Will our cruise ship be caught in a hurricane?

[Brancaneve]

My DH and I are planning our 2010 trip and would like to go in October because of our schedules and because the points are so low. BUT, they may be low due to the occurence of hurricanes at that time of year.

Has anyone cruised in October and what was the weather like? Are we taking a gamble? Did you buy insurance and if the trip was canceled, did you get your points/money back? Thanks!!!

Gisela

 

[tjkraz]

I believe it's extremely rare for a voyage to be canceled altogether. What is more likely is that you could encounter rough seas from the weather and that the ship's itinerary could be re-arranged to avoid bad weather systems. You may end up sacrificing days at certain ports if the ship cannot get there due to weather systems en route or cannot dock due to the conditions of the port itself.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Our Members Cruise in 2005 had to come into a different port because hurricane Ophelia was in/around Port Canaveral. It messed up travel arrangements, but we were all safe, and that's what's important.

Bobbi

 

[Castillo Mom]

I wouldn't worry too much although I'd recommend travel insurance no matter what time of year you're sailing. As the previous poster mentioned, the itinerary could change which could include change of ports, shorter/longer cruise.

 

[lundve]

We consider our "hurricane cruise" special and feel pretty lucky to have experienced it.

After numerous itinerary changes, we were diverted to the Gulf of Mexico to avoid Hurricane Frances in 2004. After making a food and fuel stop in Texas we ended up docking in Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately those after us took a four night cruise and/or were offered a chance to rebook. As far as the weather it drizzled once on the last day, otherwise we experienced no rough seas or even could have told you a hurricane was near. Well the speed of the ship did tell us something was up.

So yes if you are worried about hurricanes travel insurance may be the best for you. We did not have any so we incurred an approximately $500 fee for new flights so I could get back to work in time for the first day of school. I was a teacher at the time and this happened the last week of August/ beginning of September.

 

[lundve]

Oh and I should note, we made a couple ressies for people looking to rent points for a specific reservation and used that cash to purchase our cruise with spending money to spare. While I don't know the rates for your cruise, this might be something you want to look into.

 

[Disney_Villain]

We've sailed the Magic in October 2007 and had bad weather - with luck, we got Hurricane Noel (the worst hurricane of that year).

This is all that happened to us: We couldn't dock at Castaway Cay, and we wound up at Nassau instead - parked side by side with the Wonder (a sister ship reunion, which is pretty rare). It was fun watching the Wonder pull alongside the Magic and having the 2 ships sound their horns to each other. We also had really rough waters on our way back to Port.

It didn't ruin our vacation though. We are booked for the October 31 sailing of the Magic this year! I'm hoping we don't have a hurricane to deal with, but if we do it isn't going to ruin our DCL trip.