit a place that may be suffering damage and be ill equipped to handle tourists.