Hurricane Season

You have had your cruise of a lifetime booked for a year and a few days before travel you see the news about Hurricane Dorian. What happens?

Firstly this time of the year is when Hurricanes are expected in the Caribbean, Florida regions. This isnt to say that they will happen every year. I worked in the Dominican Republic back in 2007 and we were not really affected except for a few storms and a little flooding. Again we got married in St Lucia September 2013. We had some huge down pours of the morning of the wedding but by the afternoon you would never have guessed it had rained.

The Hurricanes do seem to be becoming more frequent and much more powerful. 2017 saw Hurricane Harvey devastating Texas. Its worth noting that this was the first major Hurricane to make land fall since Hurricane Wilma a record 12 years ago. Not just that you also had Hurricane Irma that devastated many Caribbean Islands including Puerto Rico followed by Hurricane Maria 2 weeks later.

What we know from this is the Captain on board your ship will have your best interest and safety as his priority. Ships can move out of the  way and re route itineraries. This might not be ideal if you have somewhere in particular you wanted to visit however this is done with your safety in mind. Royal Caribbean & Carnival cruises had around 20,000 passengers stranded at sea. The Port of Galveston was closed for days. The ships managed to get more supplies in New Orleans and passengers were allowed to disembark if they wished. The Liberty of the Seas diverted to Miami and returned to Galveston as soon as it was safe.

The Bahamas have been hit in the past 24 hours with huge storm surges and flooding.. This is an ever changing situation as the path of the Hurricane is just a forecast and this could change.  Carnival, Royal Caribbean have both extended sailings. I currently have passengers that were due to dock in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday delayed until tomorrow.

If the forecast is right it looks like Dorian my miss the Florida coast without making much landfall.

So for those of you over there. Stay Safe and take advice of the local authorities.

Have you been caught up in a natural disaster whilst on holiday?

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About Me

Hello from sunny Scotland!! My name is Charlene and I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I am enjoying writing it. I live with my husband Chris, our little boy Charlie and Ozzy the Shih Poo. We recently got married in St Lucia.   I have been working…

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