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Pacific waves vs Caribbean waves


Postman806
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Making our first cruise into the vast Pacific, to Hawaii. In general how are the waves there compared to the waters in the Caribbean? Can I expect some rougher going or similar? I haven't gotten seasick on my first 5 cruises and don't want to🤢. I wear a patch because I am a little susceptible to wooziness. What's been your experience?

 

 

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You may encounter some rough seas going to/from Hawaii on first 2 days as we experienced in the month of May.

 

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I agree this is possible. But the seas are not predictable. If you have a problem with sea sickness, you must be prepared every day you are on a ship. It could be rough, it could be calm, it will likely be somewhere in between.

 

Comparing Caribbean to Pacific is apples and oranges...essentially. There are entirely different conditions, for entirely different reasons.

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The 2 cruises are TOTALLY different...in feel. The "pacific" is anything BUT....it can be rough, and on the west coast of the USA, it's always quite chilly.

 

Wave height is not a product of LOCATION...it can be calm or rough ANYWHERE! Look at the "Great Lakes"...Big ships have SUNK on those lakes, due to waves and wind!

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The 2 cruises are TOTALLY different...in feel. The "pacific" is anything BUT....it can be rough, and on the west coast of the USA, it's always quite chilly.

 

Wave height is not a product of LOCATION...it can be calm or rough ANYWHERE! Look at the "Great Lakes"...Big ships have SUNK on those lakes, due to waves and wind!

 

Glad to see you're posting up to reputation, and getting it wrong consistently. Wave height is a function of location, just like wave period is as well. Where there are large, uninterrupted expanses of water, without land masses to break it up, the seas add to each other and build, just look at the "Roaring 40's" that completely circle the globe in the southern hemisphere. Compare this to the North Sea or Baltic, and you get a totally different probability of large wave height, wave period, and wave steepness.

 

Having said that, to answer the OP's question, in general, you cannot compare waves in two locations, as there is no "average" wave for any ocean. It may be far rougher in the Caribbean on a given day than it is for a whole month in the Pacific, or the other way around.

 

As others have said, the first day or so heading from/to the West Coast, you will be running across the California current, which runs north to south, so the seas tend towards this direction, placing them on the beam as you sail towards Hawaii and the South Pacific. This can cause rolling.

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The 2 cruises are TOTALLY different...in feel. The "pacific" is anything BUT....it can be rough, and on the west coast of the USA, it's always quite chilly.

 

Wave height is not a product of LOCATION...it can be calm or rough ANYWHERE! Look at the "Great Lakes"...Big ships have SUNK on those lakes, due to waves and wind!

 

 

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a song written, composed, and performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Lightfoot drew his inspiration from Newsweek's article on the event, "The Cruelest Month", which it published in its November 24, 1975, issue.[1] Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work.[2]

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The odds say you will have cooler weather and some rough seas the first day or two and the final day or two.

 

However weather is unpredictable so I always say prepare for rough seas but hope you don't have them.

 

Keith

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The 2 cruises are TOTALLY different...in feel. The "pacific" is anything BUT....it can be rough, and on the west coast of the USA, it's always quite chilly.

 

Wave height is not a product of LOCATION...it can be calm or rough ANYWHERE! Look at the "Great Lakes"...Big ships have SUNK on those lakes, due to waves and wind!

 

 

 

West Coast of the US IS "always quite chilly?" Where do you come up with this stuff? Look at this past week's weather!

 

 

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Check out www.windy.com for waves in Pacific (or anywhere) and you can see at the moment there are nine foot swells with a period of 8 seconds all the way from Vancouver to Hawaii. Of course this changes constantly but checking the link from time to time will give an idea what "typical" conditions are. I had been checking this really frequently for our Alaska cruise so we were prepared for the conditions off Vancouver Is. First night we had 9 foot swells with 10 second periods and sure enough every 10 seconds or so from our far forward cabin we heard "BOOM" all night long as we ran into swells going the other way. Same up & down motion on return but not as noisy as they were going with us.

 

Note: if link does not show colorful waves display move the control at right side off of waves to something else then back to Waves.

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My experience is that the Pacific has bigger waves and the trip over the ocean to Hawaii is cooler. When we cruised from LA to Hawaii, my husband and I ended up buying an extra sweater on the ship each because we were always wearing the same one. Upon our return, the waves were very strong and the crew closed the top deck.

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Pacific is a misnomer. Magellan simply found calm seas after sailing under South America. The Pacific can be a nasty lady. Going to SoCal beaches we learnt not to turn our backs on her. (Cabo has back to back beaches- Lover's Beach facing the Bay and Divorce Beach, facing the Pacific. Every so often someone gets pulled in at Divorce Beach.)

It's the largest body of water on earth with little to break it up. What happens up in Alaska effects us, as does what's happening in the Western Pacific.

One thing to consider is that even in calm seas, the ship will roll a bit. Can always tell Caribbean Cruisers from those who sail primarily on the West Coast.

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Check out www.windy.com for waves in Pacific (or anywhere) and you can see at the moment there are nine foot swells with a period of 8 seconds all the way from Vancouver to Hawaii. Of course this changes constantly but checking the link from time to time will give an idea what "typical" conditions are. I had been checking this really frequently for our Alaska cruise so we were prepared for the conditions off Vancouver Is. First night we had 9 foot swells with 10 second periods and sure enough every 10 seconds or so from our far forward cabin we heard "BOOM" all night long as we ran into swells going the other way. Same up & down motion on return but not as noisy as they were going with us.

 

Note: if link does not show colorful waves display move the control at right side off of waves to something else then back to Waves.

 

 

 

Awesome website. Thanks

 

 

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Check out www.windy.com for waves in Pacific (or anywhere) and you can see at the moment there are nine foot swells with a period of 8 seconds all the way from Vancouver to Hawaii. Of course this changes constantly but checking the link from time to time will give an idea what "typical" conditions are. I had been checking this really frequently for our Alaska cruise so we were prepared for the conditions off Vancouver Is. First night we had 9 foot swells with 10 second periods and sure enough every 10 seconds or so from our far forward cabin we heard "BOOM" all night long as we ran into swells going the other way. Same up & down motion on return but not as noisy as they were going with us.

 

Note: if link does not show colorful waves display move the control at right side off of waves to something else then back to Waves.

 

Maybe you know. I hear about the inside passage versus what, outside passage? What exactly are the differences? We are departing Seattle on a 14 day HAL cruise. Will we be going through the outside passage? Are there any difference in seas?

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...Where there are large, uninterrupted expanses of water, without land masses to break it up, the seas add to each other and build, just look at the "Roaring 40's" (just HAD to look that up!) that completely circle the globe in the southern hemisphere. Compare this to the North Sea or Baltic, and you get a totally different probability of large wave height, wave period, and wave steepness... As others have said, the first day or so heading from/to the West Coast, you will be running across the California current, which runs north to south, so the seas tend towards this direction, placing them on the beam as you sail towards Hawaii and the South Pacific. This can cause rolling.

 

I nearly always learn something new from your posts. I'd happily buy you a drink if we ever ended up on the same ship. Thank you for sharing!

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Maybe you know. I hear about the inside passage versus what, outside passage? What exactly are the differences? We are departing Seattle on a 14 day HAL cruise. Will we be going through the outside passage? Are there any difference in seas?

 

Many ships with RT Seattle voyages travel on the west side of Vancouver Island. This is the Pacific side of the Island and is not protected. Seas can be a little rougher than in the protected waters of the inside passage. Also, ships can travel at a faster speed on the west side of the Island which may make the voyage feel a little more "wavey"

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On the waves map if you have a mouse with a scroll wheel you can zoom in to particular spot. You can also click on a spot to see the wave heights at that point. Zooming to the right side of Vancouver Is. and clicking will usually show waves of 1 foot at most but left of the island they are often at least 4 feet and as we found 9 feet - and in Winter frequently 15-20 feet. It's interesting to monitor it over time. Also, just before cruising there is a date scale at the bottom where you can see the future forecasted conditions for up to 10 days.

 

I saw a video last week of one of the cruise lines (RCL) that has added a full time meteorologist to their staff and in the background during the interview with him was a very large TV with windy.com showing wave conditions.

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