Grandeur Cancels Miami Due to Rough Seas

[TPKeller]

why we left Baltimore in the first place?

Could you imagine trying to tell a ship full of people we were just going to not sail??? Not a job I would want!

 

Theron

[wrp96]

Could you imagine trying to tell a ship full of people we were just going to not sail??? Not a job I would want!

 

Theron

 

Theron, they had to do that earlier this year if you remember for one of the 5 day Bermuda cruise. Alot of unhappy people were around. One of my friends was on that cruise and joked about her 3 day cruise of Baltimore with an excursion to the Chesapeake Bay.

[malcombain]

Peggy,

I also used your sign to find my cabin at night. (on the rare occasions that I left my cabin) I didn't meet you. Had only been to this site once and didn't know the proper ettiquette for meeting cruise critics. I appreciate your encouragement regarding future cruises but the terror of that one did me in. Did you happen to see the poor woman who fell outside the ladies room at the Windjammer? How could the captain not know the future weather conditions? I did admire his honesty but still wish we had floated around the Chesapeake Bay or just had never set sail. The fact that he didn't know what the waters would be like scares me even more! I would much rather explain to a boatload of people that a cruise isn't leaving the port than to have to explain to a family that a loved one was severely injured. As people whined and complained about Miami, I was just glad to see the light of day! Glad the rest of you had a good time though and that you weren't hurt or petrified.

[Roses2]

Cruise ships sail on the ocean.

 

Sometimes the ocean is calm and sometimes the ocean is rough.

 

Sometimes ports are missed because of weather, but most times they are not.

 

The captain is responsible for the safety of his ship, his crew, and his passengers. Unless he believes he is endangering them, he will attempt to adhere to his schedule.

 

In hurricane season (generally June through November) deviations to avoid the biggest storms often are necessary and only very, very occasionally cancellations are made.

 

To assure a smooth cruise with no rocking and rolling, try a river cruise or a lake cruise (sometimes lakes can be very rough--so scratch that option).

 

If you sail, you, and the Captain, are at the mercy of the weather.

[1luckylady]

One of our friend were in the Viking Lounge and was thrown along with his chair. He and the chair went rolling into the mable tile. He cut his head up pretty good. They took him in a wheel chair down to the sick bay to fix his head.

We were in the centrum when we took the 'roll' and saw what was just unbelieveable. The liquer went flying through the glass doors at the bar. Bottles were smashed everywhere. Shelves and glass doors were in shatters. The girl behind the bar was lucky she wasn't hurt worse than she was.

We talked to a few people that were on the celeberty cruise ship behind us. They threw anchor in the Chesapeake and waited out the storm then they managed to beat us to Key West. I do believe I would rather have been on that ship.

[decruisers]

Well....time for my 2 cents:D .... The captain did warn of rough seas right after dinner Friday evening, to the best of his ability and information at the time, this was the best thing to do. To anyone who thinks the captain should have been a mind reader, and realized the weather was going to be worse than he anticipated...is your local weatherman always correct?? Have they ever predictated flurries and you woke up to a foot of snow....or slight showers and ended up with flash flooding??? The weather is NOT an exact science...mother nature will always surprise us to keep us on our toes. The ride was rocky...windjammer closed..this should tell you something, as it NEVER closes..formal night cancelled, the production show cancelled...many of crew stating this was the worse they have ever seen. Down the Atlantic Coast, you are kinda of stuck on where a safe haven is... The shoals off of North Carolina are the worse to navigate...the captain kept us all well informed on our situation, we were never left guessing what was going on...alternate ports were considered and disgarded for whatever reason..it was not our decision, but the captain's decision. This is what we pay him to do.

 

I was fine, slightly off kilter for awhile, but fine. My husband was seasick, but he is prone to this...overall, after dinner, he was fine too. Many people on this cruise did ignore the rule for seasickness....EAT and drink ginger ale. You need solid food in your belly and the ginger ale helps reduce the upset tummy.

 

Overall...Miami...no big loss, was going to stay on the ship anyways... Woke up Sunday and could not believe we were on the same ship. Again...as stated earlier..Miami was missed because of how slow we traveled through the seas. I remember the captain stating that because we were only doing 9knots sometimes, we were never going to make Miami and needed to head directly to Key West. I have to say, I was really impressed with one thing the captain said...He stated that he was sorry that he was unable to provide us with the product that we had paid for and that he would do what he could to ensure the rest of the trip was to our satisfaction. I have missed ports on 3 of my 7 cruises and NEVER has any captain personally said they were sorry until this one.

 

Overall...we really enjoyed this cruise and would repeat this again!!!:D ;)

[Pumbaamd]

What "X" ship were your friends on in the Chesapeake Bay?

[lori450]

Brava, Beth- Well said!

My heart goes out to those who suffered. I know all too well the misery of seasickness. I also know that I will be on the sea and there is a possibility of rough weather. My partner was on the Majesty this weekend and had quite the rough ride due to high winds (nothing like your experience). Your experience could have been terrifying if you were around all that glass breaking and simply frightening elsewhere. I always like to call events like this "an adventure" it reframes the experience as a more positive one. We went through the adventure of Hurricane Wilma last year. Just think of all the great stories you'll be able to tell now!

 

My best to all who sailed this cruise. May your future seas be smooth ones.

[virginiacruisin]

I was traveling with my 87 year old mother and both of us would take this cruise again in a heartbeat. Sure, we would have liked to have had calmer seas, but you have to take your chances especially when you sail at this time of year. I would rather be on a cruise ship in a storm than an airplane during an emergency - and there are plenty of those too (I find bumpy weather in an airplane very scary). My mom had some trouble walking, but she just held on to my shoulders and we took baby steps - never missed a meal! We will be telling the stories for years to come. I never heard anyone complain though some were certainly not feeling well, but most passengers seemed to take it in stride. The captain was probably the best we have ever had. And the staff was unbelievable! I am so glad I sailed with all of you and hope to see you again on a future cruise!

[TPKeller]

We talked to a few people that were on the celeberty cruise ship behind us. They threw anchor in the Chesapeake and waited out the storm then they managed to beat us to Key West. I do believe I would rather have been on that ship.

This was the Constellation. She sailed the same day we did (Friday 10/27) from Bayonne. This put her several hours behind us for most of the bad weather time on Saturday, so she may very well have missed some of the roughest seas. She would have to have gone at least several dozens of miles out of her way to enter the Chesapeake Bay. A quick google search tells me she does have a 2 knot faster cruising speed, so it isn't a surprise that she beat us to Key West.

 

Not sure I would have preferred her on this trip though, do you remember the hand sterilizer they had set up on the dock at Costa Maya? Someone brought a stomach virus on Constellation. :eek: At least with seasickness you can take a pill for it! :)

 

Theron

[signman]

Connie was scheduled to dock in Key West at 7, Grandeur at 8, so she was supposed to get there first.

[ORANGEinINDY]

Theron summed the weather conditions well.. 'nuff said.

Our tablemates were worried when they were told (we all were) there was going to be more rough seas on the way back up the east coast. He had told us he turned shades of green he'd never seen before on the way down the east coast and was one of those sleeping in the centrum, due to a forward cabin. He decided to cut his losses and rent a car (at his own expense) and drive from our last port (Cape Canaveral) back home. RCCL told him to leave the ship at a port other than the fina destination he would be charged $300 per person. They stayed on the ship and weathered the storm.

All in all we had a GREAT time, even during the heavy seas. We were lying in bed during the "big list" so did not feel it as much (A few things came flying off shelves). We were in the theater watching the "shopping" talk just before that and as its in the very front of the ship the up and down motion reminded me of a roller coaster, with moments of "air time" or weightlessness, followed by feeling VERY heavy. That up and down motion, along with watching the side to side motion of the curtains... not a good combination:D .

With all of the bad weather, I would not hesitate to recommend to go on this cruise same dates, same weather... we had a blast!

[DaOldCruisers]

I realize that I have already said a lot but I feel I should add one more thought or opinion to this minor conflict of opinions. ;)

The Grandeur and many other ships have sailed rough seas before and will again, this is just the nature of the cruise business. As for putting into another port and waiting out the weather, well that is just “Monday Morning Quarterbacking”, just another “would have, could have, should have”. Sometimes there just isn’t a cut and dry answer. The seas are very unpredictable to say the least and while controlled by the weather are even more so.

 

Injuries to guests during rough seas usually fall into just a few categories; first being stupid as was the case for me when I caught myself by grabbing the rail in the hallway to my suite when the ship rolled and knowing that my tie wrapped breastbone wasn’t going to like it but the alternative of falling may have been worse so instinct prevailed and I will hurt for a few days. Another category being greed; someone is looking to get injured so that they might sue somebody for big bucks. And yet another category is looking at the situation as being a challenge; this could also be the same as stupid. Lastly is the accident or simply pure bad luck for which there is nothing that you can do. You should remember that the captain informed every one of the situation and activities were even canceled to keep injuries to minimum. Anyone wandering around the ship was just bucking the warnings and gambling that they wouldn’t get hurt. Don’t forget that you could stay in your cabin and order room service.

 

As for us, once again we slipped into the “challenge” or “stupid” category and had breakfast in the very front of “Windjammer” and watched the nose of the ship rise and fall in sync to the seas. While there we saw a young boy fall and hurt his arm, I’m still trying to understand why he was allowed to run about unattended in such rough conditions. :confused: We also saw a women fall and break her nose, my guess is room service would have worked out much better for her.

 

I realize that it was a harrowing experience for some and for others like me; Just another “E Ticket” ride and sure it probably wouldn’t have been as bad on a larger ship, and who knows, maybe some day a larger ship will sail out of Baltimore. A few years ago we sailed out of Baltimore on a larger Carnival ship, “The Legend” to Bermuda over Halloween and we hit very rough seas both to and from Bermuda, so much so that they canceled all the shows for fear of injuries to the performers. The big difference between these two cruises being that the Carnival ship was sailing into the seas and therefore we didn’t experience any rolls just the forward to aft rocking up and down.

 

My opinion is still that the Captain did a great job and was always very informative and it was a shame that he had to cut his “Nautical Notes Session Short” but as he said, you don’t know how rough it can get until you cut into “Bingo”. You also have to remember what time of the year it was and that we were sailing in ocean waters that are always rougher than the Caribbean.

 

Before I get out of here I would like to make it perfectly clear that these are my opinions and there was and is no intent to belittle anyone or their opinion.

 

Once again I would like to say how much I enjoyed meeting all of the wonderful folks who attended our "Meet & Mingle"!

 

Below is a group photo of our "Meet & Mingle"...

 

Later y’all… (Wish I was sailing on the Grandeur again this Friday! :) )

Jack :)

 

[TPKeller]

If anyone would like to see some pictures of the rough weather we had on this cruise, there is a folder in my photo album titled "First day at sea - wow!"

 

The album page is here:

 

http://albums.tpkeller.com/

 

Theron

[ckrobyn]

If anyone would like to see some pictures of the rough weather we had on this cruise, there is a folder in my photo album titled "First day at sea - wow!"

 

The album page is here:

 

http://albums.tpkeller.com/

 

Theron

 

WOW! Those were rough seas for sure!

I would have needed several packages of Bonine to cope with those waves.....:eek:

[Piepkorn]

Thanks for the pictures. It brings back memories of a back-to-back on Legend back in 1998 when we hit seas like that on the Vancouver-Honolulu part of the trip. Even the cabin attendant was sick for 3 days....and it blew out windows in the dining room. We don't get seasick, and like someone before stated 'we had a blast'. Still our favorite cruise to this day.

 

Dave

[aqhacruiser]

When we sailed on Freedom, the night we were coming back into Miami, we hit some 40-45 mph headwinds. That ship handled them like a pro ! We felt very very minimal movement. I was very impressed.

 

Same on the Explorer when we were in 26ft seas and 65 MPH winds out of Bayonne heading to Bermuda according to the captain. The boat was rocking but nothing serious and dinner went on as usual. :p

[DaOldCruisers]

Originally Posted by sdear

When we sailed on Freedom, the night we were coming back into Miami, we hit some 40-45 mph headwinds. That ship handled them like a pro ! We felt very very minimal movement. I was very impressed.

 

Same on the Explorer when we were in 26ft seas and 65 MPH winds out of Bayonne heading to Bermuda according to the captain. The boat was rocking but nothing serious and dinner went on as usual. :p

Wow! What a surprise! 2 ships that are nearly twice the size of the Grandeur! Can't understand how or why they managed to handle those conditions so much better than we did on the Grandeur!

 

Later y'all...

Jack :)

[hcat]

Nice pictures of high seas! we had a bad list once on Mercury coming into Miami in stormy conditions i CAN also remember being on Enchantment when we had to back out of the pier area--could not not dock-- too bumpy & they docked on the other side--still a bit rough. So hope those returning this week will post---we sail from FT Laud in abt 10 days on Enchantment again....right now bad weather is coming up the coast--hope it will be gone by then