Cruising Through Hurricane Irma

By Paul Motter, iCruise Blogger | September 05, 2017 ( Comments)

The year 2017 was predicted to have higher than average hurricane activity - and we have already seen the devastation in the ports of Houston and Galveston, which combined make one of the most popular cruise ports in the U.S. So, 2017 was already not the best year to take advantage of hurricane season cruise deals.

Now we see Hurricane Irma barreling down on southern Florida, and so the question arises, what to do if you have a cruise booked and a hurricane is approaching your port city of departure? The only advice I can give you is to go to the cruise line web site and see what it says about your cruise, and follow instructions. You can also call your travel agent, but they are likely to tell you the same thing.

For example, the Royal Caribbean web site has banner at the top that reads “Hurricane Irma Update.” Inside it says the only sailing known to be impacted so far is Allure of the Seas. It also recommends that you follow a certain name on Twitter for the fastest updates. The truth is that the cruise line does not yet know what will happen with Irma well enough to determine what they will do. They may be able to sail the ships in and out of Southern Florida, or maybe not. Until they make a determination all you can do is wait and see.

The most likely scenario, if Miami is socked in by Irma, is that the ships at sea will delay their return, and their next cruises (possibly yours) will delay departures by a day or more. This will mean changing your air plans, which the airlines may do for you anyway. Air travel is often the biggest hassle of a hurricane, since the storms go inland and disrupt flight patterns for days.

If you are booked for cruise from Florida this coming week, I am sorry, You will be spending the next few days trying to figure out what day your ship will be leaving. Even more challenging is the air travel to reach your ship. Since storms often go inland they may re-route you or just cancel your flight for the day you are scheduled to arrive.

Keep consulting your cruise and air provider’s web sites to see what they say, and just wait it out to see what they best course will be. Expect changes on almost a daily basis until they have a much better certainty of the course Irma will take.

Continue reading about Hurricanes and the Cruise Line Industry in our Cruise FAQ.

About Paul Motter, iCruise Blogger

Paul Motter took his first cruise in 1983, when he was lucky enough to get hired by Royal Viking Line, a small but very influential cruise line still credited with inventing all-inclusive luxury cruises. At the time less than one million Americans had ever sailed on a cruise. For the year 2017 the projected number of cruise passengers is over 25-million people.

Paul's first cruise included sailing ten straight days at sea from San Francisco to Bora Bora, and he had no idea that was unusual. In the next year he sailed to destinations all the way from Tahiti to the North Cape of Norway. In later years Paul also worked aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's S.S. Norway and aboard three Holland America Line ships.

In 1999 Paul started the web site CruiseMates.com, the first professional cruise review site on the Internet, with well-known AOL cruise reviewer Anne Campbell as his partner. Paul served as the CEO of CruiseMates until 2007 when he became the editor-in-chief, the role he maintained until 2016. Paul has cruised on every popular cruise line in the U.S. His favorite ships include the Royal Caribbean Oasis-class, Carnival's Vista-class, Norwegian Cruise Line's Breakaway class, Celebrity's Solstice class, Oceania, Crystal, or any cruise on Princess or Holland America. His favorite river cruise experiences include the Nile in Egypt and a 10-day Russian River on Viking River Cruises.

His favorite memories as a cruise reporter include seeing Queen Elizabeth, Princess Kate and Camilla (all separately) commission the three Cunard ships now in service.

Paul has written about cruising for Women's Day, The San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Herald, Sherman's Travel, FoxNews.com and CruiseMates.