Going on an August cruise...where should I go to avoid storms and hurricanes?

Question

The 3 choices that are available to me are: the Mexican Riviera (Cabo, Puerto Vallarta), the Western Caribbean (Jamaica, Haiti), and the Southern Caribbean (Barbados, Aruba).

If I were to sail in mid-August, which region would experience the least amount of adverse weather?

Answer 1

You got a good price in August because it is hurricane season in all the mentioned places.  That means it will be hot and humid, unbearably so no matter where you go.

But don't fret the hurricanes.  The ships are real fast and will simply sidestep the hurricanes if there were one (they watch weather closely)  Of course that will be a bit of an itinerary change, but nothing is gauranteed on a cruise ship (check your contract).  

The worst a hurricane will do to you is make the sea a little rough, and more humid.  If you don't get seasick then no worries.  If you get seasick go speak to the purser (front desk)  They have some magic pills they will give you which does not make you sleepy like dramamine

Answer 2

Hurriane season is from June- September. You may not go to the ports that were planed. The ships are equipped to get out of the path of huricanes though. No cruise line will put its ships in danger of huricanes. Just pick something you like and go with it. Or, cruise in a different time of the year. Cheers!!

Answer 3

Well I would like to suggest the medditerranian sea for a trip in august. Summer time and no hurricanes and storms. I am not shure what of theese cruises fits best but I think its in the beginning of the hurricane season. But be sure that the cruiselines try to get around the weather if there is some trouble near your rout or if your port of call has been hit. Thus you may find yourself on different ports off call or cancelled ones due to safety regulations. So If you want to go then go but except that changes can happen. Johan.

Answer 4

Why are you limited to three choices ??  That time of year you should be going to Alaska.

Answer 5

IT IS THE START OF THE PEAK SEASON FOR HURRICANES BUT NO MATTER WHAT IF YOU ARE ON WESTERN CRUISE THEN THEY WILL CHANGE TO THE EASTERN CRUISE AND VICE VERSA.  I ASSUME THAT IT WOULD BE THE SAME FOR A SOUTHERN CRUISE WHERE THE PORTS OF CALL WILL BE CHANGED.  BUT I WOULD NOT ONLY BE WORRIED OF WHERE I AM GOING BUT HOW THE SEAS WILL BE.  IN A STORM THAT IS EVEN 50 OR 100 MILES AWAY THE OCEAN IS ROUGH.  BUT I HAVE BEEN ON CRUISES DURING THIS TIME AND THE LEAST THING I WORRIED ABOUT IS THAT.   BOOK YOUR CRUISE AND ENJOY IT.

Answer 6

I think you'd be better off with the Pacific tour, but I have also cruiseda few times in August in the Atlantic and managed to avoid any hurricaines. Its risky. the pacific seems to have less hurricaine activity in the summer than the atlantic does.

Answer 7

I have been on all of those cruise itineraries and they are all somewhat susceptible to hurricane weather.  My advice based on my experience is to do the Mexican Rivera cruise because it is less susceptible to hurricanes.  However, we did a Mexican Rivera cruise a couple years ago and our cruise was modified and we missed one port because a hurricane actually made it across Mexico and created bad weather in the Pacific near our port.  The good part was that by the time that our cruise got to that port the weather was perfect.

All hurricanes usually begin off the coast of Africa and/or in the southern Atlantic east of what I think they call the Leeward Islands which would be places like Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, etc.  The hurricanes do not take an exact path but generally come close to the islands of  Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and/or maybe the Bahamas before going further west or north.  So they can touch all of the Caribbean islands of the cruises you selected.

Aruba advertises that it is below the hurricane belt and that's for the most part true but a hurricane did touch Aruba last year.  And if you go to Aruba on a cruise you will likely leave from and return to Puerto Rico, as we did, and also have stops in St Thomas and ST Maarten.  So while Aruba is below the USUAL hurricane zone, the rest of your cruise would be right in the usual paths.

So my advice is to do the Mexico cruise because it is much less likely that a hurricane will make it that far west.  You should also consider buying travel insurance, either from the cruise line, or from a private provider like Travelux.

Here's two web sites for you to look at for travel insurance:

A site to compare insurance plans:

http://www.insuremytrip.com/p/myquotecal...

Travelux (I use it):

http://www.travelex.com/us/default.asp

Answer 8

I went in August 06 to Jamaica and Haiti and there was a hurricane behind us/on the side like 500 miles away that was heading into jamaica and haiti. It was hurricane Ernesto. 2 died in Haiti. We already went to Jamaica and Haiti at that point in time and were heading back to Miami. We didnt experience any rain but we did see bigger waves and the boat rocked a slight bit more. It was on the Freedom of the Seas. I mean August is hurricane season and you cant really choose a place in which wont get hit. You never know. I thought Jamaica and Haiti were beautiful countries and am actually going back in March of 09. If you choose a certain cruise and the weather acts up they will switch your spots to places that  wont be affected by the storm. You can choose to go to the Mexican Rivera but end up going to Aruba or Haiti anyway. I would suggest choosing which ever places you would want to see the most and hope for the best. That is really the only thing you can do. Good Luck.