Is Eastern rockier than Western?

[CruiseTricia]

Are cruises that travel to the eastern carribbean generally rockier than when they head to the western carribbean?

[dmdicato]

We've done both several times and never noticed much difference, mostly because of the size of the ships.

[Bakincakes]

Are cruises that travel to the eastern carribbean generally rockier than when they head to the western carribbean?

 

 

???..the weather always plays a role in how smooth any ride is.

 

Been to both numerous times and never really noticed any difference at all.

[maggieq]

???..the weather always plays a role in how smooth any ride is.

 

Been to both numerous times and never really noticed any difference at all.

 

 

I would say that you are correct....we had always done western in aug, sept and oct and had smooth rides.....we did an eastern last october and not only had a smooth ride but fantastic weather....which shocked me.

[TravelerThom]

Eastern Caribbean cruises out of Florida usually go all the way to the Lesser Antilles north of Hispanola. This means that you are in the Atlantic, not the Caribbean, for this entire distance. While it is generally not bad, it is much more likely to encounter turbulance on this run than in the Western Caribbean. Second roughest ride I have ever had was on the Solstice from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan. [but it was not nearly as bad as the April 2004 storm in the North Atlantic with twelve hours of 70 foot waves! No additional charge for a ride better (or should that be worse) than any at Disney.]

 

Thom

[ritaontherocks]

Went on an Eastern last summer and it was by far the smoothest cruise I've ever been on. The ocean was as smooth as glass.:)

[yogimax]

It's the wind and weather more than anything else and that is variable

[1st mate]

We were on Freedom (eastern route) last May. We had one day of rather turbulant weather. The ship was listing to the starboard side for a little while. I am sure there are passengers of the same cruise that would disagree, but my wife and I found it to be a rather unique experience.

 

We never felt that we were in any iminate danger. Although the ship did list or lean it was still a smooth sail.

 

The rest of the voyage was very smooth. I realize things can happen but the ship are large and well equiped.

 

It was an excellent sailing. We would go thru the experience again!

[Mark_K]

Nope, they're both mostly water, hardly any rocks.

[BRMAN]

We found the Eastern to be more rocky and windy than the Western. The ship goes out to sea a lot farther.

[cb at sea]

It can be rocky or not ANYWHERE in the open ocean....even in the Gulf of Mexico! The location really has nothing to do with it.

[bionicman97]

To me, the trip back from Cozumel on a Western seems to be a little rougher than the eastern

[TravelerThom]

It can be rocky or not ANYWHERE in the open ocean....even in the Gulf of Mexico! The location really has nothing to do with it.

While I do agree that it can be rocky anywhere, I respectfully disagree that location has nothing to do with it. Unless a tropical storm is present 99 times out of 100 the Caribbean will be smoother than the North Atlantic, and 999 out of 1000 the Caribbean is smoother than the Great Southern Ocean.

 

Thom

[ImmortalxKiss]

I've been on mostly rocky ships and I do have to say that I noticed the eastern caribbean to be worse.

 

We went to Nassau and HMC on Carnival in December of 08 and again in 09 and both we just HORRIBLE.

 

Cruised to Grand Cayman and Cozumel on Inspiration and it was so smooth, I thought I hit the jackpot!

[Stevesan]

Eastern is more likely to experience rough seas, there's a big, bad ocean just to the East.

 

I did a 14 day Caribbean February 2010. We had perfect weather,

but the seas were rough the whole two weeks because of a high pressure area sitting over the center of the Atlantic.

The darn thing just wouldn't move out.

 

The Gulf Of Mexico isn't nearly as subject to "outside" influences.