Were You Ever Scared On A Cruise?

[Alexis]

I thought that the cruise lines would get OUT of the way of a hurricane. Hugo was talked about LONG before it hit. Why on earth would a ship be THAT close to the storm. Now, I know that when there is a storm in one area that the sea can be rough hundreds of miles from there but in this case it doesn't sound like that's the case. All I've been told is that for the comfort of the passengers and the safety of the ship, crew and passengers that they would sail around such weather.

 

This was back in 1989.

Ships today, I would imagine have more advanced technology to track and monitor these things.

Please remember the size of the ship I am speaking of. Today it is a dingy. :D When we left from San Juan we knew that it was going to hit there. The Captain tried his best to steer clear of it. But if anyone remembers Hugo, it was massive as it wrecked more havoc in the Caribbean than one can ever imagine. I have many pictures of what we saw. :(

With the size of Hugo, one did not have to be "in" it as such. We were 125 miles away at one point when all this was happening. Hugo itself was 150 miles wide at one time or another. (we all received charts from the Captain showing the path of the Hurricane and where we were at the different times. Wind speeds, wave heights and so on. That Hurricane changed often.) To steer around something that large and moving, is I guess difficult?

In my mind the Captain did a great job. After seeing the devastation, I think he steered us clear of the worst of it. I have written about this on here before and will spare the lengthy details. But we had no place to dock in a port, (they were all being hit) we were running out of water our last 2 days, some foods and all in all after what I witnessed, I consider us one lucky ship with a GREAT Captain. We sailed with him again 5 more times on the same ship. ;)

EDIT:

I will add that on returning to San Juan, what we saw was an island with such horrific destruction. I truly feel we were better off on that ship then being left there for a week. Those poor people were hit so badly.

[Georgia Bulldog Cruiser 51]

I am scared on every cruise. The last night they always bring my bar tab and put it outside of the door. I am ALWAYS terrified when my wife finds that paper.

 

ME TO!!! I KNOW THAT FEELING WELL!!!!!

[Merion_Mom]

We were on a Princess cruise, when I decided to go to the shops while hubby was sleeping near the pool. I was there only a couple of minutes when the ship start listing to one side and kept going. I didn't start worrying until I saw the look of sheer panic on the shop's girl faces. Bottles of perfume and liquor were sliding off the shelves, all the racks were tipping over. One of the racks crashed into my back and knocked me onto the floor. The shop girl helped me up and then promptly put me into the lobby and closed and locked the doors behind me.

 

the pool water spilled out of the pools washing the belongings of many of the people up on the pool deck right off the side of the ship where there was a 6 inch or so opening around the deck.

 

A little while later the ship's captain came on the speaker and explained that there was a pod (family) of whales sleeping on their backs right under the surface of the water so they had to make an extremely sharp turn to avoid them.

 

Several year later, we were on a different Princess ship and we saw a crew member wearing a t-shirt that read "I survived the Whale tipping" and gave the ship and date. I so wanted that shirt!!!!

Ah, yes, Princess Cruise Lines, and listing ships..........

 

July 18, 2006, I remember it well...............

 

Crown Princess 7/11/06 - Read my live---reports of the cruise and THE LIST!

[Alexis]

I am scared on every cruise. The last night they always bring my bar tab and put it outside of the door. I am ALWAYS terrified when my wife finds that paper.

 

I love that one. You win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[Sue L]

Ah, yes, Princess Cruise Lines, and listing ships..........

 

July 18, 2006, I remember it well...............

 

Crown Princess 7/11/06 - Read my live---reports of the cruise and THE LIST!

 

 

I remember your posts from the summer, mine was almost 10 years ago, I think I see a pattern.LOL

[PhoenixCruiser]

Ah, yes, Princess Cruise Lines, and listing ships..........

 

July 18, 2006, I remember it well...............

 

Crown Princess 7/11/06 - Read my live---reports of the cruise and THE LIST!

 

Carol, your Princess roommate Nancy L hasn't been on these boards for awhile, do you know if she is okay? Have you been talking to her?

 

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[sea-cruise]

Our friends called us down to see the view from their porthole, during a hurricane. We went in, they pulled the curtain aside, and there was nothing but gray water. As we were leaving the cabin, her DH pointed out the steel "watertight doors" that slid shut incase of flooding compartments....and their cabin was towards the bow, which would have sealed them off.

I believe that was on the original Love Boat, but if not, then it was one of the smaller Regency ships in the 1980's.

[SLH]

I just read the thread on tendering and the dangers. It got me thinking of when I was on my first cruise in Jan on the Carnival Victory. Being in a balcony room whenever I woke up in the middle of the night I would go out on the balcony and look out over the ocean. Most of the time especially if no moon it was pitch black. It was a little spooky to me.

Also one night the ship was rocking some and I was hoping it did not get any worse. Thought about the ship tipping over.

So you see I am a worrier and get scared easy, but my first cruise was pretty uneventful. I loved it.

OK so now I am ready to hear of the times you were scared while crusing and what happened. Any good stories? :eek:

I cruised to Bermuda about 20yrs. ago and coming back the water was so rough our steward came and closed the cover over our porthole. Roughly 1/2 the passengers and 1/3 of the crew got sick from what I had heard. But remember the ships were much smaller and the stabilizers were not like what they have now. That was my 4th cruise my cruise coming in May will be my 12th so it certainly hasn't deterred me.

[HighlandCruzer]

I know this seams silly, but I remember being up on deck on the Mariner in January 2004. We were pulling out of port canaveral and about to head out to sea but it felt like we were going way too fast during the turn, and my mind was thinking "OMG! We're about to crash!" haha...

[ncGorK]

Our first cruise was in '92 on the Carnival Mardi Gras....a tiny ship by today standards....but when we first drove up and saw it we thought it was a monster ship! It was a short 3 night cruise to Nassau. That first night we hit the remnants of this tropical storm that had been sitting off the florida coast for days.....we were afraid our cruise would be cancelled cause of it. But off we went that first night and let me tell you that monster ship was rocking like a rubber ducky in a jacuzzi. People were sick....u couldn't walk without hangin onto something. The cruise director was also the entertainment (big budget mega-cruise!!)...he had to hang on to the stage curtains while he sang....it was pretty comical. We found our way to the casino and went inside.....the place was packed with people pulling those levers down......it appeared that they didn't even know there was a storm going on!!! It was a memorable night....but neither of us got seasick....and I don't recall feeling scared....after all....we were on this massive mega liner, lol. Ten years later we were on a different Carnival cruise and we had the same cruise director.....he remembered that night on the Mardi Gras very well....we had a good laugh remembering it with him. :o

[Merion_Mom]

Carol, your Princess roommate Nancy L hasn't been on these boards for awhile, do you know if she is okay? Have you been talking to her?

 

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PC, I haven't heard from her directly since last summer, but she's still blogging, so she's ok. :)

[Merion_Mom]

Ok, this isn't a "scary" moment, but a "better-hold-your-breath" moment, that I just loved!

 

When you sail out of Bayonne, you pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Voyager class ships BARELY clear it; I believe that the captain said that we had about 21 feet of clearance.

 

It is SO COOL to approach the bridge, when you are CONVINCED that there is NO WAY that the ship will fit underneath, then you pass under and can see the cars driving above you, with what feels like mere INCHES of clearance.

[Sandi149]

Ok, this isn't a "scary" moment, but a "better-hold-your-breath" moment, that I just loved!

 

When you sail out of Bayonne, you pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Voyager class ships BARELY clear it; I believe that the captain said that we had about 21 feet of clearance.

 

It is SO COOL to approach the bridge, when you are CONVINCED that there is NO WAY that the ship will fit underneath, then you pass under and can see the cars driving above you, with what feels like mere INCHES of clearance.

 

I know that bridge quite well. :D Very cool sailing under it and evening driving under it or on it.

[tterryj50]

Good thing I wasn't the captain, those whales would be fish sticks today!!!

[jkfreeman33]

I agree with another poster...... the bar bill scares me!!

[Madkitty]

I HATE that awful noise the ship makes in high waves - its like a thud and then a grind :eek:

[willysgrandma]

When we did an NCL in Hawaii, we were docked in Maui two nights. The first night, I woke up at 4 AM to the STRONG smell of ssomething burning.

 

Panicked, got DH up, called his sister next door to wake her up, we are all ready to run. Look in the hallway, no one is out.

 

Called the front desk - they were burning sugar cane on the island. That was what the smell was.

 

This is why I always wear pajamas to bed - it would not have been a pretty sight seeing me running through the halls in my underwear for sugar cane.

[YoungPlatinumGuy]

On a Millennium Cruise on Carnival with my buds, the last night, Jan.2 we were coming back into port in Tampa. We went outside on the pool deck and the fog was so thick you couldn't see 3 feet in front of you. It was like walking in the dark. Then, around 1 a.m., the ship stopped. It was too foggy to move. We had no idea why it had stopped though. It didn't start up again until 9 a.m., and we didn't get in until after noon.

 

Needless to say everyone missed their flights and Carnival had to put everyone up in hotels and rebook their flights. In the hotel, a huge group (200-300) of people were rallying to file a class action law suit, etc.

 

My group enjoyed the extra night vacation. But I was afraid of walking overboard because of the fog.

[Philly Steve]

Ok, this isn't a "scary" moment, but a "better-hold-your-breath" moment, that I just loved!

 

When you sail out of Bayonne, you pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Voyager class ships BARELY clear it; I believe that the captain said that we had about 21 feet of clearance.

 

It is SO COOL to approach the bridge, when you are CONVINCED that there is NO WAY that the ship will fit underneath, then you pass under and can see the cars driving above you, with what feels like mere INCHES of clearance.

 

There is a similar experience aboard Empress of the Seas out of Phila. Too much fun!

[Safetyal]

Another scary time. We were on the Carnival Conquest in the gym (DW and I), for those who have not been on board the ship, the jacuzzi is behind the gym and has a large glass wall so it is visible from the room. We watched an older gentleman, who shall I say was wide of girth, walk from the locker rooms into the jacuzzi area. We were on exercise bikes and we could see eveything in the jacuzzi area in a mirror we were facing. Well, this gentleman was wearing a robe. No big deal. The guy takes off his robe and puts it on a bench facing the gym. I motion to my wife to look, and say look he is wearing a speedo. Well he turns around to get into the jacuzzi, only it was not a speedo..... It was a thong!!!! That was scary.....:p :D

[BillOh]

I was in Windjammers and the lady in front of me took the last hamburger. I was terried for about 20 seconds, then a new tub came out and these were hotter! It was a rough 20 seconds.

[sunnyshine]

I was in Windjammers and the lady in front of me took the last hamburger. I was terried for about 20 seconds, then a new tub came out and these were hotter! It was a rough 20 seconds.

 

Thats pretty funny. Sounds like something I would say. Dont mess with my food.

[sept10dsm]

There is a similar experience aboard Empress of the Seas out of Phila. Too much fun!

and the GOS out of Baltimore!!

[xpcdoojk]

On my one Carnival cruise, I was scared to death that I was going to get invited on the stage by the comedian one time! Absolutely mortified!

 

jc;)

[skohrs]

The scariest night I've ever had on a cruise was when I had to go back to my cabin and tell my wife that I lost $1,000 playing playing blackjack and then another $2,000 trying to win it back playing craps. Bad, bad, bad, bad night.