Live...mostly...from Anthem

[Mere828]

Wheat bread? What kind of bread did you want? Spelt? Quinoa? :confused:

 

I had lovely fresh salads every day, including the final day.

 

<smh>

 

I had fresh salads every day except the last 2 days at Silk.

 

And yes, Chops signature foods are their steaks and pretzel bread. They had neither and we paid $80 for it. It was a paid restaurant. They didn't deliver what we paid for and failed to tell us they were out of food before we sat down. It's as simple as that.

[John Reid]

Sorry, but in addition to the 45-degree angle thing, there's no way you are experiencing 125mph winds.

That's category 3 hurricane winds, and there are currently no hurricanes in the Atlantic.

 

Is that how you see it from your armchair?

 

The ship's on-screen cruise details had the apparent wind at 134 knots - 154 mph. But you saying there is no way is probably very reassuring to those onboard being thrashed.

Edited February 8, 2016 by natty bumppo

[Jan6253]

Stay safe everyone.

[Jjohnb]

Think about it for a second. Weather changes direction all the time. How many hurricane forecast have you seen that expect land fall in one place and it either hits in a different place or goes out to sea. Yes, we have good technology. But nature is nature and we cannot control it.

 

Excellent point, knowing how unpredictable weather is you don't risk 5,000 lives, you stay well clear of it not tell the passengers during the life boat drill that you are going to try to out run it and if we aren't successful we'll suffer 75 mph winds! Being experienced and knowing how unpredictable weather is, you KNOW there is a chance (all be it extremely slim) that 75 mph winds can turn into 160 mph winds, period. I didn't give RC permission to take that risk with my life. We dodged an extreme bullet, this easily could have ended very differently. For what it's worth, as of 11:50 PM we are still experiencing sustained wind of 90 knots per the in-room weather report.

[Oshawapilot]

Agree with you 100% Lou. I often wonder why the cruise lines that sail from the East Coast don't incorporate a ship design that is better suited for raging seas of the North Atlantic.

 

The QM2 is specifically designed to handle these types of turbulent sea conditions.

 

QM2 passenger capacity, 2620.

 

AOTS passenger capacity, 4180.

 

Need I say more?

 

Ocean liners are built differently, absolutely, but the tradeoff of a nice narrow cutter style hull is passenger capacity. In the traditional routes most cruise ships (NOT liners) travel, that tradeoff is not justified.

[aaronjosef]

Via Instagram, one poster does have an image of the stateroom map stating over 150mph of relative wind. Whether that's an accurate reading by the ship's equipment or not, anyone on the ship would have this firsthand information to report on.

 

 

Was contacted by someone on the ship who said it looked like the storm went through the ship with everything on the floor..

 

Hope for smooth sailing soon and everyone waking up tomorrow morning safe and sound.

Edited February 8, 2016 by aaronjosef

[doe-c-doe]

Meteorologist in our area (Raleigh NC Station) reported on the storm tonight and stated that it was what they (Meteorologist) referred to as a bomb event. It flared up so fast it was like an explosion.

 

I think there are times when people make their best decision and it's correct and all is well; but sometimes they wish for a re-do. I'm glad I don't have to make these kinds of decisions.

 

I hope and pray everyone is safe.

[CruiseLou2727]

Our current location is

32 degrees 58.51 N

076 degrees 24.88W

 

Fluctuate between 0.9kts to 6kts

 

Course range 327 to 340

 

Humidity 90%

 

Sea depth 880m

12 beaufort.

 

hPa 997

 

 

 

Can someone please tell us what is going on and how much longer this will last?? I dont ttust the captain and wonder if i should be in a life boat? Are they any safer than being on the ship?

Swaying like crazy

[gaylemh]

Deck 14 damage. Looks cosmetic. Posted on F B

 

[RoyalFan2011]

Prayers are with you!

[stunned]

I am on the ship as well balcony on floor 13. This is so scar . What can we do to be safe? I'm freaking out. Please help!!

 

Try to stay calm thinking of fun times you have experienced and stay away from your balcony door.

[Maurice Keefe]

I had to create an account to reply to this comment. I'm a meteorologist, and this storm is developing exactly as forecast. For anyone defending RC, they are uninformed. For the last two days there has been a Hurricane Force Wind Warning posted in the area the ship was planned to sail. Failure to respect this forecast falls directly on RC if lives are lost. With my first post / rant complete I want to send out prayers and my thoughts to those on board. Things should start to improve shortly as the low pressure system tracks northeast away from the ships location.

 

Thanks for the information from someone with real knowledge and facts. Those two things are often missing in these conversation.

[mostlylurker]

I dont think you should be taking safety advise from strangers sitting far away with no experience. Folks are thinking of you.

[Oshawapilot]

Deck 14 damage. Looks cosmetic.

 

As I suspected, another repeat of the "omg the whole deck collapsed" initial reports from Grandeur when the deck cracked, all of which turned out to be overblown.

 

They'll probably have that put back together by morning and half the passengers will never realize it even happened.

 

One thing is for sure...that's hardly a "Too much damaged to continue" situation as was initially suggested a few pages back.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Oshawapilot

[Jjohnb]

I am beginning to doubt the validity of that post.

 

It was my post, it's about a 20 x 20 foot section of suspended ceiling, I have photos and video on my cell. Ceiling is hanging touching floor, wires and duct work hanging.

[mostlylurker]

Omg we are on it now. Are you kidding me. Look at the darn radar. This things is getting flung like a rubber ducky..Uggh. looking for advice please help.

 

seems to be moving north- hopefully you'll be out of it soon.

[John Reid]

As I suspected, another repeat of the "omg the whole deck collapsed" initial reports from Grandeur when the deck cracked, all of which turned out to be overblown.

 

They'll probably have that put back together by morning and half the passengers will never realize it even happened.

 

Or not.

[waterbugohio]

Omg we are on it now. Are you kidding me. Look at the darn radar. This things is getting flung like a rubber ducky..Uggh. looking for advice please help.

 

Our current location is

32 degrees 58.51 N

076 degrees 24.88W

 

Fluctuate between 0.9kts to 6kts

 

Course range 327 to 340

 

Humidity 90%

 

Sea depth 880m

12 beaufort.

 

hPa 997

 

 

 

Can someone please tell us what is going on and how much longer this will last?? I dont ttust the captain and wonder if i should be in a life boat? Are they any safer than being on the ship?

Swaying like crazy

 

cruiseLou, prayers with you. I'm sure things are very scary onboard. Are you traveling with anyone else that can reassure you? What floor are you on? Maybe someone on your floor can talk to you and maybe help you calm down.

 

There is another thread on here that has lots more information. I assume you are new to cruise critic and assume you are using a phone to read and post. Please go to this link for more info. Maybe it will help

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2312327

 

will keep praying for you.

[triptolemus]

As I suspected, another repeat of the "omg the whole deck collapsed" initial reports from Grandeur when the deck cracked, all of which turned out to be overblown.

 

They'll probably have that put back together by morning and half the passengers will never realize it even happened.

 

One thing is for sure...that's hardly a "Too much damaged to continue" situation as was initially suggested a few pages back.

 

Yeah... but look closer at that photo. See those green lights along the floor? Do you know what those are? What do those lights tell you about the state of ship?

[NOLadyCruiser]

So I have a stupid question. Now keep in mind - I haven't been on a cruise yet. Going in April for the first time.

 

But my question is if the passengers are to stay in their rooms - how are they eating?

 

Prayers everyone is okay!!

[Suziq333]

I was just on the Anthem and got off the ship yesterday. I also spent an hour on the bridge tour seeing the entire bridge. There is no possible way they didn't know a storm this bad was coming or at least half as bad - they have an entire room devoted to tracking the weather with 4 giant monitors and 3 computers that's right next to the main bridge.

 

And judging by the corners they cut on our cruise, the captain, heavily pressured by the execs at Royal Caribbean, probably pushed for the ship to get through it to "stay on the timeline"...

 

I know it sounds harsh but I really believe going through the storm was a severe judgement error on RC's part. Either that or they were taking a gamble getting through it, hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as it could be.

 

Well I know the captain sounded terrified on the intercom (several people have it on tape) and at least 2 people suffered heart attacks so you can tell their families that the capital didn't know (with all the aide of the electronics on board this $1.2 Billion dollar ship). The captain warned us of bad weather yesterday during the life boat drill as we were leaving NY. So yes he knew and took a calculated risk with our lives.

 

So what ship have either of you two been in charge of that you seem to know the captain is wrong? Unless you are in his shoes, you really cannot know what he should/shouldn't have done....

[MarkBearSF]

As far as the lifejackets go, after the review of the Concordia disaster, among other incidents, they found a few things.

 

One, the people who did get their jackets mostly went right to lifeboats instead of muster stations, causing all kinds of problems at said lifeboats.

 

Two, the added mass of life jackets in the halls in a large ship was a severe impediment to movement.

 

Three, the dual flow of people going one way to get to cabins to get jackets versus those heading down either with or without caused significant traffic issues, especially with no elevators.

 

There were a few others, those are some of the main items. It was determined that for mega ships, a sound policy is to place the life jackets at the muster station and if possible make those stations indoors. This would increase the chances of people actually going where they needed to (or at least to A muster station) as opposed to crowding the launch decks, etc.

 

 

 

Since there has not been an incident requiring an evacuation or even a full muster (as opposed to a passenger count one) no way of knowing for sure if this is a better system. But there were real reasons behind the change.

 

Thank you. That makes sense.

[sppunk]

I assumed Anthem would've sailed to Canada or Bernuda and just recently saw this thread. I am FLOOORED she sailed into this storm, absolutely floored.

 

This was modeled to bomb out exactly as it did, ride up the coast and hammer SNE with a blizzard. Nothing has gone unexpected, the storm is exactly developing per forecast. The GFS, NAM and Euro all showed this. I follow weather closely because I'm a nerd and because I live in PA and any bombing low over the Carolinas in winter usually means I get a big snowstorm. I love storms so learned to read models.

 

I'm not throwing anyone under the bus but am shocked there was no itinerary deviation.

 

I hope the reports of the heart attacks are false and there are no serious injuries. They will be in rough weather for many more hours, 75 knot gusts through the early AM.

 

Stay stafe all on board!

[akowilm]

http://outerbanksvoice.com/2016/02/06/rainy-windy-super-sunday-along-the-outer-banks/

 

This Outer Banks forecast from Saturday was predicting winds up to 60 mph (not 100+).

 

Hope everyone aboard gets home safely.

 

 

I also live on the NC coast and today was awful! We were not expecting this, and I have all the Weather Channel/NOAA/NWP applications on my phone and no forecast had what we experienced today. We had very high winds, coastal flooding, roads out, and it was as dark as night most of the day.....certainly didn't start out this way, and we were calling for intermittent rain and windy conditions only. I think this storm had a mind of his own...

[bedazzler]

I am on the ship and it has been an uncomfortable ride today for sure. But folks, nobody onboard has any answers, and neither does anybody not onboard. It is way too early to hang or crucify anyone, and the most important thing is that all 5,000+ of us make it through safely.

 

What an absolutely ridiculous time to be talking about who's at fault...

 

 

Thank you for saying this. I'm also onboard presently, I've been doing a live report since my trip started in the Countdown to Quantum Class forum if anyone would like to verify.

 

The only thing anyone on board has been told is that there were high winds (150mph), and high waves (50ft). I would agree with those that say that from our perspective it appears that the weather escalated beyond what anyone expected. I was in a performance of We Will Rock You that was stopped part way through when the worst of this began - nobody would willingly have a show scheduled during a storm this severe.

 

AT NO POINT have I EVER felt like I was at risk of losing my life. I'm fortunately young, and that isn't the case for a lot of passengers, but the movement has NOT been what I would consider to be life-threatening. The listing of the ship has certainly never been 45 degrees. I posted a picture of me standing up during one of the worst lists on this thread as well as my own.

 

NOBODY has said anything about the ceiling of deck 14 collapsing to us. NOBODY has said anything about the ship being too damaged to continue or disembarking tomorrow to us. Those of us on board have been doing a solid job of updating these threads with everything we know. I'm sure we'll continue to update the community. Posting unconfirmed gossip on CC is not helping anybody.

Edited February 8, 2016 by bedazzler