Cruising to Caribbean in August?

I'm off for the last three weeks of August, and DH and I are planning on going on a Caribbean cruise, but I'm kind of nervous about hurricane season. Has anyone cruised during hurricane season? How was it? TIA!

Message edited 2/13/2009 6:19:49 PM.

Re: Cruising to Caribbean in August?

we went in Aug once. We hit a tropical storm around PR. sea sick for a day...a very rainy night...but we had a blast.

The best time to cruise in Jan. CHEAP. weather is great.

Re: Cruising to Caribbean in August?

We went on a Southern Caribbean cruise in the beginning of September - had the most beautiful weather ever. It's just a matter of being lucky. We are trying our luck again this summer as we are cruising with our family the end of August as it is the only time everyones schedules allow.

Re: Cruising to Caribbean in August?

Normally, I wouldn't choose to go during that time - but we got married between DH's semesters in law school (he only had 2 weeks between his semesters) so we bumped part of our honeymoon to August and did a cruise then and just did disney for a few days after the wedding. We also went again another year in August b.c we did have a great experience the first time and it was when we were able to travel.

Actually both turned out to be perfect. The weather was great and we had no rain. The catch though is that you never know with the hurricanes. The cruise ships DO go out of their way to avoid them if possible but they can impact the ship depending on your itinerary. If it hits right before you are scheduled to sail from your departing port it can delay the ship or close the port and your cruise might be shortened or cancelled (or if you are on the ship already you might get an extra day or two). If it is a bad hurricane it could cancel your cruise all together or you could end up in totally different ports or even just sea days with few or no ports of call. It can also cause a lot of rough seas. If you sail from NY or NJ you also have to be prepared to go to Canada instead of the caribbean which happens for time to time.

But that is just the gamble you take when you cruise during hurricane season in general. Now having said that - if you luck out with good weather you can really get some really great deals at that time of the year. The boats are also filled with families so they are often more activities for younger people than you might find during the school year. Some islands get hit more often than others so you might want to look at some different itineraries and chose that way. But the key to cruising at that time of the year is to be flexible.