Drake Passage--Rotterdam vs Golden Princess

[MUD]

My wife and I are considering a cruise to Anarctica aboard either the Rotterdam or the Golden Princess. We want to know whether there will be a noticeable difference in the roll, pitch and yaw between the two ships if we hit rough seas.

 

We know that the seas are unpredictable and our sense is that the Rotterdam may have a better hull for this type of seas but we are not certain. Nor do we know how much better, if any, the Rotterdam will handle the seas.

 

We would like to take the Golden beacuse we can take a back to back starting in New Orleans. We want to have lots of warm weather cruising before we head to Antartica.

[Keith1010]

If you think that the itinerary is better on the Golden Princess I would go with that. Quite frankly, there will likely be no difference between the two ships in choppy seas. I'm sure if you could blind-fold the experts and put them on both ships, they couldn't tell the difference.

 

Last January I sailed from Valparaiso to Bueno Aires on the Seabourn Pride. It is a much smaller ship as it only carries 200 passengers.

 

The seas in this area can be unpredictable, but based on what you have described go with the back to back cruise with the nice itinerary as you likely would not feel a difference between the two ships. Try to reserve a mid-ship cabin if at all possible.

 

Keith

[Aussie Gal]

MUD,

 

I have sailed on the Maasdam which is a sister ship to the Rotterdam and we went through 24 hours of force 8 gales between Newfoundland and Greenland last July. It rode well though quite a few passengers weren't too well.

 

This January when were on the Regal Princess, which is an older ship than the Maasdam, we experienced Force 11 gales in the Drake Passage going down to Antarctica from the Falklands. This ship rode even better than the Maasdam though many were ill including a lot of the crew. It was quite scary as we were miles from anywhere. The Captain was sailing at only 4 knots to try to minimize the impact of the waves.

 

The Golden Princess and her sisters are much newer ships and are built more as floating hotels. I know that when the Sapphire Princess and her sisters are out here in Australia and New Zealand a lot of people are ill just crossing our Tasman sea. I do not think they are as stable as the older and smaller ships.

 

For that reason alone, I would choose the Rotterdam. Also, because the Rotterdam is a smaller ship being only around 55000 tons, it can go into a lot of the channels in Antarctica that the larger ships are unable to do so. I wish we had been on the Rotterdam this year, as we saw her going into lots of places in Antarctica that the Regal Princess being 70000 odd tons, could not enter.

 

I think HAL does a much better job down South than any of the bigger cruiselines. My sister did the trip on the Amsterdam in 2005 and just comparing it to our trip this year I felt she received a more professional experience.

 

Jennie.