Hurricane Dorian closed the port the day their cruise was to leave. What now?
A continuous river of cruise goers flow into Florida. But what happens when the cruises don’t leave on their scheduled day because a storm such as Hurricane Dorian threatens to blow into town?
It depends on your cruise line.
Carnival Cruise Line cruises had four cruises scheduled to shove off from PortMiami or Port Canaveral on Sunday or Monday. Carnival canceled Carnival Liberty’s cruise out of Port Canaveral and will refund all monies already paid by passengers. But the cruise line decided to just shorten the cruises on Carnival Elation out of Port Canaveral, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Victory out of PortMiami.
Guests who have paid and still go will get pro-rated refunds of fare and pre-purchased packages. Horizon passengers will get a full refund of shore excursions and a 50 percent future cruise credit. Those who don’t go will get a 100 percent future cruise credit.
As for the lodging between the planned departure day and the new departure day, Carnival said in an email, “Since it’s a weather related issue we do not cover the hotels for guests.”
Guests can sign up for text alerts from Carnival by texting CCL1 (Elation), CCL5 (Horizon) and CCL6 (Victory) to 278473 (CRUISE). Click here to find Carnival’s updates on their website.
Six Royal Caribbean ships — Allure, Empress of the Seas, Harmony, Majesty, Mariner and Navigator — leaving from Miami, Port Everglades or Port Canaveral had their cruises shortened. Royal Caribbean didn’t state a clear refund policy.
“Because we know no one enjoys having their vacation plans disrupted, we are offering compensation to our guests whose itineraries were affected by Hurricane Dorian,” Royal Caribbean said in an email to the Miami Herald. “We are communicating directly with guests on each affected sailing to make things right.”
Norwegian Cruise Line said it would be giving full refunds to would-be passengers on its Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Sun, which were supposed to leave PortMiami Sunday and Port Canaveral Monday, respectively.
Both cruises were cancelled, NCL said, because they didn’t know when the ports would reopen.
