Are the seas always rough in and out of San Francisco?

[KruisingKaren]

I've heard the area is called the "potato patch" due to the rough seas.  I'm not super sensitive to sea sickness but if it's really bad I will pick a cruise out of Seattle.  Thing is, I can drive to San Francisco and would need to fly if we go out of Seattle.

[CruiserBruce]

Remember that old saying about the words "always" and "never"...

 

On the other hand, one of our top 2 or 3 roughest patches of sailing in our 26 cruises were in the Strait of San Juan de Fuca...which is where you enter Puget Sound. 3 or 4 hours of throw you out of bed roughness. We have sailed there 4 times, only noticed the roughness once.

 

We have sailed out of SF twice, and back in once. Never noticed a problem. Yes, the Potato Patch has that rep. But I am not sure I could call it "that bad". At least not regularly.

 

Seas can be rough any time, anywhere. I would not recommend planning your cruise based upon where it "might" be rough. Roughness is just a (possible) fact of life when you are at sea.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

No.

[lx200gps]

3 hours ago, KruisingKaren said:

I've heard the area is called the "potato patch" due to the rough seas.  I'm not super sensitive to sea sickness but if it's really bad I will pick a cruise out of Seattle.  Thing is, I can drive to San Francisco and would need to fly if we go out of Seattle.

?  We arrived in SF this morning on the Discovery. Very calm seas all the way from LA, no problems whatsoever. Never felt the ship's movement at all.

[disneyochem]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no!  SF is our home port so we’ve cruised out of there about 15 times in addition to port visits on California coastal cruises.  Our last visit to SF was last week on HAL for a port stop.  Very smooth seas coming and going.

 

(If you live in the area, I would suggest you check out Amtrak.  We take the train to Emeryville and then Uber to port.  Easy peasy and cheaper than driving/parking a vehicle.)

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Supposedly the roughest seas are northbound along the Pacific coast to SF.  If you are going North from SF to Seattle it should be fine.  

[travelin.sisters]

I have not found the seas to be bad sailing out of SF & would always pick a port I could drive to over having to fly

[lx200gps]

I only have a single data point, but two weeks ago sailing out of SF southbound to San Diego, we experienced very high winds and heavy seas for most of the day after leaving SF. That being said, our ship, the Discovery Princess, had superb stabilization, and even my normally hyper-seasick-sensitive wife was amazed at how well the ship handled the motion.

[seekatz]

Based on my numerous cruises out of SF we find no problems unless a major storm is in the area. Of the most resent 5 or so sailings no issue and smooth sailings. Agree with other poster, rough sea conditions can be subjective.