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One day it might look like your ship will be clear of any issues, and the next, it looks like you're stuck. Several passengers, including Brenda Goodwin Sherbert, posted on social media about broken glass on the ship. Throughout the storm, Branham wondered why there weren’t more announcements from Carnival staff. Besides the warning of rougher seas earlier Friday and one Saturday morning after they’d weathered the storm, Branham said they weren’t given any official updates on their situation. En route back to Charleston Friday night into Saturday, the Carnival Sunshine navigated into a strong storm system that battered the southeast over the holiday weekend. Videos emerged on social media showing cabins and hallways flooding, shop floors littered with destroyed merchandise and leaking ceilings.
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A meteorologist for Fox 35 reported that winds reached from 55 to 60 mph at the height of the storm. “Instead of telling people to come up to the top deck when we have a severe thunderstorm warning, maybe you should be more worried about your guests and employees and tell them to get inside,” he wrote. The ship limped to Bremerhaven, Germany, where many passengers had to stay aboard due to limited flights out of the area.
When are you most likely to experience storms on a cruise ship?
"The general sentiment is that people are content and happy about the extra day(s)," Roseboom said. Jodi Grundig is a writer for our sister site Cruise.Blog (and she has her own blog at Family Travel Magazine) was on the Disney Wish when the sailing had to be extended by a couple days. It was supposed to be a 4-night cruise, but at the time of writing will end up being 6-nights. If your cruise is extended or shortened, expect extra onboard credit and any unlimited packages purchased to be honored for the extra days. Unfortunately, no one knows the answers of what exactly will happen when you're many days before the storm is set to hit.
Hurricane Season Cruising: What You Need to Know Before You Go
A ship whose Eastern Caribbean itinerary appears to be in flux will be moved to the Western Caribbean (and vice versa). And if new port calls can't be assured, the schedule may end up including a couple of extra sea days in calmer waters. This means that most cruisers won’t have to miss out on any fun even if they do travel during hurricane season in the Caribbean.
100 Cruise Passengers Injured in Bay of Biscay Storm - The Maritime Executive
100 Cruise Passengers Injured in Bay of Biscay Storm.
Posted: Tue, 07 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
During the cruise, we got information about what the storm was doing and how our ship was dealing with track changes. During my cruise, our ship went around Cuba, and by the time we made our way westward again, the ship stayed far enough away from Hurricane Ian to keep everything quite calm. We rarely felt much motion, and the sea conditions ended up being extremely calm. "There were cheers onboard, so most people seemed to be pretty excited for two extra day," she said of the reaction after the cruise was to be extended.
"They offered phones for people who needed to make calls and they provided free internet for people to make changes to flights/arrangements." Sailings can be extended or shortened, but Royal Caribbean very rarely cancels an entire sailing. First time cruisers will often post on Facebook to ask if their cruise will be cancelled, and it's clear that it's very unlikely a cruise will be totally cancelled. Allure ended up safely behind Hurricane Ian, slowly moving west as the storm cleared out of the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico. In our case, when we drove down to Fort Lauderdale from Orlando, the storm was only predicted to be a category 2 and headed for the Florida Panhandle. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo.
You might also receive a discount or free onboard credit on a future cruise. If you're having trouble getting into your port of embarkation, make sure you contact the cruise line (carry their toll-free emergency number in your wallet or save it in your cell phone). Most will do everything possible, even if they are not obligated, to help you get to the ship, but there's no guarantee. Hurricane season in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean officially runs from June 1 through November 30. In the video, guests can be seen running in all directions as chairs on the deck begin blowing into the air .
What are cruise ships doing to protect themselves?
This can help when storms intensify rapidly while a ship is at sea, but come armed with seasickness medication just in case (and yes, that goes for seasoned cruisers and first-time cruisers alike). A video of passengers fleeing for their lives on a cruise ship engulfed in a storm while docked at a port in Florida has gone viral on social media. In it, passengers can be seen desperately clinging onto railings as they battle fierce winds. A storm off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, battered a Carnival cruise ship for hours late Friday night before it docked, leaving passengers terrified.
In both cases, the issue was Port Canaveral closed and that prevented the ship from getting back into port. Being on a cruise ship while there's a hurricane active near home brings an assortment of emotions, and it can lead to all kinds of scenarios you never imagined when you booked the cruise, or even in the weeks leading up to the sailing. Matthew Branham, who was also on board, told The Washington Post, that "waves were hitting the boat so hard that it was like an earthquake experience, jarring you like a really rough roller coaster — even in the middle floor."
"The weather was unexpectedly strong, causing conditions that were rougher than forecasted," the statement continues. Those decisions are made collaboratively with captains, with guest comfort in mind, Van Fleet says. For instance, to avoid heavy rain, he might suggest a ship stay at sea and arrive at a port a few hours later than planned. When seas get rough, modern cruise ships have onboard technology that helps stabilize them. But if it looks like a more serious storm is in their path, cruise ships generally try to outrun or avoid them.
Instead, impacted passengers can ask Carnival for a refund or a credit for another cruise, although there’s no guarantee the cruise line will grant such requests. “Waves were hitting the boat so hard that it was like an earthquake experience, jarring you like a really rough roller coaster — even in the middle floor,” Branham said. If you’re already on a ship and meet rough conditions, listen to the instructions of the captain and crew.
However, you may be entitled to refunds on prepaid port taxes or fees when ports are missed. "Just a fun evening leaving Port Canaveral this past Friday. No announcement from the captain before or after, also no mention of what happened. Just pretend like it didn't happen I guess," wrote TikTok user Lucassparrow1110. The incident took place on the Independence of the Sea Royal Caribbean Cruises ship on Friday, June 16 at around 4 p.m.
You may even experience storm remnants where you least expect to, such as on North Atlantic repositioning cruises coming out of Europe. Cruise ships have thick steel hulls that can withstand the ravages of a storm. The vessel might list to one side, then the other, in a motion known as rolling. Alternatively, a forward movement might pitch down into the swells before rearing up again. None of this should cause concern, as every ship has been tested in simulated storm conditions. You might notice the swimming pool is emptied and outdoor decks closed off but, inside the ship, the well-trained crew knows what measures to enact to make passengers safe and comfortable.
Thankfully, Carnival told PEOPLE in a statement provided below that "no one was seriously injured." The Carnival Sunshine cruise ship made it back to port nine hours later than planned after sailing through a terrifying storm on Friday night. Safety is a priority for all cruise lines, and even with these on-ship set-ups, many companies add additional layers of precaution. In January 2017, Royal Caribbean hired James Van Fleet as the first-in-the-industry dedicated cruise line meteorologist; he previously worked as a TV meteorologist for more than 20 years. During the hurricane and typhoon season, which is June to November, he’s in the Miami headquarters monitoring a 25-foot wall of weather screens and sharing information with the company’s 26 ships and the executive team. While increasingly sophisticated technology and mechanics can help ships evade storms, they can't avoid them entirely; rougher-than-usual waters are often found far from a hurricane itself.
First and foremost, you can expect more questions than answers in the days before a cruise when there's a hurricane. Sailing on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas this week, I found myself unexpectedly dodging Hurricane Ian as our ship got out of Florida right before the storm was projected to hit, and safely away during the worst of the impact. By dinner time, public decks had been closed off, and plates and cups were flying off the buffet areas, he recalled.
Displays tipped over in retail stores, and in the ship’s casino, slot machines tipped and fell. Build a day or two into your vacation and aim to arrive in port a couple of days early in case difficulties arise. Prepare for the possibility -- and it happens -- that you might actually arrive home a day or two late. The fine print in your cruise contract gives lines the right to substitute and/or eliminate ports if and when necessary.
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