Miracle hit by 80 knot winds in Tampa Bay

[TVMet]

Just got off the Christmas cruise on the Miracle. It was a great cruise, staff was wonderful and the ship is a nice addition to Tampa.

 

Last night, as we approached the mouth of Tampa Bay around 3 am, high winds from a low pressure area began to rock the ship. By 4 am as we were in the middle of Tampa Bay the winds hit 70-80 knots on the ship's anomometer. Our cabin faced the wind, it was impossible to open the balcony door. The ship listed hard as we made the turn in the channel in Tampa Bay. We could see power flashes as transformers exploded in Pinellas County. When we got closer to the port, the captain put the ship up to a dock in the warehouse area, with the help of two or three large tugs. We stayed there for a few hours until the winds died, then the tugs helped us get turned around and back up the narrow channel to the Port of Tampa Cruise Terminal. We arrived a few hours late, causing havoc for people with early flights. There might have been one injury. An ambulance pulled up to the ship when it was docked next to an old warehouse. I saw one person being taken away in the ambulance. There were rumors of slightly injured kids who had been thrown from bunk beds on the lower deck, I can't confirm this. When we were next to the old warehouse, Hills. Co. sheriff's and Port of Tampa personel were watching the ship from land. There was damage in the ship as well. The shops were a mess with merchandise everywhere and many broken bottles. On the Lido deck, pool water spilled over the got many areas wet. The crew was busy cleaning up immediately after we got stopped. Cruise director Mark Hawkins told us it was the highest wind he had ever experienced at sea. And again, all of this was in the middle of Tampa Bay. What a night!

[derf5585]

Nor'easter causes havoc with Bay area weather

from

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2004/12/26/66214.html

[halos]

We arrived a few hours late, causing havoc for people with early flights.

 

 

I would think with weather conditions that bad there were NO flights going out anyway.

How scary!!! :eek: I'm glad you are safe and sound. :D

[TVMet]

By 6:30 am the winds were gone. When we left the ship around 11:30 am, we could see aircraft taking off at Tampa International. I don't think many flight were delayed since the worst winds were 4-6 am.

[disneylynn]

WOW! I'm so glad you made it home safely,

[halos]

.....booked an early flight out, but that is a chance you take. The cruiselines recommend not scheduling a flight before 1pm. It's probably good advice to follow.

[cruiserlisa]

I live in Tampa and woke up to the winds. Alot of things in my yard went flying. Around 6 am it calmed down and I went back to bed.

 

Glad you made it back safely.

Lisa

[cusyl]

Noticed some roofs rolled back in our area from the winds and our pool is full in Sarasota. Must have been a harrowing experience for you on the ship.

[cruising3times]

we were also on this cruise, the winds woke me up around 4:20 a.m., I heard many things crashing, it was difficult to walk. I am glad we booked a late flight as we did not get off the ship until 12:30

[trudle]

Glad you returned safely, we were just on the Miracle the week before. JUst out of Grand Cayman we felt an earth quake on the ship. Happy sailing to those who are going on the ship from now on. It is a beautiful ship and we enjoyed our Cruise.

[rgreenpc]

I live in the Tampa area and had to be near the port and noticed that the ship wasn't back.

 

Now I know why.

 

The Florida Aquarium lost some of its glass atrium.

[beaming90]

I am really not very smart when it comes to this kind of stuff...but do you think that the big winds could have had anything to do with the Tsunami (sp?) and earthquake in Asia? Just a random thought in my little brain!:confused:

[WeatherGeek]

The tsunami had nothing to do with the winds. It was just a very strong area of low pressure with a tight gradient, which translates in English to high winds.

That must have been pretty scary for a lot of folks to go through that on the ship. I'm glad that more people were not seriously injured.

[beaming90]

Thanks! I was just wondering if all that could have any effect on the US. Thanks again for clearing it up!! I am glad they all got home safely too. I hope that no one was seriously injured!:rolleyes:

[cruiserlisa]

It was scarey for those of us on the ground. Thank goodness the Miracle wasn't in the channel when the winds hit. There would have been damage.

[chuleta]

Lisa and everyone else down there, I am in St. Louis until after the first of the year, please tell me how bad it was .... can't find much on the news here. email me @ mlholimon@msn.com Thanks.

Mary Lynn

[michaelaz]

Actually there was delays at the airport, our plane was delayed for 2 hours due to wind and fear of wind sheers, our pilot announced we had to take off low and allow 10 miles between takeoffs to minimize any backwash. We missed our connection and had to fly home to Phoenix via Minneapolis :( :eek:

[freddiebud]

i was lucky. i booked a 5pm direct flight back to phoenix and it left on time. there were other flight delays due to snow that mostly impacted chicago/nyc.

 

i did hear from a gal at the port that the rcl ship tried to enter the channel during the winds and got stuck. not sure what that means and there is no info on their board. maybe that is why our cpt tied us up at the warehouse.

 

i thought it was really scary. i tried just laying in the bed but kept rolling towards the balcony. things went flying in the cabin. my dh looked out the window (i was too afraid) and said the waves were really high. his theory is that we not only suffered the winds, but probably were hit by a big wave.

[TVMet]

No big wave. I was looking outside when we listed 15 degrees, the wind was hitting the ship from the west at the time we had to make a sharp turn to continue through the channel. This was at the same time the winds were hitting 80 knots. Bad timing. The water was rough, but inside Tampa Bay there weren't any large waves.

 

Also, the RCCL ship was also in the vicinity but there were no reports of it getting stuck. There were reports of it having difficulty in Tampa Bay during the high winds, just like the Miracle.

[JrMafia90]

This is like when we were on the Glory and we couldn't get back so we had an extra 3 or 4 days. Rumors were flying all over the place, one rumor was that there was a RCCL ship in front of us and it had to turn around because the waves were so high. It just got real crazy.

[Gingee]

I heard Tampa Bay was also wild. Also the one ship that was coming across from Cozmuel got stuck with winds all day. Gad, I hope I don't run into anything like that.

[TVMet]

That may have been the Elation which was heading back to Galveston, where it was snowing at the time... 12/26/04