Sea Princess is having a rough ride..

Looks like Sea Princess is being thrown around a bit

as she cruises from Tauranga to Wellington today (5 March 2014)

We have friends on board at the moment, and they were hoping to leave at 11 pm. I don't know if they did.

Looks like they are inside a washing machine.:eek:

I don't envy them.;)

Hope the ship hold together for our June 1st cruise!

Wellington and ChCh are both getting a hammering at the moment.

Passengers are probably wishing they were on the previous trip to the Coral Sea . It was glassy smooth for several days. I had a great time :)

I'm wondering, we are considering an Australia/New Zealand cruise next year (Feb, March) and are wondering if these rough sea conditions are the norm for this time of year??

I'm wondering, we are considering an Australia/New Zealand cruise next year (Feb, March) and are wondering if these rough sea conditions are the norm for this time of year??

No, they are not. We were on the previous New Zealand cruise and the seas were OK. It is the 'luck of the draw' whether you have smooth seas, moderate seas or worse. We have cruised to New Zealand more than half a dozen times and haven't encountered very rough seas (not more than 5m or so) on these cruises.

Deleted - double post.

I'm wondering, we are considering an Australia/New Zealand cruise next year (Feb, March) and are wondering if these rough sea conditions are the norm for this time of year??

No, normally the seas around New Zealand are not as rough as it has been over the last few days, but it was all thanks to a storm that came up from the South Island which caused all the issues.

Just keep in mind; if you do, do a cruise around New Zealand, there is always a chance that you may miss a port or Fiordland due to weather.

The ports that have the most chance off been missed will be Napier, and Fiordland & there is a slightly lower chance off missing Akaroa (But the chance is still there).

Also this summer in New Zealand (Summer 2013/2014) has not been a normal one for us!!

Interesting , I've missed Dunedin a couple of times. It's a very tricky entrance.

Interesting , I've missed Dunedin a couple of times. It's a very tricky entrance.

As well as a tricky entrance the harbour has a very narrow channel to navigate in the shape of an S. It is not very wide , and as the ships travel along between the sand/mud banks , they can be hit by any strong wind as they turn.

Port Chalmers is about half way up the harbour, and only small ships can get up as far as Dunedin itself.

During the war , the Americans came up with a plan for cutting a channel through the head of the harbour at the Dunedin City end , and out to sea. It would have made the Peninsula an Island, but they reckoned the massive flow of the tide would clean out the sandbanks and make Dunedin an all weather , deep water port . Would have been ideal to service Antarctica.

Nothing ever came of the idea.

Did not know that Kiwi Kruzer, Thanks for that bit of history :)