With Helene recently damaging and Milton pending, and with weather events increasing in intensity each year, you might find yourself worrying about your cruise. You might stay up nightly wondering “Will the hurricane mess up my cruise?” Luckily, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself.
Hurricanes and tropical storms are becoming more frequent.
When is Hurricane Season?
Many cruises leave from Florida, so that’s what we’ll focus on. For Florida, hurricane season runs from the start of June through the end of November. That can be a huge part of the cruising season, so don’t be surprised if your cruise has to deal with weather.
While hurricane season lasts a long time, that doesn’t mean a hurricane will mess up your cruise. Sometimes the hurricanes come early, sometimes late, sometimes they stay tropical storms. Keep an eye out on what meteorologists are saying for your trip.
Be Prepared for Schedule Changes
Just like a land vacation, weather is never guaranteed. A cruise ship has the advantage of being able to sail around truly bad weather. Typically, this amounts to a change of ports, or sometimes a skipped port.
While this might feel like your vacation is being ruined, just remember that this is outside the control of the cruise line, the ports, and the people working on the ship. When you buy a cruise ticket, the fine print pretty much always includes the cruise line’s right to change the itinerary.
The best thing you can do is roll with the punches. Look at a changed port as an opportunity to explore. Look at a missed port as an opportunity to relax. The reality of cruising, and all travel, is that sometimes the weather, local politics, or technical issues can change your trip suddenly.
Remember, all of these things can happen to a land vacation too.
Sometimes, cruise lines will offer compensation, often in the form of future voyage credit, especially if the issues with your sailing were mechanical. And of course, if the cruise is cancelled entirely, you should be entitled to a refund.
The Worst-Case Scenario
In the absolute worst-case scenario, a hurricane will really mess up your cruise. While it is rare, cruises get cancelled for a variety of reasons. Really bad hurricanes, regional unrest, and even company bankruptcy. This might scare you a bit, but there are things you can do to protect yourself.
How to Protect Yourself
First, work with a travel agent. Agents keep up on things that might stall or affect a trip, and can help you out when it does happen. They can help you get home safely when things go wrong. For example, when the CrowdStrike problem shut down travel world-wide, we helped clients with alternate arrangements.
Second, buy trip insurance. A lot of plans aren’t terribly expensive, and can save thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars when something goes wrong.
Third, know what the risks are when you plan a trip. Not just weather but traveling to areas where political violence is on the rise, and even just the unexpected health issues at home can all affect your trip drastically. When you are putting a significant amount of money down, make sure you are aware of where it can go wrong.
Fourth, unless you live within an easy drive of the port, always plan to fly in at least one day before and stay over. This allows you a cushion of time to arrive. Severe weather can seriously affect flights and the cruise ship will not wait if you don’t arrive on time. The U.S. Department of Transportation has posted information about your rights regardining weather-related delays. Arriving early will assure you start your cruise more relaxed.
Last week, we discussed the two main sources of possible cruise disruptions this fall.
If you have any questions or interest in looking at travel insurance. Please feel free to reach out to us.
