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strange phenomenon

New4cruise

By New4cruise,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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New4cruise

New4cruise

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Has anyone ever experienced seeing glowing, sparkly, glittering,white balls of light swooping over the water right off the ship's balcony in the middle of the night? I HAVE! I searched the internet about this topic as soon as I got home. There was a post in January, 2013 about this by "lightbender". His wife woke him up around 2:00 am and they both saw the same phenomenon of lights. Unfortunately, "lightbender" is no longer an active CruiseCritic poster. I regret not taking a picture or video of it. I joined CruiseCritic specifically to search this topic. 

I just returned from a pleasant cruise on The Norwegian Sky to Cuba and the Bahamas. Has anyone ever experienced this?

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newty25

newty25

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I regret to admit that I've seen something like that.

 

Being the skeptic of anything paranormal that I am... I still believe there's a logical explanation for it... like a spotlight from the ship searching for something in the sky or around the water. Which, I'm sure, is exactly what it was.

 

I watched it from our balcony for about 10 minutes with my girlfriend. It spooked me enough to want to go back inside the ship after that.

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newty25

newty25

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Hmmm... After giving this some thought...

 

It was in the sky away from the ship. SEF would have been on the ship. It got close to the water and then back up into the sky.

 

BUT, it may have been St Elmo's Fire on the top of the ship out of my view that was reflected back off of the clouds in the distance, so definitely still a possibility and the most likely answer.

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New4cruise

New4cruise

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LOL about adult beverages or other substances, but that is not the case. What I saw was definitely not flying fish. It was not a flock of sea birds, or terns.I found pictures online of Elmo's Fire and I have to rule that one out as well.  What I saw was bright, glowing white shimmering, and emanating from within. There were several dozen of them. They were not out over the Ocean. They were right next to the ship. Their movements were something like a hummingbird or Tinkerbell. (Don't laugh!) Their light source was from within, definitely not something caught in the beam of a spotlight. They didn't reflect light, they WERE made of light. I'm not suggesting anything paranormal.

Perhaps it was some sort of static electricity from friction of the water as the metal ship cruised along?

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tomservo

tomservo

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5 hours ago, newty25 said:

Hmmm... After giving this some thought...

 

It was in the sky away from the ship. SEF would have been on the ship. It got close to the water and then back up into the sky.

 

BUT, it may have been St Elmo's Fire on the top of the ship out of my view that was reflected back off of the clouds in the distance, so definitely still a possibility and the most likely answer.

 

I can see a new horizon, underneath the blazing sky. 
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher. 
Gonna be your man in motion. 
All I need is a pair of wheels. 
Take me where the future's lyin’

 

ST ELMO’S FIRE

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trex-de

trex-de

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I am a scientist and gone through all my equations.  The only thing I can suggest as a hypothesis is the UDP. I am dedicated to my craft enough to test this hypothesis in my upcoming cruise. 

 

For an experimental design of experiments, how many drinks shall I consume before beginning the observation set?

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All-ready2cruise Holiday Sharing Rare

All-ready2cruise

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I am a scientist as well... possibly from another planet, however, I can vouch for the possibility that this phenomenon may very well relate to the UDP, also known as the Ultimate Dining Package or way too much to eat or Ultimate drink package ( improper translation of Ultimate Beverage Package) being totally responsible for the lights I've seen off to the horizon when viewing from my balcony over the beautiful sunset in the west. 

 

For the numbers, they vary by pax and atmoshpereic and the layer one has been thus placed. 

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newty25

newty25

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12 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

I can see a new horizon, underneath the blazing sky. 
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher. 
Gonna be your man in motion. 
All I need is a pair of wheels. 
Take me where the future's lyin’

 

ST ELMO’S FIRE

Burning in me!

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newty25

newty25

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12 hours ago, trex-de said:

I am a scientist and gone through all my equations.  The only thing I can suggest as a hypothesis is the UDP. I am dedicated to my craft enough to test this hypothesis in my upcoming cruise. 

 

For an experimental design of experiments, how many drinks shall I consume before beginning the observation set?

 

Hopefully you're an engineer... just as I am... but then you would know that the number of drinks consumed should be random as not to control the experiment. Bring a 20-sided D&D die and roll at the start of every day. 🙂

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New4cruise

New4cruise

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Thank you dogs4fun! You took me seriously. I never mentioned that at he same time I saw the phenomenon, I also saw a lightning storm barely visible, far away on the ocean horizon. It appeared to be hundreds of miles away. So far away that it could not be heard. Now I believe I saw “Ball Lightning”.  I followed the link you sent about St. Elmo’s Fire. None of the pictures for St. Elmo’s Fire looked like what I saw.  It led me to the topic of “Ball Lightning”. IT SHOWED PICTURES OF “BALL LIGHTNING”. One of those pictures looks like the phenomenon that I witnessed. I have learned that St. Elmo’s Fire and Ball Lightning are not the same thing. Thank you again dogs4fun for helping me to get my answer. I was incredibly lucky to see such a rare occurrence! 

BALL LIGHTNING

St. Elmo's Fire and "ball lightning" are two different things. The scientific community can't agree on what ball lightning is, but it's definitely not St. Elmo's Fire. Ball lightning can float around the air, while St. Elmo's Fire stays put.

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  • 3 years later...
ajudd311

ajudd311

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On 5/9/2019 at 7:10 AM, New4cruise said:

Has anyone ever experienced seeing glowing, sparkly, glittering,white balls of light swooping over the water right off the ship's balcony in the middle of the night? I HAVE! I searched the internet about this topic as soon as I got home. There was a post in January, 2013 about this by "lightbender". His wife woke him up around 2:00 am and they both saw the same phenomenon of lights. Unfortunately, "lightbender" is no longer an active CruiseCritic poster. I regret not taking a picture or video of it. I joined CruiseCritic specifically to search this topic. 

I just returned from a pleasant cruise on The Norwegian Sky to Cuba and the Bahamas. Has anyone ever experienced this?

We just experienced this on our cruise to Jamaica!!! A bird and one of the ball things were playing, swooping in and out of the ocean. It was the coolest thing to watch but my mind couldn’t register what I was seeing. So glad I’m finding these other posts, I sounded so weird explaining it.

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