Were You Ever Scared On A Cruise?

[kingsgirl]

First cruise (on a now defunct line) we were tendering to port - slightly choppy and drizzling. The cruise line had a narrow aluminum starway perched to the outside of the ship down which we had to climb to the tenders. It was over two decks and was not stable. The waves washed over the bottom few steps. An older gentleman slipped tumbled down six to eight steps about 2/3 of the way down and broke his leg - rather than having us all come back up, they had us stay on this contraption while the medical crew picked its way past us. (and me with a VERY 'healthy respect' for heights!)

 

An RCCI cruise to AK a few years back - rough seas just off Vancouver Island area in Canadian waters at about 5:00am. I awake to a jolt and everything shifting and banging (DH and DD slept through it). Although rough seas, nothing more happened and I had ALMOST gotten back to sleep when it happened again. This time DH also woke up. We bundled up and went out on the balconey. We were really clipping along -- faster than I ever imagined a cruise ship could go! within about 15 minutes we can see a small fishing vessal. We come up REALLY close and then stop dead in the water. Two zodiac are launched from our ship and they approach the fishing vessal which it is, now obvious even to me, in trouble with only the bridge house barely above water - The zodiacs pluck the three crew members from the fishing vessal (which has now disappeared) from the water and bring them back to the ship. They had video and the captain, the first mate (who lead the rescue effort) and the fishing vessal's crew (now all dressed in RCCI sweats from the gift shop) did an hour-and-a-half presentation about the rescue later that morning. Then a helio landed and picked up the fishing crew. Very exciting (and more than just a little scary even for me, a bystander!)

 

 

Wow that's awesome!

[Tabsmom]

Christmas day 2005. We were on the Sov of the seas and stopped at Coco Cay. It was really gray and they water was a little rough, but we caught the tender and headed over to the island. After an hour or two it started to rain really hard. Most of us who did go to the island started to head back to the tender to get back on the ship.

Well the seas were REALLY rough now. The rain was blowing sideways into the tender. When we finally go to the ship the gangway was moving up and down with the waves. It probably came up 10-15 feet off the deck. The poor crew that was trying to keep it steady looked absolutely terrified. That sure didn't help me any.

The crew would watch the waves coming alongside of the ship and when there was a big dip (the gangway could then touch the deck) they would tell 1 or 2 people to run. Literally run across the gangway. I was real worried about the elderly folks who could not run across.

 

To this day, I just can't forgive the captain. He could see Santa's sleigh on the radar, but he couldn't see the big friggin storm headed our way. :rolleyes:

[gmadvm]

I was on that ship that grounded off of Nantucket. I think it was in 93 or 94. I was with my parents, and it was around 11pm and my dad (ex-Navy man) said that we had stopped. We didn't even feel that we had hit anything. The next morning you could see the bottom. We were in about 10 feet of water, and someone said we needed 22 or 24 feet of draft. My mom was freaking out because she can't swim, but my dad just said "what are you worried about, we're on the bottom already." It did take about 36 hours for tugs from NJ and NY and Boston to pull us off the bottom with the help of an astronomical high tide. It wasn't scary but it was interesting to watch. They got some ferries from Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard and were trying to bring them close enough to the ship to ferry us all off back to Massachusetts but the seas were rough and we weren't moving. All the windows in the ferry were smashed from the ferry slamming into the ship, so that idea was abandoned. They did have a helicopter drop some medical supplies for a passenger who was running out of medications. The ship did do an excellent job with stretching the food supplies. We got a free cruise out of it and took the exact same trip the next year. All and all an excellent adventure for a high schooler. We were hoping for another incident to keep the free cruise ball rolling. Then the line went out of business a few years later. :rolleyes:

[Pomperaugrr]

Then the line went out of business a few years later.

 

Majesty was/is RCCL. I believe they are still in business. ;)

[gmadvm]

i may be wrong, but i thought the ship was called royal majesty, from majesty cruise lines, and not majesty of the seas. they may have sold it. but i don't remember the crown and anchor emblem on the funnel.

[Desert Cruizers]

This wasn't a scary moment, but more enjoyable. Two yrs ago on the Brilliance Cruise, 11 Night e Caribbean, we got into some heavier waves and we rocked some. Rather funny watching people ahead of you trying to walik staright and drifting to their left. Of couse I probably looked funny to the person in back of me. Our CD said at the show, " you can always tell the drunks from the sobers, the drunks are walking straight " that got a shuckle from audience.

[wakelover]

I was scared once....I got back to my cabin and there were loads of pitchers of water on the vanity!!!!! I had nightmares for a week!!!!;) ;)

[Desert Cruizers]

Did anyone get to see the whales sleeping?? I would gladly let all my belongs get washed overboard for a chance to see a sleeping family of whales!!!

On one Cruise the Capt announced Dolphins off our Starboard, boy you should have seen 1000 + running to the side to see them. On that same cruise in the Winjammer noticed a lady standing and looking ahead, she pointed to several Dolphin off our bow, I stood with her for several minutes.

[Mrsg324]

I have been scared on both of my cruises. Scared to see my seapass bill at the end of the cruise.

[CruiserNic]

I was scared once....I got back to my cabin and there were loads of pitchers of water on the vanity!!!!! I had nightmares for a week!!!!;) ;)

 

That is the scariest thing I have ever heard!! You poor thing!!:D

[kingsgirl]

I was scared once....I got back to my cabin and there were loads of pitchers of water on the vanity!!!!! I had nightmares for a week!!!!;) ;)

 

 

OMG you CRACKER!!! LMBO!!!

 

HILARIOUS!

 

Thanks for the chuckle!! :rolleyes:

[vortigern]

Like the comments about the bar tabs and other things scary! Our impression is that these days cruise ships in general (and RCCI / X in particular) are a very safe place to be. We've had some rough weather, a couple of missed ports but never been scared. In contrast, the very first cruise I did (Aznar Line in 1973) threw at passengers:

• A kitchen fire that filled the whole ship with smoke and resulted in so much water pumped in to fight it that the ship was listing alarmingly. This was off the coast of Belgium and the oil tanker that changed course to investigate the pall of smoke didn't seem the most appropriate rescue ship. Cold food for three days!
  
• Normal service resumed in the galley but then stormbound in Trondheim (Norway) for 12 hours
  
• Trying to make up time the propeller shaft was damaged and the engineers had to make repairs at sea. We spent about 8 hours drifting off the very north-west tip of Scotland, luckily on the most idyllic calm sunny day whilst the problem was fixed - anyone who has seen the movie The Cruel Sea can get the picture. Result - arrival in Liverpool 18hrs late.

Despite this early experience, and some less spectacular problems on ferry trips between the UK and France, give me a ship for a vacation any time!

 

Vortigern

[OHCruisin]

Well, I wasn't scared, but we had three different incidences on my Radiance cruise last April. The first, and ironically right after muster, was a fire in the crew quarters. We had just finished muster when "Bravo, Bravo, Bravo" came over the intercom. Small fire on deck 2. They put it out within a matter of minutes. At the same time, a passanger had fallen down the steps after muster, so he was being evacuated. Delayed departure about an hour and a half. Then on the last day, at sea, over the intercom comes "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar (apparently code for man overboard), starboard side". We rescued a Cuban refugee floating in an inner tube.

[GIFTofGAB]

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 am always scared by the colors and designs of the costumes and sets on Celebrity's production shows. Not to mention the push-button use of lighting effects.

 

I feel SOOOO sorry for some of those outfits those poor male actors have to wear. They are truly brave people.

 

Has anyone on the Celebrity design team looked up the word "design" and lately?

 

(PS I am a HUGE fan of Celebrity and of the performers and the wonderful musicians and dancers, but oh, brother, the costumes and sets are truly a visual clashing horror. Yes, yes, I know, Las-Vegas flash, but honestly. Will someone buy them a color-wheel?)

 

The Cirque du Soleil performers are a breath of relief with their simpllicity.

[trammyt]

Last year on our Costa Magica cruise, we awoke to the sound of the captain announcing that during the night, a family member of a passenger fell overboard, and that we had been circling around in a pattern since about 2 a.m. trying to find her. We jumped out of bed with a pit in our stomach and joined many other crew member and passengers out on deck, searching the water for a glimpse of the young girl. Unfortunately, her body was never found, and her family returned to Ireland without her. Even scarier, was watching a young couple argue with the front desk about having to miss their scheduled wedding ceremony in Grand Cayman because the ship had to change it's itinerary due to the unfortunate accident.

[kruzerci]

We were on Voyager of the Seas in May 2004. It was our first day at sea and a cold front had moved through the night before. It was cool, foggy and just before sunrise when I woke up. After getting a cup of coffee at the Cafe Promenade, I walked down to deck 4 and made my way up to the helicopter pad that we had been trying to get to since we boarded the ship. I stood up at the very tip of the bow, like everybody tries when they are on a Voyager or Radiance class ship, and when I was totally relaxed trying to see through the darkness and fog, the ships horn sounds. Talk about making you jump :D ! If you have never been up there when they blow the horn-- its loud as hell :eek: .

[aqhacruiser]

Just how close to shore do the ships sail when heading back from Bermuda to Boston, NJ, NY, Charleston, SC? Can you see land all the way down the U.S. coast. Anybody know?

 

No, If leaving from NY area you cut across from Bayonne NJ to Bermuda. No land to be seen. You can see the routes they take by going on the www.rccl.com website for each cruise. :)

[Arizona Laura]

I want to be scared again. Any experiences to add?

 

 

[MrPete]

We were sailing trans-Pacific on the Carnival Jubilee in April of 1998, on our way to Hawaii.

 

DW and I were in our beds, she under the window, and I against the wall. It was early morning, 6AMish, and we were just talking, and you know how you get used to that back and forth rocking rhythm on these smaller ships.

 

Well, the "back" never seemd to happen after a "forth", and we just kept going, going and going. Things started sliding off counters, the siderails, and I really got scared when her bed came away from the wall and started moving toward the door.

 

And then, a complete reverse, where we abruptly came rightside again.

 

We got dressed and came up on deck. There were many that were coming out of their cabins with their lifevests.

 

The pools emptied, the china was trashed, and the gift shops laid waste.

 

It was a frightening few moments, but it was the talk of the ship the rest of the way.

 

They never did tell us the cause. But of course, the rumors ran rampant.

[sassafras8913]

I have a very similar experience to that of the previous poster's. It was our last cruise in '05 onboard the Carnival Legend. We had just left Tortola, maybe an hour out, when we heard a few thuds from under the boat. My dad was out on the balcony and could describe it very well. All the sudden the ship started tipping or "listing" toward our side. Everything slid off the dresser and I ran UPHILL to the door, life vest in hand. You could hear people screaming in the halls. Within a minute if not less, we had righted ourselves.

 

All the china was broken in the dining room, one of the chefs has been burned with hot soup. A man in the casino was thrown across the room. The gift shop was thrashed, all the liquor bottles broken. For at least the next hr, the intercoms kept calling for missing passengers. No one ended up severely hurt or worse, missing.

 

The funny part was that our room was across from the storage room for the extra liquor. Well, all the boxes jammed up against the door and prevented the staff from getting in. It was all spilling out onto the carpet when we left for dinner and when we came back, we found about 8 men trying to pry open the door, some of them in hysterics laughing.

 

Definitely the scariest few seconds of my life! Rumors had it that we listed anywhere from 14 to 18 degrees, supposedly a few more may have been danger. It was a computer malfunction that the captain was able to over-ride in time. Someone told me they were in the gym with the captain moments before it happened and a senior officer came running in for him and the 2 left in a hurry.

 

Did that scare everyone enough? LOL

 

(ready to do it all again in 2 weeks, except of course for the listing part!)

[bubbadog]

Good stories. I wonder what it takes for the captain to get nervous!

 

 

 

 

 

it would probably be 1) no power 2) rocks or icebergs 3) fire onboard, and not in that order:)))

[Cindy]

In March of 2006 we were on the Grand Princess out of Galveston during Spring Break. On the first night of the cruise, we were awakened at 3:00 a.m. by the voice of the captain over the intercom. At first it scared the *%#* out of me, but when I realized what was happening I settled down.

Apparently a teenager (I still remember it was Kelsey from Caribe 7-something) had decided to "upgrade" her accommodations without letting her parents know!:eek: I assume they had tried everything to find this girl before the captain resorted to waking the entire ship in the wee hours of the morning.

There was another missing teen incident around 9:00 that same morning. When the captain came on at noon he gave the teens a stern talking to and their parents a stern warning! That was the end of the troubles for that cruise!:)

[FreewayFortune]

Wow great stories:) I would have really wanted a picture of the skeeping whales.

 

This wasn't on the ship but when we were finished our shore excursion in Ketchikan we got back on our bus. Everything seemed normal until the bus we were on caught on fire. We had to quickly get off the bus and luckily for us there was a Princess bus that wasn't quite full that we could get on.

 

That night on the ship we had close to 20 foot waves and we weren't allowed on the balcony or any of the outside decks. It didn't bother me as much as the fire.

[Emi's Mom]

My first and only cruise was on the Sovereign of the Seas out of Port Canaveral in January 2005. Was just a 3 night cruise from hell. Was raining terribly when we left so no anything when we departed. Made it into Nassua and out with no problem. Then rocked and rolled until we docked. Missed Coco Cay because it was too rough. No shows because they were afraid for the dancers because it was soooooo rough. Pools closed, Crown lounge closed, upper decks closed because it was too dangerous to walk up there and too windy to stand anyways. People sick every corner you turned. Was rocked right out of bed in the middle of the night. The worse was, since we weren't sick, we went to dinner. Pianist was playing the theme to the Titanic, like I needed that running through my head!!

 

Gonna give it another shot and try the Mariner in June.

 

I've heard about a pianist playing the Titanic theme long before our cruise in April and as luck would have it ... it was played during our cruise too. I think that is just awful! :mad:

[FreewayFortune]

I've heard about a pianist playing the Titanic theme long before our cruise in April and as luck would have it ... it was played during our cruise too. I think that is just awful! :mad:

 

 

They actually told us that they wouldn't play the Titanic theme when we were at the Hubbard Glacier last year.