Island-forward or aft

[cruisinlawn]

okay, i'm the one looking for balconies that connect (or that the dividers will open). I have 3 aft cabins but due to obstructions all the dividers will not open, which is important to us. I have found 3 cabins forward on Emerald and was wondering what the ride would be like. All other experiences have proven to get much movement forward. This has been primarily in the Caribbean. We'll be doing canal transit, 10 day west to east. Any thoughts on the forward cabins?

[mr green]

I assume that you speak of the Island Princess, sister to Coral.

I would go midships to bow, the reason she is a looong ship, and if you are at the stern, its a long walk to the food.:cool:

 

john

[Pam in CA]

okay, i'm the one looking for balconies that connect (or that the dividers will open). I have 3 aft cabins but due to obstructions all the dividers will not open, which is important to us. I have found 3 cabins forward on Emerald and was wondering what the ride would be like. All other experiences have proven to get much movement forward. This has been primarily in the Caribbean. We'll be doing canal transit, 10 day west to east. Any thoughts on the forward cabins?

If you are far forward, there will always be more movement than in a cabin in the middle or towards the aft. The reason is that the bow moves up and down as it hits the waves which dissipate as the ship moves through the water; in this case, being on a lower deck doesn't help much if you're far forward. If that doesn't or won't bother you, then the cabins should be fine. Unlike the Grand-class ships, the buffet on the Coral/Island Princess is far forward, not towards the aft; the dining room(s) are mid-ship.

[sveipe]

If you are far forward, there will always be more movement than in a cabin in the middle or towards the aft.

 

How can there be more movement towards the bow than towards the stern? I mean if the bow goes up, the stern has to go down, right? Maybe I am too tired :)

[OCruisers]

Unlike the Grand-class ships, the buffet on the Coral/Island Princess is far forward, not towards the aft; the dining room(s) are mid-ship.

 

Pam, as you and John (Mr.Green) have pointed out, Island is a very loooong ship and the buffet is forward. Many don't realize this.

 

For that reason we have our balcony cabin booked for an upcoming cruise on Island very close to the forward elevator.

[Rob & Beckys mom]

We had a very forward cabin on a transatlantic cruise on a sister ship to Pacific Princess & I was surprised at how nice it was. We are aft fans and were worried about the windy balcony, but it was just fine. Weather was wonderful, so in an angry sea it might be another situation.

 

Jan in Mi

[Pam in CA]

How can there be more movement towards the bow than towards the stern? I mean if the bow goes up, the stern has to go down, right? Maybe I am too tired :)

The bow will always have more movement than the stern, where the propellers are. Otherwise, the ship would be designed differently and the propellers placed in a different location because they'd be going in and out of the water too (depending on the location of the propeller.) Waves dissipate after the bow goes through or over them so by the time they get to the stern, there's little wave left. Of course, in very rough weather, it almost doesn't matter where you are on the ship.

[DesertDaisy]

We were on the Island this past March on a 10 day Panama. Our cabins were on Baja in the 200's. We found the location ideal, the food is forward, and the aft elevators were very close. This was a very smooth sailing and motion was never a problem.

[sveipe]

The bow will always have more movement than the stern, where the propellers are. Otherwise, the ship would be designed differently and the propellers placed in a different location because they'd be going in and out of the water too (depending on the location of the propeller.) Waves dissipate after the bow goes through or over them so by the time they get to the stern, there's little wave left. Of course, in very rough weather, it almost doesn't matter where you are on the ship.

 

I do understand that the wave breaks at the bow and thus there will be less pounding felt towards the aft, but that still doesn't change the fact that if the bow goes up, the stern has to go down, so it just seems logical to me that there should be the same amount of movement from the waves in the stern. Unless the ship bends that is ;).

[cruisinlawn]

thanks to all for the info. these cabins would be on Emerald above Princess Theater. Any noise from there duing bingo or rehearsal??

[AndyTheK]

I do understand that the wave breaks at the bow and thus there will be less pounding felt towards the aft, but that still doesn't change the fact that if the bow goes up, the stern has to go down, so it just seems logical to me that there should be the same amount of movement from the waves in the stern. Unless the ship bends that is ;).

 

No exactly. It depends on two other factors which you are not taking into account. You are thinking of the ship as something like a seesaw which is fixed at the center. In that case, the bow and stern indeed have the same range of motion. A ship's axis of rotation (for pitching) is certainly not at the center... it should (and will) be very close to where the engines are, as the weight at that point is the greatest. The other factor is that in addition to the pitching (rotational) motion, there is a "whole ship goes up and down" motion (called "heave") which is smaller, but still plays its part.

 

This sounds complicated, and it is! That's why naval architects are paid the enormous sums they receive to design ships.

 

PS - No,. I 'm not a naval architect, but worked for a number of years in a field involving naval vessels. And I had the greatest professor ever for advanced classical mechanics. THANK YOU Professor Quimby (RIP).

 

Shalom, Andy.

[Norski]

We were on the Island in Alaska E235. We only felt motion the last night when it was a little rough. We are going to be on the Island again in January doing the Panama Canal and will be in E212.

[sveipe]

No exactly. It depends on two other factors which you are not taking into account. You are thinking of the ship as something like a seesaw which is fixed at the center. In that case, the bow and stern indeed have the same range of motion. A ship's axis of rotation (for pitching) is certainly not at the center... it should (and will) be very close to where the engines are, as the weight at that point is the greatest. The other factor is that in addition to the pitching (rotational) motion, there is a "whole ship goes up and down" motion (called "heave") which is smaller, but still plays its part.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that last night after i posted. But doesn't this mean that the location on the ship with the least amount of movement would be closer to the stern, and not midships as most say?

[cruisinlawn]

We were on the Island in Alaska E235. We only felt motion the last night when it was a little rough. We are going to be on the Island again in January doing the Panama Canal and will be in E212.

 

 

did you get any noise from the Princess Theater??

[AndyTheK]

Yeah, I was thinking about that last night after i posted. But doesn't this mean that the location on the ship with the least amount of movement would be closer to the stern, and not midships as most say?

 

"Closer to the stern" yes, but not really that far back. From the deck plans of the Island (I have not been on the ship, due to sail on the Coral at Christmas) my guess is that the engine room is probably between the humps, more or less in the space where cabins C529 abd C611 on Caribe deck are, all the way down. Princess has the whole area priced at category BA - the "best" balconies. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of the observations by people aren't partly subjective... midships is closer to everything, therefore "better".

 

Shalom, Andy.

[Norski]

We didn't have any noise from the theater or the hallways. We had 3 rooms together - our room and forward. We were able to have the balconies opened up and spent most of our time on the balconies.

[jsiegel]

I was in cabin D227 on the Island. It is pretty far forward. I will never again book a cabin that far foward. In rough seas you really feel the motion, but more irritating is the loud booming noise whenever the ship catches air and bangs back down on the water. And the rattles of anything loose.

 

Jackie

[gertz]

I was in cabin D227 on the Island. It is pretty far forward. I will never again book a cabin that far foward. In rough seas you really feel the motion, but more irritating is the loud booming noise whenever the ship catches air and bangs back down on the water. And the rattles of anything loose.

 

Jackie

 

From our experience this is correct.

To describe it another way. If You were setting in the Princess Theater in rough waters and the ship were running fast you would experience the bow rising and falling and as it falls back to the water a loud "boom" would be heard. If you were on deck this boom would be accompanied by large waves splashing up on the ship.

You will notice more movement forward in rough waters and that movement will dissipate as it moves aft but also in rough waters the stern and the screws will react by moving upwards in the water resulting in some viberating and shaking but not as violent as the bow.

[threecats]

We had the most forward balcony cabin port side on the Island's Emerald deck for our 14-night Panama Canal crossing. We didn't have any problems with movement nor any noise from the theater. The only thing I didn't like about it was, that part of the hull obstructs the balcony of that cabin, which takes away a lot of the light for the inside. Guess I was spoiled by my previous Caribe balconies.:rolleyes:

[Hflors]

I am currently booked in a forward facing balcony cabin on the Royal Princess. I have searched, but there isn't much info on this ship and no info on this cabin. (its 6000) We have it for both legs of our cruise. We are doing a b2b for 22 days. I am trying to find out if anyone has stayed in one of these cabins and if the balcony is going to be usable during the five days at see between tahiti and Hawaii. OR will there be too much wind?

ANyone?????