Virign Islands in September...Hurricane season? Insurance??

[cin]

So, we've been batting around a TON of vacation ideas. THe girls REALLY want to fly. They know the flew home, but dont' remember, so it's a real issue for them (as much as anything can be an ISSUE for a 4 & 7 yr old!) So DH found a great deal to St. Thomas. In September, which is, if I'm not mistaken, hurricane season. Has anyone ever gone someplace like that during hurricane season? Is there some sort of Hurricane insurance?

 

Any input? My only stipulation was that DH rents a convertible. That tells you all about my priorities :auto:

[Harriet Vane]

We had our honeymoon on Virgin Gorda in mid-September. (Virgin Gorda is part of the British Virgin Islands.) We were naive, and just overjoyed that we could have our dream vacation for off-season prices.

 

Our honeymoon was lovely.

 

We do have friends whose vacation was ruined due to a hurricane, so I don't know how to advise you. I am so thankful we were lucky for our honeymoon but am not sure if I would risk it again.

[elegantlion]

I would look into insurance. September seems to be the biggest month for hurricanes lately. :glare: I had a friend who lost their honeymoon to a hurricane as well.

 

If you can push it back past October that might be a better date, but hurricane season isn't officially over until November.

 

Yes, get the convertible. :auto:

[K-FL]

The "worst" of hurricane season is Aug, Sept, Oct which is one reason why you get such great rates on cruises & the Caribbean during those months :).

I would get the insurance & did when took a cruise in Sept. The odds are you won't need it, but if you do. . .

[jamnkats]

We live in the Caribbean. It's a real crapshoot. Just be prepared.

[hillfarm]

I would look at each portion of your trip separately. Call your airline and ask about their policy with regard to hurricanes. Be sure to get specifics. If a storm shifts track suddenly, you don't want to get caught in a 3-day notification issue or something like that. Call the hotel. When we went into a hurricane zone two years ago, the hotel allowed cancellations without penalty as close as 24 hours in advance of check-in. Check with any other vendors with whom you would have to book ahead. Most of them don't want to have to be responsible for a bunch of tourists during an emergency any more than you want to be one of those tourists dependent upon them!

 

As I recall, the way to go is trip insurance, which covered the hurricane scenario plus illness, transportation worker strikes, etc. It was available but wasn't cheap. (I have the figure $15/$100 spent, but that may be livestock insurance, so don't go by me!) So we only bought enough to cover the non-refundable portion of the trip (airfare). We knew that we would just have to be responsible enough to cancel our hotel reservatons ourselves if there was a severe storm on the way and we had decided not to go. We bought ours through our packager, but if that is not possible, I would call a travel agent and ask them for a referral.

 

BTW, we had a glorious trip in mid-October.

[chiguirre]

Could you consider Aruba, Bonaire or Curacao? They're so far south they don't get hurricanes because the storms track north. For a more exotic Caribbean vacation, check out Colombia's Isla San Andres or Venezuela's Isla Margarita. They're also hurricane-free and very off the beaten path for Americans, although there are lots of Europeans.