CB Rough Seas?????

[wolfiev]

Ses320

 

I'm guessing people were sick, rude, broke down, messed up, slapped down, wound up and emetic.

 

You had the best of all of the worlds.

 

Turks and Caicos? Are you kidding me?

 

Lucky.

 

That Capt' made some time now. Following seas.

 

Christo'

[dforeigner]

Now I am getting a little concerned. We will be on the CB for the 12/23 sailing out of FLL.. Will be on the ship for the Christmas holidays :)

Does anyone know what the seas are expected to be for that trip? Or where I can watch a forecast for the seas?

This will be my husbands 1st cruise and I wanted it to be nice. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

 

Check this WEB site out:

 

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/mmm....wave&animate=1

[dforeigner]

Cool website. Thanks!

 

 

You are more than welcomed.

[belder]

Those were great sites to check the waves...No matter what the waves or the ports... we will be on a Christmas cruise and WILL be in a festive mood! We have two adjoining balcony cabins midship on Aloha deck and can't wait! Lets hope all the scrooges stay home! :) Thanks again!

[Frugalist]

Holy Crap -- what a ride!!! Better than any E-ticket ride at Disneyland.

 

Just finished unpacking from a week on the Caribbean Princess Super-Monster Roller Coaster (Dec. 9-16).

 

Monday was a beautiful day at Princess Cay. Weighed anchor and headed south in the late afternoon.

 

Shortly after hitting open water, things started getting dicey. Winds picked up and seas starting acting up. Captain Kent came on the intercom and announced that we would have to slow down a bit due to the heavy seas.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, he came back on and observed that the swells have increased, "making our passage rather uncomfortable." He added that, "unfortunately I had to again reduce speed shortly after lunch this afternoon and we're now making about 12.5 or 13 knots." He acknowledged that "this will obviously impact upon our scheduled arrival time in St. Martin tomorrow. Even with the best will in the world and calm seas and a favorable wind, we would not be able to make our scheduled arrival time. I am now anticipating being alongside in St. Martin in mid-afternoon." (These are direct quotes - my MP3 player has a voice recorder and I recorded the Captain's announcements during these couple of days). Remember, this was early Tuesday afternoon. The ship was rocking up and down in the wind and high seas, sometimes crashing down into a wave trough creating huge walls of sea mist. I personally saw one such wall totally engulf the bridge!!! At this point Captain Kent was still hopeful of making St. Martin and had rescheduled our departure time from St. Martin to 9pm Wednesday night. His forecasts were still showing that the seas should begin to abate later Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. Never happened!

 

Early Wednesday morning Captain Kent came on the intercom again to apprise us of our progress -- or lack thereof -- during the night. While the ride was a bit smoother during the wee hours of the night, it was because we had to maintain a reduced speed. At that time, we were only making about 14.5 to 15 knots. As a result of this, it will be impossible to make our scheduled arrival time in St. Martin and, in the words of Capt. Kent, "it is with great reluctance that I have had to cancel our call in St. Martin today, and therefore we are going to have to remain at sea." He announced that he hoped to get down to the Virgin Passage as quickly as possible to get us into some smoother conditions. Unfortunately, all the available berths in both St. Thomas and the British Virgin Islands were already booked, so we couldn't dock there on Wednesday afternoon. The Captain did a great job of explaining why it was now impossible to make St. Martin at all saying that at this point, "even if I did increase speed to maximum, we wouldn't get to St. Martin at a realistic time. The ship does not have a jet engine. Neither would flushing all the toilets at the same time help us increase speed."

 

Around 1pm Wednesday we approached the south shore of St. Thomas from the west. Seas in this area were relatively calm, at least compared to what they were like in the open waters. Slowing down even further, we were taken on a fantastic scenic tour of the US and British Virgin Islands, passing close by St. Thomas, St. John, Tortola and Virgin Gorda before finally making our way out into the open Caribbean again around sunset. My wife and I sat out on our balcony all afternoon, enjoying this great diversion, getting close-up views through our binoculars and listening to local island music playing on our MP3 player's FM radio receiver.

 

Once back in the open Caribbean, we just pretty much drifted around until early morning when we headed for our berth in Crown Bay on St. Thomas.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, the Captain announced that we will be calling at Grand Turk on Friday. What a pleasant surprise! A brand new port for us (and for the Caribbean Princess, and for our Captain). I made a dash for the ship's library to see if I could get a travel guidebook or two that would give us some information about Grand Turk. A quick study got us at least a little bit of information about where we would be going. I love researching and planning our port days, so I didn't want to get to Grand Turk not knowing a thing about the island.

 

By Thursday night, the seas had subsided considerably, though it was still a bit rocky. Not too bad though.

 

On Friday, we approached Grand Turk from the south, sailed up the east coast, around the northern tip near its lighthouse, and down the west coast. The island has a new Cruise Ship Center with a 3000 ft. pier near the southern tip of the island. We docked at around 1:30pm and enjoyed a warm, sunny day. All-aboard was at 7:30pm, and we were on our way back to Florida.

 

What a great trip! Kudos to Captain Kent and his crew for making the absolute best out of what nature handed them. The Captain's attitude and incredible British sense of humor also helped tremendously.

[tennisobo]

Frugalist:

Thanks for a great update on your cruise with such detailed information. It will be a trip you will never forget, that's for sure!

 

Welcome back to dry land. But I bet you wish you were back at sea in spite of the wild ride you had on your cruise. :)

[Pia1913]

Frugalist....thanks for a fantastic report. We were on the CB in June with perfect weather. Nice to read about bad weather w/o hearing blame cast upon the ship's personnel (previous poster mentioned it).

 

I just heard a report (second hand) from someone who was on your cruise too. Lot's of B****** about weather and food. There are those who go with the flow and others who..............@#$%^&*

 

Pia

[TwinCruiserMom]

Frugalist - Thank you for the report and the positive spin you put on the whole episode. What a great role model you are for all those complainers!

 

After all, what could the Captain do? What good was complaining for those people?

 

I appreciate how you explained the announcements and how the captain kept you all up to date. It sounds like your Captain made the best of a bad situation and gave you all the best cruise he could.

[Zoey1]

Currently on CB. Yes, we had some rough weather -- highest seas I believe were 18 ft. We were in Princess Cays on Monday, Tuesday at sea, Wednesday was supposed to be St. Maarten but as stated, we skipped that one. Lovely day in St. Thomas on Thursday and Friday the Captain added a stop at Grand Turk/Caicos(sp?). Today is a sea day sailing our way to Port Everglades.

 

The biggest problem with this cruise has been the passengers. Lots of very angry, unhappy people. Weather happens. The crew have handled it the best they can. Extremely rude people on this cruise. We were on last week, totally different mix of passengers, much nicer week.

 

 

Just got off the CB..funny you mentioned about rude and angry people as I too noticed that the first couple of days..but AFTER the storm..seemed like everyone sort of bonded...the general crowd seemed more mellow..seas were VERY rough...12-18 ft...I read in an earlier post someone questioning the stablizers and agree they should be checked,...I think Eastern is always (in my past experiences) rougher sailing than Western but even after the storm, she seemed very rocky and "creaked and moaned" a bit...wondering if there was any structural damage from that storm..curious what this week sailing will be like..all in all a wonderful time was still had by all!!

[kkorman]

Currently on CB. Yes, we had some rough weather -- highest seas I believe were 18 ft. We were in Princess Cays on Monday, Tuesday at sea, Wednesday was supposed to be St. Maarten but as stated, we skipped that one. Lovely day in St. Thomas on Thursday and Friday the Captain added a stop at Grand Turk/Caicos(sp?). Today is a sea day sailing our way to Port Everglades.

 

The biggest problem with this cruise has been the passengers. Lots of very angry, unhappy people. Weather happens. The crew have handled it the best they can. Extremely rude people on this cruise. We were on last week, totally different mix of passengers, much nicer week.

 

I just got off the CB as well and I have to say that I was irritated. If captain was truly looking out for the comfort and safety of passengers, we would have had a western Caribbean cruise. The Captain knew that this was there and chose to go through it. The biggest issue I had was that we were pretty much caged for a day. All pools drained and most all outside parts off limits. Nothing was adjusted to accommodate 3600 indoors. Other than that it was a good cruise... it was great to get off the ship in STT after that weather. It was the worst weather I have had on my cruises and it was just persistent for so long... pretty much 24 hours.

 

Also, I think he could have stopped in San Juan on Wednesday. Only the Westerdam was there. I think everyone wanted to be on land.

[Larry@Andrea]

We were on the CB during Olga. I managed to wake up from my Dramamine stupor long enough to catch some video of the storm as it appeared to us on the CB.

 

 

The first part is earlier in the morning. Even though the seas were rough, they really don't appear that menacing. Plus, the video was shot from one of the higher decks which doesn't quite give an appreciation of the swell heights.

 

Later, I went down to Deck 7 and took some video through the window. As you can see we were now in the cloudy part of the system and the swells seem to be appreciably higher. Listen carefully to the "creaking" of the ship near the end of the video.

 

By the way, the captain was up front and honest with us from the beginning, and told us what to expect. The storm did grow bigger than expected. Yes, I suppose he could have turned and ran but I actually appreciate being able to "experience" this. Plus, we were able to see Grand Turk as a bonus.

 

I spoke with the navigator while he was "breaking" on the lido deck and he stated that the winds were a sustained 55kts without the relative motion of the ship. He said it would fair to say that at the peak, swells were reaching the 20 foot mark. That may or may not have been shown in the video.

 

Great Cruise, and captain, thanks for the experience.

[West Coast]

Other than that it was a good cruise...

 

KK, good to hear you made it back safe and sound.

[harrodsfan]

I am prepared now but hope that we won't experience the storm that some did.

Glad to hear a positive spin on things..Sounds like an adventure...

[luv2travel2beaches]

I sure hope the weather calms down in the next 4 weeks. I have motion issues and I must wear the patch to enjoy cruising so I sure hope we don't have a bouncy ride like you did!

[CruisingCatherine]

Kudos to Captain Kent and his crew for making the absolute best out of what nature handed them. The Captain's attitude and incredible British sense of humor also helped tremendously.

 

I was also on this cruise. Captain Kent was probably the best captain I have ever sailed with. His announcements were detailed and made quite often. I was very impressed with his humor and candor. I think he did the absolute best job on our sailing that anyone in his position could do. Especially given the grouchy, cranky, and rude people on our sailing.

[CruisingCatherine]

In regards to the original poster:

 

I found the ship to rock and pitch more than other large ships I have been on. I personally feel like the ship is too tall for it's size. I also found the ship to be louder and noiser. We noticed a lot of creaking and groaning of the ship during the bad weather.

 

ONE WORD OF CAUTION: AVOID ALL STATEROOMS ON DECK 5!!!

Our room was directly above the stabilizers. I did not sleep for two nights. According to a crew member, there is a sensor of some type for the stabilizers that controls the flaps. This sensor consists of a very loud rolling and banging noise. Imagine a railcar rolling back and forth slamming into steel walls. This gives you an idea of the noise in bad weather from deck 5.:eek:

[vmom]

In regards to the original poster:

 

I found the ship to rock and pitch more than other large ships I have been on. I personally feel like the ship is too tall for it's size. I also found the ship to be louder and noiser. We noticed a lot of creaking and groaning of the ship during the bad weather.

 

ONE WORD OF CAUTION: AVOID ALL STATEROOMS ON DECK 5!!!

Our room was directly above the stabilizers. I did not sleep for two nights. According to a crew member, there is a sensor of some type for the stabilizers that controls the flaps. This sensor consists of a very loud rolling and banging noise. Imagine a railcar rolling back and forth slamming into steel walls. This gives you an idea of the noise in bad weather from deck 5.:eek:

 

Who would have thought...deck 5...thanks for the tip.

[Larry@Andrea]

...Captain Kent was probably the best captain I have ever sailed with. His announcements were detailed and made quite often. I was very impressed with his humor and candor...

 

Here is one I remember. It went something like...

 

"We won't be able to gain enough speed to make it to St Martins, even flushing the toilets won't help".

 

Something like that.

[TwinCruiserMom]

In regards to the original poster:

 

I found the ship to rock and pitch more than other large ships I have been on. I personally feel like the ship is too tall for it's size. I also found the ship to be louder and noiser. We noticed a lot of creaking and groaning of the ship during the bad weather.

 

ONE WORD OF CAUTION: AVOID ALL STATEROOMS ON DECK 5!!!

Our room was directly above the stabilizers. I did not sleep for two nights. According to a crew member, there is a sensor of some type for the stabilizers that controls the flaps. This sensor consists of a very loud rolling and banging noise. Imagine a railcar rolling back and forth slamming into steel walls. This gives you an idea of the noise in bad weather from deck 5.:eek:

 

Which stateroom did you have?

 

We loved the Plaza deck on our July cruise. We had two insides P231 and P235 and they were very quiet. Of course, we did not have 20 foot seas!

[kkorman]

KK, good to hear you made it back safe and sound.

 

Thanks... aside from the Tuesday it was another great trip! We have some picts to share with you and it was great meeting up with you in FLL again.

[kkorman]

I was also on this cruise. Captain Kent was probably the best captain I have ever sailed with. His announcements were detailed and made quite often. I was very impressed with his humor and candor. I think he did the absolute best job on our sailing that anyone in his position could do. Especially given the grouchy, cranky, and rude people on our sailing.

 

I agree with you 100% about him being up front about the situation. I just think we could have been more comfortable in a different part of the ocean... that would have been the best job he could do. I also noticed an open berth (there are 2) in Tortola when we passed. I would bet everyone would have been happy to get off the ship after Tuesday.

 

Do not get me wrong, this has not swayed me from Princess, but I was just irritated that our comfort was so compromised when it could have been prevented by switching to western.

 

Minus Tuesday it was a really good week.... kind of a quiet cruise, but a good one.

 

I did not witness much of the grouchiness... however it might have been the oldest average age I have seen on a 7-day Caribbean before.