Queen Mary 2 May 10 transatlantic storm

[Riptidedd]

Hi everyone!

 

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/display.cgi?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

[Keith1010]

Dylan:

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

There is a dedicated board to Cunard and that is where I would recommend posting this:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=167

 

I have sailed QM2 once and it is a true Ocean Liner built for rough seas.

 

I am sure the captain will make some adjustment but do post on the Cunard board.

 

Keith

[chengkp75]

The route that goes up the North American coast to Newfoundland and then across the ocean is the "Great Circle" route, which is the shortest distance between two points on a sphere. What appears to be a straight line course between NYC and Southampton is a "rhumb line", and over this distance it can be several hundred miles longer than the Great Circle route. Based on weather, the Captain will take a route somewhere between the Great Circle and the Rhumb line to balance speed required (and fuel consumption) with passenger ride comfort.

[babs135]

Ripetidedd, come and join us on the Cunard forum. Lots of information for you, even this close to sailing date. Rest assured that although the QM2 is very stable, the captain will 'divert' from his normal route if he feels it is necessary.

 

One crossing we ended up so south of the norm, that the captain said weather or not, he had to change course or we would end up in the Azores!!!!

[jcl410]

Here's a wave forecast from the US Navy:

 

https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/cgi-bin/wxmap_all.cgi?type=prod&area=ww3_atlantic&prod=sgwvht&dtg=2018050618&set=All

 

It shows the worst may be as you leave the UK on Thursday night/Friday morning.

 

I went through similar conditions on QM2 (9 meter seas taken head on.) You could feel the motion, but it wan't too bad; I spent a lot of time in the Commodore Lounge. Despite the spray from the ways hitting the windows, the bar tender never had to secure the glasses or bottles. The motion was gentle.

 

Aloha,

 

John