What is the worst weather you have encountered?

[klingoncruiser]

Our very first cruise was the worst weather we have ever seen. It was on a princess cruise and crossing the Gulf of Alaska. There were 16 foot seas and that ship was rocking and rolling. Felt like a drunken sailor going down the hall. That did teach us though that rocking beds at night are a wonderful thing. We slept like babies.

 

I have never had a crossing of the G of A like that since.

[danaps]

We were also on that sailing.

Found out more information after we did the Bridge Tour and was told first hand what went on the night. The Captain and all his senior officers spent the night on the Bridge, during that storm. I heard they also closed all the hatches on the windows on the lower decks.

The next day when we went out on the balcony, we had hail.

 

We were on that cruise as well - great group of people but the first night out of Boston was terrible for me - never got sick, but was in bed by 7:30 with my knockout (Bonine) pills! DH was up in the top lounge with about 4 other people and couldn't understand what the problem was.

 

The next day we heard the 40-50 ft swells were the most the Jewel had ever seen and she handled them like a champ. For the first two days it was a half empty ship - then the seas calmed and the crowds came out of their rooms..lol.

 

That's the fun of leaving from Boston in October!

[phantom728]

Earlier this year in Feb we were sailing Explorer up the coastline and had rough water. We've had experience with 30 foot waves on previous cruises, so this was not a problem for us. Just made getting around more challenging.

 

Since it was so windy outside, we decided to play cards up in the Viking Crown. While up there we all of a sudden felt this huge shudder like we hit something, glass started shaking, drinks turned over and we look up in time to see a wave come up over deck 12.:eek: My poor hubby was laying down in the room and it actually knocked him out of the bed.

 

I will admit that it was quite terrifying for that moment. We were all quite in shock of what we had just seen. But we never had any repeats and the water actually started to smooth out a bit about an hour or so later.

[bionicman97]

On Mariner cruise 2008, we had hurricane hanna. Go not go outside for 1 day. I think winds were around 80 mph or knots. It wasn't too bad.

 

On Voyager 2008 in Mediterranean, on the way back from Sicily to Barcelona, we went through a storm the whole day, and It would be no joke to say 50% of the people on board were sick. I don't get seasick, but i did fall into the table in my cabin. They put barf bags at all the stairwells. It was fair worse than the Mariner and hurricane hanna.

[cruiseLMG]

Amazing stories. I can't show this thread to some of the people I will be cruising with... they might have second thoughts, but I think it is so interesting!

[Hlitner]

Our worst weather was on a 1991 cruise on the old Meridian that got caught in Hurricane Bob off the east coast of the US on the way to Bermuda. Seas topped 40 feet and winds exceeded 100 MPH (it was a Cat 2 Hurricane). The Meridian only sustained some superficial damage, but the other ship that was caught in the storm was the Nordic Prince. The Nordic Prince sustained some major damage (including a dent in her hull) and many of her passengers chose to fly home from Bermuda rather than return on the ship. The Meridian did much better because she was an older ship with a deep "V" hull built for heavy seas

 

Hank

[Rancher Dave]

You must have had much more than 7 to 12 foot waves, that's nothing for a cruise ship. I was on the Explorer last week and that's what we were having and you could barley feel the ship move.

 

 

I had the same reaction you did. Probably was 7-12M waves which would be 21-36' more or less which would actually rock the Voyager Class Ships around a bit.

 

Anything under 20' on the Voyager Class has not even bothered me...

 

Worst ever for me was work one Summer we went out into a hurricane to pull 55 folks from a rig and bring them back in. 15-20' choppy waves in the Gulf of Mexico...in fact they were very confused waves and beat the crap out of all of us. Inlcuding our crew over 60 folks aboard a relatively small vessle and everyone was sea sick...it got worse when we rolled enough that one of the AC unit kill switches flipped due to the extent of the roll...remember it was Summer in the Gulf of Mexico...glad my cabin still had AC... Bed never felt so good....and that was one heck of a long 24-30 hour ride out, hours getting everyone off and ride back.

[BehrHunter]

12- 15 foot seas on a 38 foot sailboat for 10 hours.

 

One and only time I got seasick.

 

Not fun.

[WindinmySails]

Even though it was quite sunny out for most of the cruise, the waves were huge. For most of the cruise passengers were not allowed out on the deck. We had a cabin on the second deck, so watching the waves was incredible. Many people got seasick, and seasick tablets were left on trays in the Windjammer for anyone to take, as well as barf bags at the stairwells. Lots of people were seasick! They did drain the outside deck pools for most of the voyage, as well as the pool in the solarium. Despite the bad weather, we had a fun time!

[SeattleCruiselover]

I have seen a few pictures of big waves crashing against cruise ships, but never have talked to anyone who has experience one. Anyone have first hand experience? How about a photo?

 

 

50+ knot winds and 25-30 foot seas four weeks ago between Ketchikan and Victoria. Luckily, we were midship both horizontally and vertically on a 110,000 gross reg ton ship, so it was not TOO bad.

[cantakeitwithyawhenyago]

Wow that youtube is scary! Don't think i would get back on a ship.

[English Rose]

We were on the Explorer returning to NY this past Easter. We had very bad weather, the normal pools drained and no-one allowed on deck etc. I was sitting opposite my husband at the Cafe Promenade and the ship tilted slightly, my chair slid across the room and found myself sitting at a table with a couple of old ladies who were rather confused to see me there. It was very funny!

[01Sweetpea]

Our FIRST cruise, we got caught in the tail end of Hurricane Dennis. It wasn't that bad...high waves, white caps, wind, etc. The kids napped most of the afternoon and stuck to a diet of crackers & sprite.

 

We were suppose to pull inport at 7am, and didn;t dock until MIDNIGHT!

 

We survived, and cruised again!

[Desert Cruizers]

After reading several of the Posts, I can't topped them, but we did have heavy seas on the last leg of our 17 Day Panama on the Sun Princess. We had left San Francisco and the following morning, they reported 12 foot waves. I was talking to some passengers on the Promenade and suddenly the bow lifted, ocean disappeared then reappeared. Interestingly I never really felt any motion. For an older ship she handled it quite well.

[Mikew0805]

125.6 degrees in the Valley of the Kings during a Nile Cruise.

 

:eek:

[pg.]

Mostly Caribbean cruises here mentioned,, none from West coast..

[RCIGUY]

Our worst on a cruise ship was in 1985 aboard American Hawaii's Independence sailing between islands. Twenty five footers and most pax were sick as a dog!

 

The worst ever... the early 1970's aboard the USS Coral Sea, CVA-43. We rode out a typhoon with winds exceeding 120 mph, and seas of 80 feet during the peak of the storm. Waves were breaking to the bridge, railings were torn off along the port and starboard bow, and at least one F4 Phantom was lost over the stern when a tractor trying to repostion it began sliding backwards and the tow bar snapped loose.

[danp]

A few years ago we sailed out of Miami.The Captain had informed everyone during the muster that He was going to try to make it to the Cribbean,the reason was that Hurricane Isabelle was coming across the north of the Islands.He was going to use a passage that the cruise ships very rarely use.If he make it to there we will be going to the carribean,but it may get a little rough.The other ships that left Miami had already made up their minds that they were going to the west to the Caymans And Mexico.Well we hit some rough seas but made it into the carribean and had a great trip.Talking to the cab drivers where we stopped they were happy to see us.

For most of the trip we seen the Captain and crew officers walking around the ship asking if everyone was ok.

There was a group of young men on board for a bachalor party and they had drinking cups made up saying we beat Isabella and a few other words with a picture of the ship.

[Sea-trial]

125.6 degrees in the Valley of the Kings during a Nile Cruise.

 

The other extreme -22 degree Celsius or -7.6 degree Fahrenheit on board Freedom of the Seas

 

Ok it was still being built in Finland

 

It was still quite cold when we left, the lumps of ice were crashing off the hull until early hours of the morning until we reached the warm waters of the Baltic Sea :eek:

[funcky]

Monarch of the Seas Southern Carribean. I was in dining looking at the horizontal line that separate ocean from sky and watch it change from top to bottom and then back to top. After a few minutes, i left MDR prior to the soup and appetite. What happen afterward is up the imagination.

[Capt_BJ]

Mostly Caribbean cruises here mentioned,, none from West coast..

 

well, there's a couple of technical reasons for that

 

btw I've sailed 'professionally' both sides of the US

 

The Atlantic being much "thinner", less wide, than the Pacific has what's called 'less fetch' or the distance for waves to develop. The result is that a 40 foot wave in the Atlantic has a shorter 'period' than a 40 foot wave in the Pacific which means the Atlantic waves are closer together, which means they are steeper. A 40 foot Pacific wave is a long drawn-out process that just feels like a long swell while the Atlantic feels like a cliff.

 

On the other hand where there are the right conditions those big slow swells can form into HUGE waves which is why you have certain bars on the west coast that get beyond dangerous .... Colubia Bar ... Cape Dissapointment .... waves that come ashore here DWARF anything seen on the east coast.

 

There are Pacific areas where the rules are closer to the Atlantic - as a vet' of a few winter Bering Sea patrols can tell u that it gets a wee bit snotty up there in the winter. Some days you read the weather maps and go run for an island in the Aleutians to hide behind (and hope everyone else does too, less you "gotta go out...")

[catilope]

I think you typo'd. Hurricane Michelle was in November 2001, not 2002. You may also be a bit off on the ship you mentioned too or fuzzy on the port of call. I was on the Majesty November 2-5, 2001 during Hurricane Michelle and the ship definately stopped in Nassau.

 

This was a very memorable cruise for us and we have lots of photos (many of the Atlantis Resort in Nassau) and videos of the trip. On leaving Nassau the pool was sloshing so much the water was leaping 10 feet in the air at times. This was a great cruise though. We had two couples at our dinner table from California who were a bit wild and made for some hillarious memories especially at the Treasure Hunt game!

 

A couple pictures of the pool that day after leaving Nassau:

 

<hmm.. pictures didn't upload. will try again.>

 

My parents brought me, my sister, her husband and his son on our first cruise on the Voyager from Miami, and this was where the addiction began. Not sure of the wave height, but it was definitely washing over the promenade deck, and the ship was pitching and rolling quite a bit. We weren't allowed out on the pool or outer decks for a couple of days, nor was it advisable to open our balcony doors, let alone go out there.

 

I remember my sister and I were exploring the ship, having a great time, literally bouncing from wall to wall like pinballs and loving every minute of it...obviously we didn't know any better ;) At one point, she unexpectedly barfed on my foot and despite the grossness, we just burst out laughing so hard we could barely function.

 

About 15 seconds later, crew members appeared out of nowhere with a little carpet shampooer, did their thing, graciously helped us both clean up and vanished as quickly as they came.

 

Needless to say, this did not deter me from cruising again!

[ccletzgo]

One of our worst was actually the pacific. Sailing back north from the Mexican Riviera on the Song of America. Waves were crashing over the bow. No one was allowed out side. It was our last night which is generally a bit rocky coming back north, but this time it was really bad. The ship was actually pounding back down on the water after crashing through a wave.

 

The other one was on the galaxy. The captain decided to out run hurricane Jeane and slip between her and the east coast in order to get to Charleston. We missed our stop in Nassau and it was replaced with Charleston. Alot of guests debarked in Charleston and rented cars to make the trip back to Baltimore.:eek: I guess they had, had enough;)

[pg.]

well, there's a couple of technical reasons for that

 

btw I've sailed 'professionally' both sides of the US

 

The Atlantic being much "thinner", less wide, than the Pacific has what's called 'less fetch' or the distance for waves to develop. The result is that a 40 foot wave in the Atlantic has a shorter 'period' than a 40 foot wave in the Pacific which means the Atlantic waves are closer together, which means they are steeper. A 40 foot Pacific wave is a long drawn-out process that just feels like a long swell while the Atlantic feels like a cliff.

 

On the other hand where there are the right conditions those big slow swells can form into HUGE waves which is why you have certain bars on the west coast that get beyond dangerous .... Colubia Bar ... Cape Dissapointment .... waves that come ashore here DWARF anything seen on the east coast.

 

There are Pacific areas where the rules are closer to the Atlantic - as a vet' of a few winter Bering Sea patrols can tell u that it gets a wee bit snotty up there in the winter. Some days you read the weather maps and go run for an island in the Aleutians to hide behind (and hope everyone else does too, less you "gotta go out...")

 

Thank you for such a detailed answer,, I assume none of those Bars are near where the Mexican cruises go..

[negc]

Last October, Jewel Repo Boston to Miami, 45 to 55 foot seas on first evening.:eek::eek::eek:

 

I have to agree. We actually encountered 60 foot swells when we were on the Brilliance westbound transatlantic in 2002 (with Captain James in command on that cruise as well), but last year's repo was the only one where I actually thought I might roll out of bed during the height of the storm that night. Perhaps it seemed worse because the severity of the storm was so unexpected. On the Brilliance, Captain James was doing his very best to avoid the worst of Hurricane Gustave and kept us well informed regarding the position of the hurricane and how he was altering the ship's course to avoid the worst effects of the storm.

In both cases, the Brilliance and the Jewel rode out the storms very well.:)