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Cruising in the Hurricane Season

Well, the seas on our first August cruise, a week-long jaunt to the Western Caribbean on the new Carnival Valor, couldn't have been flatter. Remarkably for a hurricane season that got off to such a strong start in June, we went the entire week without even hearing rumors of a new tropical depression.

The days were sunny, and the snorkeling and scuba diving were great. The only reminders of hurricane season came on our visit to Cozumel, which Hurricane Emily ripped through on the morning of July 18th. Along the road into town, one could still see uprooted trees and a smattering of boarded up windows. But Cozumel, a remarkably resilient island, was basically back in full swing.

All in all, a great start to our hurricane season cruising.

The second hurricane season cruise also got off to a smooth start. As the Zuiderdam headed toward the Eastern Caribbean, there again was not even a depression to be found in the tropics. Then on Wednesday morning came word that Tropical Depression Katrina had formed off the Bahamas (which we were scheduled to visit later in the week). Later the very same day, Katrina was proclaimed a full-fledged Tropical Storm.

So by the time we set sail Wednesday from St. Thomas, people were starting to ask whether we would still be able to visit Nassau Friday, or whether we might be headed for an extra sea day.

Curiously, the only information about Katrina came from passengers checking the internet, watching television or talking by phone with the folks back home. At no time was there any public acknowledgement of the existence of a tropical storm by the ship's officers.

As good fortune would have it, Katrina slid on through the Bahamas, and we docked Friday morning in Nassau right on schedule. A very nice day awaited us. But as we had slept Thursday night, what was now Hurricane Katrina was pounding Port Everglades -- the port we were scheduled to return to -- with winds gusting up to 92 miles per hour.

So the question on the minds of a lot of passengers was: Might this affect our Saturday return? Well, the answer to that question turned out to be "yes." In the interests of smooth sailing (which we strongly favor), the Zuiderdam took a course that put us back in Port Everglades several hours later than scheduled Saturday morning (a bit of a surprise to cruisers with early flights).

Now, we understand that cruise lines don't want to unduly worry their passengers. But in this era of multiple channels of communication, we believe that for the Zuiderdam to not make a single public mention of Hurricane Katrina over the PA system -- even by way of reassurance -- was ridiculous.

[While we were between cruises, Katrina went on to become one of the most destructive hurricanes ever to hit the United States -- and several cruise ships sailing out of Gulf ports were forced to make major adjustments. But these disruptions were pretty close to the least of the problems caused by this once-in-a-lifetime storm.]

So that brings us to our third hurricane season cruise, back to the western Caribbean aboard Navigator of the Seas. Down through Haiti, seas were like a millpond. Then came news of the development of Tropical Depression Ophelia (later to become Tropical Storm Ophelia) off the mid-Florida coast. First word of the storm came (as it should) from the captain during one of the ship's regular updates.

This excruciatingly slow-moving tropical storm/hurricane crawling up the Atlantic seaboard would a week later force Royal Caribbean to delay for a day the return of Grandeur of the Seas to the port of Baltimore. Gee, what tough luck! But no extra day at sea for those of us on Navigator. Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel came and went with nary a three-foot swell, and all too soon we were back in Miami (and back to the real world) after a great week of cruising.

So the bottom line, when it comes to hurricane season cruising, would seem to be this.

• The odds are pretty darn good that your hurricane season cruise will come and go with no disruption. Sure, this has probably been the worst hurricane season since cruising became popular, and a number of ships have made a comparatively small number of port changes since hurricane season started. But if the cruise line switchs islands on your itinerary in the interests of smooth sailing, so what? Several major adjustments were necessitated by the once-in-a-lifetime Katrina and subsequently by Rita. But if you are forced to endure a couple of extra days of cruising at sea at no charge, what a pity. C'mon, relax and enjoy it.
• The good news is these big fast cruise ships are pretty much able to steer clear not just of storms, but of even high seas. We would be amazed to hear of anyone experiencing anything very scary these past two months, even in a year when a far higher than average number of hurricanes and tropical storms have been out there. But if any of you have horror stories these past half dozen weeks, email them to us -- and we will post them here.
• As for hurricane season protocol, we remain troubled by the idea Holland America appears to believe that what passengers don't know won't hurt them. And we have heard reports that another line's ships sailed from Bermuda early to dodge a storm, without advising stranded passengers this might be a possibility. Not good if true.

We probably can't realistically hope for better sailing than we have had this hurricane season. But we might hope, during a time of year when things can and sometimes do change rapidly, for more and better communication.

--The Savvy Cruiser