How do Oceania's Ships Ride in Rough Seas??

I am interested to hear from Oceania guests that have experienced rough seas when on Insignia, Nautica or Regatta and also on large ships. How did these 30,000 ton ships ride and how do you think they did compared to the large ships closer to 100,000+ tons?

For the Naval Architects does size really matter, or do they all move around relatively the same amount in 30 foot waves/swells? Design would also seem to be a factor as many large ships do not have deep hulls so they can get into more ports without having to tender. The largest cruise ship is Freedom of the Seas and has a draft of 28 feet. Grand Princess for example is 109,000 tons and has a draft of 26 feet. Celebrity Mercury is only 77,000 tons but also has a 26 foot draft. All the Oceania ships are 30,000 tons and have a draft of 20 feet which are the highest ratios of draft to tons. Does this matter? What does?

I personally have been in several gales with 25 to 30 foot seas and the ships road beautifully. I've also been in 8 foot seas on another larger ship and it moved around more than the slightly smaller ship in the larger seas. I even rode through a hurricane on a 200 ft. reserach ship many years ago with 45 foot seas. Now I am very curious about the old myths and what the reality may be.

Thanks.

John

I'm sensitive to motion but I found this class of ship not too stable on even small waves (which translates to: I was sick). However my DH didn't feel the motion at all. I'm pretty sure though, that I saw somewhere that their stability level is not as good as other ships.

What ship would you have been on that rode the waves "beautifully" in 25 to 30 foot seas? That's a ship I would like to try!

This is a copy of the post I wrote on a similar topic on this Board:

We were on the Pacific Princess in January and were in Force 5 gale seas which to us weren't very big but the Pacific Princess certainly moved around and many passengers were sea sick for the 3 days that we experienced the bad weather. We were fine as we are good sailors and our cabin was midships.

The Pacific Princess is a sister ship to Oceania's 3 ships so they would ride exactly the same in these conditions. We have been through Force 11 gales down in the Drake Passage on the Regal Princess and it rode the waves very well, though at times we thought the ship was going to break up. Many passengers and crew were ill for those 24 hours of extreme weather conditions. That ship is 70,000 tons and was built in the early 90's when ships were built as ships and not as floating hotels.

I have also been on the Tahitian Princess, and when we went from Tahiti to the Cook Islands, the ship did roll a lot with the Pacific rollers, yet looking out to sea there was hardly a ripple.

I would not like to experience a Force 10 or 11 gale in one of the ex R ships as from my experience these ships do not ride the seas very well.

I have found that the older ships, such as the Regal Princess and HAL's Prinsendam rode so much better in heavy seas.

Jennie

I'll try again, previous attempt having disappeared into cyberspace.

I'm not a naval architect, but ride does depend a great deal on length, beam, and draft.

The R-class ships are relatively short, and do not draw a lot of water, and in certain sea conditions, will not ride well. Wave height and frequency come into play.

Large ships do not necessarily ride well in rough water either. The Princess' Grand class ships, at 110,000 GT plus, are notorious "bouncers" in heavy seas. On Golden Princess' trans-Atlantic, 8-02, we had bow slap spray raining down onto our balcony on Caribe Deck (deck 10), and several windows along Prom Deck shattered while the ship was bouncing, flexing, and fighting for headway. There also was significant breakage in the ship's shops.

The late great Royal Princess, now P&O's Artemis, was a very good rider in heavy seas.

I don't know the ratios, but generally speakiing, a "long and lean" ship will take to heavy seas better than "beamy" ships.

When we were on the Insignia in August/September of last year in the Med, there was quite a bit of movement. We didn't encounter any big storms or unusual weather events, but apparently there were high winds on maybe 3 of the 14 nights. My husband and I are not prone to seasickness (have sailed 20+ cruises and have only been nauseated a total of two times when EVERYONE else on the ship was sick), but there were others on our sailing who were sick. I do think there was quite a bit more movement on the Insignia as compared to other ships that we have sailed considering the (lack of) weather conditions. Hopefully since there are so many measure that you can use to prevent episodes or relieve symptoms, you will be able to sail Oceania because I do think they are a great cruise line.

Have a great next cruise,

Donna

I am not a naval architect or maritime engineer but am fairly/very knowledgeable about propulsion systems, stabilizers, pod propulsion systems environmental control systems or at least this is the opinion of the engineering consultant recently on-board the Regatta Panama Canal cruise performing a detailed report on Regatta's systems (Excellent shape BTW) and Regatta's Chief Engineer whom I spent hours with.

Druke is entirely correct. Some smaller ships actually handle rough seas better than larger ships or vice versa depending on the some of the variables Druke pointed out. One of the biggest variables is the wind and its direction. The newer, larger ships are much taller and have a much larger "sail area" (the area of the ship above the water line exposed to the wind.) If the wind is strong and is hitting the ship from abeam i.e., perpendicular to the direction of travel, in many cases the stabilizers on these large and taller ships just cannot adequately compensate for the tremendous wind pressure and you can get fairly significant rolling. In these cases, being on a smaller ship with a significantly smaller sail area will result in less rolling than on a taller larger ship. When we were on the Golden Princess (110,000 tons) the ship would shudder as the stabilizers "bit". Even so, it was not enough to prevent some very serious rolling activity.

BTW, although not part of the OP's question, you will get the most stern vibration in a "following sea" as the propulsion forces and the wave forces are working at odds with one another.

Best regards--

Bill

I spent a lot of time in my youth in the North Sea on 70' fishing vessels, so I am very familiar with the effects of unstable sea conditions on boats/ships. However, I was not totally sure as to what caused variations in the effects that unstable weather had on various differing styles of ships. I had the privilege a couple of years ago of having a discussion with a naval engineer on the topic. After trying to explain to me ship stability taking into account center of gravity, center of buoyancy, and metacenter, he tried to simplify the discussion so that even my lame brain could comprehend..here is the substance of our conversation:

There are two basic types of "motion" in a ship - roll (side to side motion), and pitch (bow to stern motion).

There are multiple factors the present possible instability in a ship - waves, swells, currents, wind, etc.

Every ship design is some kind of compromise. Cruise ships are probably inherently the least stable design because of the following factors:

1. A shallow draft is required to get into non deep water ports. A shallower draft also can cause less drag on the ship, making it potentially more fuel efficient. The shallower the draft, the more unstable the ship.

2. A cruise ship is designed to have a disproportionate amount of the ship above the waterline causing the center of gravity to be higher, causing more instability. The "slab sided" nature of cruise ships also makes them susceptible to cross winds.

3. Cruise ships are designed to be as wide as practical because this increases interior space. The wider the ship, the less seaworthy it tends to be.

Cruise ship design tries to mitigate these factors by making the ships longer (the longer the ship, the less pitch it is susceptible to - not a direct correlation, but pretty close). They also install stabilizers to minimize roll, but these tend to increase fuel consumption.

Ocean liners which plied the North Atlantic (and even some of Cunard's current ship design) were designed specifically to take into account the prevailing wave effects in the North Atlantic, and their length, draft, etc were all designed to provide fast smooth crossings.

To sum up, cruise ships in general are inherently less stable due to design requirements. Oceania's design is even inherently more unstable due to their shallower draft, higher center of gravity, etc.

However, what might appear to be a "rough sea" might not affect a ship negatively due to the current movement, etc. If you have ever been on a wave runner, it is very different going "with" the waves as opposed to going "against" the waves.

In short, your experiences will vary, and it may have nothing to do with ship design. The closer you are to the center of gravity of a ship, the less you will feel the effect of unstable weather

Ok now you have me nervous. I must have misunderstood when someone told me the Mediterranean is pretty calm. My husband and I are going from Rome to Venice the end of April. He is very prone to seasickness. We don't have our cabin yet because we are in a guarantee outside, so I don't even know where we'll be on ship. Any sugggestions?

When we have cruised on the Mediterranean it was very calm. Both times it was September/October so do not know about April.

I would go prepared with sea sickness preparations and get your husband to start taking them just before you sail as a preventative.

We do not get sea sick so I do not know what medications etc are the best though from reading these Boards cruisers seem to prefer Bonine or something like that. I do know we cannot obtain that down here.

Jennie

Eat a green apple, (must be green), and a bowl of beef broth about 1/2 hour before you go. This will help with sea sickness. I am tremendously prone to sea sickness and none of the medication, wrist bands, tea, anything worked.

The green apple and beef broth did. Throughout the cruise, when I started to feel myself getting a little motion sickness, I would eat a couple of crackers to settle the stomach.

Try it. You will be amazed.

Well, I've only been seasick once, on the little Golden Odyssey, a 10,000 tonner, way back in Nov 86, trying to outrun the back end of a typhoon, in the East China Sea. We had green water over the bridge, screws out of the water, and the inclinometer was pegged several times.

One of the "old salts" recommended ginger ale and saltine crackers to settle the stomach. I've used that several times since, if I feel the least bit queasy, and it works for me.

Roseleib, try not to overstress re sea conditions. Que sera sera as Doris Day sang.

How does she ride? Like a bucking bronco on roller skates! :D

The dining room staff passed out candied ginger when we encountered rough seas in the Med. You might want to pack a few pieces in your carry-on luggage, as I've found that ginger ale contains more sugar than ginger leading me to forego ginger ale in a storm. Unless it's Vernor's, of course.