where I can check to see the forecast for the weather as far into late aug- early sept for 2006, in particular hurricanes? cruising in aug.

There's no way anyone can give you an accurate forecast NOW for late August and Early September, especially for predicting hurricanes. Typically you only get 10 days warning that a hurricane has even formed and only 4 or 5 days advance notice that the storm is tracking over a specified area. You can visit the National Hurricane Center Website but all that will tell you is a projection on the number of storms that are likely to form throughout the entire season (June 1 through November 30) but there is no guaranty of the accuracy of the prediction (last year they "experts" revised their predictions upward twice before the season ended). Here are some sites you can visit:

www.caribwx.com/marine.html

http://stormcarib.com/

www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/tropical.html

www.nws.noaa.gov/

www.weathercarib.com

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/

A Traveller is absolutely right, there's no way to know that now. Heck, the weather forecasters usually don't get next week's forecast right, so how on earth can they accurately predict weather for late summer?

If you are going to cruise the Carribbean at that time of year, this is just a chance you will take. It would be a reasonable bet there won't be a hurricane, but if there is, a couple of things can happen: 1. Your cruise will be cancelled, or 2. Your cruise will be diverted, and you might not visit the ports that were planned.

Of course if it's cancelled your cruise ticket will be refunded, but if it's diverted and you expect a refund, forget it. I know because I was on a cruise once that was diverted, but not because of weather issues. I did not request a refund, but those who did were refused. If you read the fine print on your ticket you will see that they have a right to divert for whatever reason they see fit.

If hurricanes concern you that much, I wonder if it would be better to cruise from California down the Mexican coast. Experts, your opinions please?

If I could predict the weather that far in advance I'd quit the day job and bet it all on the lottery!

P_M is right...if you are going to commit to travel in that season, you need to be flexible and understand what could happen and what the policies are so that you do not have unrealistic expectations. When thousands of people's vacations get messed up it is stressful, and there is nothing anyone can do about the weather.

We cruised to the Caribbean last July 4th week. We were diverted for the last couple of days, missed Key West due to a hurricane.

I would not plan a Caribbean cruise during hurricane season again, especially after the severity of last season. I read an interesting article about Carnival recently, that their Caribbean cruises are not booking very well. I'm sure that weather is a large factor.

I'm booked on a Carnival cruise for July 8th, and Suerich68 is correct...I booked less than a month ago, and the cost of my cruise (already less than $500 for 5 nights) has dropped another $100 since then... probably due to the horrible hurricane season last year.

After taking 3 direct hits from Frances, Jeanne and Wilma in Martin Couny, FL, we always check AccuWeather on the web. They have regular updates as soon as it is a named storm. We had pretty accurate ideas where we were going to be hit.

Ok, with all said when would be least chance of hurricanes and still warm enough?

Still warm enough for what?

Caribbean--Dec. 1 -May 30 would probably
be pretty safe.

I don't let huuricane season stop me from reserving a cruise--good prices in OCt./Nov. The last 4 years I have cruised during those dates and had no problem.

I don't let anything decide if we are taking a cruise except the cost. Especially when weather and hurricanes are so unpredictable. I noticed in one of the earlier emails that they mentioned the costs of cruises going down due to hurricanes. I just tried to book a cruise due to a travel change to Houston, TX we thought we would jump over to Galveston and take a 4 day cruise, well to my surprise with 5 days out before departure and rooms left, they wanted over 700.00 per person for 4 day. I said no way I can get 7 days or more for that. I was actually told it was because it was one of the ship that had been remodeled since the Katrina disaster. I'm sorry, but I think that is still a rip off........Sorry about the soapbox

If you are still wondering, the large high pressure system seems to be keeping out hurricanes this season through August. Even the Nat'l Hurricane Ctr has cut their predictions for this year in half. Good luck with the cruise!