Have you ever encountered severe weather on a cruise.

[FutureTrophyWife]

Would love to hear your horror stories:eek: , I was sitting around thinking about it and wondering.... Cruise ships usually sail around bad weather ... you know?! Tell all!

[lsp]

I would love to experience some bad weather but the last time I posted that statement I was branded a total idiot. Not a typhoon just some really good wind and waves. Guess I need to go out on a crab boat in the North Atlantic.

 

Linda

[FutureTrophyWife]

That's a great show on the discovery channel. I think I would be really scared if I was in the middle of the ocean. Any ship isn't large enough for the large ocean. LOL

[cruisinstim8r]

Back on our first cruise, we followed a tropical depression for a couple of days. 18-20' waves made for interesting walking on board. Sort of like everyone was drunk(they may have been) but everyone bobs and weaves in the same direction. I never felt sick but others had some problems. I was so amazed after seing how big (at the time) the Sovereighn of the Seas was that it would bounce around so much.

[elkaholic]

In 2005 we had a fun experience with one of the many hurricanes that year. Our ship was changed due to Katrina, then delayed a few days because of Rita. We did finally get out and went to Progresso and Cozumel. Leaving Cozumel we skirted the northern edge of Stan (I think this was the one). We were sitting in the theatre watching a show and started to notice a lot of motion. Every now and then there would be a low rumbling booming sound and the whole deck would vibrate for a bit. When we left the theater they had all the doors out to the side decks closed and taped off with the yellow caution tape. Unfortunately I didn't get out on the Lido deck to get a look at the seas, not that I would have seen much since it was late at night. I thought the whole thing was fun.

[FutureTrophyWife]

In 2005 we had a fun experience with one of the many hurricanes that year. Our ship was changed due to Katrina, then delayed a few days because of Rita. We did finally get out and went to Progresso and Cozumel. Leaving Cozumel we skirted the northern edge of Stan (I think this was the one). We were sitting in the theatre watching a show and started to notice a lot of motion. Every now and then there would be a low rumbling booming sound and the whole deck would vibrate for a bit. When we left the theater they had all the doors out to the side decks closed and taped off with the yellow caution tape. Unfortunately I didn't get out on the Lido deck to get a look at the seas, not that I would have seen much since it was late at night. I thought the whole thing was fun.

 

 

That right there would have made me feel pretty helpless. What a great reply to the post. Thanks for your reply very much. That was pretty entertaining. LOL

[G'ma]

Many times in 30 years of cruising!!! Certainly reminds you you're at sea!!

 

Some of the worst was back in the day before all these fancy computerized stabilizers.

 

On the Carnivale in 1981, the seas were so rough they had ropes strung across the public areas for people to hang on to when crossing the floor. Barf bags and plates of soda crackers all over the place. Many people simply sat on the floor in the lounges and bars with their backs against the wall...while the bar waiters came around and took drink orders..... In the dining room, plates, glasses sliding back and forth across the table....thank goodness most of everything else was bolted to the floor! Anything that was on a shelf or a table throughout the ship had been removed and stored so they wouldn't fall and hurt someone. Many people were prostrate with "mal-de-mer" and kept to their cabins....which is the very worst thing to do. Many more of us just partied on..... Sure had no problem finding a seat at the bar - dining rooms fairly empty, pick of your seat in the theater. (Back then, they didn't have TV in the rooms but had a small movie theater onboard where they showed first run films).

 

This was before our current "nanny society". Passengers were encouraged to stay inside but many of us who weren't afraid or ill wandered out on the open decks to watch the spectacular show....and it was spectacular.

 

Another time was on the QE2 coming out of Aruba. We had been re-routed due to hurricane conditions but still were in rough, tropical storm-type weather with some of the biggest waves I've ever seen. We were tossed around like a cork! A series of waves came crashing over/across the bow and actually bent the railing on the forward part of the ship. It was a wild ride. Lots of people had trouble keeping a "stiff upper lip" for almost 30 hours......

 

January, 2007, was on the Miracle. Weather had been really beautiful the whole cruise...wonderful sun, light afternoon rain..a great ship and a good time. On the last full day, headed back to port, we hit some pretty rough water. No storm or anything---skies clear but hazy - but 18-20 foot waves. Certainly big enough to give us all a good soak on our balcony. The whole day - and the whole night coming home was really rugged. The ship was practically empty because people were in their cabins.....bad choice there.

 

So many people refuse to acknowledge that once you step off Terra Firma onto a vessel, you have entered a foreign place. You and your ship are at the mercy of the seas - and the experience and knowledge of the vessel's Master. Always be prepared for heavy seas....and don't blame the cruiseline or the Captain. That's just the way it is......

[L2J]

[Ehpride]

On the Inspiration, a cold front came into the gulf of Mexico after Cozumel and on the last sea day. It came with some decent sized waves too. So we now have a picture and video of me posing with the barf bags they had out. By the end of the day, there were no barf bags left! It was funny because when you tried to walk down the middle of the hall, you would end up going from one side of the hall to the other. That was when I discovered that sitting outside and windows are good for motion sickness as I sat outside and inside by windows the entire day and never got sick!

[douglinc@msn.com]

We've had a couple of cruises that it was really hard to stand or walk & all the outside decks were closed. Never had any problems being sick.

 

Doug

[CyndiT]

I want to travel with ISP....rock and roll and wind sounds great to me! Maybe I could get a job as a cook on one of the crab boats, the captains sure are cute!

[pe4all]

On our first cruise in 1984 (Big Red Boat from NY - taken with our best friends Andy and Sue, who were married a week before us) we celebrated our 1st anniversaries together. Unfortunely, we hit a hurricane in Bermuda. The Oceanic left Bermuda a few hours early, as the storm was moving so quickly and unpredictably. Well, talk about a ship rocking and rolling! And the wind/rain! No one was allowed on open deck, and sea sick bags were all over- most of them used. Everything was sliding around on the tables. (which at that time had a "lip" on them to stop things from falling off - no good stabilizers like today's ships) Most of the crew was ill also - the ship was like a ghost ship! DH and Sue were both very ill, and didn't want to leave their respective cabins. I felt great, as did Andy - so we roamed the ship together, doing all activities as a "couple". Many, many people on board knew we were all celebrating our 1st anniversaries - imagine the looks we got when they saw us playing "switchies" with each other's wives/husbands! We still talk about it to this day (25 years later this next month) and laugh about how "swinging" we were! Needless to say, to this day Andy and Sue have never cruised again!

[Rockee4055]

That's a great show on the discovery channel. I think I would be really scared if I was in the middle of the ocean. Any ship isn't large enough for the large ocean. LOL

 

That is a great show. It makes my skin crawl to see what they have to go through. That IS a dangerous job. I can't imagine being out there for as long as they are.

 

If the pots are full then so are the pockets...but....

[dixnew]

i was on the inspiration during hurricane wilma. we we suppose to go to cozumel on a 4 night cruise, but it turned out to be a cruise to nowhere, had really high winds and the seas were so bad spray was coming over the top of the lido, then it turned into a 5 night cruise because tampa closed the port because wilma was coming on shore, so one more night of bad seas. over all we had a good time no sun the whole time but we made the best of it.

[golf43]

I can remember my sister being on a cruise ship back in the 1980's. Their ship went right into a storm. She never thought they would come out of it alive. Anything that was not bolted down flipped over or broke. I guess the pool area was a nightmare. The water in the pool was spilling out. Some dork decided to get his swim trunks on and get in the pool. As soon as he sat on his raft the ship tilted some and the water in the pool all went out. Here was this guy at the bottom of the pool without any water. Why anyone let him out there in the first place I will never know. :eek: Most of the ships staff were all sick. Dining room was empty. It took her along time before she got on another cruise ship. That was her first cruise too.

 

I can remember being on cruise ships when there was a hurriccaine out to sea. Our cruise ship would take a different route to avoid it. The seas were rocky too. You could not tell who was drunk. Walking was rough. Some people were turning green. :eek:

[WitchyWoman14]

When we were on the Liberty, we went through "Tropical Storm Force Winds" (At least that what is was referred to). The top areas of the ship were marked off due to the strong winds. It was fun, hard to walk on deck! I wasn't scared at all. I remember laughing alot and watching little kids having a blast because the wind was making it so hard for them to walk.... Ladies... DO NOT WEAR A SKIRT WHEN IT IS THIS WINDY!! :p

[poppag]

Wife and I were on RC Rhapsody of the seas and we sailed around and on the backside of hurricane KATRINA, WHAT A RIDE !!!!!! It was great for me not so much for the wife, waves crashing over the bow high seas it was wonderful!!

I spent a lot of time on the top deck just to watch the show, almost 1/2 of the ship would come out of the water as we hit waves head on.

[mbardsley]

Well as a child of about 9 or 10, was on the Lurline(Matson) from Hawaii to LA, we were 3rd day out, and had to go head on into a Major storm to rescure a Sailor on a destroyer that needed emergency surgury (we had a qualified Doctor). My dad woke me up so we could watch out the window, the navy used a line, with a chair, and sent the sailor across the gap that way. There was very few people in the dinning room for breakfast that morning, or lunch, or dinner, lol. My dad was a retired naval officer, did not bother us much.

 

We were on the Norway in 99', and got caught in the straights bewteen cuba, and the bahama islands, there was a cat3 hurricane on our butts. We hit some pretty rough seas, and the norway was all over the place, pitching and rolling, and she was designed for a rougher ocean than the carribean sea. We say a couple of Water Spots off the back of the ship that morning though.

[sunandseagirl617]

DH and I boarded our first cruise ship. Had many drinks boarding and at dinner. We were in the disco at 2 am....came back to our room....BOOM...rock and roll.....Life boat lids came off slamming the side of the boat....We were on a rollacoaster!! Prayed a lot...

 

At 6am, the Captain came on and informed us that Hurricane Michelle was off the coast of Cuba and sped up a bit......UH OH! All of the outer decks would be closed until further notice....

 

Breakfast time, we got up (note we had Bonine at 4pm prior to leaving Miami) had breakfast in the WindJammer Cafe. No one was there, I thought we had the whole boat to ourselves, until walking back to our cabin we saw barf bags lining the whole way back to our room. We took more Bonine and went as low as we could go on deck as per our Steward. We ate green apples with other passengers, laughed and at 4pm we were just fine.

 

I was shocked on day 2 as to how many passengers were actually on our cruise at dinner that night. It was OK

 

If this makes people feel better we were on the Voyager of the Seas. At the time, RCCL biggest ship! I was not worried. This was 11/01, right after 9/11. We had so many fabulous firefighters from NY on board. The 2nd night we spent with them in the Pig's Wistle, a little cafe and they were hillarious! They said that it was the best cruise of their lives! I agree with them. You have to make the most of whatever you have, good, bad or indifferent! Find good in anything and everything!

 

Even a BAD day at sea or several is better than NONE or NO vacation! I was hooked from that day forward. Now a little bounce here or there doesn't even phase us! Honestly, no cruise line will put you in harms way, even if Mother nature is driving!!

 

Happy Cruising :D

[cruznsuzn89]

We went on our first cruise in August 2005 on the Miracle. We were in Cozumel and heard people talking about a hurricane that might be coming. It was certainly choppy that day, making it hard to swim but we didn't think too much of it. About 4-5 am that night we woke up feeling like we were on a roller coaster! We went out on the balcony and were amazed at the waves. I guess we were on the outskirts of Katriina. The next day you couldn't go up on deck and we were rerouted so we disembarked in Ft. lauderdale instead of tampa and were bussed back to our original port. Carnival handled the whole situation very well. I didn't notice a lot of people being sick and we still enjoyed our last day ( though we were hopine we would have to stay out longer!;) ) It was a little scary at first but then the waves just rocked us back to sleep and we were fine. Certainly didn't put a damper on wanting to cruise again!

[neicie]

When I was 19 in 1972, I sailed from Sydney Australia to Southampton England. It took just on 6 weeks. We sailed into a big storm a few days after going thru the Panama Canal. We were sitting in the dining room when it hit and (of course this was well before stablizers) Everything on the tables went crashing to the floor and carts of food tumbled over everywhere. The waiters all ran around fixing edges to the tables sort of like pool tables so the plates just glided around but couldnt fall off. Our cabin was on a lower deck and we would watch the ship roll, it rolled that much we really thought we would turn right over. One way it was just black sky and lashing rain for what seems liked 20 minutes then it would be the seas turn and all we could see was water for the next (seemed like) 20 minutes. Our port hole eventually started leaking and flooded our cabin, they moved us out till it was clamped over with metal cover and our deck dryed out. Along all the corridors they stung ropes to hold onto and sick bags every feet. Most of the doors leading outside to decks were locked to prevent passengers from venturing out as the waves were crashing on the decks.

My friend and I did manage to go outside on about the 3rd day and the wind was something you wouldnt believe. We were on a covered deck but as we went to the front of the ship, dragging ourselves along on the handrails, the wind was so strong that my friend was unable to go any further but I tried and was picked up by the wind and skated across the deck like a piece of paper. I was only stopped by the railings and my legs were dangling over the side of the ship. Some crew members came to my rescue and helped me inside. We were rightfully given a good telling off. My friend said she really thought I was going overboard. We didnt try that stunt again. The dining rooms were deserted and where normally there would be 150 t0 200 people dining, there would be lucky to be about 6-10 people. The whole ship looked deserted and most shows and activites were cancelled.The ship smelled of damp and sick, toilets overflowed, it was extremely difficult to shower or sleep because of the rocking. But boy it was excting when you are only 19 and dont suffer from seasickness. It is something that is still clear in my mind after all these years, especially me skating across the deck on my backside heading for what I thought was the end of me.:eek:

[webkat]

We sailed Triumph to E. Caribbean about 4 years ago. The waves were 20 feet. Our rooms were on Lido deck. I have never been in a storm at sea and I was sooo sick and scared. We were rocking and rolling and you feel the boat lifted up and then crashing down with a boom. I hope I never have another cruise like that one.

[BND]

This past Oct we were on Dawn Princess and followed a tropical storm into Cabo San Lucas as the storm was pulling out. The port was closed the day before we got in and they weren't sure we could even come in originally. The water was choppy, but more than that, the winds were pretty strong. We couldnt' even go and walk outside on Monday evening as we got closer to the storm (we left SD on Sunday) because of the spray and from the wind blown water coming up on deck. And Monday during the day, the water was rough enough that not only was the water in the pools rolling, it was rolling front to back and as it slammed against the back of the pool, water would shoot up at least 8-10 feet into the air. It was actually funny to watch. I got in the pool at one point, but it was pushing people back against the wall. It wasn't bad enough to make most people sick, but it was wind and waves I hadn't seen before. I made sure I had my Less Drowsy Dramamine and Ginger in me. We went into Cabo on Tuesday am and the water was very rough when we took the tender in since the storm was still moving out to sea. They even changed the position of the ship in the afternoon because the tenders were having such a tough time loading and offloading people (too much bouncing which made it dangerous to step across). My DH who is a naval officer and has been in very rough seas, wasn't overly impressed, but he did say it was pretty rough.

[crusinpsychRN]

That's a great show on the discovery channel. I think I would be really scared if I was in the middle of the ocean. Any ship isn't large enough for the large ocean. LOL

 

Love your avatar.

 

I thought a show about crab, sea fishing would be so dumb and it's really a good show.

 

Why would you want to experience bad weather? Just get real drunk and have to be sick, it's like that only scary.

[Meredith9217]

Approx. 13 years ago we were on the Big Red Boat in August going to Naussu and were told we would be going around Hurrican Erin. The Hurricane turned and we, with two other cruise ships beside use, ending up going through the middle of it. What a ride. People were on the muster deck with their luggage and a life preserver on they were so scared. Everyone was sick, luckily my family did not. The ship was twisting so bad that the captain, who was acutally sea sick, listed (sp) the ship at an angle to cut through the swells. The props were coming out of the water at the back of the ship. The ship lost power at one point during the night and the crew was running up and down the corridors. Scary! All the windows broke in the casino and stores. I believe it was the Princess line next to us, don't hold me to that since it was my first cruise and the piano leg broke and someone got their hip crushed. Wish we could have taken pictures but our lens kept fogging up. During all of this they still had the jaccuzzi's open and people were in them. We are going on our 5th cruise this summer - so the storm did not stop me from having a good time.