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Aurora Bruges rough weather concern


HampshireRose1977
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Hi

 

We are on a two night cruise to Bruges with friends this weekend and looking up the weather, as you do, we noticed it's going to be horrendous.

 

We've cruised before, but our friends we are going with are first timers. They don't like ships after a bad crossing on a car ferry which put them off, but they are joining us to give it a go as they here us bang on about how good cruises are all the time.

 

We've had a rough passage of the Bay of Biscay before, but never the English Channel. Does anyone have any experience of cruising back to Southampton from Bruges in Severe Gales?! Saturday is looking like 50mph gusts and F9.

 

Is it likely to be really rough on the ship? Will it be bad enough for the crew to bring the sickbags out, which might make our friends run for the EuroStar!

 

Although Aurora is classed a mid-sized ship, she's still big at 270 metres and designed to be ocean going if I remember rightly?

 

Are we likely to experience alot of movement, or do cruise ships handle the Channel rather well as I'd imagine the swell is nothing like the Bay?

 

Would be interested in hearing your channel experiences!

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It doesn't matter which sea you're on, and I'm afraid it can be as bad in the English Channel as anywhere. We did a short cruise and we were told at check-in we wouldn't be going to Zeebrugge. Our other port was Le Havre so we got there, spent 2 days in port then came back. It was pretty rough on the way back and although it didn't bother us, we were also with friends who hadn't cruised before and they said never again. Sorry, it's probably not what you want to hear but a true story from my recent experience. It was on Indy by the way.

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A number of cruise ships were stuck late in Southampton last night, the current weather is unprecedented.

 

Zebrugge is not the best port to get into in bad weather, we have missed it on Christmas market cruises in the past in December, same situation as Tartanexile.

 

Weather forecasts can be wrong and wind direction can change so you might be lucky yet.

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You could miss Zeebrugge! Which would be a shame as its your only port. The Channel can be a bit bumpy I'm afraid, there's be such a lot of strong wind recently. You are probably on one of the best ships for the job, Aurora is very stable. Hope your friends cope okay. Take sick tablets. Take care.

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Buy Stugeron - over the counter at any chemist. All of your group should take 2 when you board the ship on Friday, then one before going to bed. Take one when you get up on Saturday and the final one as you go to bed. Having tried many things, that's the only thing that we find has a 100% success rate for all members of our family.

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Sturgeon wouldn't have helped our friends Selbourne! They didn't feel sea-sick but one of them was very frightened. Even for seasoned cruisers, very rough seas can be really uncomfortable

 

A long in the tooth member of crew recommended a drink called "the stabiliser" to us 30 odd years ago. It's a mixture of port and brandy and there is probably no sound medical basis for the fact that it works other than you are so merry you no longer care about the waves.

 

Joking aside brandy is known to settle the stomach (and probably the nerves)

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Looks like its bad Saturday daytime. We will be in port for the worst of it. Returning could be interesting, F7-8 gusting F9, but after a day of strong winds, looks like 3-4m high seas.

 

Hopefully Aurora will ride it well....as you say, it's not sickness, is fear of excessive motion they hate!

 

Interesting to hear about Indy being rough....think our heading into the weather will be more favourable?!

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A long in the tooth member of crew recommended a drink called "the stabiliser" to us 30 odd years ago. It's a mixture of port and brandy and there is probably no sound medical basis for the fact that it works other than you are so merry you no longer care about the waves.

 

Joking aside brandy is known to settle the stomach (and probably the nerves)

 

 

My OH is a great believer in port and brandy when his stomach's unsettled - or any other time if he just feels like one :D

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When I was a child on the SS Uganda I couldn't stand the movement and as an adult cruiser I was apprehensive, but then decided I wouldn't give in to it and would block it out of my mind. I've been in the crows nest when half the crew couldn't stand it.

Then last year we had rough sea coming back from Canada for several days, and the ship was travelling faster to catch up time. It really grated on me and I remember I was really struggling to pack the case. Now I seem to be back to square one and felt quite nauseous on Britannia and my mind over matter attitude seems to have walked the plank.

I do think though that if you board in fear and make a thing of it that it might actually be worse than just taking the medication and getting on with it. You could always book a mid-ship speciality restaurant for dinner if there is one.

Good luck!

 

 

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We crossed the North Sea in a force 8 on Aurora and felt very little movement at all. My husband and I are good sailors, daughter isn't but apart from being a little apprehensive she was fine. There was the odd little lurch from the ship, but nothing major. The captain on our cruise said she was a wonderful ship for rough seas.

On Britannia, OTOH, daughter felt really ill in a force 5/6 swell and had to leave dinner early and go to bed.

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Yes I've heard really good things about Aurora's sea keeping capabilities. We cruised on her to Amsterdam in 2011 and it was flat calm.

 

We encountered 5-6m seas in the Bay on Oriana and she rode them superbly, even if it did get a little wearing in during the day...didn't take any Sturgeon!

 

My husband has a book on both sisters and mentioned the ocean going liner bit.....long and sleek, not too tall unlike Britannia, IotS's etc which don't have those characteristics.

 

My hubby is fascinated to see how she handles the conditions being a ship lover, I'm concerned about our friends as I want them to come on holiday with us next year!!

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2 years ago we did Transatlantic/USA Canada East Coast on Aurora, there and back, had Force 10 gales and 20 - 30 foot seas, she moved around, but overall a good sea boat in rough seas. She was built for world cruising. I would sail on her again tomorrow. Sure she creaks a bit the old lady, but a solid vessel.:halo:

 

Get a cabin midships on the lower decks for more stability.

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The forecast is chopping and changing all the time, but currently things look a lot better. Decent weather and only moderate winds for departure from Southampton on Friday and arrival back on Sunday. Southampton has a torrid day on Saturday with heavy rain and gale force winds. Zeebrugge, on the other hand now forecast to be sunny with very strong wind early afternoon for an hour or so. We shall still be dosing up with Stuegron, not least because we are doing a back-to-back and staying on board Saturday prior to heading down to the Bay of Biscay!

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Yes it certainly seems to be better for when we are actually sailing and as you say, Zeebrugge looks sunny but breezy.

 

Think we are looking at F7-8 with 3 metre seas in the English Channel, which for a ship of her size, won't see crockery flying off tables, which is their worry! We've reassured them, but I think they've been watching too many videos on YouTube ;-)

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Yes it certainly seems to be better for when we are actually sailing and as you say, Zeebrugge looks sunny but breezy.

 

Think we are looking at F7-8 with 3 metre seas in the English Channel, which for a ship of her size, won't see crockery flying off tables, which is their worry! We've reassured them, but I think they've been watching too many videos on YouTube ;-)

 

Out of interest, where are you getting your shipping forecasts from? The website I looked at only showed the next 24 hours.

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Ventusky.com

 

It’s amazing, they use them on newspaper websites...

 

Blimey. That’s a good website. Thanks. Have you seen the storm approaching the UK? Remnants of another hurricane! It looks as though Azura is going to be held in Southampton for 24 hours and depart a day late in order to miss the worst of it. We may be sailing as normal as we are heading away from it. Our return run to Southampton May be interesting though!

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Yes it’s looking rather rough out in the Bay for tomorrow and Saturday.

 

How do you mean our return will be interesting? Winds easing during the evening in the Channel...still saying F7 with 3.5m seas....shouldn’t think crockery breaking will be an issue!

 

They might hold us in port my hubby says for the worst to pass....plenty of time to get to Southampton and she can hug the coastline somewhat.

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Yes it’s looking rather rough out in the Bay for tomorrow and Saturday.

 

How do you mean our return will be interesting? Winds easing during the evening in the Channel...still saying F7 with 3.5m seas....shouldn’t think crockery breaking will be an issue!

 

They might hold us in port my hubby says for the worst to pass....plenty of time to get to Southampton and she can hug the coastline somewhat.

 

Because it looks as though the worst of it will be between Zeebrugge and Southampton as we commence our return run, with gusts up to 95mph :o

 

I suspect that your husband is correct. They build a lot of slack into the timings. We did a 4 day to Zeebrugge and Amsterdam in February on Ventura and we were plodding along at a very sedentary pace throughout. In fact, I overheard one chap saying “this isn’t a cruise. It’s a float”

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Because it looks as though the worst of it will be between Zeebrugge and Southampton as we commence our return run, with gusts up to 95mph :o

 

 

 

I suspect that your husband is correct. They build a lot of slack into the timings. We did a 4 day to Zeebrugge and Amsterdam in February on Ventura and we were plodding along at a very sedentary pace throughout. In fact, I overheard one chap saying “this isn’t a cruise. It’s a float”

 

 

Very funny you've just reminded me of our 3 day float to Guernsey and back on Princess.

 

 

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Late Saturday afternoon will still see a gale blowing through the Dover Straight with 50mph gusts, by the evening, easing to F7 with 40mph gusts.

 

Seas 2.8m until the Strait, then up to 3.7m in the Channel, but its easing all the time back.

 

Sadly, our friends are talking of pulling out with all this 'weather bomb' talk and we are having to tell them she's a big, capable ocean going liner, not a cross-channel ferry.

 

It's difficult to know what to tell them as we've not sailed in this weather on the channel cruising before, but from what I've been told, F7-8 isn't going to ruin the party atmosphere onboard....plus as we've said to them, P&O won't want to put people off cruising, many will be resting the water on these trips.

 

I'm not an expert, although hubby knows a bit...he says that the swell won't be nothing like in the Bay, so she may pitch a little and experience the odd thump from bigger waves, but none of the big motions you get on the Bay.

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Late Saturday afternoon will still see a gale blowing through the Dover Straight with 50mph gusts, by the evening, easing to F7 with 40mph gusts.

 

Seas 2.8m until the Strait, then up to 3.7m in the Channel, but its easing all the time back.

 

Sadly, our friends are talking of pulling out with all this 'weather bomb' talk and we are having to tell them she's a big, capable ocean going liner, not a cross-channel ferry.

 

It's difficult to know what to tell them as we've not sailed in this weather on the channel cruising before, but from what I've been told, F7-8 isn't going to ruin the party atmosphere onboard....plus as we've said to them, P&O won't want to put people off cruising, many will be resting the water on these trips.

 

I'm not an expert, although hubby knows a bit...he says that the swell won't be nothing like in the Bay, so she may pitch a little and experience the odd thump from bigger waves, but none of the big motions you get on the Bay.

 

Tell your friends the big seas if they happen are all part of the adventure. A bit of rock and roll across ye olde English Channel can be handled by the cruise ships. A Force 7-8 gale is nothing to worry about. Try a Force 12 around Cape Horn or around the bottom of NZ or ye old Atlantic, experienced that, not fun.

 

Above all enjoy.:')

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