Roughest seas you have experienced?

[BonnieSte]

we've had rough seas in Eastern more than Western routes.

The absolutely worst was NJ to Bermuda during Hurricane Sandy in Oct 2012. Windows broke in Windjammer, thus closed, and main DR closed due to sliding tables. No hot food cause cooks shut off burners for safety. Passed out cold cut sandwiches in Promenade, Was a tense 2 days crossing to Bermuda, and story of a life time after going through it.

 

My goodness! Cool attitude!

[jamiehaas27]

On the way to Bermuda from Cape Liberty(NJ) Oct 2006...the boat was rocking so bad the blackjack dealers were falling over and having to catch themselves on the table. I remember walking down the hall sober and walking into the walls LOL. :)

Edited May 20, 2015 by jamiehaas27

[330searay]

Mine is October 2009 aboard Grandeur, return trip from Bermuda to Bayonne. We split a family suite with brother and sister in-law. We had the "dark" room, Very eery feeling when you feel the ship crashing the waves and shuttering, yet your in a dark room. Friends of ours opted to do the same itenerary same time, but save money. They cruised the NCL Majesty, Many sick people on her!!!

[jules815]

October, 2012, Eastern Caribbean, Carnival Dream during Hurricane Sandy. Our 7-day turned into 8. We couldn't get back into Port Canaveral and spent an extra sea day bobbing in a big circle off the coast of Miami with an NCL and Disney ship. MDR and specialty restaurants were practically empty, and you could hear trays crashing.

 

Surprisingly the weather in all of our ports that week was beautiful. We were sailing back to Florida behind the storm. Quite an experience.

[Langley Cruisers]

Hurricane Sandy... pretty green the first day and night out... :o

[scooter90]

East coast - on the Quantum February 2015. Winds were in excess of 90 mph across the bow. I believe we were off the Outer Banks and I was in the tub/shower....and fell out when we hit a wave. We were in a SGS so I was able to grab the curtain and catch myself before I hit the bathroom floor...quite a bruise on my upper arm. The ship was rocking and rolling and I believe the outdoor decks were closed the last two days as we headed to Cape Liberty. We have now given up sailing out of Cape Liberty in the winter...only spring/summer/fall cruises from now on.....

[George C]

Only time I got sea sick back in June 1980 on a tiny 20,000 ton Hal ship everyone on the ship was sick off the shores of Bermuda. also rough seas a few year ago again Bermuda on a 55,000 ton Hal ship in end of May

[davy jones]

we've had rough seas in Eastern more than Western routes.

The absolutely worst was NJ to Bermuda during Hurricane Sandy in Oct 2012. Windows broke in Windjammer, thus closed, and main DR closed due to sliding tables. No hot food cause cooks shut off burners for safety. Passed out cold cut sandwiches in Promenade, Was a tense 2 days crossing to Bermuda, and story of a life time after going through it.

 

I was also on that cruise. There were 4 particularly rough hours when the storm turned inland and hit the ship with crosswinds instead of trailing winds.

 

Fortunately, I finished breakfast in a pretty empty WJ shortly before the winds shifted and closed the dining venues. Imagine trying to feed everyone from the Café Promenade. I was grateful for my lower deck, midship, inside cabin.

 

That said, the worst seasickness I've encountered was traveling into a front going from Bermuda to NYC on the Nordic Prince. The old tub was shaking and bobbing.

Edited May 20, 2015 by davy jones

[cayugashue]

Grandeur of the Seas, February 2014, Baltimore to Bahamas.

Coming home, around Outer Banks, the ABSOLUTE worse weather I've ever sailed in. 40' swells for almost 24 hours.

[Paul65]

I've only experienced rough seas once, and it's not as bad as some of the ones described in this thread. It was an Explorer of the Seas sailing out of Miami in October 2001, and we went through a storm the last night, as we returned to Miami, that had the ship rocking a good bit.

 

It was middle of the night, though, so it didn't disturb me much, and I don't know of any damage to the ship. I could hear the coat hangers sliding back and forth in the closet, and the next morning, you could see salt even on the top decks of the ship from the salt water spray.

[upwarduk]

Not the Caribbean but Bay of Biscay. Not overly bad but enough for the pool water to go everywhere.

 

40 ft waves in the Bay of Biscay in October 2013. Apparently there were discussions between the Captain of Infinity and Miami whether to stay in Bilbao, but it was decided that the ship was in more danger if it stayed in port. It could have been damaged by being buffeted against the harbour wall.

 

Gale Force 12 between Iceland and Ireland mid July on Arcadia.

North Sea between UK and Denmark at the end of August on the Black Prince which wasn't stabilised.

English Channel, between Guernsey and Jersey. The harbour in Jersey was closed after we had arrived and the bar was closed as we sailed.

 

However, The Tasman Sea was like a mil pond when sailed from Tasmania to the South Island of New Zealand.

[OCruisers]

Southern Caribbean, eastern or western? I always sail between March-May. I don't know if it is just dumb luck but I have never had any luck with the western runs... how about your?

 

While anything can and sometimes might happen, we've never had a problem on any itinerary in the Caribbean March - May! :)

 

LuLu

[sealeggs]

We too followed "Sandy" into FLL in October 2012. We were on the Oasis and were the only ship to make Port that day. As said in another post, some had to stay out an extra day.

[griffy116]

One of our first cruises in June and Western Carribean. The storm was during the night and we were awakened by our drawers on the desk rolling out and SLAMMING back into the desk. We were so new to it and everyone had assured us that storms were no problem that we went back to sleep after stuffing something cloth in the drawers to make it QUIETER when they did the slamming. The absolute worst was on our way from Hawaii to Ensenada. The seas were so rough that they closed the outdoor decks and the outdoor pool on one day. Water was sloshing out of the pool. We went to the Solarium with the kids as they posted it was open to everyone. The kids looked like they were riding waves. Water was sloshing out of THAT pool so badly they closed that one after about 2 hours. They finally ended up closing both pools and all outdoor decks. Trays were flying out of people's hands and food and trays going overboard. That might explain why we no longer get the trays. That's the only cruise we've been on where they had the seasick bags all down the hall. We pretty much stayed on our balcony and in our cabin that day. It was cold and the seas were very rough all that day and that night. It was in April and we were ordering pots of hot chocolate.

[zqvol]

Between St. Thomas and St. John one evening. It was so bad that they had to stop dinner service until we got into the Sir Francis Drake channel.

[BonnieSte]

East coast - on the Quantum February 2015. Winds were in excess of 90 mph across the bow. I believe we were off the Outer Banks and I was in the tub/shower....and fell out when we hit a wave. We were in a SGS so I was able to grab the curtain and catch myself before I hit the bathroom floor...quite a bruise on my upper arm. The ship was rocking and rolling and I believe the outdoor decks were closed the last two days as we headed to Cape Liberty. We have now given up sailing out of Cape Liberty in the winter...only spring/summer/fall cruises from now on.....

 

Done it twice with RCCL and once with Princess. Never again even in the spring

[karkee8807]

Bermuda last October.

 

If you heard anything about Hurricane Fay (the first of two hurricanes to hit Bermuda in one week) we were on the Grandeur of the Seas in 15ft waves in a pretty deep part of the Atlantic. I was woken up at 4am to very rough seas, I went to our balcony to look and was amazed/shocked/slightly terrified for a moment. I woke my husband up and we went to the top deck to watch for a bit. We woke back up at 6:30 for room service (poor girl who had to carry the stuff) and watched the waves a little more. I mostly slept because the waves were so rocky it made me sleepy until about 1. My husband ventured out about 10 am and said the ship was dead. He saw only a couple guests and there were sick bags everywhere. By 1 we were told we would have to idle off the coast until seas were safer to dock. The seas were stll pretty rough but was starting to die down. We got on the island after 6. The whole day I was worried my husband would never cruise again since this was his first.

 

The only thing that upset me is that we were told it was a tropical storm by the cruise line. Probably to reduce panic in others or because when it started we were still 10 hours out. But we found out from locals it was in fact a hurricane and that another one was headed their way.

 

My husband was totally fine with the hurricane experience . Plus it makes a good story in a way. We fell in love with Bermuda and its locals and talk all the time about when we can go back, expecting it to be a while....

 

We just booked another Bermuda cruise for this October.

[ger_77]

Obviously ours wasn't as bad as some, but coming back from a partial Panama Canal transit, we encountered bad weather and had 17' to 23' swells overnight. We were in an aft balcony cabin and fortunately I didn't get seasick. About 2 in the morning, however, we heard 4 loud explosions in rapid succession coming from the cabin next to ours - we called security(thinking someone had been shot) and found that their 4 bottles of champagne went flying off the desk and exploded. Fortunately, nobody was injured by the flying glass from the bottles, but there was a real mess to clean up.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

[pfm18]

Canary Islands in November was particularly horrible :eek:

[paul929207]

Our worst was sailing thru a hurricane as we sailed from Halifax to NYC.

[MCC retired]

New York to Bermuda in May 1998 . 35 foot seas going , seas like glass coming back .

[elainmir]

The worst seas i've had though were on a transatlantic when three storms merged on top of us in the middle of the night causing 60 foot sustained seas with 80 foot peaks and 100+ mph winds.

 

I'd have a heart attack with 80 ft. peaks...I watch Deadliest Catch and think how can those guys deal with seas like that?

 

Our roughest one out of 6 so far was the last one...on the way back from Nassau it was literally rocking and rolling like a seesaw! Our last day was kinda wasted due to the seas...we had a aft ext. balcony and it was crazy!

[duck addict]

On a cruise ship--San Francisco to Hawaii, late January 2014. 25 foot + seas all the way over....

 

Heaviest seas..while in the US NAVY..the ancient destroyer I was on was rolling 45 degrees to each side, and the forward up and down was hitting the glass on the bridge where I was standing watch (while covering the forward gun turret. (We were passing trough a typhoon)

[navybankerteacher]

January 2007 on HAL's Noordam from New York to the Caribbean. A painful muster drill had been held in high winds off the Hudson in 15-20 degree temps. I had most forward cabin, lowest deck, on port side, just aft of the theatre. On the morning of the first sea day we were plowing through 30+ foot seas - I was looking at green water through the window as I woke up. All weather decks were closed. By mid afternoon we hit the Gulf Stream, sunny, calm breeze, 70 degrees: the magic of sailing south from New York in winter. Please come back , HAL.

[navybankerteacher]

Not on a cruise ship, so perhaps not relevant here, was the Ash Wednesday storm in early March of 1962 (rated as one of the ten worst of the 20th century). We sailed from Norfolk, being deployed to the Caribbean and passed Cape Hatteras at the height of the blow - gusts to 90 mph, seas regularly 40+ feet, driving snow - all new crew suffered, cold meals for a couple of days. Liberty in St. Thomas a few days later was well appreciated.