TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico Weather... UGH

We rolled the dice during "hurricane" season and booked a trip for Aug 28-Sept 2 on St John. Of course there are 2 "waves" out there looking like they will cause some sort of weather towards the dates of our trip. We have trip insurance on our airfare.. do you just let the airline dictate whether or not you can make the trip down? if they dont cancel, we dont cancel? Has anyone ever experienced making a choice to reschedule a trip due to weather?
Thanks in advance!

The waves that are out there now I think will get to the islands well before your travel dates. Do you have trip insurance that covers ONLY your airfare? I guess the ones through the airlines do that, but most regular trip insurance policies cover accommodations too. Before you cancel the trip on your own, please READ your trip insurance policy. My suspicion is that there are really specific parameters to when you can cancel for a weather related reason. (Unless you booked a trip cancellation insurance which allows you to cancel for any reason, which is relatively unusual.) And be aware, even if the airline were to cancel your flight for a particular DAY, they may well be able to confirm you on a flight the next day, so don't know that the insurance would pay off if you try to cancel the whole vacation, because of one less day. Even without the insurance, it's possible where you are staying may allow you to cancel and re-book at a later date without penalty, so get in touch with them on that issue. Best wishes! Hope for your sake, and for the islands' sake, that those two systems out there just dissipate, or become 'fish storms'..

In August there's a 1% chance per week of a hurricane coming within 50 miles of STT.

I've seen as many as 4 tropical lows strung out between Africa and St. Thomas this time of year.

In September the odds increase to 2% per week.

Anyone going down soon should look at this Yikes!

A few summers ago we went to the SVI aboard a Lipari 41 from CYOA.
It looked just like that!
Had me watching the weather pretty close!
We had one do a near-miss, about 200 miles north of STT.
We had some pretty strong thunder-storms with winds of 40-knots.

I also use nhc.noaa.gov for tropical storm tracking while I'm down in the VI.

This time of year tropical storms between Africa and the VI are very common. Most charter companies are not going to allow you to cancel or delay your trip unless a direct-hit of a named hurricane is withing 24-48 hours of STT. It's pays to keep in close touch with your charter company if you have any questions.