Anyone Cruise during Huricane Irene?

[Cruisebound]

We are Cruising in August - 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise around the same time of year Irene hit last August.

I see that cruises were not canceled but I am curious on how ships move around these storms and how does it effect the trip?

My biggest fear is missing Castaway Cay because of a huge storm.

 

[london75]

Yes, we missed Castaway Cay because of Irene.

The boat left a little early and headed South around the storm as fast as it could. It was a little rocky but a single dramamine for the adults and the kids thought it was fun! Nassau was a mess but I suspect the port doesn't look much better on a good day (sorry for any Nassau fans but just thought it was awful) and unfortunately we went back to Nassau on our Castaway day.

For us it was a bit of a disappointment to miss CC but as first time cruisers we had our hands full with the fantastic ship! We loved it so much even without CC we booked on board for a 5 day next year (double CC!) and a 7 night Fantasy cruise in 2013!

 

[kcashner]

We cruised during Jeane as well as other storms. Bottom line, the ship won't go anywhere near the hurricane if one is out there. THis sometimes means that you visit unscheduled ports and miss some planned ones. The only time we really had a problem was Jeane, when Port Canaveral was closed. DCL transported us to Fort Lauderdale (free, but miserable) to board the ship. Our 7 night cruise became 4 1/2 nights. Ah well. In other cruises...we visited Key West before a Western existed.

As long as you view them as "mystery cruises" you will be fine. If you will freak at a port change, this isn't the time of year for you.

 

[darwinsrule]

The boat left a little early and headed South around the storm as fast as it could. It was a little rocky but a single dramamine for the adults and the kids thought it was fun!

A little "rocky"? There are a couple of threads floating around on DIS about the experiences. The August 25th cruise was the first leg of our B2B. The first night was 'interesting'. We had EG the first night for dinner. People were getting up and leaving during the meal. They were unloading bags in Nassau the next day - some people just had enough.

I found it fun, but then I don't get sea sick. Guest Services was handing out meds.

 

[london75]

We just thought it was funny. I knew it was going to be rocky, so we had the dramamine as a precaution but thought we'd wait for the kids as didn't want to send them to sleep as it was only a 3 day.

I did some bonkers English Channel crossings when I was a kid and those ferries did not feel like they had stabilisers believe me and only got sick once. My sister and I used to go in the elevators on those ferries up and down during the storms to see (sometimes successfully) if we could make our feet leave the floor when the direction coincided with a swell!.

Anyway, on the Dream, we did see a couple of people really sick but the vast majority made it through dinner fine I thought. Were we so happy to be there we didn't notice the mayhem?

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

We sailed on the 8/21 and then did the 8/25 as the second leg of our B2B and really noticed the difference in the motion on the boat the first night. We were in Animator's Palate for supper on the first night and were seated by the doorway. Quite a few people left before supper was over including half of the people from our table! We also took meds but not before our daughter got sick from the motion. We were at Palo for supper later in the cruise and our server told us that the majority of the people didn't make it through the entire meal on the first night. This was our only rough time in 3 DCL cruises so far, but it made us understand why it is cheaper to go at the end of August. The Fantasy cruise we booked for July 2013 is almost 10% more expensive than the late August 2013 cruises for the same category.

 

[darwinsrule]

The fun part was looking out the port holes in EG. One minute all you could see was ocean. The next it was just sky. You would walk down the hallway and litterly you were bouncing from wall to wall. I found it fun. But then my head wasn't stuck in the toilet that night.

 

[london75]

Yeah I'd imagine your opinion of the cruise would be heavily biased either way depending on whether you actually got/felt sick or not. We luckily didn't so found it fun like children. I wasn't even drinking on that vacation either!

 

[Cruisinfamily]

we cruised the Dream B2B on october 2-9... we hit hurricane PHILIPE. On the 7th in the evening the ship started to get rocky and we really felt in in the walt disney theatre but no where else really...on the 8th we were supposed to go to CC but didn't make it the wind was pushing the ship so much captain couldn't park it (he tried 2 times) so he made an at sea day... it rained most of the day and was really windy...at dinner time we hit waves 12-16 ft high and at night time the ship was rocking side to side so much i thought we were going to tip over. I don't think there was 1 adult on the ship that night that slept. my husband and i didn't fall asleep until almost 5 am. in the morning there was alot of tired parents and children yawning...

won't ever cruise that time of year again, its not worth it at all...

 

[Cruisebound]

Thanks for all the replies. When I booked the cruise - I did not think about Hurricanes. I just booked it because we have a competative swimmer in our family and August is the only month she has off!

We have been on some Whale Watching boats that were really rocky. One of my daughters was miserable. The rest of us were not effected. I will def. pack the Dramamine and pray for good weather.

When Irene hit - it was exactly a year from our scheduled cruise. I was so upset that we might have issues. Hopefully it will be clear and will have a great time!

 

[ZeroToHero]

We sailed on the 8/21 and then did the 8/25 as the second leg of our B2B and really noticed the difference in the motion on the boat the first night. We were in Animator's Palate for supper on the first night and were seated by the doorway. Quite a few people left before supper was over including half of the people from our table! We also took meds but not before our daughter got sick from the motion. We were at Palo for supper later in the cruise and our server told us that the majority of the people didn't make it through the entire meal on the first night. This was our only rough time in 3 DCL cruises so far, but it made us understand why it is cheaper to go at the end of August. The Fantasy cruise we booked for July 2013 is almost 10% more expensive than the late August 2013 cruises for the same category.

We had pretty much the same story as you.... Animator's Palate and all.

Nassau's Straw Market suffered a lot of damage, but we were able to dock there. We had to skip CC because of the erosion and damage. On the first part of our B2B, our parasailing excursion was cancelled because the 3rd party vendors didn't want to sail out there with the threat of the storm.

Everything was creaking, it was crazy. My dad was worried the ship was going to fall apart, but he also gets really seasick, so I think he might have been delirious at this point...

My mom, brother, and I were fine, my sister and my dad got sick. I ended up just going down to the Buena Vista Theatre and watching Winnie the Pooh - I fell asleep in the theatre to the rocking of the ship, haha.

DCL does their best to hug the coast and try to keep the ride as smooth as they can, but sometimes it's just difficult.

 

[princessheather]

ohhh Hurricane Irene had me shaking in my boots before our cruise date. Not only because i was getting married on the august 25th cruise but it was my first cruise everrrr. The first night was a really rough night. the boat was rocking even the hangers in the closets were shaking back and forth. Me and my hubby to be were trying everything to get our minds off the motion but we ended up canceling our palo night and heading straight to bed with a dozen of green apples. trust me those things work! we weren't the only ones getting sick the first night to me seemed like everyone was in their cabins. The next day was our wedding day and it was completely beautiful outside. & we were the only cruise ship to make it to Nassua (i wonder why! lol) I woke up feeling much better and had a beautiful wedding day. i am so glad that the first night was the rough night cause after all that rocking we could barely feel the ship moving. over all I had a great amazing time all thanks to Disney making the best of the situation.