Last cruise ( Navigator) - had lots of movement

[mishaw1001]

I have a question for all who care to respond to this question - and I appreciate all who do respond. The question is - has anyone else been experiencing more swaying of the voyager class ships than you use to? I just returned on the Navigator of the Seas on 06/04/05 and experienced more movement than on any other cruise I have taken.The time of year has been the same on the last three cruises. I have cruised on two Carnival ships ( Fantasy and Ecstasy) in the early 90's. From then on I have cruised on RCCL ( Majesty - late 90's ) then the Voyager- 2001) and now the Navigator. Is it the biggest ships that are causing the movement or maybe less use of the stabilizers to save fuel? Our cabin was on deck 8 front of the ship but we had move all over the ship, even on lower decks. We had bad weather one night but I felt more movement on this ship than any other in the past.

 

Thanks all for your input.:confused:

[taffy12]

I didn't notice much movement at all on the Mariner Eastern I just took. The smoothest ride I've ever taken was on Disney Wonder, and Carnival Glory and Celebrity Constellation rocked the most. On the latter ship, during a European sailing, the movement was so bad that you'd actually weave back and forth just trying to walk down the hall, and there was a lot of shuddering on Glory.

[LBB]

I was on the Voyager last month from Miami to New Jersey and really didn't feel very much movement. It was very windy, but not too much motion...at least it didn't bother me.

[hstrybuf]

We were on the Navigator last fall and noticed more movement, but we attributed that to being in an aft cabin. I never really noticed it anywhere else on the ship.

[crb04]

I was on the same sailing (5/28-6/4) and also on deck 8, forward. There was a lot of movement, especially on the last sea day. The motion at other times (mostly noticable in vicinity of our cabin, and more noticable in evenings) didn't bother us, kind of rocked us to sleep, actually. The last night was especially strong. Nothing falling off counters, but enough that a couple of people yelled/squealed on the Promenade when the ship pitched--strong enough to lose your balance while walking. I wondered the same thing, but didn't know if it was typical or not as it was my first cruise.

[njoyndride]

We sailed Navigator in April and I can honestly say I didn't even know we were sailing. I love movement so was a bit disappointed not getting the rock and roll I love to fall asleep to. I think TS Arlene was probably the culprit not the ship.

[WeirdEyes]

I was on the same cruise as you and I got really sea sick the night we left Cozumel. I was taking Antivert (prescription strength Meclizine or Bonine) and still felt a little ill on Friday (sea day). I was on the Mariner last year and never felt that way. The waters were a little rough so maybe that is the answer. :confused:

[2br~2b]

One of the roughest cruises we were on was on the Disney Wonder. Seems the weather/current off the Atlantic coast of Florida can be especially rocky.

 

Aren't the bigger ships, like the Voyager class, more stable with less movement?

[skyking]

I can honestly say that I think it is all just pure luck. Does not really matter what ship or which cruise line you are on. You spend most of the cruise sailing in the open atlantic and very little time in the Carribean sea. I have also noticed that the Eastern run tends to be a rolling motion, while the Western has the up and down motion. Our last Mariner cruise was smooth the whole cruise until the last night when we came back into the open atlantic, but this was also the night the wave hit the NCL ship about 700 miles north of us. Again I think it is all luck of the draw.

 

Tim

[BuilderMan]

I was on the Explorer the same week (May 29th - June 5th) and it was a very smooth cruise. We did the eastern though. We took the Navigator last year about the same time of year on the eastern route and it was very smooth too. Maybe you had rougher seas and stronger currents?

[jaydro]

I've been lurking here since getting back from my first-ever cruise, which was on Explorer of the Seas (Jun 5-12, western). I was surprised that the two recaps I read here did not mention the ship movement.

 

It was like being on a lake from Miami until we turned south toward Belize after rounding Cuba, at about 2 pm Monday afternoon. I was in the screening room on Deck 2 watching a marine science presentation (which went into far too much detail about the organizational structure of the University of Miami etc.) and was getting that repeated elevator-going-down feeling. I thought perhaps it was just being so low and forward in the ship, but the up-and-down movements persisted, sometimes stronger, sometimes not so strong. Looking at the weather map in the atmosphere lab a little later I noticed the clouds over the Yucatan looked like they were beginning to get some loose organization--I don't actually know if this was the origin of Arlene, though.

 

Things continued like this through Costa Maya and Cozumel. Some people I knew had snorkeling booked at Costa Maya, and it was cancelled due to the rough seas. At Cozumel the swells were pretty bad where I did the Atlantida dolphin thing.

 

Then we got the announcement Thursday evening that there was indeed a tropical storm, and we were going to go around it at full speed to make it to Grand Cayman, with the outside decks closed after 9 pm due to high winds. I went out at 8:30 and had difficulty making my way around. And the heaving and pitching got worse. Many people were saying this was the roughest cruise they had ever been on.

 

At 4:30 am I woke up in my Deck 9 slightly-forward stateroom and found that the pitching had gotten really bad. It was difficult to stand without leaning against something. I tried to get back to sleep and had a nightmare that was a combination of "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Perfect Storm" with the engines straining and the movement of the ship going away as we plunged into a giant swell that swallowed us up completely... :eek: Everyone else I talked to slept through the night, so they didn't feel the worst of it.

 

Later that morning when we got to Grand Cayman (and were turned away due to the port being closed due to the rough seas) things were better, but I did notice that several artifacts were askew in the corridor display cases.

 

And it wasn't until Monday afternoon that I got my "land legs" back and found that buildings weren't really moving while I was sitting and eating (is it the jaw movement that sets that off so much?). I never got seasick on the ship, but I was surprised at the persistence of this feeling at our ports of call and after I got back.

 

I also noticed a lot of vibration on the ship. One person in my group had real problems with it in their stateroom so much that they had trouble sleeping. They said that the captain said it had something to do with there being two prop shafts on one side and only one on the other which set up some harmonics or some such nonsense--maybe someone misunderstood, but I know the Voyager-class ships don't even have prop shafts, right?

 

Edit: Anyway, if this was what it was like in somewhat minor weather on a Voyager-class ship with the stabilizers and all, I hate to think of what it was like on a smaller ship.

[Cruising89143]

I felt very little movement on my Navigator cruise and we were in an aft cabin. Personally the more the ship moves the better I like it.:)

[gatordad]

Was on Navigator last week (6/4 - 6/11) and movement was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. First cruise for the kids and they were fine too.

[FlyingPhotog]

Well it's not the ship, it's the weather. I was on Navigator June 4-11, right after you, and the ride was perfectly smooth for most of it. I did see the stabilizers deployed Friday as we headed into Nassau because of the choppy seas. Even then it was amazingly smooth. It was the first time I noticed them but maybe I was looking in the wrong place until then.

[NormanW]

I felt very little movement on my Navigator cruise and we were in an aft cabin. Personally the more the ship moves the better I like it.:)

 

Indeed.

 

When the telly needs be set on the floor and all items cleared from the table, etc. that is a bit much though.

 

8-14' swells into the bow are relaxing. Beam seas are not. Note the PERIOD of the swell has a much larger impact on what you feel than the height. Of course when you have waves on top of waves it's going to be rather uncomfortable no matter what.

[Twaincruisers]

We were on the NOS in Feb & Dec, 2004. While docked in Cozumel, the Windjammer felt like it was bouncing up and down; that night people were mentioning/complaining about the rocky ride. In Nov, 2004, on the NCL Spirit, we encountered 40' seas after leaving Tortola and the Captain changed the route closer to the northern coast of Cuba to smooth out the ride. I enjoy the motion and don't like glass-like seas, after all, you're at sea! But for those who are very sensitive to motion--like my DW--rough seas can be a challenge on any size ship.