Considerations for Cruising During Hurricane Season

A few days ago, I promised a slightly expanded version of a few very basic tips for cruising during hurricane season found on my Tips for New Cruisers page.
As promised, here they are:

1 - KNOW that there are for possible trade-offs for those cheaper fares, so be prepared for them.

2 - ARRIVE at your port city EARLY (at least a day early.) When there’s an active storm, the port authority could close down the port and order all ships to sea hours early. You don't want to be left at the dock in a strange city with a mean storm approaching... you might even find that you're stuck there, and that hotel rooms are scarce, due to local evacuation orders.

3 - ALWAYS buy travel insurance. Don't even think about going without it.

4 - Cruise flexibily. ACCEPT the fact that the captain WILL divert the ship’s course to keep you safe. This may include substituting an alternate port, or missing one or more ports entirely. So, if you have your heart set on a certain port,don't count on getting there with absolute ceertainty via cruise ship during hurricane season. If you feel your vacation will be a disaster because you couldn't go to X place while it was under siege by hurricane or tropical Storm Whomever, you aare setting yourself up for possible disappointment.

5 - BE PREPARED prepared for your cruise to end a day earlier or later than scheduled - or to end up at a different place than you originally sailed from – and make travel arrangements to your home that can be adjusted accordingly. Again be flexible. It may not happen at all, but it could, so make travel plans that can be changed fairly easiy if it should become necessary.

6 - Take along plenty of your favoirte remedy for the ill effects of the motion of the ocean. There's a chance you'll experience more of that during the season than at other times. I usually tuck a couple of packs of a natural remedy, like ginger candies in my suitcase. Eventhough I don't normally need them, someone I'm sailing with might.

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