Cruising During Hurricane Season

I know it’s been a while since anything new has been written and I apologize. I’ve been planning on different stories to share with everyone, but there’s so many it’s hard to decide. So while Diane and I are working on that, we thought it would be a good idea to write about something that’s at the top of everyone’s mind when considering a cruise right now: hurricanes.

June 1 was the start of the Atlantic Hurricane season. A lot of people think that means it’s a lousy time for a cruise. Guess what?! It’s not! Cruise Lines spend millions of dollars to create these big floating hotels. They have on an average of 2000 or more guests per cruise. The last thing they are going to do is put such a large investment and number of people in danger. Cruise ships are equipped with the latest and greatest weather radar and communications equipment. Land based hotels are stuck, they can’t move. But with a cruise ship there is very little chance of a cruise sailing into a hurricane. Land based hotels would run out of food, electricity, water and just the general convenience of life.

If a hurricane prevents the ship from returning to the home port, you’ll be taken care of in the manner you have become accustomed to! The dinning room might have to repeat a menu from earlier in the trip, but there is still electricity, air conditioning, food, water, and entertainment until the ship is able to return to port.

We can speak from first hand experience what it is like to sail during a hurricane.
A couple of years ago we were on a cruise to the Panama Cannel on the Coral Princess. That was when Hurricane Wilma decided to visit South Eastern Florida. Wilma meant we missed Grand Cayman Island and Cozumel as ports of call. The ship instead was re-routed to Aruba and we then an extra day at sea before returning to Ft. Lauderdale. Well, Wilma decided to turn to the East and came across South Florida, closing both the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami ports due to flooding. We floated around in the post hurricane waters off of Ft. Lauderdale on the day we were supposed to return, even making an extra trip to the Bahamas for a day. Naturally we didn’t mind a few extra days living in the lap of luxury! The cruise ship was able to open up the ship to shore phone lines so passengers could make whatever phone calls they needed to. Internet was also provided. Our luggage was returned to us as quickly as possible, everyone had theirs back by 6pm on the day we were supposed to disembark.

Living in Florida we didn’t really experience any part of a hurricane except rain that is until Hurricanes Charlie, Jeanne and Francis came through our hometown. We know what happens on land when a hurricane strikes; we would much rather be at sea where the ship can travel around the hurricane and we are much safer.