Back from TA, lessons learned

[Host Jazzbeau]

23 minutes ago, jamacka said:

 

Everything you said is accurate.  Being able to get outside would have made a big difference... but Celebrity had no control over the weather and I do think Captain George took care of us and the ship in a most responsible and prudent manner which I really appreciated.  

I have a point to make about the library and the Hideaway.  The chairs in those locations are much sought after but for some reason people take their books to fall asleep there.  People are free to do what they want, I understand that, but we couldn't figure out why people didn't just stay in their cabins to read or return to their cabins when they felt they were getting sleepy leave those high demand chairs for the next guy.  We read (and napped) a lot in our cabin.  It was quite nice and enjoyable.  We'd fix a nice cup of tea of hot chocolate, hunker down under those cosy plaid deck blankets on the bed, and read or watch a movie ... and subsequently fall asleep.  I highly recommend it. Curled up on your own bed under a cosy blanket is a far superior way to have a nap than sitting the a chair, snoring with your mouth hanging in plain view of all the people going up and down in the elevators.

 

This is why the new cabin design on the Edge – with many beds facing the sea – makes so much sense.  No chair is as comfortable to read-and-nap on than a bed – when now when I wake, the ocean will be right there waving hello!

[jamacka]

On 11/21/2018 at 2:47 PM, Turtles06 said:

......After a couple of days, we simply turned our balcony furniture upright and used our balcony. 

 

 

From where we were, unsecuring our balcony furniture would have been risky.  We were deck 6 in the bow, port side.  For much of the trip the swells were coming in at an angle to hot the bow on the port side.  There were times spray from the bow went higher than our balcony.  The attached video was a nice enough day with the sun shine but it was not exactly balcony sitting weather.  The evening before we arrived in Boston the spray reached at least as high was deck 8.  It was absolutely wild.  B then our balcony furniture had been set up and we were afraid that is could come crashing through the glass doors any minute, but we were too afraid to go out and try to lash them down.  Now, none of that spray made a direct high on our balcony but if it had, it would have hit like a wall of water travelling about 18knots.  That's enough to knock a person off their feet and drive them and the balcony furniture into the glass doors.

I would love to see any pictures of what the waves looked like from an ocean view cabin.  There must have been times when those windows were underwater.  I imagine it was pretty noisy too.

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 11/24/2018 at 6:31 AM, kearney said:

I wondered what it was like on the Queen. I did not closely watch her on marine traffic... but kept looking at the ocean forecast site and while it calmed down some from the day it took off...it was still quite a bit rougher than the seas further south. I think Cunard has more of a transportation vs vacation business model. During hurricane season Royal ended up adding several days to one cruise (I think it was Grandeur of the Seas) and taking it from another to avoid Florence. I can not image Cunard going the same... and frankly on a NY to England run... there is not place to stop for a day or two.

My lesson learned after reading through this is to always sail the QM2 on TA’s.  I am by no means an expert on the QM2 having only sailed her 14 days this past June on a fjords sailing and westbound TA, however we definitely had a vacation experience. The on board lectures were simply outstanding, the water color painting classes, flower arranging classes, dance classes  and fencing classes were a lot of fun. We tried things we would never have otherwise sought out. The shows were a bit weak but the music was exceptional. The harpist was a real treat. 

Even in the middle of summer we had a mixture of weather. There were at least 3 days on the TA that going out on the decks was just impossible due to the strong winds. The ship handled the wind and the waves just incredibly well.  I was amazed. The interior spaces never get crowded as she is built to accommodate all passengers inside for the entire crossing. 

We had a deck 5 sheltered balcony so we could sit on it regardless of the wind and waves. 

Edited November 25, 2018 by HaveDogWillTravel

[Yoshikitty]

On 11/24/2018 at 3:16 PM, kearney said:

I just stumbled across this thread. It is interesting because as Silhouette headed across... Edge was just starting to head over as well. I have followed Edge's progress for months... so was tracking her trip. It was noted that she left France a bit early and changed her course because of the storm developing in the north Atlantic. When she left I saw Silhouette (on marinetraffic.com) not far away. So I noticed several ships change itineraries heading south and away from the storm... as much as possible. Someone someplace, I cant recall, noted that the Queen was sticking to her course and heading from Southampton to NYC... her captain apparently bragged that she was made for this. Well I don't know about you but... when I cruise I am on vacation and having a smooth ride or at least as smooth as possible is important to me. Back in the 60s we sailed from Holland to NY... but it was transportation... not a cruise... so being six for several days was not ideal... but somewhat expected.  I looked at a website for looking at ocean wave height and noticed that the path the Queen was taking had seas up to 40ft.... and while it seemed to calm down a bit... it could still have been 30ft when they went through.. The seas further south... were not calm... but shades of light blue vs yellow (higher waves). So your trip may not have been pleasant but from what I could see the storm was quite large and waves height was substantial many hundreds of miles from the center of the storm.... other than staying put someplace... there was not much else to be done. But you really raise some good points about TA travel. I have wanted to do a trip like this BUT my husband is unsteady on his feet and I think the motion ... even if there is not storm... might make it difficult for him to get around the cabin... let alone other parts of the ship. Also, I have been fortunate enough not to have my old motion sickness problem surface while cruising... hate to discover that again. Great writeup by the way

 

 

Well, you can hardly compare Queen Mary 2 to a regular cruiseship.

 

While all others are just - cruiseships - Queen Mary 2 is an Ocean Liner - the only one in active service.

When  the first plannings where made, the architects ran the weather and wind condition on the Northern Atlantic from the past 30+ years and from that determined the necessary power and design so that the ship was and always be on time in New York and Southampton.

 

Just as an example, her max. power is at around 180.000 hp compared to 55.000 hp for Silhouette at a comparable size. 

 

So, she was made for the weather conditions on the Northern Atlantic and handles the conditions there pretty well.

 

Anybody who books a Transatlantic cruise on a regular cruiseship should keep this in mind and be prepared for some itinerary changes due to the weather that usually happens at that time of the year. Transatlantics are no cruises.

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by Yoshikitty

[cangelmd]

On 11/23/2018 at 7:05 PM, Hlitner said:

I am trying to understand the OPs frustration.  It sounds like they booked a late season crossing on a Northern route which is seldom going to get you warm weather.  And late Oct into October on the Northern routes puts you right in the path of any "Noreaster" that work their way up the US East Coast and then head across the Atlantic.  We have take a few of the late crossing and understand that we will be spending most of our days inside the ship.   As to loud music, we have also suffered this on a few X cruises which is one reason, among many, why we have substantially cut-back on our X bookings.  

 

We have thought that Celebrity has been gradually going downhill in overall quality for the past 3-5 years.  Some attribute this to an apparent senior management philosophy of boosting the bottom line by a combination of cut-backs and price increases.   We are now debating between a future cruise on MSC (yacht club) and X...which might be an indication of just how far we think X has fallen.  Another booking (in Alaska) that in the past might have been with Celebrity has been made with Seabourn.

 

Hank

Sigh...I wan't going to do this...

 

The reason why you cant understand my frustration, is that I am not frustrated. Overall, we had a great time. We were not unprepared, as you insinuate, if anything we were overprepared.

Again, we spoke with upwards of 10-15 people on the trip and on the internet, who claimed upward of 9-10 TAs, and uniformly we heard that this was the "worst" TA they had ever been on. "Worst" being defined as continuous days of winds limiting ship access, which is enforced by captain and crew (Again, I think appropriately... in retrospect, we could have used our balcony a day or two sooner, and some who responded to this thread did undo the balcony furniture themselves, but we did not feel comfortable doing that after we had asked our cabin steward about it - we didn't want to get him into trouble, by having someone think he did it). I have avoided saying this, but there were a large number of folks on this trip with limited mobility who were endangered even when the waves went down - I'm certain that the ages of the passengers played a role in decision making.

 

Hank, I have followed many of your posts and have appreciated your perspective on value in cruising, and have picked up a number of tips on getting what we truly want out of our cruise money. I don't appreciate the attitude, though. Bless your heart, MSC and Seabourn seem like they might be the experience you are looking for.

[Jim_Iain]

On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 8:53 AM, goofysmom99 said:

I have no idea what opening prices were.  I booked the 2018 TA 12 months out while on a 2017 TA.  I only book a TA while ON a TA to get the included gratuities.  So, the price for a 2019 TA 12 months out is 80% higher than one I booked 12 months out in 2017.  Not an opening price but an equal comparison time wise.  BTW, they have added a choice between gratuities or wifi for booking a repo while on a repo.  Gratuities are still worth more for me. 

 

While this might not be reflective of the cost of your cabin this is the price history of a Celebrity Suite -  As someone earlier said the prices are fluid and worth keeping an eye on them.  

 

[goofysmom99]

Jim, net price is always tough to compare.  For this Silhouette TA, I received a $200 pp senior discount which won't show on the fishy site.  Went back and looked at price history and my price was the opening price.  No discounts showing up for 2019 TA (although I qualify for the military discount).  I do a dummy booking about every third day for cruises I've already booked or am contemplating just to see if a resident/senior discount has been added/increased.   

[Jazzbo]

On 11/21/2018 at 12:31 PM, cruisestitch said:

A couple of years ago, I learned my lesson as well.   A similar itinerary was to have gone to New York City and Bermuda.  Northern route.  The seas were against us and it was the roughest crossing I've ever been on.  We diverted south to get away from the worst of the late-season hurricane but it was still awful.  We ended up in New York two days late -- the same problems with theater tickets, restaurant reservations, etc.  And we missed Bermuda altogether, to the dismay of the 13 people on board who lived in Bermuda and were using the ship to get from Europe to their homes.  They had to make the difficult decision to disembark in New York or Florida and make their way home by plane.  Some had brought a large number of suitcases with them and I imagine that it cost a fortune to get all that stuff to Bermuda.

 

There was a (small) silver lining.  On the original route, we would have had to go through US Customs and Immigration twice, and we were at least spared that.

 

Now I only take souther routes.  But some of the same things the OP found are relevant there.  The large number of Elites (over 1500) meant that the Elite breakfast was mobbed every day.  The interior spaces were very crowded.  While we had moderately rough seas a couple of times, the weather improved as the voyage continued and we headed for Florida.  So some hardy souls were out on deck each day.   That helped.

 

So, to the OP, you will find the large number of Elites on every crossing, you'll find the interior spaces crowded if the weather isn't good, but taking the southern route will help with that.

Cruisestitch - was that the TA from Southampton in November 2014 that stopped in Madeira? If so, we were on the same cruise and loved it! We were disappointed to miss Bermuda, but we enjoyed Madeira. Our favorite memories are of the wonderful people we met, some of whom I’m still in touch with. We had reservations in NYC and we were meeting family there. I was able to cancel our reservations and contact my cousins, one of whom made a reservation for a late lunch for the day we arrived. We planned on doing a little shopping or site seeing before lunch, but we didn’t clear customs until after 1:00 (that was frustrating). The silver lining there was that my cousin and husband coming in from Connecticut were able to pick us up at the pier. Just as we finally got out, they arrived at the pier!  We did get off the ship a day early in Port  Canaveral, but we had pre-arranged that because we live in Central Florida. We would do that same  cruise again, but that’s what happens with cruising - on the same cruise, no one passenger experiences the same cruise as another.

[Lastdance]

At the very least, this discussion is well worth the read if you are looking at north vs south crossings.  It never hurts to be prepared for these possible weather situations, so if they happen, you have previously read about it.  The OP, IMHO, did a great job voicing her concerns and just painting a picture of what transpired on the first north westbound TA.  I have only done one TA, this past April, and on Reflection.  We loved it, but only experience a day + of large waves and rocking, mostly at night, so it was a great background for the movie we were watching!  We all have different experiences on TA's, and Mother Nature can be mean or nice!  I have one TA booked in 2019 on Edge, along with my first westbound November 5, on Reflection from Barcelona.  

 

Yes, the prices are very high indeed, especially on Edge if you did not book when it opened!

Edited November 26, 2018 by Lastdance

[parrotfeathers]

Hope this doesn't sound silly.  I was wondering if anyone ever became upset on a TA and had to be medicated by the doc on board to calm them down on a terrible TA due to weather.

[cluso]

35 minutes ago, parrotfeathers said:

Hope this doesn't sound silly.  I was wondering if anyone ever became upset on a TA and had to be medicated by the doc on board to calm them down on a terrible TA due to weather.

I think most of those possible medications took place in one of the bars/lounges.

[lisiamc]

7 hours ago, parrotfeathers said:

Hope this doesn't sound silly.  I was wondering if anyone ever became upset on a TA and had to be medicated by the doc on board to calm them down on a terrible TA due to weather.

It’s normally just not that bad on a TA - as happened on the recent Silhouette TA, the route is often adjusted to help as much as possible.  And rough seas can happen anywhere.  The roughest seas we’ve ever experienced were on a Caribbean cruise.  The bottles fell off the shelves in the Duty Free shop, and most of the shop mannequins in the other shops fell over.  Our second roughest seas were in the Mediterranean. You know it’s going to be a wild ride when they start covering the tables with cling film!

[jimbri]

Good morning.  I have what may be an odd question.  I have never taken a TA but hope to one day.  What determines a southbound or northbound?  Is it the original port the ship leaves from or it's destination or something else.  Thanks and sorry if this has been explained before.

[jamacka]

Hey OP, I fully understand your comments and I understand that it's difficult for people who were not on the cruise to appreciate it. We had never been on a TA before and coming from Nova Scotia, a province in Canada that sticks out into the North Atlantic, we know all too well what the weather is like in November.  We were well aware it was still hurricane season and we were well aware it was the beginning of Atlantic winter storm season.  That means nor-easters can develop overnight off the eastern seaboard and move up the coast and out across the Atlantic, which is exactly what happened on our cruise.  We were very apprehensive about the weather, so much so that we actually anticipated a change in itinerary and didn't book any activities anywhere.  We had all the right clothes and had plenty of books on our Kindle for a weeks worth of reading inside our cabin.  BUT..... I ask about other people's experiences on Atlantic crossings in the fall here and in other forums and most of the people who responded described the Atlantic on their crossing as being "a mirror" and "like glass".  Nobody who responded had experienced a change in itinerary to the extent we did because of the weather.  

 

How do we know this crossing was slightly out of the ordinary?  Well, Captain George too the time to post a nautical chart of our altered route compared to what would have been our original route and he included charts for weather systems, wind speed and wave heights for every single day of that  cruise and the entry to the Ocean View Cafe.  I have never been on a cruise before where these charts were made available for public viewing and where the new charts of each day were so highly anticipated by the passengers.  I took pictures of these charts every day.  Nov. 4th we headed into 6 meter swells, or about 20 feet.  That's a two story building.  I am willing to bet that even an "ocean liner" like the Queen Mary ll would have lurched a bit in 20 foot seas.  There was never a day from Southampton to Boston where we had seas that were less than 10 feet.  That's 8 full days of seas 10 feet and higher.  I don't care how many cruises a person has been on, 8 days of +10 ft seas is not typical for a cruise ship.  And then of course, after New York we were right back out there on the way to Bermuda when we had two day of 6ft seas which by now were small potatoes.  The Captain, of course, being an experienced seaman, understood that it could have been a whole lot worse had he stuck with the original route but he knew that it was unusual enough for *passengers* that he chose to take the more southern route.. which was still rough compared to those whose previous experience had been "a mirror" or "like glass" but it was far from being too rough to handle.  I think Captain George deserves a lot of credit for keeping the ship as stable as it was considering we were in 20 foot seas.  It certainly didn't slow down the crowds in the Ocean View Cafe.

To those who undid their balcony furniture on their own, I have to emphasize that if the crew feels your balcony furniture needs to be lashed down or secured because of weather, then we passengers should respect that and not set it up on our own or ask the cabin attendant to do it.  As I said earlier, on deck 6 the spray from the waves was *over* our balcony and the day before Boston it was over the balcony on deck 7.  Waves are unpredictable and a rogue one can strike the ship at any time, sending a wall of water onto your balcony when you least expect it, driving you and your unsecured furniture through the glass of your cabin window and into the room or if a problem occurred with the stabilizers the ship could list unexpectedly, pitching you over the side or again slamming the furniture into the glass.  It is incredibly risky to take it upon yourself, second guess the expertise of the crew and set up your own furniture without permission.  It is lashed down for a reason.  

[jamacka]

42 minutes ago, jimbri said:

Good morning.  I have what may be an odd question.  I have never taken a TA but hope to one day.  What determines a southbound or northbound?  Is it the original port the ship leaves from or it's destination or something else.  Thanks and sorry if this has been explained before.

 

 

I think it's more a case of westbound or eastbound.  But within those eastbound and westbound cruises there are southern routes  that going south of the Azores and northern routes that just go straight across.  The cruise in question with this discussion was a westbound TA that was suppose to take the northern route directly from Southampton to Boston but because of the weather it took a southernly route below the Azores from Southampton to Boston.  The extra length of the route added an extra sea day to our crossing so we were a day late arriving in Boston.

 

[jimbri]

3 minutes ago, jamacka said:

 

 

I think it's more a case of westbound or eastbound.  But within those eastbound and westbound cruises there are southern routes  that going south of the Azores and northern routes that just go straight across.  The cruise in question with this discussion was a westbound TA that was suppose to take the northern route directly from Southampton to Boston but because of the weather it took a southernly route below the Azores from Southampton to Boston.  The extra length of the route added an extra sea day to our crossing so we were a day late arriving in Boston.

 

 

Thank you so much.

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, jamacka said:

How do we know this crossing was slightly out of the ordinary?  Well, Captain George too the time to post a nautical chart of our altered route compared to what would have been our original route and he included charts for weather systems, wind speed and wave heights for every single day of that  cruise and the entry to the Ocean View Cafe.  I have never been on a cruise before where these charts were made available for public viewing and where the new charts of each day were so highly anticipated by the passengers.  I took pictures of these charts every day.  Nov. 4th we headed into 6 meter swells, or about 20 feet.  That's a two story building.  I am willing to bet that even an "ocean liner" like the Queen Mary ll would have lurched a bit in 20 foot seas.  There was never a day from Southampton to Boston where we had seas that were less than 10 feet.  That's 8 full days of seas 10 feet and higher.  

I was on this TA as well (our 6th),  and we really did not have rough seas the whole way, and certainly not "8 full days of seas 10 feet and higher."  What we had, on a sustained basis, day after day, were very high winds. We had some rolling the first couple of days as we crossed west of the Bay of Biscay (known for its rough weather), but after that, the seas were just not very high.  I've been in far rougher seas, but I can't recall a cruise where it was so windy day after day, that the outer decks were closed so often.  But the seas were not a consistent problem.

 

A few photos taken during our crossing from Southampton to Boston (Nov. 3-11, 2018):

 

Nov. 4:

 

Nov. 5:

 

Nov. 6:

 

Nov. 6 chart:

 

Nov. 7:

 

Nov. 9:

 

(photos by turtles06)

[goofysmom99]

Judith, thanks for posting your photos.  Jamacka, on higher decks there was zero ocean spray.  My cabin was behind the hump on starboard (longer balcony like Judith's) and was totally protected from the winds so was able to use the balcony nearly every day except the first two.  Much like real estate, it's location, location, location.

Edited November 26, 2018 by goofysmom99

[lisiamc]

42 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

Judith, thanks for posting your photos.  Jamacka, on higher decks there was zero ocean spray.  My cabin was behind the hump on starboard (longer balcony like Judith's) and was totally protected from the winds so was able to use the balcony nearly every day except the first two.  Much like real estate, it's location, location, location.

I think you made a good choice of location.  We were just about mid-ships on Deck 11, and had spray/condensation dripping off the overhang above the balcony for a couple of days after the furniture had been reinstated.  That may be a combination of weather plus overhang, because I haven’t seen it or heard about it happening before, and we are normally very fond of the overhang, and the shade and shelter it supplies.

Edited November 26, 2018 by lisiamc

[TeaBag]

51 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I think you made a good choice of location.  We were just about mid-ships on Deck 11, and had spray/condensation dripping off the overhang above the balcony for a couple of days after the furniture had been reinstated.  That may be a combination of weather plus overhang, because I haven’t seen it or heard about it happening before, and we are normally very fond of the overhang, and the shade and shelter it supplies.

We had a lot of salt crystals on the wooden balcony rail indicating  there was spray there also.  We were on Deck 11 near the front with a small overhang that did not reach the rail.

Edited November 26, 2018 by TeaBag

[jamacka]

6 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

I was on this TA as well (our 6th),  and we really did not have rough seas the whole way, and certainly not "8 full days of seas 10 feet and higher."  What we had, on a sustained basis, day after day, were very high winds. We had some rolling the first couple of days as we crossed west of the Bay of Biscay (known for its rough weather), but after that, the seas were just not very high.  I've been in far rougher seas, but I can't recall a cruise where it was so windy day after day, that the outer decks were closed so often.  But the seas were not a consistent problem.

 

A few photos taken during our crossing from Southampton to Boston (Nov. 3-11, 2018):

 

Nov. 4:

 

Nov. 5:

 

Nov. 6:

 

Nov. 6 chart:

 

Nov. 7:

 

Nov. 9:

 

(photos by turtles06)

Location might make a difference as far as getting spray on your balcony but it means absolutely nothing to the crew members who make the experienced and informed decision on when it is necessary to secure the balcony furniture.  Just because it looks okay out your window doesn't mean that hell isn't breaking loose elsewhere on the ship.   And a busted stabilizer or a mechanical breakdown in the engine room can change the water on the beans pretty quickly.   We've all heard stories and seen videos of cruise ship that have mechanical breakdowns out in the middle of nowhere and furniture and people inside are literally flung from side to side.  When the Master of the vessel says to lash down the furniture that order applies to everyone on board.  On a cruise ship, the captain is boss of everyone, even us. 

 We did have two days when the forecast was "only" for 8 foot swells.  That was Nov. 6th and Nov 10th.  And remember, a swell is different from a wave and depending on the direction the swells are moving will change how the ship will move within those swells.  Sometimes on our crossing the seas were following so they may still have been high but didn't seem it because we weren't crashing into them.  The video I posted earlier with the spray reaching our balcony was Nov. 5th.  We had 16 foot seas that day.  The photo Turtle posted  from Nov 4th. doesn't look all that bad but that was the day we had 20 foot seas.   Nov. 10th was another day when the noontime forecast was for 8 foot seas but that night we passed through a cold front and it was perhaps the wildest night we experienced the entire trip, at least from my location on Deck 6.  That was the night the spray went higher than deck 7 and it was so windy and blowy outside we seriously worried that our balcony furniture (which the crew restored for normal use) might end up on top of us on bed.  we thought about folding it up and stashing it back in the corner as the crew had done earlier but after seeing the height of the spray and the fury of the wind out there we thought we'd better just stay inside.  There was ice on the deck outside when we arrived in Boston.  

[Turtles06]

22 minutes ago, jamacka said:

Location might make a difference as far as getting spray on your balcony but it means absolutely nothing to the crew members who make the experienced and informed decision on when it is necessary to secure the balcony furniture.  Just because it looks okay out your window doesn't mean that hell isn't breaking loose elsewhere on the ship.   And a busted stabilizer or a mechanical breakdown in the engine room can change the water on the beans pretty quickly.   We've all heard stories and seen videos of cruise ship that have mechanical breakdowns out in the middle of nowhere and furniture and people inside are literally flung from side to side.  When the Master of the vessel says to lash down the furniture that order applies to everyone on board.  On a cruise ship, the captain is boss of everyone, even us. 

 We did have two days when the forecast was "only" for 8 foot swells.  That was Nov. 6th and Nov 10th.  And remember, a swell is different from a wave and depending on the direction the swells are moving will change how the ship will move within those swells.  Sometimes on our crossing the seas were following so they may still have been high but didn't seem it because we weren't crashing into them.  The video I posted earlier with the spray reaching our balcony was Nov. 5th.  We had 16 foot seas that day.  The photo Turtle posted  from Nov 4th. doesn't look all that bad but that was the day we had 20 foot seas.   Nov. 10th was another day when the noontime forecast was for 8 foot seas but that night we passed through a cold front and it was perhaps the wildest night we experienced the entire trip, at least from my location on Deck 6.  That was the night the spray went higher than deck 7 and it was so windy and blowy outside we seriously worried that our balcony furniture (which the crew restored for normal use) might end up on top of us on bed.  we thought about folding it up and stashing it back in the corner as the crew had done earlier but after seeing the height of the spray and the fury of the wind out there we thought we'd better just stay inside.  There was ice on the deck outside when we arrived in Boston.  

Since you quoted my post and repeated your remarks about not "unlashing" balcony furniture that the crew have tied down, let me repeat something I said early on:  the furniture on our balcony was NEVER tied down.  Not ever.  

 

As for spray, of course we had spray.  We were in the middle of an ocean with 30-mph winds or higher.  But in terms of the seas, this crossing was just not that bad.  It wasn't.  The issue was the wind.

 

 

[jamacka]

14 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Since you quoted my post and repeated your remarks about not "unlashing" balcony furniture that the crew have tied down, let me repeat something I said early on:  the furniture on our balcony was NEVER tied down.  Not ever.  

 

As for spray, of course we had spray.  We were in the middle of an ocean with 30-mph winds or higher.  But in terms of the seas, this crossing was just not that bad.  It wasn't.  The issue was the wind.

 

 

Sorry, Turtles.  I wasn't sure who set up their furniture and who didn't.  I didn't mean to assume in any way.  Ours wasn't lashed down either but is was folded and all intertwined with the table and crammed in the corner.  But I did see photos somewhere.. maybe not this thread... that showed the fancier suite furniture actually lashed down with ropes, like the way they tie down the loungers and furniture up on the pool deck etc...  I know some balconies were physically lashed down and other were like mine where it was just flattened and jammed in the corner. There may have been some that wasn't even folder down like ours was.  I have no idea.  Lots of balconies out there.     I also read in some post (either here or in a different topic) whee some people took it upon themselves to set it up before they were given the "all clear" to do so.  My comments are directed to them.   My apologies if I got you dragged into it.  

And I absolutely agree with you.  In spite of what the reported seas were, it was not a bad crossing.  I only saw a few people with the seasickness patch on the first few days and it really didn't affect the numbers of people lined up at the buffet or making the best of their drink packages.  It could have been so much worse.  It wasn't the best cruise I've been on but as far as the actual trip is concerned, I had no problem with the crossing myself.  

[Bountyplum]

We have completed 2 TA and it is my favorite cruise to relax and recharge.   There is a reason these cruises are economical compared to others.