What was your worst weather?

[Sale Me Away]

Taking a poll on what is the worst weather you encountered on a ship. How long did it last and what did you do? Where were you and when?
Let see where this goes, it's on everyones mind when the step on board! Ü

Until the Carribean Princess Cruise Woo Hoo
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;18;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[Cruselover]

The absolute worst weather I have encountered was in 1998 on Monarch of the Seas. We were on a Southern Caribbean Itinerary. One afternoon, the wind picked up and by 08:00 that evening the wind as steady at 31 knots (~46 mph) as reported by the bridge. They were also reporting wave height in the 15-20 foot range.

It was a challenge to walk around the ship as you would have to weave back and forth to keep up with the ship's roll. The line at the Pursor's desk was verrrrrrry long as people queued up for seasick pills. Lot's a green people and not many people at dinner that night.

By the next morning, things had settled down and it was smooth sailing.

This is very usual for the Caribbean and should not deter you from cruising. ALso, I'm sure my experience pales in comparison to some others so it will be interesting to see the responses.

Have fun...

Spencer

Majesty of the Seas
Monarch of the Seas
Ecstasy
Victory
Caribbean Princess

[stephy1]

We were on the Noordam, and we sailed through what was Tropical Storm Mitch at the time (later turned into a Huricane) The captain made an announcement very early in the morning apologizing and said that he could not sail around it. The swells were so high they had to lock the doors leading to the promenade deck because the waves were washing up onto the deck. We managed to get outside on the very top deck but we were still getting hit with the spray from the waves. I've never heard a ship make so much noise. Lots of creaking and groaning...lots of sick passengers. I think the most ironic thing was that they were showing Titanic in the movie theater!

Stephanie

1986 Southward, NCL;1987 Holiday, Carnival;1988 Seaward, NCL; 1989 SS Norway, NCL;1990 Starward, NCL;1991 Skyward, NCL;1993 & 1994 Viking Serande, RCL; 1996 & 1997 Westerdam, HAL;1998 Noordam, HAL;1999 Veendam, HAL; 2000 Galaxy, Celebrity; 2001 Ryndam, HAL; 2001 Horizon, Celebrity;2002 Zaandam, HAL;2002 Horizon, Celebrity;2003 Constellation, Celebrity;2004 Mercury, Celebrity

[geoherb]

The worst weather I've encountered was on the NCL's Seaward (now just the Sea). It was 30-foot swells as we headed from Cozumel back to Miami. The ship rocked and creaked. They closed the outside decks. Around a third of the passengers did not make it to dinner that night.

A massive cold front had come down the Eastern Seaboard. Miami had record low temperatures. All week long we had been basking in 90-degree temps while seeing how cold it was back home--highs around 24 degrees.

[Sale Me Away]

Great (or not so great) stories! I don't think people will change their minds about cruising, but it's kind of like a car accident, you don't want to be in one, but love to here the story someone will tall of their adventure! Hope to read more....

PS I was on the NCL Sea, and we had 6-8 foot waves and people missed dinner. NOT 30!!!!! WOW

Until the Carribean Princess Cruise Woo Hoo
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;18;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[cruzfiend]

Our absolute worst cruise weather was two Januarys ago. We got to Miami one day prior around noon. By 6pm that night, a cold front came through(w/rain), stayed that way til we hit Cozumel then on the way back to Miami, waves and rain again. We never were able to lay out!!! Lucky for us we were with a group and we made our own fun. http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Aweigh we go
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;10;10;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[cruzfiend]

Sale Me Away; I see you are from Caledonia, we are in Cutlerville. Howdy Neighbor!!!

Aweigh we go
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;10;10;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[Sale Me Away]

Hiya! I am having a ball with this board, what about you?

Until the Carribean Princess Cruise Woo Hoo
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;18;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[cruzfiend]

There is a part of me that wishes I had never found it. I don't get anything done sometimes. It is an addition that I have no control over http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Aweigh we go
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;10;10;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[cal2632]

I was on the Maasdam off New England when we went through the edge of hurrican Irene. Not sure about swell height or wind speed, but they did prohibit people from going out on deck and an announcement was made that ladies should not wear high heels. The next day at the regular noon status report we were told that "at 3AM, the ship began to violently pitch and roll causing us to reduce speed". If what we were doing at dinner wasn't a violent pitch & roll, I'm kind of glad I slept through the real thing.

2 X RCI
5 x HAL
2 x Carnival
2 x Celebrity (way back when it was Chandris)
1 so long ago I don't even remember who!

[Druke I]

Worst weather I have encountered was while on the little Golden Odyssey (a 10,000 GRT ship) in the South China Sea, while trying to outrun the back end of a typhoon, Nov '86.

We had green water over the bridge, screws out of the water, and I'm told the inclinometer (gauge which tells degree of roll) was pegged on several occasions.

My wife was sure that we were going to turn "turtle" (capsize), not unlike the Poseidon Adventure.

In those same waters,closing days of World War II Halsey's Fleet did lose three destroyers to capsizing, and he was almost relieved of his command for that loss.

Michael

[whughey]

We were on the Celebration out of Galveston last July. We went straight south out of Galveston trying to out run a huricane and we were told two records were set fastest the ship had gone and most barf bags used.

[l2c]

About five years ago we were on the NCL Dream crossing the Atlantic from Osaka, Japan to Vancouver, BC. The trip was eleven days at sea. The third day we hit very rough seas. The Captain announced that we had to change course (from the Great Circle route we were supposed to be on) and travel about 300 miles south of the planned route. There was a fierce Artic storm which was causing a lot of problems. Well for about six days we rolled and pitched our way though swells that looked like little mountains coming at us. The front 1/3 of the ship was shut down including all portholes in that area. (People complained that they never expected to have inside rooms on the outside of the ship.) We had lots of flying dishes and stuff and we all looked like we had had a few too many at 9AM. The passengers were for the most part unfazed. You probably don't take a trip of eleven days at sea unless you've cruised before. The decks were off limit for about three or four days. We had a wonderful ball one formal evening and the dancers trotted across the dance floor very rapidly to the opposite side whenever a mighty wave hit us but bravely continued on as did the entertainers. Some shows, of couse were rescheduled to prevent injury. Then,voila, things cleared up and settled down and the last days were cool and cloudy but much calmer. It was one of our best cruises.....

[THT]

NCL SS Norway Sept, 1995. We floated around the Eastern Carib between Hurricane Luis and Hurricane Marilyn.

We were glued to CNN every night more concerned about Marilyn as Luis already hit the Islands and closed the port at St. Maartin.
We ended up at St. Croix.

The seas were like a washing machine and caused a lot of roll on the already unstable Norway ship. Not as bad as you would think but not as fun as it could have been.

Here we are though! http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

[dimonzr4me]

Both times we've left Cozumel we have hit 10 ft seas and force 9 winds, on the Grand we just slowed down and the dancers couldn't dance, on the Conquest they kept the peddle to the medal and we bounced our way back to the mouth of the Mississippi river!

4/9 2005 Dawn Princess
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2005;4;9;18;00;00&timezone=GMT-0600

[cjskids]

This past January on our Disney cruise leaving Cozumel. It was so windy that we actually had a hard time walking the long pier to get back on the ship, that should have been an indicator of things to come. We had 24 foot swells during the night and it was horrible. By the next morning, the seas had settled back down to 18 foot swells, but it was very hard to walk around on the upper decks. Needless to say I didn't really eat anything the next day and spent most of it waiting for it to end! By the next evening we had 2 foot seas, it was amazing.

[bob&karen]

OK, I know this borders on cheating, but the worst cruise storm I've come across started with the Golden Princess this past March, a few weeks BEFORE we took our Easter week cruise on the same ship. Many posters on this board reported HUGE winds and HUGE seas for nearly the whole week, to the point that the captain had to anchor in Charlotte Amalie harbor and have his pax tender in, after several aborted docking attempts.

Some (and I am being generous here), rrrr, *misguided* cruiser posted on this board when he returned, accusing the captain of being "a chicken" along with some other drivel not worthy of a second mention. The resulting "storm" on this board, particularly when several of us pointed out the utter foolishness of this accusation (you out there, SpongeRob? http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif ) rivaled any Caribbean tempest you've ever been through.

B.

http://www.animationlibrary.com/Animation11/Geography_and_History/Islands/Ship_at_island.gif
"These moments we’re left with - may you always remember
These moments are shared, by few
And those harbor lights, lord they’re coming into view
We’ll bid our farewells much too soon
So drink it up, this one’s for you -
Honey, it’s been a lovely cruise."
-- James W. Buffett

Carnival Triumph, April '02
Carnival Sensation, January '04
Golden Princess, April '04

Carnival Sensation, Golden Princess / Caribbean Princess pix at: Cool Cruisin' Pix (http://community.webshots.com/user/mageesworld)

e-mail: bobandkarenny@yahoo.com

Celebrity "Mercury" 2000/2001 from Rio around Cape Horn. Out of Buenos Aires in a very narrow channel with no room to turn the ship was hit by a micro burst which tipped it side ways resulting in massive damage in the dining rooms, shops etc. We were lucky we were in our cabin and saved all. Actually hit twice. Very poor communication from the top. The ship could not turn into the wind as the channel was too narrow. The boards were alive with this one when we returned...

Chas Z

[FelinerX3]

1992 - on the tiny Renaissance VI (100 pax) - repositioning cruise from Copenhagen to Barcelona. Early on ran into a huge storm in the North Sea. We got to know how bad it was going to be when the crew would remove the flower arrangement from the piano and place it on the floor! One night I was sure we would capsize - the ship would go up in the air and we could count to five or more before it came down again! You could help yourself to whatever you needed in a basket of dramamine, etc, left on the purser's desk. Lived on dramamine and wine for a few days. The second week was perfect - all in all a great cruise, and as you can tell, a VERY memorable one!!

[Toto2Kansas]

50 foot waves sailing through Hurricane Michelle in November a few years ago. I know, there usually aren't Hurricanes in November, but there was that year. ARG!

Tahitian Princess 10/14/04
RCI-Legend of the Seas 3/27/05 Panama Canal.
One Phantom Booking still open with Princess.

[spongerob]

We hit 15-20 foot waves and winds abeam on the outer fringes of hurricane Fabian, somewhere near the Turks and Caicos Islands. You had to be very careful using the stairs, since they tended to drop right out underneath you. The elevators got confused and sometimes stopped more than a foot off the deck. I've never slept so well! All of this took place under a silvery moon http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif (Bob, go stand in the corner).

Completed:
Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess
Coming up:
Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04
Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[bzv143]

Chaz Z: I cannot believe it... another sailor on that fateful Mercury cruise! We were in an 8th floor Royal Suite during the micro burst, and all the crystal rolled off the shelves while the furniture slid towards the door. As the sideways tipping of the ship commenced, we horrifyingly gazed out the balcony sliding doors and saw the water come closer and closer. I thought for sure the ship was going to turtle and we were goners.
Needless to say, when the ship finally righted itself, I headed straight for the tequila bottle that miraculously was intact! http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif

[catdancers]

Toto2Kansas:

Was that the Golden on 11-3-01 that you were referring to? That was our worst storm and if you were on the same cruise, I feel better now to hear they were 50 ft waves!

[Sale Me Away]

WOW!!! What great stories!

I love to hear about all of that! I would much rather be caught in a storm in a boat then in a 747! Which we did, and I am still amazed we are here to talk about it!

Thank you everyone for the insight, hope to NEVER see it in person! Ü

Until the Carribean Princess Cruise Woo Hoo
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;18;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[Toto2Kansas]

jpierce, NOPE, it was on Celebrity on the Millie! It hit within 6 hours of us sailing which made it even worse as no one had their sea legs yet. A cruise that I will never forget because we had an aft cabin for the very first time. (and I might add the only time lol)
The waves were hitting our balcony door and the balcony was like 15 or 20 foot deep. We had friends trapped upstairs on the 11th deck in the club all day long as they could not get back down to their cabins safely.
First and only time I have ever heard the captain announce to 'Stay in your cabins for safety'.
What an experience that was.
I just slept for 36 hours straight, or tried to. Got out of bed a couple times and was tossed across the room into the furniture.
And I might add that it was the only time I ever had a green tint to my skin. lol Even our cabin steward was very sick and we were shareing his seasick meds all day long.

Tahitian Princess 10/14/04
RCI-Legend of the Seas 3/27/05 Panama Canal.
One Phantom Booking still open with Princess.

[Crowsie]

Yipes...amazing stories..
We've been quite lucky and have never encountered the seas that everyone describes.

Our worst weather was fog, in perfectly calm seas, crossing from Tazmania to Melbourne.

We were on the Sky Princess and lost a boiler..so we were dead in the water until they could bring the other boiler up to temp.

It was so foggy you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you.

We still managed to sit on the upper deck and read (it was still hot), but every 10 minutes the captain blew the ships horn....we'd have to drop everything and cover our ears. We laughed ourselves silly and got the worse sunburns of our lives in all that fog.

Sky Princess 01/1999 Australia and New Zealand
Sky Princess 03/2000 China
Royal Princess 02/2002 South America
Golden Princess 05/2003 Med
Sapphire Princess 03/2005 Sydney to Bangkok


March 2005 - Sydney to Bangkok on the Sapphire
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=191970&cdt=2005;3;7;20;00;00&timezone=GMT+1030

[teedee]

My worst was on my first cruise on NCL's Skyward in 1989. It was only for one night, but was so bad they cancelled the big production show in the main showroom and had a comedian instead. He had to hang onto the pole to keep from falling. It looked like a ship full of drunk people the way we were all staggering around from the motion! Many, many sick people. I didn't get sick but my poor daughter was begging me to get her off the ship.

Terri

Skyward - 1989
Carnivale - 1991
Holiday - 1994
Fantasy - 1998
Century - 2002
Century - 2003
Jubilee - 7/04
Century - 9/04
Coral Princess - 3/05
Valor - 10/05

Days til Valor Vampires Cruise
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2005;10;30;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
http://www.bigotis.com/valorvampires.gif

[Gail R]

July 2003 - Explorer of the Seas -- Went thru Camille (I think that was the name). Not many at dinner that night and it was the night of the Nelson Brothers on stage. We watched a bottle of water roll back and forth most of the show. The scenery from the production show got loose and almost hit the piano player on stage. I still don't know how the drummer was able to stay on his chair on a platform.

Many passengers were cabin bound -- thankfully we didn't have any problems.

It was fun, but wouldn't want to do it again!

[Pam in CA]

My worst experience was not on a cruise ship. In 1957, my parents friends were Norwegian and owned a shipping line. We traveled on one of their brand new freighters to and from Norfolk to Rotterdam, 10 days each way. It was a great experience -- I loved it. Not much to do but because there were so few people onboard, we got to eat with the captain and officers for every meal and hang out wherever we wanted -- engine room, bridge, etc.

When we were returning from Rotterdam, we hit a Force 7 storm in the North Sea. I don't remember the size of the ship but it was teeny tiny by today's standards. We were rocking 'n rolling so much that the screws came out of the water. If you went to the back of the ship and hung on to the railing (a frightening thought today but heck, I was a teenager -- what did I know from danger?), it was like going up and down the Empire State Building elevator. The whole ship shook with every wave.

I was never seasick but it did take me a very long time to get my landlegs back after that voyage.

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- Roll Call (http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=9323078957)
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0099FF&cdt=2004;12;26;12;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800
-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- Roll Call (http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=999100981&r=999100981#999100981)
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0099FF&cdt=2005;04;21;12;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800

[hawaiiansailors]

I have enjoyed 4 cruises and on my very first cruise our Carnival ship tried to avoid a tropical wave in the Western Caribbean, but still all night long we all "rocked & rolled" all over the ship one evening, and then when we went back in our cabin my sister was literally got tossed out of bed onto the floor in the middle of the night. It was still the very best vacation of my life and caused me to fall in love with cruising; so much so we are going on our 4th cruise in 2 and 1/2 weeks. Hang on....


Star Princess-Alaska 2003
Carnival Fascination-Mexico 2002
Carnival Imagination W. Carib. 2001

[Sale Me Away]

I think that the weather just adds one more element to cruising. And like everything else you have to make the best out of any situation. My sister did an All-inclusive in Cancun for about 4 Grand it they had a tropical storm rip through so for 6 out of 7 days they couldn't go anywhere! She states that she would never cruise. I just laughed and told her if she was on a boat Cancun would have been a port that would have been aborted with weather like that and the vacation would have moved to another Island. Very difficult to do in an All-inclusive! Ü !

Until the Carribean Princess Cruise Woo Hoo
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;18;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[CruiseTodayNotTomorrow]

Years ago we were on the Dolphin Sea Breeze with our kids and my parents. It was a small ship (850 passengers). The second to the last day onboard the ship started to rock and shake and the crew hung barf bags EVERYWHERE. The waves were so high all the doors to outside decks were locked and the spray was hitting all of the windows. It was hard to walk anywhere on the ship. I never felt scared though, always thought we were in good hands. I should have been more concerned as a few years later the Sea Breeze sunk at sea of the East Coast, overtaken by a thirty foot wave! http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif I saw the video taken from a helicopter, and the ship just rolled over and disappreared! It was repositioning with only 30 crew members onboard and they were all saved I think. We've been on 20 cruises since then.... http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif
PAT

'Till the FUN begins on the Caribbean Princess
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;11;13;17;1;00&timezone=GMT-0500

[TimmyII]

The story about the Sea Breeze sure does accentuate the Captains responsibility to his passangers, crew, and ship. I sometimes wonder about cruisers that gripe, groan, and moan when a ship deviates from its published route due to a storm, and misses a scheduled port. ALL ship captains understand the possible consequences of tempting an angry sea. It will reach out and smite you.http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/g/bluegrab.gif http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/0/bulbool.gif



Grandeur 11/13/04 FantaSea Cruise click here (http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=tpc&s=927093444&f=1683059817&m=42110339&p=3)

Grand Princess-11/27/2004-Click Here (http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=76210354&p=2)

JOHN MENDENHALL

[cruiserforlife]

Luckily,we have never experienced really bad weather in the 5 cruises my wife and I have taken together,even during hurricane season.Maybe an occasional brief afternoon shower but that's been about it.

We must be living right!

"a bad day at sea is better than a great day at work and a lousy day at sea is still pretty damn good!"