Just back from Escape (UDP, Gluten Free, boat movement, etc)

[kajasmin]

Thursday was the worst but from Day 1 out of miami it was rolling.... the entire cruise, even in what seemed liked very calm waters.

[chengkp75]

chengkp75, first let me say that I bow to your obviously superior knowledge in these issues. I only wish to share an experience I had. A few years ago, I was on a transatlantic traveling through the North Sea out of Southampton. The first or second day out (I think it was day 1) we were told that we were traveling through force 10 winds and that the decks were closed to the public due to safety concerns. We were traveling on the QM2 which is famous for being an extremely stable ship, and because of both the ship, and the fact that I was a bit "tight";), I could barely tell we were moving. Being an idiot, I decided that I would check out these winds and proceeded to unhook a rope that was blocking a hatch and went outside. Well, my new cap now resides on the bottom of the sea, and I'm lucky I didn't join it! It was like something out of a silent movie. I was holding onto a railing for dear life and literally pulling myself against the wind until I finally found another hatched that was open and went back inside. There was an officer standing inside who gave me a horrified look like I had three heads. I deserved it too!:D

 

Again, it all depends on where the center of the storm is, in relation to the ship and its heading. Sometimes the swell is in one direction and the seas (or waves) caused by the local winds are in a different direction, and this makes for an even more complicated equation that the bridge officer has to figure out to try to lessen the motion, or make it bearable. If the swells and seas are in line, then things can calm down with the right combination of speed and heading.

 

As I mentioned in the other thread about the Escape's motion, another poster listed the GM, or metacentric heights of both the Breakaway and the Escape. Metacentric height is a measure of ship's stability. However, the Breakaway, with a GM of 4 feet, is relatively "stiff" or "stable", much like the Cunard liners. These ships are resistant to rolling ("rocking" as I now understand it in cruiser terminology), but when they do roll, there stability makes them "snap" back upright in an uncomfortably quick motion, which tends to throw the uninitiated off their feet. The Escape has a GM of 2.5 feet, which is called "less stable" or "softer", because she will roll more easily, but will return to the upright much slower than the Breakaway, presenting most with the opportunity to walk from one edge of the passageway to the other within a few feet, but keep their footing. The extreme of this are older cargo ships (the type romanticized in old movies as "tramp steamers") or loaded tankers who have GM's measured in a couple of inches. These ships will roll quite readily, but will hang over at the end of the roll, as we call it "thinking about whether the ship wants to come back or not", hesitate, and then very slowly roll back upright.

 

Naval vessels, due to their requirements for stable platforms are designed to be "stiff", while most commercial ships are designed to be "soft", since the snap rolling of a stiff ship could cause damage to the cargo. On a cruise ship, the passengers are the cargo, so they tend to be a little softer. Cunard's ships are fairly unique since they are designed for the worst weather out there, unlike most of the cruise industry.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

chengkp- I enjoy reading your insight & obvious knowledge on the subject.

 

Us lay people who experienced this cruise & ship, can only tell you what we actually experienced. Seemed they were hell bent on getting us to Nassau.

I can see where some people might NOT want to experience a trip like that ever again.

 

I'm an experienced cruiser, and this was over the top, for me.

I've been on a couple other cruises where itineraries were changed for weather, technical difficulty, Whatever.

Itineraries are Not set in stone.

So this seemed Unnecessary to put us thru.

 

Plus the fact we left port 90 mins Late.

 

Under the circumstances, we would have preferred the Captain chose a different route, or SKIP Nassau, or do many OTHER alternatives to hauling ass thru the STORM, which was Bad!

Seemed a LOUSY decision at the time, and I'm glad we survived it.

[barnacle_boy]

FYI, Escape did slightly deviate from her course to the southwest to avoid the worst of that small thunderstorm. Yes, I know some of you will reply it was the "storm of the century" or something, but it was a small thunderstorm. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Deedee85]

That was a pretty rough storm Thursday night. Did anyone go out to the deck and see it? We did and got a little nervous. Any ship at sea in that storm I'm sure was rocking and rolling.

I was on the Gem at the sane time. We were rocking on Wednesday. We must have been passing through the same system.

[kismet618]

I was thinking about purchasing the unlimited internet package for my upcoming Dec 5th cruise.

 

D you know how the connectivity is ? Was sit spotty?

We were on this same cruise and had the unlimited internet. It worked great for us. We were able to Facetime family at home, and use wifi calling(tmobile) with no issues. Ideally, the service should allow all members of your group to be able to use it at once, but my kids and I took turns. Definitely worked well for us though.

[sjbdtz]

chengkp- I enjoy reading your insight & obvious knowledge on the subject.

 

Us lay people who experienced this cruise & ship, can only tell you what we actually experienced. Seemed they were hell bent on getting us to Nassau.

I can see where some people might NOT want to experience a trip like that ever again.

 

I'm an experienced cruiser, and this was over the top, for me.

I've been on a couple other cruises where itineraries were changed for weather, technical difficulty, Whatever.

Itineraries are Not set in stone.

So this seemed Unnecessary to put us thru.

 

Plus the fact we left port 90 mins Late.

 

Under the circumstances, we would have preferred the Captain chose a different route, or SKIP Nassau, or do many OTHER alternatives to hauling ass thru the STORM, which was Bad!

Seemed a LOUSY decision at the time, and I'm glad we survived it.

 

 

Storms happen all the time, and luckily ships are designed to withstand them. There's a famous youtube video of a smaller ship videotaped by a helicopter, and it looks like it would be awful to be on.

 

YET....it's just riding on the top of the waves, exactly as it was designed to do.

 

 

When we went to Iceland on the Star last year, we were sailing through a Category 2 Hurricane. I wish I had taken captures of the Wave Height forecasts, because I knew before we left our prior port that we were going to be in for a roller coaster ride.

 

Here's what it looked like, off the deck 11 balcony:

 

Ultimately we had similar weather for about 36 hours. And I've taken 2 cruises since then.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

[hpecorari]

Here's what it looked like, off the deck 11 balcony:

 

Ultimately we had similar weather for about 36 hours. And I've taken 2 cruises since then.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

 

Thanks for the memories. We were having lunch in the AFT MDR and everything was falling off the tables and water splashing up the aft windows.

 

Hasn't stopped me from cruising since!

 

Harriet

[Fyruf]

Take the good with the bad that's sailing nothing much the ship can do no matter what size the ship is take it from an old sailor been there done that. Pitching is the worse your stomach is on deck 18 and you are on 5 than vise versa.