Grandeur Cancels Miami Due to Rough Seas

[TPKeller]

Beautiful day in Key West today. Pretty much perfect weather.

 

Thanks for the pics of us arriving, I was quite asleep at the time! :) It is vacation you know!

 

Have to say, we saw what could perhaps be one of the most amusing attempts at corporate image protection today... this morning they lowered two lifeboats along the side of the ship... just happened to be the two that were right above the little dent. Left them suspended in mid-air, right in front of the dent! :) Of course I took some (more) pictures of this, to go with the dozen or so that I already have.

 

Maybe that isn't why they did it, but.... I can't think of any other reason why they would lower those two boats and hang them in mid air all day... they just raised them 8 minutes after all the pax were supposed to be back on the ship. Funny people.

 

Theron

 

P.S. I collected couple more waypoints for my map page, I'll add them when I get back home!

[CGTNORMANDIE]

When sailing down along the coast the ship is getting hit broadside...instead of taking the seas head on. This makes a huge difference in the way the ship rides on the sea.

[dixieva]

Theron, that is just too funny! Maybe they should just paint a big smiley face on the dent! At least they did not sail the ship with those 2 lifeboats hanging over the dent!

 

We were on the ship the 9 day sailing before you and had a great time. Hope you have great weather for the remainder of your trip!

[uksimonusa]

Just of Majesty, left Miami Friday, seas ok, Coco Cay cancelled Saturday due to high winds and seas, ship was rocking, but not enough to make it uncomfortable. Went straight to nassau and seas very calm once we got there on Saturday

[michigan tim]

Theron, that is just too funny! Maybe they should just paint a big smiley face on the dent!

 

Or maybe paint a giant bandaid on it!

[loveJake]

Bumping up, no reports on this cruise for a couple of days. Looks like bad weather near Costa Maya, anybody heard anything? Thanks

[rsscaptain]

What was this dent from? An accident or a wave?

[loveJake]

The dent happened just before we cruised in May 2005 on her. The ship ran into a dock someplace, Costa Maya (?).

[Radio]

What was this dent from? An accident or a wave?

 

The dent was from an accident that occured in April 2005...Read Below:

 

Radio

:rolleyes:

 

ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE SHIP SLAMS INTO THE COSTA MAYA PIER

On April 21st, Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas slammed into the Costa Maya Pier ripping a 42 foot long gash in its side approximately 5 feet above the waterline. The reports stated that the conditions were windy, but they seemed pretty normal to spectators who saw the accident. No one was injured but the ship was stuck in Mahahual for a few days while authorities scrambled to get skilled labor and material to fix it. Meanwhile passengers had to figure out what to do. Many took alternate ways home, but many ventured out of the protected mall of the pier and into Mahahual finding it sleepy and slow. Most of the workers from the shops and restaurants in Mahahual had gone home, as they had not expected there to be any ships in port.

 

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[rsscaptain]

Ouch! That hadda hurt! I do remember hearing one ship slammed into the dock. Thanks for the post.

[Radio]

Hello everyone... It looks like Grandeur of the Seas made it in to Port safely this morning. These pics were taken with the Live Web Cam * HERE * at about 6:40 AM. The weather forcast for today is cloudy/ rainy 74 f.

 

I cant wait to hear how the cruise is going so far !

 

 

Radio

 

 

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[Radio]

Here is a much clearer Web Cam photo.... The sun is up !

 

Radio

:cool: :cool:

 

 

Grandeur of the Seas at Terminal 5 in Port Canaveral

 

 

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[TPKeller]

We have indeed arrived safely and so smoothly I didn't even know we were here until I looked out the window.

 

They have just now started processing people through the customs line in the South Pacific Lounge. We don't have a ship tour so we have to wait until they call our last name letter. It is not expected to be long.

 

We had a few short showers in Cozumel, and some big but short storms in Costa Maya. There were a total of 7 ships in port in Cozumel, as we expected, and we shared the dock in Costa Maya with Constellation and Fantasy.

 

Costa Maya has an interesting taxi setup going... we got shaken down by what I have dubbed "the Costa Maya taxi mafia". Our private tour guide had been previously starting tours from the town nearby (Mahahual), but apparently recently started picking up just outside the terminal area. Apparently losing that $3 per person revenue wasn't acceptable to the local mafioso types, so we had to pay the taxi people $3 for a trip to nowhere!

 

The tour guide said he was "still in negotiation" with them about the situation.

 

Unions? Mafia? I can't say, other than we weren't given the option, and when I asked about what happened there, the story took the flavor of blocked vehicles, and the word "kidnapped" was used. :( Didn't ruin the day, but man I hate that kind of stuff. It just ain't right.

 

Had a decent day at sea yesterday, few showers and wind now and then, but not too bad overall.

 

Perhaps I will get a chance to post again later.

 

Theron

[TPKeller]

Now that I am back home, I wanted to fill in some more details about the weather and sea conditions we encountered on our first day out of Baltimore last Saturday (10/28).

 

Friday night the captain announced that he expected high winds and heavy seas to start as soon as we left the Bay. Sure enough he was right, and from about 2 or 3 AM, all day Saturday, we experienced 50-60 knot headwinds and 20 foot seas. The captain also suggested that if you knew you were prone to seasickness, you should go ahead and "take a pill!" :) First time I had ever heard a captain say that.

 

Yesterday, during the captain's Nautical Notes lecture, he covered quite a few more details about that day.

 

All day on Saturday we had steady 50-60 knot winds and 20 foot seas, with some observed gusts over 70, which is Category 1 Hurricane strength. They closed the Windjammer for lunch due to the excessive up and down motion (from the pitch of the ship). Apparently it was so bad that they actually abandoned the kitchen space for a time, having determined it was too dangerous to even clean up the messes. Everyone has been on an elevator and felt your body weight go up and down slightly as the elevator starts and stops. Imagine that 5 times stronger and continuously, and while carrying a plate of food, which also is becoming several times heavier and then immediately several times lighter than normal! Some folks have a hard time carrying a plate under perfect conditions, there was simply no way the room could stay open during that time.

 

Spray from the bow crashing down into the waves was also regularly being carried over deck 10. I spent a little while out there watching, and had to regularly duck behind the Plexiglas to avoid being drenched with sea water.

 

The captain then went on to explain that during the day, we had regularly been experiencing 2 degree rolls to each side due to the 20 foot swells. At 4 PM, we encountered a single larger wave that the bridge officers estimated to be about 30 feet. The ship rode up the front and then down the back of the wave, which we hit at an angle. This wave caused the ship to encounter two rolls to each side of about 8 degrees. There was minor damage throughout the ship, but I did not hear of any serious injuries. Mostly popped or cracked tiles in the marbled floor areas, most of which were replaced within a couple of days.

 

I could not find anyone that had a definite answer, but my co-worker travel buddy and I were trying to figure out what pitch the ship was experiencing during that time. We watched the bow moving up and down from the Viking Crown Lounge, and estimated the vertical movement to be about 3 or 4 decks, which we mathematically approximated (simple trig, length of ship, guess the center point, guessing the up and down distance) to be about 3 or 4 degrees of pitch.

 

Everyone "knows" that the movement increases the farther you get toward the front and back of the ship, but the real world experience of this was quite remarkable. My cabin was on deck 3 just even with the rear elevators, probably very close to the center of gravity of the ship. We felt very little motion, except during the very worst of the weather. As you walked forward, you could clearly feel the movement increase, to the point where I'm quite sure with just a little hop, one could have easily hit their head on the ceiling as the bow fell into the next wave. It would have been quite interesting to have a scale to stand on and watch the weight go up and down with the pitch. For some reason, I don't carry a scale with me on a cruise vacation! ;)

 

Overall, it is important to remember that this was an extremely unusual situation. Everyone I spoke with, including veteran crew members, said it was the worst they had ever experienced. The captain said during his talk that the 8 degree roll was also very unusual to encounter during heading seas. Normally such instability is only seen during following seas, when the ship rides the wave for a much longer period of time.

 

We also had strong headwinds as soon as we left Port Canaveral and all day on Saturday. The seas were nowhere near as high, so we didn't have too much trouble. It reminded me of those jokes you hear from your older relatives about how they had to walk to school... in the snow... up hill... both ways! :) We had very strong headwinds both coming and going!

 

For anyone who had this as their first cruise, it was certainly a unique experience. It was my friend's first, and I kept telling him that he will certainly be bored out of his mind on his next cruise, which is likely to be completely calm seas. He got quite a kick out of "riding the waves" from the front of the ship on deck 10 and in the Windjammer.

 

The crew did an excellent job, and as was pointed out by the Cruise Director, many of them were also adversely affected by the motion, yet they still have important jobs to do.

 

Thanks for all the well wishes, it was a great cruise in spite if it all. Can't wait to go again!

 

Theron

[peggyg]

Theron - Good post on the condition of the seas - I thought there were about 20-22 ft. and the winds was very high - I can't believe that wave was only 30ft. it looked and felt a lot bigger - I was looking out the window at the time the wave hit and my face was against the window and I could not move - I was scared to death - this was my 8th

cruise & I have encountered rough seas before but nothing like that. I think my days of cruising from the East Coast are done with - although on the Constellation in April we hit a very bad storm going over to St. Maarten but no listing - I thought the seas coming home were great compared to going down - and the little wave that hit us was nothing just a big crash in the dining room.

 

Otherwise - It was wonderful to meet everyone and I had a great time

 

Peggy

[malcombain]

I was just down the hall from Peggy. (I saw your sign on the door) That is definately my last cruise out of Baltimore. I was terrified and so were my friends. Many of them were first-timers and ALL of them were sick. I hit the floor on the BIG WAVE only to be slammed in the head by a glass table. The hour of "free drinks of the day" added insult to injury to a boatload of sick and terrified guests. Anybody know why we just didn't head for safety in Norfolk or Charleston or why we left Baltimore in the first place?

[isujim]

Theron

 

Great post and thanks for the update and information..........what a ride you had:eek: Glad everything turned out ok.

[dixieva]

I'm so sorry you guys had such a rough time of it on your cruise. I was on the Oct. 13th sailing out of Baltimore and we had beautiful weather. It was a little choppy a couple of days but other than that it was great.

 

I hope it won't keep you from trying it again from that port. You just never know how the seas are going to be. I have been in similar rough seas and it is no fun but don't give up on it. Next time could be perfect.

[DaOldCruisers]

Theron - Good post on the condition of the seas - I thought there were about 20-22 ft. and the winds was very high - I can't believe that wave was only 30ft. it looked and felt a lot bigger - I was looking out the window at the time the wave hit and my face was against the window and I could not move - I was scared to death - this was my 8th

cruise & I have encountered rough seas before but nothing like that. I think my days of cruising from the East Coast are done with - although on the Constellation in April we hit a very bad storm going over to St. Maarten but no listing - I thought the seas coming home were great compared to going down - and the little wave that hit us was nothing just a big crash in the dining room.

 

Otherwise - It was wonderful to meet everyone and I had a great time

 

Peggy

Peggy - First off it was great to meet you and all the rest of or "Roll Call" folks. (Don't tell anybody that I was responible for the "Door Sign"! :rolleyes: )

 

 

I also agree with you that Theron gave a pretty good review of the conditions.

I might add though that my son was scanning the Bridge communications and at one point they said that the seas were at about 24 feet and gusts up to 55 knots.

The one thing that I remember the most, aside from being thrown around, was the number of folks that I saw sleeping on the sofas in the "Centrum" area of the decks, I guess that they probably had cabins that were forward on the ship and it was too rough in their cabins. We had a suite in the aft section and although it should have been rougher there than in the "Centrum", it wasn't that bad. The worst thing that happened was that in our suite there were drawers alongside the door to the bathroom that my wife and I used and in the middle of the night I went to the bathroom and got stuck in there. Seems one of the drawers magnet must have been broken and when the ship rocked the drawer opened and wouldn't let me open the door. I eventually was able to squeeze my arm through the door opening and with the help of the toilet brush was able to push the drawer back and open the door. Later that morning our cabin steward who was having problems with sea sickness and not able to take the pills because of medication that she was on. Well as luck would have it, she happened to get stuck in the bathroom for about a half hour before the ship rocked again and closed the drawer. She had started to have a panic attack and when she finally was able to get free, she called and had maintenance come and fix the drawer. Other than that we didn't have that much of a problem with the rough seas, at least going down, I even kind of enjoyed the "E" ride. When coming home however the ship rolled once and I grabbed the rail to keep from falling, big mistake because of my breastbone being tie wrapped back together, it kind of hurt big time, but I guess falling could have been worse.

 

I saw a couple of folks take a fall in the "Windjammer" and one of them broke her nose in the process. Hopefully there weren't too many people who were hurt. Most of the damage seemed to be with counters going over and lots of broken dishes and other glass items, and as Theron said, tiles that buckled.

 

I am sure that there will be many different opinions on our cruise and all I can say is whatever the case may have been, I have to give the captain credit for doing his best to minimize the effects of the rough seas.

 

Yes it was a rough trip at first but I loved the cruise and meeting all the great folks and would do it again, as a matter of fact I would love to be on the one leaving this Friday. :)

 

Later y'all,

Jack :) :)

[DaOldCruisers]

We just got off Mariner this morning and went right by Miami last night, and didn't notice anything other then the rainy weather we had all day yesterday!! Seas were fine!!!

We didn't by-pass Miami because of bad weather in Miami but because of the rough seas that we encountered on the way down the East Coast. We had to slow down so much that we would have put into Miami at about the time we were scheduled to leave Miami. I'm glad that you had good weather. All in all I believe that we had fairly decent weather for most of the cruise, so much so that I missed a spot with the sunblock while on the beach in Cozumel and got a pretty bad burn there. :o

Later y'all...

Jack :) :)

[EggDropErin]

I'd be pukin'! That's terrible. Hope everyone returns safely.

[JaneMP69]

Theron's post was exactly as it happened. I was feeling ill but my dh was really sick so I made my way to the Windjammer to get him a bagel. It was so rough that I literally could not walk through to get back to the elevator. A staff person actually took my arm and helped me to the elevator. I have to give tons of praise to the Captain and crew. They were fabulous especially since many of the crew were feeling the weather but still had to do their jobs. I spoke with a clerk in the liquor shop:D and he said at one point he ran for his life due to the bottles flying and the little carts slamming into everything.

 

Besides formal night being postponed, they had to cancel then reschedule the other production show due to bad weather after Port Canaveral. You could hear the props crashing behind the curtains as the CD was announcing the show. We also heard some "choice" language from one of the dancers.:)

 

The Meet & Mingle was well attended but it was also rescheduled due to high seas.

 

Besides the great handling by the crew what stands out for me was we heard no complaining by guests from the first rough weather. There was one young woman on the return trip that thought the ship should dock in Charleston and they should fly all the passengers home...no comment needed here.

 

While these things are never pleasant, we have actually enjoyed being part of a unique experience and I am sure the story will get better each time we tell it.:rolleyes:

[peggyg]

Malcombain - were you the ones who asked me what the cruise critic was ???

I asked the Capt. why we didn't go to Charleston on the way down instead of trying to make Miami - his answer was that since Charleston has such a long approach - it would take too long - but he had considered it.

As far as the free drinks - I don't drink so that was of no benefit to me - although I must admit I did have 1 drink at the C&A party I felt as though I needed one LOL LOL.

 

Jane - Sorry your husband was so sick - I did pretty well with my sea bands I was just a little dizzy - my friends said they were walking up the stairs and having a real hard time when a big wave came and they went flying up - they laughed about it.

 

Jack - I thought the signs were great - and people did comment on them - and they helped me find my cabin every night LOL

 

I didn't see anyone that was hurt except for a woman in the Casino who said she slipped on water and hurt here foot they told her to stay off it for a couple of days - so she played a slot machine I think for about 10 hrs.

 

Peggy

[JaneMP69]

why we left Baltimore in the first place?

 

The captain said winds were expected to be about 35 knotts but ended up being 70...totally unexpected and nothing he could predict. We've experienced some rough water on the Atlantic before but nothing of this magnitude. This was quite unusual though and not likely to be repeated. We would sail from Baltimore, Bayonne, or any of the other northern ports again and this is coming from someone who doesn't even live anywhere near this part of the country. We have to fly regardless of the cruise.

[TPKeller]

Just to toss in a little more info on the itinerary situation... Of course not everyone is particularly geographically inclined, and that's fine. I shouldn't do it, but I have to admit that I do sometimes chuckle when I overhear someone saying something like "Why don't we just go to St. Thomas today, then Cozumel tomorrow!?" :D

 

Itinerary possibilities are notoriously restrained by simple math. Grade school word problems: rate times time equals distance. There simply aren't many variables. The ports, and the routes between them are fixed, and can't be changed. The speed has a maximum value, for Grandeur it's about 23 knots, unless you are in the gulf stream, where you get an extra 3 or 4, or lose 3 or 4 depending on which way you are going.

 

We certainly could have stopped in Charleston, but at what cost? The ship sails at nearly full speed to make Miami under normal circumstances, as shown by the fact that after 3 sailings this summer they had to change the "scheduled" arrival time from 1 PM to 4 PM. Looking at the slow speed we were making at some points on Saturday, our prompt arrival in Key West was also very much in jeopardy. Remember, we were only scheduled to be in Miami for 7 hours, so skipping Miami only gave us an extra 7 hours plus maybe 2 (since we didn't have to actually go in to the port), to make Key West on time. There were times we were only going 9 mph on Saturday. If we had stopped in Charleston, we probably would have had to skip Key West in addition to Miami. We ended up passing Miami at sunset (got some great pictures of the skyline in front of the sunset) and saw Freedom coming out from her departure.

 

That is a problem with the current itinerary, it is as optomistic as it can be, and when anything happens that slows down the ship, something has to give.

 

There really just aren't very many options when something like this happens. If we had to lose a port, Miami would be my first pick. I think they did a great job with the options they had at their disposal.

 

Theron