Racing Irma

tallyho8 · Sep 6, 2017

Hi TBN fans. Right now I am on a cruise ship heading to Miami trying to outrace Irma. They will reach Miami Thursday morning and let people off who want to get off though they will have trouble getting flights or car rentals out of Miami.

Then we will leave Miami ahead of Irma and head to Cozumel for a day or two in a safe harbor.

When we leave Cozumel or where we head to after that depends on conditions at Miami, where we were scheduled to end our cruise.

If conditions are too bad in Miami I don't know when or where or cruise will end. I was hoping that we would head to New Orleans where people could at least catch flights or rent cars and where I could go home.

There are about 50,000 people stranded on cruise ships right now that were supposed to disembark in Florida this weekend but will not be able to do so. Of course, I rather be stranded on a cruise ship then in an evacuation shelter any day.

We should be OK as long as the booze doesn't run out and we do get to cruise a few extra days at no extra charge. Our only concern is how we will get home from wherever we have to get off the ship.

Many people have much worse problems than us, especially all the people who live in the path of Irma which is now the most powerful recorded hurricane in history.

Some day I may be able to post an update to our dilemma. Until then, keep your seat up and your wheels down.

rekees4300 · Sep 6, 2017

Man you picked a helleva time to go on a Caribbean cruise. Tell the captain to put the pedal to the metal! :laughing:

HCJtractor · Sep 6, 2017

wow, that's a little frightening! Are the seas rough?

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

dmccarty · Sep 6, 2017

WOW! I was reading a FLA newspaper about one the cruise ships heading to Miami to beat Irma. Did not think I would "know" anyone on the cruise ship!

You so right though. Better to be on the ship than in a shelter. At least Irma looks to be missing the Gulf Coast. My parents are in Irma's "cone" and they are leaving tomorrow. Just hope Irma keeps tracking east and goes far enough east to miss the US and Canada....

Please Please Please.

Later,
Dan

CalG · Sep 6, 2017

Right now you can draw a straight line through three tropical depressions.

Irma, the "J" about 20 degrees longitude east, and the one in the gulf. Lots of energy thrashing about out there. This global worming has to show up somewhere!

rekees4300 · Sep 7, 2017

Story on the TV news today saying these ships sail out into the calm ocean then after the hurricane has passed they sail back. So apparently they just don't sit there in Miami and tough it out.

Mike_Kanzer · Sep 8, 2017

If people left their cars at the cruise terminal in Florida, they may not have a ride home after the storm passes.

tractorshopper · Sep 8, 2017

I, and ~6,000 of my shipmates, sailed straight through a hurricane on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 1995 at the end of a very long cruise. Was quite the experience.

Yesterday my daughter's college issued their evacuation plans. It looked like they were right in the projected path as of that time. Now that she is home, the path has actually moved and projected more toward this area and even further west toward Atlanta.

tallyho8 · Sep 8, 2017

We will be reaching Cozumel tomorrow morning. We had to slow down because there were no available docks till tomorrow. The water is calm and we have been dolphin watching most of the morning off the coast of Cuba.

There is no threat to cruise ship passengers because the ship will always sail around rough waters and, since I am retired, I certainly do not mind getting 4 to 6 extra days of cruising for free. The ship is scheduled to return to Miami on Wednesday or next Friday depending on the conditions there.

All flights to and from Miami are now cancelled for days and there is no fuel for the planes there so we are hoping they will be flying again when we arrive back there.

Now I'm just looking forward to a couple of days in Mexico with a cool cucumber margarita in my hands.:drink: