What happens if a cruise ship is caught in a hurricane?

In such cases, cruise lines have two options: head to a different port up or down the coast to disembark passengers or remain at sea until the ship's home port reopens.



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At sea, cruise ships survive hurricanes by avoiding them. The seas are rough, the weather is predictably bad, but otherwise not very predictable.

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No, it is extremely unlikely that a cruise ship would tip over in a storm. The industry uses rigorous safety standards to ensure that ships are balanced to stay upright in even the roughest waters.

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Though your itinerary may change, cruises are rarely canceled due to storms. Ships are designed to handle rough seas and can be rerouted to avoid danger. Once you're on board, any port updates will be announced over the ship's intercom or detailed in a notice delivered to your stateroom.

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If a storm is threatening the area a ship was scheduled to sail to, cruise lines will reroute the ships if the forecast is severe enough. While cruise ships can typically outrun most storms, passengers may still experience rough seas as their ship skirts the edges of a weather system.

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In a dire scenario, a cruise ship could sink in a hurricane. But before you cancel all your future cruise plans, know this: it's highly unlikely. Cruise ships are built like fortresses. They boast stability, seaworthiness, and a bucket-load of safety features to help them ride out even the angriest storms.

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The only way that a cruise ship would be able to be flipped over is if it took the wave hit perpendicular on the port or starboard side, along the beam. Most of the time, ships will aim to hit a wave bow-first.

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Issues: Ocean crossings always encounter the roughest waters because there are no nearby landmasses to provide shelter. Avoid: The winter months are the most intense, with transatlantic cruises hitting very rough seas from November through February and Pacific cruises from February through April.

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But the forces of tornadic waterspouts are less of a concern for cruise ships as they are rather easily avoidable, especially in open water. Cruise ships are massive, heavy objects designed to sail through the worst that the water can throw at them.

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From hurricanes to wildfires, catastrophic weather and natural disasters are understandably able to alter and even cancel cruise itineraries. Cruise lines know this and try to place their ships in destinations where the weather is less likely to affect the itinerary, but avoiding inclement weather is never guaranteed.

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Wet season and dry season are both good times to cruise the Caribbean. The worst time for a Caribbean cruise weather-wise is August to September, as it is peak hurricane season.

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If a storm is threatening the area a ship was scheduled to sail to, cruise lines will reroute the ships if the forecast is severe enough. While cruise ships can typically outrun most storms, passengers may still experience rough seas as their ship skirts the edges of a weather system.

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Over the past 100 years since the RMS Titanic sank in 1912, only 18 cruise ships and some ocean liners have been publicly known to have sunk. And, over the past 50 years, only four cruise ships have sunk while navigating on a cruise.

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The only way that it could happen is if the ship were in extreme weather and positioned sideways to a 70- to 100-foot wave that would have the potential of rolling it over, Bolton said. I guarantee you're never going to be in those kinds of waves anyway, he said.

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A rogue wave is usually defined as a wave that is two times the significant wave height of the area. The significant wave height is the average of the highest one-third of waves that occur over a given period. Rogue waves can disable and sink even the largest ships and oil rigs.

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The 5 Most Dangerous Parts of a Ship for Passengers
  • Watertight Doors. Never try to outrun a closing watertight door. ...
  • Wet/Slippery Surfaces. ...
  • Ferries & Lifeboats. ...
  • Dining Facilities & Fast-Spreading Illnesses. ...
  • Balconies. ...
  • Talking to a Florida Cruise Ship Injury Attorney.


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  • Expect Rougher Caribbean Seas in the North and East. ...
  • Alaska Cruises Can Be Bumpy in the Gulf of Alaska. ...
  • Bermuda and the Bahamas Are a Bit Less Sheltered Than the Caribbean. ...
  • The Drake Passage on the Way to Antarctica Is Notoriously Intense. ...
  • You'll Find Some Rough Waters in the South China Sea and Elsewhere. ...
  • Australia. ...
  • Africa.


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The amount of experience, the level of education, the grades they received, location, and company all can determine the year's salary. In general, a cruise ship captain salary ranges between $54,000 and more than $100,000. This may seem like a low pay scale considering the responsibilities that come with the job.

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Approximately 40% of the average cruise ship sits below water. The larger or higher the ship, the less of it is in water. This may seem counterintuitive, but this is how math and physics work out!

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A whale could not tip over a cruise ship. Although even the largest of blue whales can weigh up to 200 tonnes, the largest cruise ships can weigh up to 220,000 or more. Some cruise ships would carry ten times more freshwater or fuel than the weight of even the largest whales.

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No, it is extremely unlikely that a cruise ship would tip over in a storm. The industry uses rigorous safety standards to ensure that ships are balanced to stay upright in even the roughest waters.

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