I watched a documentary on TV about cruise ships that had departed from the Port of Galveston during Hurricane Ike; those folks had some extreme experiences!! It made me think about my own upcoming cruise, though; what usually happens with cruise ships during bad weather? I figure with all the technology there is nowadays they must know when bad weather is heading toward them. What rights do passengers have if they have second thoughts? Can you get a refund if you cancel due to bad weather? If you’re on the ship during bad weather and have to disembark at a different port because of it, who pays for your transportation to the point of origin?
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Bad weather
I read about some of the experiences of those passengers; it was really unfortunate. It is a chance that we all take, running into bad weather on a cruise, since obviously the cruise lines are not in control of weather conditions. They do, however, keep a very close eye on weather knowing that they are responsible for the well being of their passengers. Fortunately, with notice of bad weather cruise ships can move out of the way, which means a change in itinerary. If a cruise is cancelled before departing, all the passengers get full refunds. If the cruise line changes the itinerary because of bad weather BEFORE the ship departs, passengers can usually cancel without penalty and either get a refund or credit toward another cruise at a later date. I believe different cruise lines have different policies, and therefore it is essential for passengers to fully read the disclosures on the cruise information. If it isn’t clear, ASK. Travel insurance can help bring peace of mind, too, but only if you understand what it covers. It is up to us, the passengers, to watch out for our own best interests in that regard. Cruise ships do whatever they can to keep us safe, so we need to find out what happens under different scenarios. Remember, ASK QUESTIONS.