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Constant rough seas "normal?"


ughmaybenot
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This is pretty miserable. Left Friday on Celebrity for St Thomas (first stop.) People told us we would not be able to tell the boat was moving. For more than two days, the Equinox has pitched and rolled for the entire time since shortly after leaving port. Seasoned cruisers have said they have never seen this before. The drapes swing. My kit hanging on door swings pendulum-like. We hear creaking sounds of ship. My husb has vestibular issues so he expected problems. We brought 3 meds. But I have issues also (have meds.) Guest Services says "it is always like this from Florida to St Thomas." Is that true? This is not much fun.

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Major high pressure area causing rather stiff east winds for the next few days.

 

You are in the Atlantic Ocean...prone to active seas. After St Thomas, not so much.

 

It is not always like this, but it is impossible to book a cruise based on good sea conditions. It is what it is.

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No, it's not always like that...but it certainly CAN be...the seas are quite fickle...and winds have been pretty strong for a couple months now...that can cause a host of problems! So sorry you're having less than perfect weather. Our 1st cruise was rocky, too!

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The majority of the time we have had calm seas going towards St Thomas.

But with the weather patterns changing, you can experience rough seas.

Some captains choose to go out into the Atlantic to head towards St Thomas while others choose to stay in towards the Bahamas as they head south.

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We usually sail out of NYC in winter so when we sail from Florida, the motion feels less. The draperies & your kit moving mean it was rough. I found our cruise around Hawaii to be rough too. But thinking about it, gee all those BIG surfing waves, what did I expect.

 

I'm sorry you guy had it rough. It seems like you had it rougher then most but few cruises have no movement at all.

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On one of our very first cruises, we went to bed and the ship was rocking a bit more than usual. Keep in mind this was several years ago when the TV's were on a sort of shelf that would slide out to turn it around to view. It didn't have any sort of 'lock" to keep it in place. In the middle of the night, we woke up to the sound of the TV siding out and SLAMMING into it's little cubby. Then the drawers on the dresser started sliding out then SLAMMING back shut. Maybe it was a combination of being so new to cruising and thinking this was somehow normal, and the fact that we were bone tired and had taken a Dramamine, but we got up, stuffed a few wash cloths into the TV cubby and the drawers so they would stop slamming shut and went back to sleep...lol. The next morning at breakfast was the first we knew that the horrible storm and rough seas were just run of the mill happenings. Everyone was talking about it. Years later we were on a cruise coming back from Hawaii and the seas were so rough that they closed all the outside doors and the water was coming out of the pools like giant waves. We absolutely knew this was not normal and it was like this for two days. Everyone looked like they were walking sideways.

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We've made that sail to St. Thomas quite a few times and don't remember any really rough seas. So it is definitely not always that way and the crew was exaggerating, to say the least.

 

But, weather is weather and hard to predict. You hit a bad spell. Sounds like it will get better. In our 30 plus cruises we've never hit seas like you are talking about, but it can always happen.

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"Rough seas", like beauty, are in the eyes oh the beholder. Also, "constant" means different things to different people. I have had conversations with people on board who were complaining about (in some cases even frightened by) the gentle motion caused by six foot seas.

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This i would call rough seas. My heart does go out to those that suffer motion sickness.

 

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Forums mobile app

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We have never really understood the rough sea-calm sea thing...and the folks that want others to predict sea conditions. Even experienced sea Captains cannot predict sea conditions more then a few days in advance. Large ships move because of the wind (the relative angle of the wind is very important), long swells (which can be generated by storms hundreds or even thousands of miles distant, and local conditions. When you get on a ship...any ship...you must understand that a ship merely sails upon the sea. If the sea moves....so will the ship. Stabilizers can certainly help (unless the rough seas are coming from the bow or stern) but are limited in their ability to dampen heavy swells. We have crossed from Florida to the Caribbean islands...dozens of times and had all kinds of conditions. If folks are going to whine because its a little rough then perhaps they should simply stick to land-based vacations.

 

Hank

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Most of the ship's motion is caused by the seas. Two different ships in the same seas will experience them differently. If the seas are massive, all ships will have a great deal of motion, but short of such conditions, there are many factors that go into how a ship is going to behave. Waves are generated by wind whether or not there is a storm. Local winds create waves, winds at substantial distance generate waves, etc. That is why, if you study the seas, you will often see what turns out to be two or more patterns, i.e. four small waves, then one or two big waves, then four small ones again, etc. These are separate wave "trains," and they were each created by different wind events.

 

Weather fronts tend to be the main site of winds and storms, and as they move further away, the winds diminish and the seas die down. Of course, new fronts come and cause wind, etc., etc., etc. High winds move further away and die down, and seas ultimately die down as well. A couple of days tends to be the extent of it, but the weather we have all been used to is changing and at any given time, old "usuals" can be irrelevant.

 

Hopefully your conditions will or have already calmed down a bit. The seas could still be coming off the beam (side) and stabilizers are only so good at preventing or limiting rolling motion.

 

To the wider community, seas are what they are. Ships try to take them at the most tolerable angle for comfort and to maximize operations, but bear in mind that they have to get from point A to point B. So short of dangerous conditions, they are going to head through the seas. Ships are made to be at sea, and rough seas are part of this planet we call earth.

 

Sea sickness will pass for virtually everyone in a day or two at the most. Do what you can to minimize it. Eat at normal meal times. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but it is true. Do not eat greasy foods, and do not overeat, but have something in your stomach. Keep the horizon or the seas in sight. The primary cause of seasickness is thought to be a conflict between the eyes and your inner ear. When you eye is not seeing motion, and your inner ear senses motion, some people get motion sick. With enough motion and the right conditions, even those who "never get seasick" can get seasick. There is also a psychological element to seasickness. If you think you are going to get seasick, or are afraid that you will, you will tend to realize your fears! That's why people get seasick before the ship is even moving, i.e. feeling motion while the ship is still tied to the pier.

 

I have posted more about seasickness in the past, so you can search for those posts.

Edited by bbwex
typographical error
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Thanks for the great responses. The cruise was for the most part, rough. Our sea-sickness abated somewhat. Yes, eating helped, even though the dining room food was a disappointment even to seasoned cruisers. But we adjusted to the "surf," eventually tapering off meclazine as it made us sleepy. It rained a lot, in the Caribbean, and at sea, even though everybody told us it was the dry season. The sea was rough to varrying extents most of the time. There were a few calm times. The pool had a huge surf, sloshing way out onto deck. One couple said they slept sideways in the bed! The captain referred to everything as "moderate" seas. But, it was still very fun. The joke became that the only people walking normally were the drunk ones!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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When it comes to cruising you never know.

 

This is why when someone asks what the weather and sea will be like my answer is "it depends".

 

Even history for the time of year means nothing with weather changing as much as it does.

 

The key is to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

 

Keith

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