Your worst weather experience?

[ltsally]

Not to scare anyone off, but I'm interested to hear from some of you veterans as to just what kinds of seas the worthy, but maybe not always sun-kissed & Silver, ships have encountered?

 

Our North Atlantic crossing the beginning of September had some storms and about 12 foot seas, which were certainly noticeable, but just about enough to make things interesting. I think I would have started feeling a little nervous if it had gotten much more intense.

 

I just read of an Antarctica voyage (NOT SS, but an even smaller ship, I think) that ran into 30 foot waves. Lions and tigers and waves - oh my!!:eek: !!

[Grumpy8]

In Sept 1999 we took a cruise on the Dawn Princess. The first few days the weather we nice. Then by the third day it got worse. By day four the cruise ship was tilted maybe 15 degrees. The wind was clocked about 90mph. There was water everywhere the balcony room floors were. The wind would blow the water under the balcony doors and out into the halls. There was glass breaking from the Bar areas. It sure was a Thrilling Trip.

You know they even had a Juggling act on. What a trip. Seeing this guy on a unicycle.;)

[cruiseerf]

Two years ago on the Silver Wind approaching Civatevecchia we hit bad weather....very. Silversea locked the outside doors....recommended that we not go out on our balconies....There were 9 people in the whole dining room for our dinner that night at 8PM (the ship was full). Due to 80 MPH winds we could not dock in Rome and arrived 4 hours late. The dishes were breaking everywhere....giftshop was decimated and they forgot to tie up the piano which was sliding across the floor. Our deck furniture on deck 5 also blew overboard. The waiters were carrying only one dish per tray and at times they were flying across the floor literally as the ship bucked and rolled. Two people brought their life preservers into the dining room.....It was definitely a wild ride.

[joschus]

(Not a Silverseas story) About 3 years ago, we traveled north to Iceland aboard the Royal Princess of Princess Cruises. The weather was very rough, 25 foot seas. Coincidentally, it was a day at sea and we were on the bridge watching all the action. Incredible day and memories.

[cruisinsince75]

Two years ago on the Silver Wind approaching Civatevecchia we hit bad weather....very. Silversea locked the outside doors....recommended that we not go out on our balconies....There were 9 people in the whole dining room for our dinner that night at 8PM (the ship was full). Due to 80 MPH winds we could not dock in Rome and arrived 4 hours late. The dishes were breaking everywhere....giftshop was decimated and they forgot to tie up the piano which was sliding across the floor. Our deck furniture on deck 5 also blew overboard. The waiters were carrying only one dish per tray and at times they were flying across the floor literally as the ship bucked and rolled. Two people brought their life preservers into the dining room.....It was definitely a wild ride.

 

What time of the year was it? We were on the Splendour of the Seas in early October 2003 and the ship had such bad weather heading out of Rome that the ship listed to one side and the crew in the dining room grabbed the posts, thinking the ship was tipping over. The next day we missed port in Naples, because it was too difficult to steer into the channel. We made an attempt to have dinner that evening and glasses, dishes, etc. were sliding off the table. People trying to go down or up stairs were falling because the steps were not there. That night all the drawers in our stateroom were opening and slamming shut. Same with our shower door. So much so that I thought the glass was going to break. It was the one time that I was glad that I brought duct tape. I taped everything shut. However, then we listened to our next door neighbors drawers slamming shut all night long.

[meow!]

Two out of five postings above mentioned turbulent waters in the Mediterranean. Is this because more cruisers go to the Mediterranean, or is it as bad as crossing an ocean? We also had bad weather for a couple of days aboard the Oceania Regatta in the Mediterranean in April, 2004, but not nearly as bad as described in the previous postings. We learnt that waves are not just a function of the size of the sea, but depend more on the wind. With strong wind, even Lake Huron can have a tempest!

[unfathomable]

The worst weather (not as bad as decribed here) that I have experienced has always been in smaller seas - the Aegean/Eastern Mediterranean or the Baltic. I have never had bad weather on transatlantic crossings (five so far), though these have always been by the southerly route.

 

Of course, this could all be coincidence or the time of year, but I suspect it has something to so with the much greater depth of oceans compared with seas. Maybe that's where the expression "storm in a teacup" comes from?

[ltsally]

jgibbs - There was a piece in the New Yorker a while back about the maiden crossing of the QM2, which encountered some very high seas, bad enough to put some folks to bed for most of the voyage. So it can happen on the ocean too, apparently.

[HotelGal]

On the Wind in Fall 2003, we hit some rough seas approaching Gibraltar. We rocked & rolled all evening long- I even heard the folks in the cabin next to me fall out of bed. I had secured everything in my cabin, and thus came thru relatively unscathed. My flower vase went flying across the room on one particularly strong swell, but that was it.

The Captain actually apologized to us all the next night- and we made all ports on time.

I am too considering a transoceanic crossing, but am hopeful that the Atlantic isnt too rough in the Spring. I am guessing that if I avoid the Hurricane season, I should be okay

[unfathomable]

jgibbs - There was a piece in the New Yorker a while back about the maiden crossing of the QM2, which encountered some very high seas, bad enough to put some folks to bed for most of the voyage. So it can happen on the ocean too, apparently.

You're right, of course, it can happen anywhere. IIRC, that crossing was on the northerly route (Southampton to NYC), which has a reputation for being rougher than the southerly route. I would need a really good reason to choose the northerly route.