Never Discount Weather in Travel Plans

Photo Credit: www.NOAA.gov

In the midst of what is often the strength and height of hurricane season, travelers who have plans to visit Florida, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and other more hurricane-prone vacation destinations are never surprised when a named storm or hurricane steers their way in September or October. But, what is strange and not expected is a hurricane or strong tropical storm threatening the Northeastern coast of the United States, especially Maine. This, however, is exactly what happened with what was briefly named Hurricane Kyle (currently downgraded to a tropical storm as of the 11pm EST advisory on Sunday, September 28^th).

This storm has caused Royal Caribbean to change its itinerary for one of its New England voyages. Based on a Royal Caribbean weather alert, Explorer of the Seas, which departed the Cape Liberty Port on Sept. 25, did not visit Charlottetown, Price Edward Island, on Sunday. Instead the ship traveled through the Saguenay River on Sunday and was scheduled to visit Quebec City on Monday and stay overnight. The rest of the itinerary remains unchanged. For more information, visit www.royalcaribbean.com.

This altered vacation demonstrates the importance for flexibility when traveling during hurricane season or other times of the year prone to Mother Nature’s influence. One benefit to cruising is that often, even when a hurricane stands in an itinerary’s path, the voyage can be altered resulting in an unaffected vacation. Once when traveling during Hurricane Ivan, the storm took an unexpected turn to the South, resulting in Royal Caribbean to cancel its port of call to Curacao, but instead calling on St. Lucia as a bonus visit.

To ensure that all bases are covered when traveling, it is advisable to purchase a third-party travel insurance policy via sites including Squaremouth.com or Insuremytrip.com. This type of protection gives added layers that a policy purchased directly through an airline, cruise ship or tour operators do not.

Two months are technically left in hurricane season (Subtropical Storm Laura has developed most recently) and just as it comes to a close, the whipping winter storms will come into play just in time for holiday travel. Flexibility and protection are key vacation survival items needed when traveling.