Tip #2: Buy Travel Insurance Early.

Trip cancellation package policies can protect you if your vacation is disrupted by a hurricane. Depending on their coverage, they can protect you if your airline or cruise line stops operating; if your destination becomes uninhabitable because of a storm; or if there is a hurricane warning (NOAA issues these warnings five days before a hurricane is expected to hit). You can also buy travel insurance that lets you cancel your trip for any reason, including just the threat of a hurricane (although such coverage is costly, as much as 50 percent higher than regular trip cancellation policies).

Again, the Web is a good place to compare travel insurance policies; www.insuremytrip.com, a portal that sells U.S. travel policies from 19 different insurers (including Global Alert and TravelSafe, two of the most popular), is a good place to start. One important thing to remember: buy early. According to Jim Grace, president and CEO of insuremytrip.com, the terms of any policy kick in only if you buy it before the hurricane that could disrupt your vacation appears on NOAA’s weather map.