My first rocky and rollin cruise.

[Buffettlovertina]

Ok I am going to start this by saying I had a great time after the first 24 hours. The first 24 were the worst I have been on in my cruising history. Left outta Tampa in the Carnival Legend on 12-12-10 and boy did we get a ride. Was a cold rainy day to start with. As we made our way down the channel it got worse and worse. The winds picked up .The waves got higher. The seas got meaner. We wanted to see the Sunshine Skyway as we passed under but as we got a late start (due to weather)We decided to we have dinner in the MDR and watch for the bridge from our window side table. Not long after we went under the bridge around 6:30ish my mom said "OH MY GOSH ,THERES A BOAT COMING UP ALONG SIDE US". I said no way not with this ship swaying like clean laundry in the wind. Well sure enough she was right. It was the harbour patrol picking up the guy from our ship that drirects the ship out of the harbour.Needless to say ,they couldnt steady the ship exactly right to make the transfer so for some GOD FORSAKIN reason they had to make the ship list to the left. Well list to the left we did. I have never heard such a rackus in the MDR before. Plates ,dinner ware,utensils and the christmas tree hit the floor. Water in the glasses were at a 45 degree angle. Mom had the look of fear in here eyes. It was rough until about 3:00 pm Monday when we finaly made it around the tip of Cuba. Id say counting crew and passengers we had 60% of the people wishin real hard they were not on that ship at that time. We had quite a few activites and shows cancelled for the first day and half. due to sickness and entertainers not being able to get on in Grand Cayman. We got thru the first sea day then we couldnt tender into Grand Cayman because of rough water there. By day three we were happy to see land. It was cold but we just wanted off the ship for a while. After Roaton we had a cool(as in temperature) rest of week. Note to self more long sleeve ,less short sleeve. That alaska cruise in the back of my mind...Im rethinkin that one.

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

Sorry you had such a rough time those first couple of days...I've had one cruise like that (rough seas at the end of the cruise) and it sold me forever on taking bonine or dramamine with me on every future cruise!

 

Thanks for the heads up on the temps...we are leaving in less than a week, and I packed the kids shorts and tshirts, but was thinking of a way to take a sweatshirt or something along in the ports in case they get cold. I'm hoping for some warmth though!

[*Mach*]

I took this picture from my Cove balcony cabin in the Dream. The pilot is being transfered in 20 foot seas and 60 knot winds...

 

I certainly don't doubt your story but I think the ship simply rolled. I don't think the crew induced it...

Glad the rest of your voyage went well.

:)

[Tapi]

Interesting story, but I think that the ship listing 45 degrees is a bit of an exaggeration. When the Crown Princess listed a few years ago and sent people flying, windows shattered, etc, the ship listed 9 degrees.

[Buffettlovertina]

That was the anouncment that was told over the PA. They said the movement was caused by them for the purpose of transfer. Im sure they didnt intend on it being that bad of list. Im just going by announcment from Captain.

[jrmende63]

OP don't give up on that Alaskan cruise! It is NOT that cold there...and beautiful scenery! Wildlife galore!

[golfadj]

We have had some rocking and rolling but nothing that bad, thankfully for us.

[JillGoBlue]

Those first few days were definitely rough... but FYI, Alaska is definitely doable- just do a cruise on the inside passage instead of the open Pacific and you'll be fine.

[zqvol]

Ok I am going to start this by saying I had a great time after the first 24 hours. The first 24 were the worst I have been on in my cruising history. Left outta Tampa in the Carnival Legend on 12-12-10 and boy did we get a ride. Was a cold rainy day to start with. As we made our way down the channel it got worse and worse. The winds picked up .The waves got higher. The seas got meaner. We wanted to see the Sunshine Skyway as we passed under but as we got a late start (due to weather)We decided to we have dinner in the MDR and watch for the bridge from our window side table. Not long after we went under the bridge around 6:30ish my mom said "OH MY GOSH ,THERES A BOAT COMING UP ALONG SIDE US". I said no way not with this ship swaying like clean laundry in the wind. Well sure enough she was right. It was the harbour patrol picking up the guy from our ship that drirects the ship out of the harbour.Needless to say ,they couldnt steady the ship exactly right to make the transfer so for some GOD FORSAKIN reason they had to make the ship list to the left. Well list to the left we did. I have never heard such a rackus in the MDR before. Plates ,dinner ware,utensils and the christmas tree hit the floor. Water in the glasses were at a 45 degree angle. Mom had the look of fear in here eyes. It was rough until about 3:00 pm Monday when we finaly made it around the tip of Cuba. Id say counting crew and passengers we had 60% of the people wishin real hard they were not on that ship at that time. We had quite a few activites and shows cancelled for the first day and half. due to sickness and entertainers not being able to get on in Grand Cayman. We got thru the first sea day then we couldnt tender into Grand Cayman because of rough water there. By day three we were happy to see land. It was cold but we just wanted off the ship for a while. After Roaton we had a cool(as in temperature) rest of week. Note to self more long sleeve ,less short sleeve. That alaska cruise in the back of my mind...Im rethinkin that one.

 

You should probably add that you were on the 12/12 sailing of the Legend. The ride had been really smooth as we went down Tampa Bay, but the weather had been bad all day. When we reached the pilot station winds were gusting at over 60 knots, and the ship was used a a shield to get the pilot off. That was the beginning of 24 hours of rocking and rolling. Seas were over 25 feet and winds were well over 50 knots most of Sunday night and into Monday morning. It had finally calmed down to about 6 - 8 foot seas and 20 knot winds when we got to Grand Cayman which was canceled. As Tuesday went on the seas got calmer and the wind drops. This was all the result of the storm that blew through the southeast the weekend of the 12th.

 

The list was bad enough to send dishes flying in the dining room but it was probably not more that 7 - 8 degrees.

[Buffettlovertina]

Yes I will not give up on Alaska. It just will be a year or two before I will go now. Thanks for assuring it wont be as bad as this one.

[tinkerbell_82]

Sorry to hear that you had bad weather- I drive over the sunshine skyway to and from work every day and can attest that the seas were about as rough as I've ever seen them. My car felt like a ping pong ball driving over. I felt really bad for you guys and also for the people on the Inspiration- it was so weird seeing that ship coming in to port Monday evening! I thought maybe they headed out and then had to turn around.

 

Hope this doesn't deter you from taking other cruises- weather is truly something that can't be controlled (even though we'd like to think Carnival does because it's usually perfect). :)

[halos]

YUK...I only once sailed in seas that were between 20 and 24 feet (on the RCI Explorer of The Seas) and that massive ship was tossed pretty good.

(Thank GOD for Bonine)

You certainly have my sympathies!!! It's not great by any means. To have the rest of your cruise in cool temps isn't great either. I have found winters to be a LOT cooler in the Caribbean lately. This is why we chose a southern route for our upcoming cruise at the end of January this year, hoping it will be a bit warmer further south.

 

Can you tell us about the rest of the cruise? Did you enjoy the Legend?

[happycampers_1]

this ship was rocking pretty good. have never felt so much movement in all the cruises i have taken and hope to never again. did see the christmas tree fall over and the dishes crashing behind us in MDR. next year will be better.:)

[Max Circus]

I was on this cruise also and it was as described above. We were at the Odyssey bar and a bottle of Tanqueray crashed to the ground.

 

An interesting first couple of days to say the least.

[mavis2222]

Yup, any cruise I take from Dec till Through Feb will be from Ft Lauderdale or Miami to eastern or southern caribbean. That time of year is to cold for Tampa, Port Canaveral, Jax, Mobile, or Charlston.

[okwriter]

I was on the Legend with you all that week, and the rocking and rolling was pretty darn miserable those first few days. Loved everything else but I will save it for my own review later today or tomorrow.

 

I'm relieved to hear veteran cruisers say the motion was bad...tells me it really was bad and not just my imagination!

[Buffettlovertina]

YUK...I only once sailed in seas that were between 20 and 24 feet (on the RCI Explorer of The Seas) and that massive ship was tossed pretty good.

(Thank GOD for Bonine)

You certainly have my sympathies!!! It's not great by any means. To have the rest of your cruise in cool temps isn't great either. I have found winters to be a LOT cooler in the Caribbean lately. This is why we chose a southern route for our upcoming cruise at the end of January this year, hoping it will be a bit warmer further south.

 

Can you tell us about the rest of the cruise? Did you enjoy the Legend?

 

The rest of the sailing was smooth. As I stated Grand Caymen we couldnt tender in so we by passed that port. They just added 3 hours to belize and 5 hours to cozumel to make up for it.

 

Ship wise the Legend is beautiful. Its a smaller ship of the fleet.

 

Entertainment wise I was a little disappointed. There were not as many big shows. I am used to one each evening.I understand they had to cancel the first night as half of ship including crew was sick. The missed day in Grand Caymen caused our entertainer to not be able to join sailing to perform so we lost that. We had a ton of trivia.They do have a new Punchliner comedy club. They had 2 PG shows and 3 R shows on three different nights. The problem was that the comedians did the same skit each show. Got boring after a while.

 

This is the first cruise that both Mom and I said dang were bored.. Felt bad.

 

I will not disinclude Carnival. I dont feel they were totaly responsible for situation. They did the best they could with the things they had to work with.

 

It has just been a bad month or two for cruising all around.

 

I will be planning my Alaska cruise in a year or two.

[WIFamily]

Was on the Dec 11th sailing of the Dream out of Port Canaveral, and we had rough seas just about every day. Nothing major, 10-15' I think was the average. The last sea day was the calmest. Thankfully, none of the pools or shows had to be closed and we didn't miss any ports. I took Bonine that first night, was feeling queasy after dinner, and it worked wonders!

 

It was nothing compared to our Dec 8th 2007 sailing on Disney Magic. 30-40' seas from TS Olga, everything was closed, and the ship was making noises that I never thought an 80,000 ton ship should make. Even the crew was seasick.