Above Photo: KEY WEST, Florida (October 5, 2016) Nine ships from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, research vessel Walton Smith and a contract vessel take shelter at Naval Air Station Key West’s Mole Pier Oct. 5 as Hurricane Matthew approaches Florida. NAS Key West is not currently projected to be in Matthew’s path and as such, stands by to support other services and relief efforts. NAS Key West is a state-of-the-art facility for air-to-air combat fighter aircraft of all military services and provides world-class pierside support to U.S. and foreign naval vessels. (U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cody R. Babin/Released)

As a travel specialist with over 40 cruises under my belt, one question comes up just about every fall, “Should I book a cruise during hurricane season?” With compliments to Jimmy Buffett, should any of us try to reason with hurricane season?

I know, rational thinking sounds like the correct approach, but if I am thinking about my family having to deal with a hurricane, emotional reactions and avoiding epic nature disasters are the order of the day! As with many things in life that are scary, the more you know about hurricanes, the more you can make informed travel decisions and keep anxiety levels at manageable levels.

When is Hurricane Season?

Since most people are thinking about storms that impact the United States, I will focus on Hurricanes that form in the Atlantic and impact the United States. The Atlantic season is roughly from June 1st to November 30th.  Weather conditions change every year and hurricanes tend you have their own cycle that ebbs and flows. Yes, you can have storms early and late in the season but the distribution of storms is concentrated in the months of August, September, and October.

The National Hurricane Center has some great tools for educating yourself on hurricanes. They breakdown all kinds of storms including Tropical Depressions, Tropical Storms, Minor Hurricanes and Major Hurricanes. When you start talking about storms that actually hit the United States, a decade might have 14 total hurricanes but probably only 5 of those will be a major storm. The odds of a hurricane occurring on the week your cruise is scheduled is not likely. Of course, telling someone that the hurricane they are experiencing is not a major storm will probably not get a kind response. If it is impacting your vacation….it is a major storm!

Cruise Line Responses

Since Hurricanes are part of doing business in the Caribbean, you can imagine that the cruise lines are prepared to deal with storms when they occur. The cruise lines first priority is the safety of their passengers and crew. They also have large investments tied up in their ships, so safety is paramount to them. Many clients become frustrated with the cruise lines for not being able to answer their questions when a storm is forming. Honestly, the actions of individual storms are very hard to predict, so cruise lines wait until there is a strong consensus on a storm path prior to making decisions on a specific sailing.

The great thing about is a ship is that it can sail much faster than a hurricane and the Caribbean is a big Sea. A storm that is impacting the Bahamas will have no impact on Grand Cayman or Cozumel. The normal response of the cruise line is to change the itinerary to avoid a storm. If the effects are going to be longer-lasting, they might change the length of an itinerary or possibly even disembark at a port that is a safe distance from the storm.

Passenger Preparations

Most people don’t like to be put in situations they don’t control. Having a hurricane impacting your travel is one of those situations where you don’t have any control. The cruise lines and the airlines are trying to balance the needs of all their passengers and are often scrambling to do their best in an ever-changing situation. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to put yourself in the best possible position.

  • Decide how much risk you can tolerate. If you are a person that has no interest in even thinking about dealing with a storm, pick itineraries that are outside the hurricane season. Sure, the rates might be higher but you can lower your risks by booking trips outside the season.
  • Work with a travel professional. This is when experience can make a huge difference. Wouldn’t it be great to have one person that you can count on to help you navigate flight changes, or hotel needs or discussions with the cruise line? A travel professional can be making arrangements for you when you can’t make them for yourself. I think I provide a great service to all of my customers but when plans need to change quickly, that is where my service has a huge impact on the experiences of my customers.
  • Purchase Travel Protection and know what your plan covers. This is a must. Most people only think Travel Protection is important if they have to cancel a trip for illness or a death in the family. Most good policies will also cover trip interruption or trip delays. Discuss these benefits with your travel professional. Many plans have a 24 hour,7-day per week help desk that can assist you if your travel plans go off the rails.
  • Consider “Cancel For Any Reason” Travel Protection. Classic Travel Protection has very specific language about what the policy will and will not cover. As an example, if the cruise line changes their itinerary but is still planning on sailing, a typical travel protection plan would not cover your cancelation fees if you decided you didn’t want to go on that cruise. With Cancel For Any Reason Coverage, you can decide this is not a trip for you and you will have coverage. Work with your Travel Professional to understand the limits of your coverage. Sometimes you will get a future cruise credit or if you get cash back, it will only be a percentage of your cancellation fee.

Expect the Unexpected

I tell all my clients that the first thing they should pack for their trip is a good amount of patience. Life happens and every good plan tends to run into trouble now and then. As I mentioned, I have been on over 40 cruises and only once did I have a trip impacted by a hurricane. As it turned out, we missed a port call but it was pretty easy for our ship to avoid a rather erratic and unpredictable storm.  Hurricanes do happen, but if you think about how many times they impact travel, your odds are pretty good. Work with a professional, know your own risk tolerance, purchase travel protection just in case and odd are, you will make a lifetime of memories.

Above Photo: KEY WEST, Florida (October 5, 2016) Nine ships from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, research vessel Walton Smith and a contract vessel take shelter at Naval Air Station Key West’s Mole Pier Oct. 5 as Hurricane Matthew approaches Florida. NAS Key West is not currently projected to be in Matthew’s path and as such, stands by to support other services and relief efforts. NAS Key West is a state-of-the-art facility for air-to-air combat fighter aircraft of all military services and provides world-class pierside support to U.S. and foreign naval vessels. (U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cody R. Babin/Released)

As a travel specialist with over 40 cruises under my belt, one question comes up just about every fall, “Should I book a cruise during hurricane season?” With compliments to Jimmy Buffett, should any of us try to reason with hurricane season?

I know, rational thinking sounds like the correct approach, but if I am thinking about my family having to deal with a hurricane, emotional reactions and avoiding epic nature disasters are the order of the day! As with many things in life that are scary, the more you know about hurricanes, the more you can make informed travel decisions and keep anxiety levels at manageable levels.

When is Hurricane Season?

Since most people are thinking about storms that impact the United States, I will focus on Hurricanes that form in the Atlantic and impact the United States. The Atlantic season is roughly from June 1st to November 30th.  Weather conditions change every year and hurricanes tend you have their own cycle that ebbs and flows. Yes, you can have storms early and late in the season but the distribution of storms is concentrated in the months of August, September, and October.

The National Hurricane Center has some great tools for educating yourself on hurricanes. They breakdown all kinds of storms including Tropical Depressions, Tropical Storms, Minor Hurricanes and Major Hurricanes. When you start talking about storms that actually hit the United States, a decade might have 14 total hurricanes but probably only 5 of those will be a major storm. The odds of a hurricane occurring on the week your cruise is scheduled is not likely. Of course, telling someone that the hurricane they are experiencing is not a major storm will probably not get a kind response. If it is impacting your vacation….it is a major storm!

Cruise Line Responses

Since Hurricanes are part of doing business in the Caribbean, you can imagine that the cruise lines are prepared to deal with storms when they occur. The cruise lines first priority is the safety of their passengers and crew. They also have large investments tied up in their ships, so safety is paramount to them. Many clients become frustrated with the cruise lines for not being able to answer their questions when a storm is forming. Honestly, the actions of individual storms are very hard to predict, so cruise lines wait until there is a strong consensus on a storm path prior to making decisions on a specific sailing.

The great thing about is a ship is that it can sail much faster than a hurricane and the Caribbean is a big Sea. A storm that is impacting the Bahamas will have no impact on Grand Cayman or Cozumel. The normal response of the cruise line is to change the itinerary to avoid a storm. If the effects are going to be longer-lasting, they might change the length of an itinerary or possibly even disembark at a port that is a safe distance from the storm.

Passenger Preparations

Most people don’t like to be put in situations they don’t control. Having a hurricane impacting your travel is one of those situations where you don’t have any control. The cruise lines and the airlines are trying to balance the needs of all their passengers and are often scrambling to do their best in an ever-changing situation. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to put yourself in the best possible position.

  1. Decide how much risk you can tolerate. If you are a person that has no interest in even thinking about dealing with a storm, pick itineraries that are outside the hurricane season. Sure, the rates might be higher but you can lower your risks by booking trips outside the season.
  2. Work with a travel professional. This is when experience can make a huge difference. Wouldn’t it be great to have one person that you can count on to help you navigate flight changes, or hotel needs or discussions with the cruise line? A travel professional can be making arrangements for you when you can’t make them for yourself. I think I provide a great service to all of my customers but when plans need to change quickly, that is where my service has a huge impact on the experiences of my customers.
  3. Purchase Travel Protection and know what your plan covers. This is a must. Most people only think Travel Protection is important if they have to cancel a trip for illness or a death in the family. Most good policies will also cover trip interruption or trip delays. Discuss these benefits with your travel professional. Many plans have a 24 hour,7-day per week help desk that can assist you if your travel plans go off the rails.
  4. Consider “Cancel For Any Reason” Travel Protection. Classic Travel Protection has very specific language about what the policy will and will not cover. As an example, if the cruise line changes their itinerary but is still planning on sailing, a typical travel protection plan would not cover your cancelation fees if you decided you didn’t want to go on that cruise. With Cancel For Any Reason Coverage, you can decide this is not a trip for you and you will have coverage. Work with your Travel Professional to understand the limits of your coverage. Sometimes you will get a future cruise credit or if you get cash back, it will only be a percentage of your cancellation fee.

Expect the Unexpected

I tell all my clients that the first thing they should pack for their trip is a good amount of patience. Life happens and every good plan tends to run into trouble now and then. As I mentioned, I have been on over 40 cruises and only once did I have a trip impacted by a hurricane. As it turned out, we missed a port call but it was pretty easy for our ship to avoid a rather erratic and unpredictable storm.  Hurricanes do happen, but if you think about how many times they impact travel, your odds are pretty good. Work with a professional, know your own risk tolerance, purchase travel protection just in case and odd are, you will make a lifetime of memories.

There is one question I get asked more than any other question. Where can I find great deals? That is a tough question because it depends on where you are going and what kind of vacation you might be looking for.

My rule of thumb is that it is only a good deal if it is the vacation you want to take. We all have our own tastes in vacations, so don’t get talked into a vacation because the price is too good to pass up. The price might be right but for most people, vacation time is earned and once it is gone, you have to earn some more. Price is important, but your time is more important. Don’t waste that being on a vacation you bought because it was so cheap.

Price vs. Value

Vacation prices can be difficult to compare. There can be big differences in what is included in the price. Nobody is trying to be deceptive, there are just a lot of different ways to price out vacations. Beware of the word “From”. That is usually the lowest price, for the most basic accommodations, during the lowest demand dates in the season.

If you are comparing different vacations, build two columns to do a comparison. Make sure you know what is included. Big categories include food (remember, you are paying tourist prices), drink, transportation, lodging, and entertainment. If something is not included, estimate what you will have to pay for those categories. Once you get a total, divide that by the number of days on your vacation. That will give you a per person, per day rate. That way you can compare vacations of different lengths.

You might need to do a comparison within a category. Even within the cruise category, different lines include different amenities in their price. Typically, luxury cruise lines include the most amenities (including adult beverages) and the contemporary lines (Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian) have less in their advertised prices. All the cruise lines are trying to “market to sell” meaning they add amenities rather than drop prices. You can find great deals that include the most popular amenities. Beware of taxes and gratuities that are not quoted in the price! Some local governments add on tourist fees, convention center fees, even daily registration fees on car rentals. These can add up.

Define your objectives

This is one of those conversations to have with your partner over a glass of wine. It is often a quantity vs. quality conversation. It might be a year that you want to celebrate a major milestone. It might be a year you just want to focus on getting away more often. The focus might be on a family vacation or a reunion.

Nobody likes to talk budgets, but let’s face it, we can’t spend money like politicians! Ultimately, trade-offs will be required. If you are on the same page with each other, you can get your travel agent on the same page with you!

Look for the shoulders of the season and find value

I am going to drop some knowledge on you… You will not find great deals when your destination is in the middle of its high season!!! Impressed, right?

So, when can you find good deals? In the travel business, we call the very beginning of a season and the very end of the season the “shoulders” of the season. In some markets, that is very defined. In Alaska, the cruise season is from May to September. Those are hard dates because the ships enter and leave the market. For resorts, it is a little more subtle. Usually, they are weather-related. Your travel agent is a great resource for this information. We can look up dates on the shoulder of the seasons and tell you when the rates start climbing.

Are the kids in school?

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that if your destination or cruise is attractive to families, the rates are going to be higher when the kids are out of school! If you are looking for good rates, you are not going to find any deals during these times.

If you are traveling with kids and you are deciding to travel when the kids are out of school, my advice is to plan ahead, especially if you need cabins that hold 3 or 4 people or you want connecting cabins. These cabins are in high demand and will be sold out quickly.

Can you travel during the week or for less than a week?

If you can travel during the middle of the week, sometimes you can find deals. Obviously, this works better for resorts than for cruises, the ships leave when they leave! But if you are traveling to a resort, what about checking in on days other than Saturday and Sunday? You can find some great deals because many people are stuck on starting a vacation on Saturday for 7 days. This can make your resort rates higher and your airline tickets more expensive.

Even if you are taking a cruise, if you fly in a day or two early or stay a day or two late, you might find some better air rates that make up for the additional hotel bills. The airlines know the cruise ship schedules and they adjust their rates.

You can’t time the market, and you don’t need to!

There is an old line about Wall St., You can’t time the top of the market and you can’t time the bottom either… it is just too hard to predict. In travel, I have a similar theory and a better solution.  Remember, there are two aspects to booking the vacation you want, the price you want and the accommodations you want. If you wait too long, the accommodations you want might be gone.

Here is the good news! You don’t need to worry about this! Many of the suppliers I work with have a rate guarantee. If you find a lower advertised rate, they will match that price. There is a lot to terms and conditions for this, but I have had rates adjusted for my clients.

For cruises, we have the ability to check the rates on your cabin and the cruise lines will make adjustments if it is prior to final payment. When there were amenities at the time you booked the cabin, we might have to determine if a lower price is worth you losing amenities. Sometimes your original deal is a better value.

The easiest solution… call me.

If you think about it, you probably book one or two vacations a year, I am booking them every day. I might not have the pulse of every market in the world, but I have some great resources to back me up. Make sure you tell me what your flexibility is and what you want to spend on this vacation. Is it a getaway? Is it a special date? Do you have a budget you are trying to stay under? Every bit of data I get can help me find the right vacation for you! Ultimately, you will remember the great time you had… probably not the price you paid.