Queen Mary 2 May 10 transatlantic storm

Hi everyone!

I posted this in general questions but was instructed to repost here--apologies about that!

I'm going to be crossing from Southampton to NYC departing this Thursday may 10.

I've been following the sea height forcast via http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/disp...a=natla_height

As you can see there are some nasty north atlantic/arctic storms coming Thursday through Saturday that tend to clear by Sunday. Now, my question is will QM2 captain take a slightly southern course those first two days to avoid the worst of these storms? We certainly would have to latitude to spare as we need to go a bit South anyhow to nyc--but on my last eastward crossing we basically climbed the North American coast and then sailed straight across the Atlantic to England.

So I'm curious because I know qm2 's reputation for seaworthiness and so on wondering if we'd go a bit South to avoid or just barrel on through the worst of it? Looks to be capable of 30 foot waves or so.

What has been your experience via route variability in the standard uk-nyc west crossing on qm2?

Cheers!

Dylan

I'm watching this thread because my husband's parents are on the same sailing

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From my experience its still far too early to tell exactly how strong and the storm will be by then and where its worst sea conditions are.

They will alter the course to avoid the worst part of it. But it will be decided by the crew when it happens and sometimes it cant be really predicted.

https://www.passageweather.com/

The storm is supposed to be over by may 10th...

I see what you mean via storm being over but if you look below at the wave graph it seems we will have to sail through orange and red waves? I guess I'm just a bit worried about 7-10m waves at the beginning of the journey without our sea legs. Sigh. I know there's nothing I can do, last time we had "rough" seas and I didn't notice any more motion on qm2 than "slight" seas, but I'm just worried it will be "very rough" or "high" to start.

I've been on the QM2 with worse waves. I think you'll be fine.

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The good thing is you're sailing toward the west. Storms move toward the east. So you may pass though the storm or remnants of it, but it won't be traveling with you for the whole week, which can happen on an eastbound TA. We had fog and overcast weather all week on our last eastbound TA because that weather system did the crossing in tandem with us.

I’m currently in London and we sail in May 10. Having never sailed QM2 before I can safely say this storm isn’t any issue for her and she has faced far, far worse with no issues.

You will be traveling on one the most seaworthy objects ever constructed. During the last few years the QM2 has come to the rescue of several other vessels. See for instance: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40234274

I would be quite interested to see how bad this storm actually will be. So I'd appreciate it if you could give a short report after your return and/or post some footage.

I second the afore post- would also be interessted to see or read how she ( QM2 ) takes it again. We had force 9 and 10 winds during our October crossing last year! QM2 took the weather quite in stride!

Why so worried or is it just excitement? The ship has been made to fight stormy seas, there is no better one than her to do a transatlantic. In the end it's the captain who decides which course to take and you have to follow. Each transatlantic is different and I wish I could come along.

Happy sailing, it will be great!

We hit a Nor'easter a few years back on the sailing before Christmas. 35-40 foot seas and when we docked in NYC that morning, 5 inches of snow on our balcony. It was fine - but not really my preference

I will be happy to post a review/possible footage after!

Just to clarify a few things. This is my second voyage, I came over Eastbound in September as I have spent some time studying in the UK and EU and I positively hate flying due to an inner ear condition.

I was worried about sailing, but last time I was okay--we had "slight" seas for the first half and "rough" seas (official sea state classification) on the second half towards the UK. I'd say the waves were 12-13 foot for the second half and to be honest I noticed no difference in movement from the 4-5 foot waves at the beginning. However, I was thinking I had my sea legs by then, and I am just a bit worried that experiencing rough/very rough waves right off the bat could be harder!

I have NO doubt about the seaworthiness of QM2, I've seen vids of her in 30-40 foot and one lady who had done a world cruise told me about 60+ foot waves once she encountered (and the ship was just fine). I'm more worried about my personal seaworthiness ;) .

Good point about Western crossings, by the looks of it we might catch the south waves of this storm from early Friday-late Saturday, but after Sunday we should be pretty clear for the rest of the crossing.

So it's looking like we will miss the first storm but probably catch the second one (direct on if we took the arctic circle route, or the southern edges if we go south a bit).

Do you have any seasickness medication ?

I refused to cruise for years after several bad ferry crossings and a terrible experience "working" on a Cruise ship from Sydney. My first Cruise Critic question was about sea sickness !

I take Avomine (available over the counter) and I have (mostly) been fine but I'm sure your doctor/pharmacist can recommend something appropriate.

Have a wonderful trip.

In 6 crossings, in all weathers, I can only recall one occasion when we were hit by a very large wave and the ship noticeably moved. They had to close the shops early as a lot of stock fell off the shelves and many bottle of spirits were smashed, but that was very much a one off and lasted less than a minute.

Apart from that one incident, I can honestly say that I never feel any movement, unfortunately!

Incidentally, we're doing another round trip in August.

Stewart