Onboard during the Hurricane?

Anyone out there onboard a ship during these storms? Sure would like to hear from you.

The only affect that cruise ships have from storms are if they are on the leading or trailing edge of them. For the most part, ships avoid the storms and I’ve only heard of a few times when they’ve driven through them…and then they are moderate tropical storms and not full fledged hurricanes.

More than likely your ship will divert it’s course, change it’s ports of call and besides that, you won’t notice much of a difference than if there were no storms in the area.

You probably think I'm nuts, but I'd like to see some of the BIG waves.

We were onboard CCL during a hurricane. It was rough and we were unable to tender in Grand Caymen so our excursion was staying on the ship :) Finally the waters calmed down and we were able to tender in the afternoon.

 

The seas were choppy and people were not taking thier motion sickness pills.

 

Please - even if you do not get sick - take the pills in a hurricane! I don't like to see other people get sick.

 

Overall we had nice blue skies.

 

Kodiac :)

 

Kodiac :)

You probably think I'm nuts, but I'd like to see some of the BIG waves.

I once did see hugh waves on the Soveriegn of the Seas. Long time ago. We were in route to San Juan when a hurricane was brewing. The made the announcement that the captain had to make a descision as to proceed to San Juan or turn and go to Jamaica. His descision would be made at 200am. When we awoke the next morning we were headed to San Juan. The storm was just north of us. Fishing boats were headed out to sea. You would see them and then you would not, because of the size of the waves. Lucky for us we could hardly feel them, however it took a long time to get into port and docked.:eek:

OK – here I was trying not to worry you. Then I – and probably some others – can tell you the story of Sun Princess being driven through a tropical storm that had just been downgraded from a hurricane off the coast of Baja California while repositioning from Alaska to the Caribbean. Apparently the Captain thought he could do it. The passengers were called to muster three times, the Princess Theater flooded and marble throughout the ship was cracked – even up at Horizon Court. Ceiling panels fell and hit one passenger in the head. They had to cancel all the Mexican port calls and put into Acapulco for repairs. Apparently the Captain was taken off the ship. That’s the extreme end of big waves.

 

There’s also a stories about Golden Princess crossing the Atlantic in a storm and having the Promenade Deck windows blown out, and Dawn Princess crossing the Gulf of Alaska and having some deck 8 passenger cabin windows blown out.

 

Personally I’ve had two really rough ones…one was sailing north from San Francisco on Pacific Princess to Alaska – we hit a squall and bobbed around for two days pretty good…enough to make things fall off the bathroom shelf. The second was on Sun Princess crossing that same Gulf of Alaska – we were on deck 9 with a balcony and woke up the next morning to find it soaked with remnants of seaweed. Both were fabulous times! :D

 

You know it’s really rough when you find barf bags taped to the railings in the hall ways.

My first cruise was in Nov 99 and we left Miami on Sunday headed for the Eastern Caribbean. By Monday noon the Captain decided we would be meeting Hurricane Lenny by Wed. He decided to change course. He said he had been sailing for 32 years and had never seen a hurricane move from west to east, and he didn't intend to meet one that did! We diverted past Cuba and then stopped at Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. There was a scramble by the cruise director staff to reorient things as far as shopping and shore excursions, but otherwise it all worked out. There were 90+ British passengers on board and they were doing two weeks back to back and thus missed the Eastern Caribbean as they had done Western the week before. Even they were not too disappointed as in the process of Lenny forming, they had 5 days of rain the week before and we had all sunshine days.

 

The cruise lines do not want to risk a ship and will make plans far enough in advance to avoid a tropical storm or hurricane. The only problem may be some alternate ports get crowded as the normally scheduled ships will be there plus and any extra that have changed routes for that week.

Royal Carribean and Carnival are both re-routing their ships as we speak. RCCI sent their ships into Mexico instead of Grand Cayman today (good idea dontchathink). I'm sure Charley will have crossed over by Saturday and the ships scheduled in and out of Tampa will be fine, but I'm sure glad I'm not flying INTO Tampa tomorrow!

 

TinaLee

"You know it’s really rough when you find barf bags taped to the railings in the hall ways."

New or used?:eek:

Cruzfiend............ok I will say it, I think you are nuts........:D I am really hoping I never expierence any "big waves". Not so much for me, I have been out ocean fishing, ride coasters, never been motion sick. I just do not want to experience of my DW getting ill, nor do I want to see all the barf bags taped to the handrails...LOL.

You asked me a question on another post.......I switched TA's and there was a big deduction in fares.

Bdjam- LOVED the Sun Princess story (well...except for the hit on the head part). Our best is off the coast of West Africa, when we had to tuck in our sheets to stay in bed and the dresser drawers kept rolling open and closed all night long.

Alright I admit it during that kind of a storm outside you may be seseptable from a fast flying chair but I'll let you in on a secret during a Hurricane the worst place to be is indoors outside the pools are empty and if the wind hits the hot tub just right a whirlpool will appear in the center of the hot tub. Plus if you can believe it its actually quiter outside during a hurricane then outside when its sunny.

I've experienced enough hurricanes on land not to be interested in being in one at sea! 1cruisewonder, I have to say that I think your advice about being on deck in a storm is not very wise. A slippery wet deck is no place to be in 75+mph winds!

 

Someone posted this pic a few months ago. I was so fascinated by it that I saved it. Keep the size of the ship in mind as you look at it!

 

http://members.dsli.com/schooner/triumph/

 

Donia

Wow! That is an incredible photo. While I rather enjoy the feeling of the ship moving (it IS a ship, after all), I think I'd rather skip what the passengers on that voyage went through, thanks.

Okay, that picture just makes me a little queasy! I can't imagine! Those poor folks!!

 

See, that's why I never went to see the Perfect Storm movie... :eek:

 

TinaLee

And, think about it. They were going around a hurricane - not through it! And it must have been calm enough for one of the Coast Guard helicopters to be up. I'm with you, TinaLee - I do not need to see that movie! D.

Awesome picture! We've never seen waves that high, have gone around a few hurricanes and ended up in San Francisco last year instead of Mazatlan, etc--it was COLD!!

What happens to shore excursions you book individually when your ship is diverted? Do you lose your money?

 

Jen

If you paid ahead of time, usually yes. Our excursions (such as Randi's Happy Horses) we did not pay ahead of time, we emailed her and paid nothing. Some of the other people on our cruise were upset because they were out money. I don't know if they managed to recover it...

Jennat,

I think it depends on the excursion company. The daysail we are going on in St. Thomas will not charge us if the ship does not dock. I appreciate that. But some might charge no matter what. Best to just check with each individual place.

Blessings.

Okay! So how do you think people are faring that are on the Princess Golden in the Caribbean this week?

In Oct 1998, the first year of the Grand, we were a few days ahead of Mitch. The cruise was great, but we were hauling trying to get back to Ft. Lauderdale before it hit.

 

The big thing was even with the stabilizers, the whole ship was leaning the whole time. Rocking was noticable, but not that bad. Dinner was fun, couldn't fill the glasses all the way, they would spill.

 

The worst part was when we went ashore, it was hard to walk without leaning! :D

I was on the Sun Princess in 2001 when it ran into the hurricane mentioned on this thread. The Princess Theatre was not flooded nor was any marble cracked. The only port canceled was Cabo and the captain was not taken off in Acapulco (which was a scheduled port) It was windy and wet, there was one cabin where the waves and wind blew in a window.

 

We were in the storm about 30 hours - the max waves were at about 50 feet and the wind about 125. Needless to say we were not allowed to go outside for about 24 hours. What I do remember is the noise of the hull raising and then crashing down into the sea every 45 seconds or so. Very loud.

If you book your own excurions, always make sure you can get your money back. Even without a hurricane on the horizon, weather "happens" and it's always possible to miss a port.

The guy who posted a response about the Sun during H-Julitte 2001 - surely he was sleeping, drunk or a combo of both - we never mustered during the storm - there was never flooding of the Princess theater - there was no cracked marble throughout the ship (OOPS! Sorry - HE must have had the cracked marble) - Mostly I think that the Master of our ship probably shouldn't have taken us out of LA (our trip started Vancouver) - but that being said, I think Mr. Man with his dramatic interpratation of the events shouldn't put up these types of postings that have really, not much basis in reality....what an imagination!