Are seas rough going to Bermuda end of June?

[tango nana]

Just booked a last minute trip on Summit from New Jersey to Bermuda. We were only able to get a balcony cabin near the front of ship on deck 8. Should we be concerned with Atlantic Ocean this time of year with a forward cabin. We have cruised before in Caribbean and Mediterranean, but always mid ship to aft. Any thoughts or experiences? Thanks

[navybankerteacher]

Unpredictable. Could be glassy calm or fairly heavy seas - likely to be pretty good as the early month oh hurricane season sees little activity.

[CruiserBruce]

Seas can be rough any where, any time. Its not like one can say "at this location, or at this time, it is NEVER rough". If you have an issue with motion, you need to be prepared every time you are on a ship.

[ontheweb]

One can never totally predict weather. We had rough seas one day going to Bermuda in August, not a hurricane, just a rainy day. 

 

We once had the remnants of a hurricane on a day in London and then seas a little rough the next day sailing out of Dover. I mean who expects a hurricane in England even during hurricane season?

 

We once did have a real hurricane and could not get back to Fort Lauderdale for 2 extra days. Now that was rough seas as the Captain tried to get us a little closer so passengers would have cell phone reception to call their airlines or travel agents.

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, tango nana said:

Just booked a last minute trip on Summit from New Jersey to Bermuda. We were only able to get a balcony cabin near the front of ship on deck 8. Should we be concerned with Atlantic Ocean this time of year with a forward cabin. We have cruised before in Caribbean and Mediterranean, but always mid ship to aft. Any thoughts or experiences? Thanks

I have cruised to Bermuda a bunch of times in June and probably 20% of the time it was rough one way or the other. It is not predictable . I have had forward cabins to Bermuda, late bookings, but since I don't get seasick not a problem. If you are prone to motion sickness it might be an issue on any cruise.

Edited June 4, 2023 by Charles4515

[Hlitner]

Always love this question because the answer is always the same; maybe rough, maybe smooth, most likely somewhere between!  And that answer works for most water anywhere in the world.

 

I will add that the roughest seas I have ever experienced (in more than 50 years of extensive cruising) was on a 1991 Celebrity Meridian cruise from NYC to Bermuda (Aug 18).  We cruised right into Hurricane Bob and the seas were over 40 foot.  A severe wave actually put a big dent into the port bow of RCCL's Nordic Prince during that storm.  They asked our Captain to stay in the area in case they would need help (that turned out to not be necessary) but it kept us in the storm a few extra hours.

 

Hank

[tango nana]

Thank you. I appreciate your input.

[George C]

Only time I ever gotten sea sick on a cruise was going to Bermuda about that time  and I have been on 70 something cruises bot this was about 40:years ago when ships were tiny .

[MBP&O2/O]

The other aspect of course is "How do you define rough?" .

Some people think that a 2 foot chop is rough ... others not so.  

We caught the back  end of a typhoon of Japan and were rolling through an arc of 80 degrees for a couple of days and had to heave too to cope. That was a small-ish ship fully loaded. 

On another, a very very small open boat in F7 winds and accompanying seas. The seas were nowhere near as bad as previous, but being in a small boat exaggerated the issue.

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

The other aspect of course is "How do you define rough?" .

Some people think that a 2 foot chop is rough ... others not so.  

We caught the back  end of a typhoon of Japan and were rolling through an arc of 80 degrees for a couple of days and had to heave too to cope. That was a small-ish ship fully loaded. 

On another, a very very small open boat in F7 winds and accompanying seas. The seas were nowhere near as bad as previous, but being in a small boat exaggerated the issue.

Great point.  We recently cruised on HAL's Westerdam from Japan to Alaska (across the northern Pacific) and had 6 days of seas in the 20-25 foot range.  To us, "it felt like a ship" and to others...they were miserable and hardly left their cabin.  Our big fear, in those seas, was walking around the ship and being careful not to fall or crash into a bulkhead.  Like many longer HAL voyages, the passengers were mostly older with a lot of cruise experience and handled it well.  The only bummer was that the ship's pools had to be drained (for a week) since they were dumping water onto the deck.  Although that was not the worse seas we have experienced, it was unusual in that we had those seas for nearly a week.

 

Hank

[MCC retired]

You are crossing the Gulf Stream each way.

Could have perfect weather yet ship motion or no motion at all .

Concerned just take your motion precautions just in case .

 

[Charles4515]

33 minutes ago, MCC retired said:

You are crossing the Gulf Stream each way.

Could have perfect weather yet ship motion or no motion at all .

Concerned just take your motion precautions just in case .

 

I think their concern is that they have a forward cabin. It never bothered me but I don’t get motion sickness. I have friend who always gets it even when the seas are calm. So he takes as you say precautions. He starts taking the Bonine pills in the morning before the ship sails. 

[lenquixote66]

On 6/4/2023 at 9:49 AM, tango nana said:

Just booked a last minute trip on Summit from New Jersey to Bermuda. We were only able to get a balcony cabin near the front of ship on deck 8. Should we be concerned with Atlantic Ocean this time of year with a forward cabin. We have cruised before in Caribbean and Mediterranean, but always mid ship to aft. Any thoughts or experiences? Thanks

Our first cruise was to Bermuda at the end of a June.We hit a storm that was not on the ships charts.Every passenger and every crew member including the medical staff became quite sick.

[BruceMuzz]

Seas around Bermuda are only rough on even numbered years - and only during months that have the letter "r" in them.

You will be fine.

[Essiesmom]

I’m currently on Summit on the way to Bermuda, second sea day.  I have a forward inside and woke up the first morning to feeling some motion.  It comes and goes, not a problem.  EM

[tango nana]

Thank you EM, enjoy your vacation!! 

[navybankerteacher]

20 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

Seas around Bermuda are only rough on even numbered years - and only during months that have the letter "r" in them.

You will be fine.

Of course, if the Kraken is thrashing about even an ordinarily calm day can have some motion.

[dmrrn73]

I have been on multiple Bermuda cruises as you can probably see from my Signature below, it is my favorite place to cruise. It has been my experience/luck that it has been rough one way and fairly calm the other way. At times it has been VERY rough and other times slightly rough. I have never had one that was calm both ways but that's just been my experience. Of course, they have been pretty much all during hurricane season.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, dmrrn73 said:

I have been on multiple Bermuda cruises as you can probably see from my Signature below, it is my favorite place to cruise. It has been my experience/luck that it has been rough one way and fairly calm the other way. At times it has been VERY rough and other times slightly rough. I have never had one that was calm both ways but that's just been my experience. Of course, they have been pretty much all during hurricane season.

I have cruised to Bermuda 18 times. I did 4 on Zenith and the roughest sailing I was on in over 60 cruises was on one leg of a July sailing on Zenith. Passenger were falling and the ship smelled like vomit. It was only one of the days and nights on the leg. There was a northeaster that caused it. We really liked the Zenith but it didn’t seem to handle rough seas very well compared to other ships.  Definitely being smaller didn’t help but I have done 3 smaller ships to Bermuda that handled better. 

[CruiserBruce]

6 hours ago, dmrrn73 said:

I have been on multiple Bermuda cruises as you can probably see from my Signature below, it is my favorite place to cruise. It has been my experience/luck that it has been rough one way and fairly calm the other way. At times it has been VERY rough and other times slightly rough. I have never had one that was calm both ways but that's just been my experience. Of course, they have been pretty much all during hurricane season.

People can (and do) turn off the signatures feature that shows past cruises, as it clutters up the boards. So, for example, I can't read your past cruises.

[George C]

On our last Bermuda cruise we were on a somewhat smaller hal ship , loved that we were able to dock In Hamilton, seas were rough going half the passengers didn’t show up for dinner one night , talked to someone who did a celebrity cruise that ship was double the size and they said there ship sailing was fine . 

[dmrrn73]

On 6/8/2023 at 2:44 AM, Charles4515 said:

I have cruised to Bermuda 18 times. I did 4 on Zenith and the roughest sailing I was on in over 60 cruises was on one leg of a July sailing on Zenith. Passenger were falling and the ship smelled like vomit. It was only one of the days and nights on the leg. There was a northeaster that caused it. We really liked the Zenith but it didn’t seem to handle rough seas very well compared to other ships.  Definitely being smaller didn’t help but I have done 3 smaller ships to Bermuda that handled better. 

We have been on the Zenith the most, loved that ship but I agree it didn't handle to rough seas very well. We have also been on the Horizon and the Meridian (back in 96, that ship was tiny, it sank a couple years later, ironically it happened while we were on the Zenith in 99 ) that one was one of the rougher ones, they were making announcements telling passengers not to go outside, even suggesting ladies not wear high heels, LOL

[horseymike]

Did nyc to Bermuda many years ago on the Seven Seas Navigator, roughest cruise ever, late June. Thought we would be thrown out of bed by the rough seas.

[lynncarol]

Many years ago, my husband surprised me with a cruise from NYC to Bermuda for our twentieth anniversary (which was in June). It was my first cruise and almost my last as I was terribly seasick most of the way down.  It took ten years for him to persuade me to take another cruise... anywhere. Now I love cruising although still am not the best sailor. Fortunately, today's medications make things a lot easier.  Maybe talk with your doctor and get something to bring just in case.

[laudergayle]

We sailed NCL Prima from NYC in early May.  Larger ship than Summit…by about 50%.  We had a forward facing balcony and the outbound days the seas were VERY rough…tossing you from side to side as you walked to your cabin.  We knew that this could be an issue so we took meclizine each morning.  We weren’t bothered at all.  Others were.