Lava Flow In Montserrat At Night

[mchamel]

Can anyone tell me what time it gets dark in Montserrat? Our cruise leaves this weekend and we pass there in the evening. Want to plan dinner around seeing the lava in the dark. Thanks.

[Martin and Lindsey]

I'd be interested in this too. We are on late dinner seating and don't want to miss seeing this. Can anyone tell us what time we sail by Montserrat? :rolleyes:

[Martin and Lindsey]

Just back from our cruise on the Serenade, and had a fantastic time. Wonderful itinerary.

Both times we passed by Montserrat, it was during daylight hours, so we didn't get to see the red glow of the lava in the dark. We passed by very close on the sea day, so got a great look at it. The captain even did a 360 degree turn of the ship, so everyone got a great view without even having to leave their lounger. :D

[Arubalisa]

Thanks for the "heads up on this". I would never have even thought of this. Can those folks returning post about their experiences with the ships and lava flows?

[Engine643]

I was on the Serenade back in November and we passed by Montserrat at approx 8PM and could see the lava spewing. I would guess we were approx 1/2 mile from shore. It was a magnifigent site to see. On the return home we passed during daylight hours and to see the devastation was a sight to see.

[OPSoccermom]

We were on Serenade a week ago. We past Monteserrat volcano between 7 and 8 PM on the evening after Antigua. It was quite a site. Warning to first seating diners - they do not announce this in the dining room - so you almost need to make other dining arrangements if you want to see the volcano. Everyone we knew on first seating missed this.

 

It was very impressive. There were many crew on deck who said it was the most activity they had seen. Many lava flows and eruptions. It was well worth sitting on deck (hey, we were at the Sky Bar!) to wait for the volcano and being late for our dinner (second seating).

 

One note - don't even try to take pictures. Lots of people on board trying to take flash pics, but even though the captain slows down significantly as you pass, He does not stop. With the pitch black conditions, and moving ship, your pictures will not come out. Heard one lady complaining at the ships photography place when she picked the photos she had taken the night before. The ships photographer said that they can't even get good shots with their professional equipment as you would have to set your aperture for a very long exposure, and the ship's motion will make that impossible. I have a good camera, and all I could get is a blur of red on a black background - nothing usable. But it will be quite a memory for us all.

[love2vacation]

Gosh, we were on the Serenade in March and saw no volcano activity. It is very odd though, a huge gray-white cloud does seem to hang over the island. I sure would not be one of the 600-800 people that currently live there! We must have missed passing by in the evening, as well. We did not do a 360 in front on Montserrat. Not sure why, but we did slow way down and the captain did give a great talk as we went by. The devastation is amazing.

 

Sea day is chock-full of little islands that you pass by. It is just awesome.

[Julie of the North]

We saw the eruption from the Empress of the Seas a few weeks ago. I too was disappointed that we could not photograph the lava in the dark but was so excited to have witnessed this eruption. What a special treat! :)

 

Our Captain announced that we were about to sail by and we could easily see the eruption and had plenty of time to get up on deck.

[n8vtexn]

We did not do a 360 in front on Montserrat. Not sure why...

 

The captain has to obtain clearance from the Montserrat volcano officials in order to do the 360. If conditions are too dangerous he won't be allowed.

 

We had a great view of the lava on our cruise last week. We passed by at 8:30pm EDT. So on our cruise it would have been second seating that missed the big show.

[darrencantwait]

I had no idea it was that active. We took a helecopter tour about a year ago and didn't see anything. I wouldn't think they would allow helecopters to fly over if it were that active. Strange.

[MrsFitz]

We were on the Serenade from April 29-May 9th and and heard of people talking on CC about the ship passing by it, but I didn't know what night it would be. Our entire table from the main dining room had made reservations to eat at Chops, as luck would have it, on the night we pass Montserrat! So I didn't even get to see it. The announcement definitely didn't go out to anyone dining in Chops. It was the night we left Antigua. During the day you could see Montserrat in the distance, but like others have said, it was nothing special. No glowing. From what others told me, it was around 7:30-8pm.

 

Our captain did take us right by the Pitons in St. Lucia and rotated a full 360 degrees so everyone could get a view. That was just before and a little into early seating (which was as 6:00). It was still light out and I know we were a little late for dinner as we were having a kodak moment! We continued to watch out of the dining room windows as we rotated.

 

Susan

[curlyd]

We saw the eruption from the Empress of the Seas a few weeks ago. I too was disappointed that we could not photograph the lava in the dark but was so excited to have witnessed this eruption. What a special treat! :)

 

Our Captain announced that we were about to sail by and we could easily see the eruption and had plenty of time to get up on deck.

 

He's a great Captain. He did it for our March 13th Empress of the Seas cruise also. In fact he said he changed course a little once he heard that there was a lot of activity that evening. No pictures but in my head and I will never forget. It was fabulous.

 

The Captain made the announcement about 7:00pm and said we would be passing in about 30 min. So we had plenty of time to finish dressing for late dinner seating, to see the volcano and then get to dinner on time!

[Arubalisa]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/20052006/3/world-monserrat-volcano-erupts.html Eruption of gas, rock and ash today :(

[Learning Conformity]

It's so worth the extra bucks to take the helicoptor tour Monstserrat and her volcano!

Soufrie Volcano dome

 

 

[Sheffie]

Fabulous pictures!

[liembo]

We sailed by Monteserrat around 7:30pm on (I believe) April 13, 2006 on the Empress of the Seas. We were told earlier in the day that we may see it and that the previous sail had gotten to see some activity. Between courses at Portofino, we ran up to the pool deck and peered at Montserrat. It was such a treat. I even managed to get some photographs. The photos are dark, but they're about as good as I could get without a tripod on the moving deck. I used a Canon 10D and a 70-200mm F4L lens to capture the photos. I doubt that any sort of point and shoot film or digital camera will be able to make out anything, but it stop most people from trying.

 

http://www.bahneman.com/liem/photos/Expeditions/2006/Caribbean_Vacation/Antigua/Montserrat_Volcano/

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Wow, those are really cool pictures. We will be on DCL in Sept at Antigua but we leave too early (4:30pm) to see it.

[Jill and Jo]

We would love to see this volcano. We are on the Sun Princess March 10th, 2007. We leave Antigua to go to St. Lucia and leave St. Lucia to go to Grenada. Does anyone know if we will be able to see the volcano??

[cleophus12]

We will be on the AOS 7/9 sailing and were wondering if the ship will pass by the volcano after the day in Antigua. Is this announced? Also, will the captain do the 360 to see the Pitons? Or will we sail by them on the way in and out? About what time? We are on early seating, and I would hate to miss this. If it's not formal night, maybe we could eat in the Windjammer.

[cleophus12]

Just back from the AOS with new flipped itinerary. The ship sailed by the Pitons at 5:30 a.m., so I got up early to make pics. Stunning at sunrise! The captain did not do a 360 so only the folks on the starboard side got the view. We did not sail close enough to Montseratt on the way to Antigua, so we did not see the volcano.

[Island Annie]

I was on the serenade last March.

 

The captain drove very close to the coastline of Monerratt and pointed out several points-of-interest on the island.

 

Think it was about 3pm when we passed through. There was a cloud of haze over the island and it smelled like sulfer from the Lido deck. Didn't see any volcano activity, but must have just finished before we arrived.

 

Captain also said this is where Jimmy Buffett lived when he wrote the song "I don't know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blows". Thought that was kinda cool:-)

[OPSoccermom]

We would love to see this volcano. We are on the Sun Princess March 10th, 2007. We leave Antigua to go to St. Lucia and leave St. Lucia to go to Grenada. Does anyone know if we will be able to see the volcano??

when we saw the volcano erupting at night, we were a few (maybe 3 to 4) hours out of Antigua on our way to St Lucia.

 

I do know that the captain needs to get an OK to sail close to the island. Now that the volcano has erupted, I'm not sure how close they let you get. If you do get the chance to view it, make sure you do. It was very memorable for us.

[Quilting Queen]

Please visit the Princess Roll Call for the Sun March 10, 2007.

 

We will be on the Sun also and have anytime dining. If the ship leaves St Lucia at 6:00 pm we sould be able to have dinner and see the Montserrat eruption after about 3-4 hours from departing the port.

 

We missed the Hawaii lava flow because we couldn't make to 1:30 am.

 

Norine

[ALB0711]

Anbody know if it is still erupting? We'll be on the Sea Princess the week of December 9th and should pass by Montserrate.