Saga's Bay of Biscay 30' rough seas

[MMDown Under]

Saga's Spirit of Discovery had to return to Portsmith because of 30' rough seas crossing the Bay of Biscay.

[SinbadThePorter]

November in the North Atlantic is not for wimps. 🥶

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

Saga's Spirit of Discovery had to return to Portsmith because of 30' rough seas crossing the Bay of Biscay.

There are a couple of clips on YT. Been through ye olde Bay of Biscay a few rimes, some really strong swells where Atlantic meets the Med.

[arxcards]

They make it seem bigger by calling it in feet. 

 

 

[aussiecruiser66]

We did a Canary Island cruise in September from Southampton on Anthem of the Seas. We spent 2 days crossing the Bay of Biscay on the way down and it was like a millpond. Different on the way back- probably the worse seas we have ever been in.  I had to lie down, I had no sea legs for 2 days. The Anthem is so big ( over 6300 passengers), it is like a brick in the water, we were amazed at how much it was being buffeted about.

[NSWP]

2 minutes ago, arxcards said:

They make it seem bigger by calling it in feet. 

 

 

Wild, but been in worse, 12m in ye olde Regal Princess, bottom of NZ in 2007.

[MMDown Under]

10 minutes ago, NSWP said:

There are a couple of clips on YT. Been through ye olde Bay of Biscay a few rimes, some really strong swells where Atlantic meets the Med.

Everyone was sick on my ship crossing the Bay of Biscay, including me, much to my surprise.  It is something you never forget.  

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, NSWP said:

Wild, but been in worse, 12m in ye olde Regal Princess, bottom of NZ in 2007.

I remember watching the cams.

 

We also had similar to the 30', into the tail of a hybrid low between Sydney & Noumea. It was a suitably awesome time to have an aft facing cabin.

 

Ye olde Pacific Pearl had a good time in the Bay of Biscay a few years back.

 

 

[MMDown Under]

2 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I remember watching the cams.

 

We also had similar to the 30', into the tail of a hybrid low between Sydney & Noumea. It was a suitably awesome time to have an aft facing cabin.

 

Ye olde Pacific Pearl had a good time in the Bay of Biscay a few years back.

 

 

What makes the Bay of Biscay unique, it is like being in a washing machine.  I've been in rough seas crossing  the Atlantic where you had to hold a rope to cross the lift wells, so you didn't fly across the ship.  

But the Bay of Biscay was far worse.   

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

What makes the Bay of Biscay unique, it is like being in a washing machine.  I've been in rough seas crossing  the Atlantic where you had to hold a rope to cross the lift wells, so you didn't fly across the ship.  

But the Bay of Biscay was far worse.   

Both Les's and our adventures were very much washing machine. When our oceans go feral, they can compete with anywhere. Les's 12 metre day on the previous Regal Princess was as wild as anything I have seen.

[MMDown Under]

36 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Both Les's and our adventures were very much washing machine. When our oceans go feral, they can compete with anywhere. Les's 12 metre day on the previous Regal Princess was as wild as anything I have seen.

How does the Great Australian Bight compare?  

[Ozwoody]

Well if you guys want smooth seas, based on our around 400 sea days, you need us on your boat.

So far we have never had even had a mildly rough trip, worst one was around the bottom of NZ, but would only call it a bit choppy.

 

Bugger, now I've gone and probably put mozz on us, and the gods of fickle will put us down for special treatment😬

[arxcards]

3 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

How does the Great Australian Bight compare?  

Has been like a lake the times we crossed it. Can be potentially rough, but normally a straight line from Albany to Adelaide is in comparatively shallow water and the really rough cells pass a few hundred miles to the south. Those same cells often smash into the bottom of NZ.

[cruiser3775]

We had a very rough night on Grand Princess coming out of Vancouver in September. We had to go fast to the south, skipping the port stop at Victoria B.C. to get away from the worst of the storm.  During this move, something  shattered a big window in the Photo Gallery on Deck 7, which is a long way up from the waterline.  I took this photo on deck 7.

Edited November 9, 2023 by cruiser3775

[ceeceeDee]

16 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

Well if you guys want smooth seas, based on our around 400 sea days, you need us on your boat.

So far we have never had even had a mildly rough trip, worst one was around the bottom of NZ, but would only call it a bit choppy.

 

Bugger, now I've gone and probably put mozz on us, and the gods of fickle will put us down for special treatment😬

Me too, John🙄

[JohnGc]

When coming to Aus on the old Fair sky through the Bay Of Biscay, I remember all the plates flying off the dining tables and chairs with people sitting in flying over backwards. Furniture sliding every where Many with injuries. I don't know if the Fair Sky having been converted to an air craft carrier during the war and then converted to a passenger ship made any difference but when a wave hit she would sway over to port or starboard and stay there for ages before returning to upright. Being ex navy it did not bother me but the screaming from the passengers hurt my ears.😁

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, JohnGc said:

When coming to Aus on the old Fair sky through the Bay Of Biscay, I remember all the plates flying off the dining tables and chairs with people sitting in flying over backwards. Furniture sliding every where Many with injuries. I don't know if the Fair Sky having been converted to an air craft carrier during the war and then converted to a passenger ship made any difference but when a wave hit she would sway over to port or starboard and stay there for ages before returning to upright. Being ex navy it did not bother me but the screaming from the passengers hurt my ears.😁

That is the terrifying part - wondering if the ship is going to right itself.  I didn't find the rough seas (Atlantic Ocean) where furniture flew from side to side as scary as Bay of Biscay's unpredictable big waves.   

[MicCanberra]

Been across the Biscay several times, hasn't been too bad. That said, 10m seas is rough and smaller boats can't hide it as well as the megaships.

[JohnGc]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

That is the terrifying part - wondering if the ship is going to right itself.  I didn't find the rough seas (Atlantic Ocean) where furniture flew from side to side as scary as Bay of Biscay's unpredictable big waves.   

Call me crazy but unlike the wife I quite enjoyed it. I don't feel like I am at sea if it is too calm. Sorry for the passengers that got hurt & were sea sick  though. I am ok as long as it does not shut the galley kitchen down.🤭

[arxcards]

45 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

Call me crazy but unlike the wife I quite enjoyed it. I don't feel like I am at sea if it is too calm. Sorry for the passengers that got hurt & were sea sick  though. I am ok as long as it does not shut the galley kitchen down.🤭

Nothing wrong with a bit of motion in the ocean, and we often pick aft or forward facing cabins to enhance our cruise. Much easier to get a drink at the bar.

[arxcards]

On 11/9/2023 at 3:15 PM, NSWP said:

Wild, but been in worse, 12m in ye olde Regal Princess, bottom of NZ in 2007.

I had to dig, but I am glad I found this. Neil was a legend at putting these webcam videos together. He has moved on to other interests in his life and I don't think he has been in the shadow of a ship for some time. Absolute gentleman, and really generous with his time on editing tips and getting the most of what was pretty limited software back in the day.

 

Rather than post the video directly, I thought it would be nice to throw up the whole thread, from back when Les was aboard for the final days of Regal Princess MK1. The action starts to liven up at around the 5:30 mark. There were lots of missing frames, as the site was struggling to keep enough reception to reliably update.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/601056-new-video-regal-princess-in-nz-amp-australia/

 

 

[NSWP]

Many thanks Geoff for finding this. Yes we boarded at LA. To Sydney. We sure got smashed with wild seas around the Bluff, bottom of NZ. Waves up to deck 10. Capt Froude got us back. Aaah, great memories, but scary.

[Aus Traveller]

My roughest ship trips were crossing the Drake Strait on the Ocean Endeavour, a small ship (12,907 tons, 21 metres long). In 6 metre seas I was literally thrown out of bed and across the cabin.

 

My second roughest was 12 metre seas on the Pacific Pearl. She was 63,500 tons, much smaller than other ships in the P&O fleet. During that weather event, the Pacific Dawn (ex Regal Princess) had some damage after going through 14 metre seas.

[ceeceeDee]

Good old Dawnie. Still have very fond memories of the old girl

[NSWP]

22 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

Good old Dawnie. Still have very fond memories of the old girl