Western Caribbean in September - Peak Hurricane Season?

[hez2800]

Hello! I recently booked my first Royal Caribbean Cruise for early September (2-9) for a Western Caribbean itinerary. After researching it more, I've found that this is the peak of hurricane season for this region. Many people say it's unlikely to affect your cruise, while many say to avoid this time frame. For those of you who have traveled this itinerary in this month, what was your experience with rain, and how did it affect your cruise? Thanks so much!

[Va4fam]

Congrats on booking your first cruise with Royal Caribbean.  

We have sailed during that timeframe multiple times and not had any issues  other than choppy seas and rain.

Typically the ships have plenty of time to steer around hurricanes or bad weather.

 

[teddy]

Hurricanes are known quantities.  Sailing routes can be adjusted as needed.

Neither my wife nor I have any reservations about cruising during hurricane season.  In fact, we were on Liberty out of Galveston in the same time frame last year.

[PatsFanBrian]

We have had itinerary changes on 2 sails due to tropical weather, once in Late June, once in mid-September.  No one can predict how busy a hurricane season will be.  The majority of cruises are not impacted, but it does happen.  The most common impact is an itinerary change.  The cruise lines will do everything possible to keep the ships out of the path of a storm.

Regarding rain, that can happen almost anytime in the tropics even without a large storm.  It's a possibility on any type of vacation.  The best advice is to go ahead and keep your booking, just be aware that storms do happen and changes are a part of the cruising experience.

[FireFishII]

Just be flexible.  Sometimes they will switch ports or switch the order of the ports to avoid the weather if possible.  

You can also follow James Van Fleet on Twitter.  He is the meteorologist for Royal Caribbean. He also announces if the ships make changes to their itinerary.   

https://twitter.com/JamesVanFleet?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

 

[AandD]

Our second cruise was Sept of 2017. Supposed to be Eastern Caribbean. Hurricane Maria showed up. Royal took us to the ABCs instead. Weather was perfect for the whole cruise.  Could not go back to San Juan. Royal took us to Ft. Lauderdale. Gave us free calls for airline reservations or whatever we needed. Also 2 extra nights on the ship. So don't worry about it. And since Royal took care of us, we have stayed with them. 

[Wheeler825]

1 hour ago, AandD said:

Our second cruise was Sept of 2017. Supposed to be Eastern Caribbean. Hurricane Maria showed up. Royal took us to the ABCs instead. Weather was perfect for the whole cruise.  Could not go back to San Juan. Royal took us to Ft. Lauderdale. Gave us free calls for airline reservations or whatever we needed. Also 2 extra nights on the ship. So don't worry about it. And since Royal took care of us, we have stayed with them. 

I'm taking the same as OP the following week.... getting stuck on the ship for a few extra days sounds OK to me, as long as the booze doesn't run out.

[smokeybandit]

Very few cruises ever get canceled due to storms. Their itineraries may get highly modified or cruise length shortened (or lengthened), but rarely ever canceled.

[DoomSlayer]

One of my favorite times to sail because it is in a shoulder season, less crowded, and usually get a better deal.  Sea days should be fine because the boat can go around most storms.  Ports may change if there are forecasted storms, but I have only had that happen once to me.  And as a side note, going after Labor Day in September means kids are back in school -- which makes things a bit more relaxing on board.

[BMW Hoosier]

It is the peak of Atlantic hurricane season. However, the chances of any particular location being affected it quite low. Forecasting has improved greatly (but still has a ways to go), in particular for a generic area vs. an ultra pinpoint coast forecast that so many people somehow think should happen. 

[Yaya]

Hello,

I'm a little concern because we have a reservation from Sept 3-10 on the Allure of Seas departing from Galveston, TX for my husband 60th birthday.

Lourdes Martino

[VillainsGin]

Has anyone ever booked specifically during hurricane season?

I personally would sometimes try to time hurricanes to increase my chances of staying on the boat longer LOL

Cruise ships have invested billions of dollars into ship durability/safety when it comes to lifeboats, stabilization technology, quality of build etc. that I have never ever worried about being in a storm.

Past experience:

I forget which ship I was on but it was through royal caribbean. We were returning to MIA port it was the day before disembarkation when the storm changed course and came between us and the port. Captain had no choice but to sail further out into the ocean to wait out the storm occurring at MIA port.

We stayed out there for almost 3 additional days! To me that was such a treat because it extended our vacation and there were no additional charges. Although we did have to re-book our roundtrip tickets which was not a big problem at all!

[WAYNO]

One time... We sailed through and/or around a hurricane. Hurricane Dorian.  And it was in maritime Canada. 

The Skipper watched the track of this hurricane during our cruise, and mostly it didn't affect us, until it was time to return to Port Liberty.  Then, the Skipper decided to beat the hurricane to Port.  We skirted the hurricane, and it wasn't terribly uncomfortable.  But it did cause us to lose our last night at sea.  To make up for it, the Skipper ran the ship up the Hudson River, and gave us the most incredible birds eye view of New York City until the wee hours of the morning.  This was a magnificent tradeoff for us.