Scary Cruise on the Eurodam

[Topsham]

Try out Cunard... the WINTER CROSSING CLUB. Dozens would book on QE2 to cross from Southampton to New York... usually mid December and the weather was usually lousy. Everyone loved it! Sitting in the after deck lido. All wrapped and freezing... ship heaving and rolling... blinding blizzard and water running everywhere. Mugs of hot cocoa... holding for dear life. Come evening.... everyone dress to the nine for great cocktail parties and fine dining... five days without letup. :)

[serendipity1499]

You could think about cruising during another time than hurricane season.

Seems kind of silly to me to not have thought about the possibilities ahead of time and been prepared to brave it out. Maybe that's because I've lived in Florida all my life and always enjoyed boating. But, isn't that one of the first things they tell you to consider before booking a cruise?

I'm not trying to be mean. Maybe I'm trying to get you to rethink your outlook on the situation. Seems those with this 101 knowledge appreciate good ship design how well the crew handled it.

 

While I don't disagree with you, not everyone who lives in-land thinks about hurricane season.. Living in Florida & anywhere on/near the water on the East or West Coast, we are very much aware of hurricane season, would take precautions ,& probably not travel if we were afraid.. But many people who live in-land don't even realize that they could be putting themselves in an uncomfortable or even dangerous situation..:) Our boating Friends will not cruise during hurricane season only because they want to be home to protect their boats & homes if a storm is brewing.. That being said, our Friends, DH & I will be on a cruise together in November, even before hurricane season is over..LOL:):eek:

 

 

What you experienced is not common. You will run into weather on all cruises. We've been on one where a ship was literally surfing and on another where the ship listed a good bit when it got hit broadside by unexpected weather and it took a few minutes to turn it. Water sloshed out of the pool. Some people were frightened. If you like cruising, it would be a shame to not cruise because of this one event.

 

You are right, we've been on other cruises, not HAL & have been in rough weather.. I don't really think the OP was saying she would not cruise again.. I think she was saying just not on HAL..:eek: I agree that it would be a shame not to cruise on HAL again, but understand why..

Edited October 19, 2015 by serendipity1499

[scamper]

Reminds me of the night before we docked in Miami on SS Norway, March 12, 1993. I don't think the old girl was ever on even keel that night. My noon flight the following day finally left FLL at 9:00 pm.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Storm_of_the_Century

[rjbean4]

Topsham,

 

A couple of corrections regarding the Rotterdam 2004 encounter with Hurricane Karl. Yeah that picture was taken by one of the bridge officers during one of the bigger rolls the ship took during the time when there was a loss of power and before it got dark. I also recognize it because my mom & I were on that cruise. Was actually the 24th of September not the 22nd and we sat dead in the water in confused swells for 3 hours. We were on emergency power for that time starting a little after 6pm. By the time we had the 2nd set of propulsion systems back on line we started moving again but very slowly and gradually increasing our speed. Once we had enough speed the stabilizers became more effective we started to settle down. The ship was a mess but it was a team effort with crew and passengers that could working together to get things cleaned up and I was one of them. When we woke up the next morning the seas were calm and like nothing had happened. I have the video that was made for that cruise that has all kinds of extra video from crew since we were back on the Rotterdam for the holidays that December and was able to get it since we had been on the Trans Atlantic and had come back. In return I traded my video and pictures. I watched a lot of the action from the crows nest and yeah we had some spray but not really bad as some have reported. After it got dark and we couldn't see anything.

 

Captain Fred made more than one announcement to keep us informed on everything going on the get us going again and that we were not in any danger. People were asked to stay seated and not be up moving around due to the uncontrollable motion of the ship. If people did and got hurt??? Well they had been advised not to. Crew were all over to make sure everyone was OK and after we were moving again were going around with sandwiches to offer people as everything going on had been suspended. The lido eventually did open with some light snacks at the same time cleaning was going on. The dining room had been evacuated as when everything started to happen it was during 1st seating and all service had stopped. The motion of the ship being dead in the water and the dining room being in the back of the ship was not a safe combination.

 

Captain Fred during his 1pm announcement on this day did warn us it was going to get worse before it got better as the day went on so it wasn't like we didn't know it was coming despite our route to St. John's, Newfoundland was significantly changed further south to go around Hurricane Carl to the south as it moved north. The problem was it started to break up as we got closer later in the day and was also at around the same time NOAA posted the last advisory as Karl was falling apart and becoming extratropical. I once found on the NOAA website under archives for the 04 hurricane season and Hurricane Karl that the Rotterdam had reported a sustained wind gust of 45 knots at 6pm on Sept. 24, 2004.

 

Some people also thought we ended up in Halifax because of what happened. This is also not true. After our last European port of Belfast, Northern Ireland we were supposed to be at sea for 4 days to St. John's, Newfoundland. But because of what we had happen and the weather forecast for the day we were supposed to be there was not good we headed for Halifax cause it was a part of our scheduled itinerary after a day at sea from St. Johns.

 

Just wanted to share some of what it was like during this cruise. When we were back on the Rotterdam for the Holidays we had so many problems and a situation that upset us greatly involving being falsely accused, we decided that we would no longer cruise on the Rotterdam. There are plenty of other ships to pick from. Its also our tradition to cruise for the Holidays and have done so every year since 1988 on Nieuw Amsterdam III. This year will be no different. We haven't been on land for the Holidays since 1987.

 

Bad weather experiences don't stop us. Life is too short.

 

68 cruises on HAL at the age of 50

1,001 days at sea on 14 different DAM SHIPS

700 day Platinum Medallion holder

5 Maiden Voyages (Ryndam,Veendam,Volendam, Zaandam & Amsterdam)

September 24, 2004 Rotterdam Trans Atlantic Hurricane Karl survivor

12/20/15 Christmas & New Years - Nieuw Amsterdam

If Holland America doesn't go there, WE DON'T GO!

Edited October 20, 2015 by rjbean4

[Topsham]

rjb,

 

Yes, I know the photo (s). I have a set... including the shots of the hurricane tracks and then the 'mess'. Somone passed a set to me several years ago. No point in showing photos of that mess around on CC for obvious reasons! :eek:

 

Stephen

[rafinmd]

[quote name='Topsham']Try out Cunard... the WINTER CROSSING CLUB. Dozens would book on QE2 to cross from Southampton to New York... usually mid December and the weather was usually lousy. Everyone loved it! Sitting in the after deck lido. All wrapped and freezing... ship heaving and rolling... blinding blizzard and water running everywhere. Mugs of hot cocoa... holding for dear life. Come evening.... everyone dress to the nine for great cocktail parties and fine dining... five days without letup. :)[/QUOTE]

Is there still such a thing. I sail January 3 (and love all those stairway C paintings). I know several are unsigned and unattributed, are they perhaps yours?

Roy