Queen Mary 2 in Very Rough Seas (December Transatlantic)

[Holden von Vloppen]

wow - impressive how she just cuts through those waves!!

 

Yes, it is. If I were in a storm on the ocean, the QM2 is the ship I would want to be on.

[condor221]

In November of 2009, we had 60 foot waves and the QM2 cut through them rather nicely. Leaving once more this Jan. 3 to pop over and return on the Elizabeth. That might be a bit different, we shall see!

[Calliope]

In November of 2009, we had 60 foot waves and the QM2 cut through them rather nicely. Leaving once more this Jan. 3 to pop over and return on the Elizabeth. That might be a bit different, we shall see!

 

 

Don't worry, last January the "Big Liz" handled 10 meter waves swimingly, but she had to slow down to 6 knots to do so.

[Ray66]

In November of 2009, we had 60 foot waves and the QM2 cut through them rather nicely. Leaving once more this Jan. 3 to pop over and return on the Elizabeth. That might be a bit different, we shall see!

 

I remember seeing that on the webcam

 

 

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Although not on a Cunarder, aboard the Marco Polo in December 2008 we were in Port Stanley, the Falklands and where scheduled to go to the West Point Islands the next day. During dinner, the Captain went on the PA system and calmly announced that there was a cyclone heading for the Falklands the next day. He continued to say that if we were to escape the brunt of the storm, we were to sail full ahead to the relative calm of the Antarctic. The faces on our dining table were absolutely priceless. We were caught up in the tail of the storm the next day, with force 12 winds and 30 feet waves. We were in a cabin adjacent to the entry to the engine room (no kidding), and so didn't feel much of the movement, as compared to a friend of ours in a suite on the top deck, who had her furniture being thrown around the cabin. Some people were quite badly injured. The promenade, on Deck 7 was awash by waves. Remember the Marco Polo was built for the Leningrad-Montreal Atlantic run- if we were on a cruise ship of the same size (she is 19,860 tonnes only) we would have been in serious trouble.

 

A few months later on the MV Discovery the captain told me that during that storm they had stayed a day more in Argentina and ''monitored'' us to see how we fared before setting out on their respective cruise.

 

After that storm, on a 19,000 tonne ship, I think I can take anything the high seas throw at me in the modern cruise and ocean liner fleets of today.

[Mr Walkabout]

For those interested, I pulled together some "raw" footage from the storm and posted on YouTube. This one is posted in 1080P, so if you have the bandwidth & computing power you can watch it in HD. :-)

 

[Cruise Liner Fan]

For those interested, I pulled together some "raw" footage from the storm and posted on YouTube. This one is posted in 1080P, so if you have the bandwidth & computing power you can watch it in HD. :-)

 

Mr. Walkabout,Thank You for posting your videos of your QM2 crossing.I have enjoyed watching them. :) Regards,Jerry

[bobby1119]

I recall the large 40 foot swells encountered while on board QE2 in January 2008 with Queen Victoria at our side hydroplaning her way across the Atlantic on her maiden passage to New York.

 

I am not so eager to experience the same conditions when I cross this January westbound on Queen Elizabeth...

[soobs]

Fantastic we forgot to take our recorder and wanted to keep luggage weight down.

That is so what it was like, it was our first ever cruise (I know not a cruise really) and I really was not sure what to expect from the weather but I was secretly hoping for some rough sea's just to see what it was like and boy did I get what I wanted. I really enjoyed it and was not poorly at all but felt really sorry for those who were affected.

 

I am not sure that cruising is for us but I am so glad we did it, the food, the ship, the service, the shows, the bed and bedding, the ships temperature were all more than fantastic.

 

My only bit of a moan would be not enough room in the Golden Lion or Chart room unless it was late at night usually there would be no where to sit and you had to hang around and jump in quick. From time to time we were bored it's a shame Murray Walker was on the October crossing not the December one.

[sammythedog]

I think I agree with you on those points Soobs! We gave up with the Golden Lion most times, a variation on the speakers would have been better, I enjoyed the cinema, the illuminations were rubbish and a waste of time.

[Mr Walkabout]

If the Westbound had been my first time on a big ship, I probably would've been intimidated by the constant motion. But my wife & I also did the eastbound TA in November, and that voyage couldn't have been more different. The seas were unusually calm, the weather warm & inviting. On several days we went walking on the track around deck 7. So it was interesting to have a totally different experience a month later!

[Cruachan]

I am not sure that cruising is for us but I am so glad we did it, the food, the ship, the service, the shows, the bed and bedding, the ships temperature were all more than fantastic.

 

Soobs,

 

don't be too quick to write off the idea of cruising based solely on a single TA. Whilst I know that the transatlantic voyage is regarded by many of the cognoscenti as the ultimate ocean voyage, it isn't really cruising in the true sense of the word (indeed I think you recognised that fact yourself).

 

Before giving up on the experience, try a "proper" cruise with a good mix of port calls and sea days. And try one of the Vistas (QV or QE) - they are smaller ships than QM2 and the QV, in particular, retains a lot of the same kind of ambience as QE2.

 

Personally, I find one of the biggest attractions of the multi-port cruise is that you can spend the day exploring a city in one country, go to bed that night, and wake up the next day in a totally different country with a new city to explore. As a photographer that is an important part of the "cruise experience", but you don't need to have your eye glued to a camera viewfinder to enjoy it.

 

J

[yojimbo]

Many thanks for posting the great video footage of your rough crossing.......I wish I was there

[philayl]

 

I am not sure that cruising is for us but I am so glad we did it, the food, the ship, the service, the shows, the bed and bedding, the ships temperature were all more than fantastic.

 

Hi soobs, can I suggest you try the Norwegian Fjords for 7 days on either the Queen Vic or Elizabeth, we were unsure about doing a cruise but this itinery and ship has got us cruising again this year, we are now officially hooked.;)

[QM1]

The best footage of this experience might be shot about a quarter of a mile away.... I would LOVE to see the QM2 from a distance as she traverses through the storm!

 

That would be a sight I pay to see (like the famous double crossing storm pics of QE2/QV from a few years back). If I were Cunard, I would commission a photo and video shoot from the air to show how cool QM2 looks in a storm. We all know OM2 in sunny weather!

 

Thanks for posting. I´ll experience calmer wether for sure in a few months. I did experience a Biskaya storm aboard QE2 once (7 or 8 grade, so still somewhat moderate). Usually Im prone to seasickness, but not so on QE2. And I think QM2 should be even more stable.

[soobs]

Thanks Philay and Crauchan, we have not totally written off cruising, we had on our list of must do’s a Caribbean cruise and said never a Mediterranean, this was just a taster and ticked off seeing New York at Xmas and seeing the SOL from the QM2.

There is no way I will do a Caribbean cruise now the luggage would be a nightmare flying and Southampton to Southampton takes too long. So it would have to be summer and the Med. I would not be fussed about which ship as long as the food was as good as the QM2.

We do like the sun so we may look out for a good deal in the summer what originally put us off the med was the cost of the trips when you get to port, we have to watch the pennies. We love our holidays in the Maldives and know exactly what we are going to spend which helps, where as on a cruise I did worry about the bill (we like a drink or 2)

[Norfolk Brit]

what originally put us off the med was the cost of the trips when you get to port, we have to watch the pennies.

 

We almost never do ships' tours -do a little research before leaving to find out whether the places you are docking warrant a tour, or perhaps can be done by wandering around on foot or by using local bus, train or driver. Most can be done more enjoyably on a DIY basis.

 

More expensive still are the places you see that are worthy of a repeat land-based holiday - we've been caught several times by this, and it's cost us a fortune:D.

 

Mary