Just off Freedom caught in storm October 9th

[Gail and Ken]

Sounds like a good argument for packing along a roll of wide masking or other tape! Has anyone tried that in this kind of situation?

 

We're going on Allure in early January...is there a possibility for such a storm then? (gulp):eek: (obviously I'm a Caribbean cruiser newbie)

We are also sailing on Allure on Jan 3rd..This will be our 2nd Allure cruise..Did the Oasis too.. There is some movement but not much. Come on over and Join our CC group.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1193346&page=18

[alphakitty]

I find that I do enjoy "some" movement of the ship and watching the action of the waves as the ship moves through the water. I love it when you find this on a bright day without rainy or cloudy skies. The heaviest seas that I have experienced were 40ft. seas, while I wasn't frightened or sick, it was just plain uncomfortable. Along with very little activity on the ship, it was hard to sleep as you tossed in the bed and you had to brace yourself while in the bed. All the drawers in the desk would roll out and then slam back, pretty well eliminating any real rest. Walking or using the stairs (elevators were shut down) was a real adventure. The storm lasted about 18 hours, real glad for calmer water.

 

Fortunately there were few of those cruises and here's to smooth sailing!

 

This is where the duct tape comes in very handy! :D

 

I've sailed through a couple of bad storms with high seas. Fortunately for me, I don't get seasick. The ship does make a lot of noise though. If it's foggy, as it was on our recent trip to Canada, the ship's horn blows every two minutes all night long. I find it exciting. :)

[orville99]

"The Freedom of the Seas captain, who ultimately makes the decision on whether or not to sail, opted to leave Port Canaveral, though it was three hours later than the normal 4:30 p.m. departure."

 

This statement in the Florida Today article is blatantly inaccurate. I was watching the port camera on Sunday when the FOS departed - on schedule. At 5:30, a poster on another board asked why the Dream was still in port, and which ship was still in port with them. FOS was long gone by then, but you could clearly see the Dream and Sensation on the webcam.

[reallyitsmema]

"The Freedom of the Seas captain, who ultimately makes the decision on whether or not to sail, opted to leave Port Canaveral, though it was three hours later than the normal 4:30 p.m. departure."

 

This statement in the Florida Today article is blatantly inaccurate. I was watching the port camera on Sunday when the FOS departed - on schedule. At 5:30, a poster on another board asked why the Dream was still in port, and which ship was still in port with them. FOS was long gone by then, but you could clearly see the Dream and Sensation on the webcam.

I agree, I watched it leave port too. I did not leave 3 hours late.

[mariner6]

What about RADAR? Can they see how bad it is before sailing? I do not understand how the Captain ok to leave the port with that kind of storm...

[bajathree]

"The Freedom of the Seas captain, who ultimately makes the decision on whether or not to sail, opted to leave Port Canaveral, though it was three hours later than the normal 4:30 p.m. departure."

 

This statement in the Florida Today article is blatantly inaccurate. I was watching the port camera on Sunday when the FOS departed - on schedule. At 5:30, a poster on another board asked why the Dream was still in port, and which ship was still in port with them. FOS was long gone by then, but you could clearly see the Dream and Sensation on the webcam.

 

That is why I highlighted it.....I never remembered hearing anything previous about Freedom leaving 3 hrs late.

[bajathree]

And then if your room gets wet because you didn't securely latch the balcony door you get 50% off your next cruise? :eek: And we know that's the reason a lot of these rooms got wet. People leave balcony doors open all the time.

 

Gina

 

What makes this offer suspicious to me about giving people who's cabins got wet 50% off a future cruise.....how about all the cabins that got flooded for years on Radiance due to a known and documented issue with the plumbing system....I never remember hearing those guests getting 50% off a future cruise every time that happened.

[uksimonusa]

With the position of the Sensation and Dream in the turning basin, it's possible something like this could have happened if they had tried to leave port.

 

 

Once, well actually twice, bitten twice shy

:D

[yukongold]

Whatever the circumstances regarding its departure, I feel for the passengers on that cruise.

[PH8]

With the position of the Sensation and Dream in the turning basin, it's possible something like this could have happened if they had tried to leave port.

 

 

Once, well actually twice, bitten twice shy

:D

Looking at that one,I saw this one on the side.......

 

talk about water in the cabin:eek:

 

[circuitrider]

Posted this in the roll-call thread, sorry about the re-post. Also, note that water was pouring in SEALED DOORS. Those in balcony cabins definitely could have had lots of water pouring in even with everything closed correctly, because water was POURING IN SEALED DOORS ON DECK 12!

 

It was really rough the first night. Not so bad for early dining (thank goodness for that), but I heard horror stories about late dining (but now I hear there was no late dining? Maybe I was hearing stories about the buffet). Went to register my son for the kids club (can't remember the actual name now, sorry) and water was pouring in from the sealed doors. Crew were going "Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" One was crawling on the floor. Ones who were standing, it APPEARED to be nearly a 45 degree angle. I'm sure it wasn't that bad, just saying what it looked like to this casual observer. It did rock back and forth some...but it tended to stay leaned to one side for extended periods of time.

 

Some kids (in the hallways) were upset, heard one ask if she could go back (to Port Canaveral). Elevators were in emergency mode and weren't operating (think they were parked on deck 4).

 

Oh, and yeah they made an announcement saying everyone had to return to their stateroom. That was a bit scary.

 

Next day things were a bit better. We had a really late start in Cococay, which was made a bit longer due to an ill passenger (they were waiting to see if a plane could land in Cococay before they started tendering passengers). We were told it had nothing to do with the previous night.

 

We'd promised our kids a beach day, but had to divert to the pools instead. Sadly, neither H20 nor the kiddie splash pool were open (despite it being well past 8AM, it was around 9:30AM). I'm sure the crew had better things to do, just saying...would be nice to have something to do in the meantime.

 

But...once we got to Cococay it was indeed a beautiful day. Decent lunch, nice weather, sunny at first then partly cloudy at the end.

 

It's now day 4, and the main kids club rooms (the one for 3-5, and 6-something) are still closed. It's damp and smells in that area. Kids are meeting through the arcade (the young 'uns are in the Fuel room). Nice that they have a backup plan, though it can be hard walking through the flashy arcade multiple times a day.

 

We got a letter saying all staterooms received a $200 onboard credit. Not saying whether it's enough or not; just reporting here.

[orville99]

What about RADAR? Can they see how bad it is before sailing? I do not understand how the Captain ok to leave the port with that kind of storm...

 

Just a supposition on my part, but at 4:30 when FOS left port, radar probably just showed a strong squall line going SW to NE which would have pushed a lot of wave action into the port, but no TS rotation. Rough seas, but not anything that the ship wasn't designed to handle. The TS radar signature developed very quickly and unpredictably about two hours after FOS departed.

[mo&fran]

What about RADAR? Can they see how bad it is before sailing? I do not understand how the Captain ok to leave the port with that kind of storm...

I was on a bridge tour on Explorer and asked if they had weather radar and the officer indicated they had a service that downloaded the radar data. I do not know if it real time, but I doubt it, In a situation like this, the data must be real time, and preferably doppler radar, and training on how to use it.

[Aquahound]

What about RADAR? Can they see how bad it is before sailing? I do not understand how the Captain ok to leave the port with that kind of storm...

 

No. Radar alone does not fully indicate the weather conditions. That is compiled through Radar, NOAA data, weather stations, buoys, other vessels, etc, etc. According to a post on this thread from someone on board, the Captain reported 107 mph winds. I have not seen supporting reports from any of the weather station data in that area. Even the now historical data is not reporting winds that strong. So if they really sailed in to hurricane conditions, I'm sure it was not intentional and was due to inaccurate reports. The cruise lines do not intentionally sail directly in to conditions like this. They alter their courses, skip ports, change itineraries....whatever it takes to steer out of harms way.

 

Friday night, we had 40mph+ winds at my home in the Keys, with stronger winds in the upper Keys. We knew of the low pressure system and we knew rain and gusty winds were coming, but not one single report said the winds were going to be as strong as they were.

[jagsfan]

I'm assuming the windward side was port, is that right? Just not sure which way the wind was coming from.

[Clarea]

I'm assuming the windward side was port, is that right? Just not sure which way the wind was coming from.

One of the historical weather websites I looked at yesterday had the wind coming primarily from the north last Sunday around 5pm. This would have been the port side while Freedom was at the terminal.

[captain bob]

What's interesting in the most cruise ships are not ocean liners like the QE2 and QM2.

 

Cruise ships have a flat bottom and a whole lot of superstructure to catch the wind. Ocean liners have a deep hull and less windage which make a huge difference in a storm like this.

[cntheworld]

This storm was not just about swells it was wind and strong winds. We live about an hour north of Canaveral and you could hear the difference in the wind around 7:30-8:00 pm. We had more damage than any of the 2004 hurricanes. We were on Emerald Princess a couple of weeks ago just out of Oslo we encountered the remains of TS Katia and we had 30 foot swells and 60-65 mph winds. There we 72 cabins whose balcony doors would not stay closed - even if they were locked. All the pools were closed as well as all outside areas. This lasted for almost 36 hours and caused us to miss a port. I was sitting on the 5th deck looking at the waves hitting the window. Ir really was pretty awesome.

 

 

 

 

I think from a customer standpoint, the choice is pretty obvious. :o

 

The description of what happened sounds much more heavy, heavy swell related than wind related, other than the problem with the doors blowing open or being jammed shut. Always lock your door tight if you think it's going to be rough. lol.

 

I've been in a couple of nasty wind storms (concidentally, twice in a row on the Carnival Legend, the last night of the cruise, coming back to Ft. Lauderdale), and the ship moved, but nothing insane. Was actually up top in covered areas watching because I don't live in a place that gets that kind of weather and it was interesting watching a storm being born.

 

Seas were pretty dead considering the gusts were getting north of 80KT. They weren't so dead for people leaving the next day, especially from Canaveral. No cover there unlike when you're traveling inside the Bahamas going south.

 

You leave from Canaveral, you're taking the brunt.

 

reading the USA today article and the comment, it sounds like BS. What were winds 3 times more than forecast, 120-150MPH? lol. They sailed into 30+ foot seas. Possibly a little bigger considering the size of the ship. And that's what happens when you do that. Haven't been on a ship in seas *that* big, but from talking to crew on various cruises, it fits the description 100%.

[bajathree]

This storm was not just about swells it was wind and strong winds. We live about an hour north of Canaveral and you could hear the difference in the wind around 7:30-8:00 pm. We had more damage than any of the 2004 hurricanes. We were on Emerald Princess a couple of weeks ago just out of Oslo we encountered the remains of TS Katia and we had 30 foot swells and 60-65 mph winds. There we 72 cabins whose balcony doors would not stay closed - even if they were locked. All the pools were closed as well as all outside areas. This lasted for almost 36 hours and caused us to miss a port. I was sitting on the 5th deck looking at the waves hitting the window. Ir really was pretty awesome.

 

When last on Freedom in June I noticed that my cabin slider didn't close tight very well. When closed and locked I could still see light out the seals and could hear the wind squealing thru. If I pulled hard on the door when locked it would still even slide open.....it just might be that they are starting to showing their age.

[outtoseacruise]

Not going to take sides on if the ship should of left port or not.

 

Additional information that has not been presented on this thread before.

 

1-The port and pilots are not the same. Since the pilots have to transfer from the ship to their boat at sea they may have decided that the conditions were not safe after the FOS left. That would mean that the port was "open" but that ships needing a pilot could not sail.

 

2-I live very near the port and was watching the weather, this cell come up very quickly. In addition at first it was expected to move west over land, rather it moved north towards the port.

 

3-The severe rocking was likely as the ship reached the Gulf Stream. Those who sail from Port Canaveral often know that if can get rocky crossing the stream if the wind is right (or wrong). It usually takes an hour and a half to reach the Gulf Stream after you sail.

 

The fact is that this all happened in a very short period of time that was at the same time the ships were sailing.

 

Go to the supermarket and see what happens when a storm comes up. Some people wait for it to pass and some run through it to their cars. Doesn't mean that one is right or wrong, just looked at the facts and made different decisions.

 

If one of the ships in port had broken lose and hit the dock all the chatter would be about why they didn't leave like the FOS.

 

Does seem that there are a lot of people who need to make a drama out of what is nothing more then a decision by a well trained Master with the information he had at hand.

 

If you remember on March 30, 2011 the Carnival Pride broke loose from the dock at Port Canaveral.

http://cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4434

 

http://www.wdbo.com/news/news/local/strong-winds-pull-carnival-ship-dock/nCFCC/

 

So the choices are do you stay in port in risk damage/injury or do you leave and ride it out at seas where it is safer?

 

I don't think I have seen anyone confirm if the Pilot was able to get off or not?

 

I know as the day went on in the Orlando Area the weather got better on Sunday. There was a lot of rain and wind in the morning.

[cntheworld]

Even with the balcony doors securely latched and even locked they can open if the motion of the ship is severe enough. We had 72 balcony doors open on rough seas on the Emerald Princess last month in 30 foot seas and 60 mph winds.And this occurred in the middle of the night. Not much sleep for a lot of folks.

 

 

And then if your room gets wet because you didn't securely latch the balcony door you get 50% off your next cruise? :eek: And we know that's the reason a lot of these rooms got wet. People leave balcony doors open all the time.

 

Gina

[cntheworld]

I realize captains are responsible at the end of the day but I do know that many times they are "advised" from the "powers that be" to do certain things.

 

 

Some of the remarks in this string are remarkable! I didn't realize so many ship Captains were into Cruise Critic!:cool:

 

I have full faith in a Captain of a cruise ship with his many years of experience and have no doubt he took everything into consideration before getting underway. In other reports it stated the Captain was pressured into leaving by the Corporate types. Highly doubtful as the Captain is ultimately responsible for the safe handling of the ship.

[mommabean]

Even with the balcony doors securely latched and even locked they can open if the motion of the ship is severe enough. We had 72 balcony doors open on rough seas on the Emerald Princess last month in 30 foot seas and 60 mph winds.And this occurred in the middle of the night. Not much sleep for a lot of folks.

 

My point was that some people DO leave their balcony doors open. You can tell which doors are opened as you walk down the halls. You will hear a whooshing sound coming around their closed hall door. And often times that hall gets quite warm even with the AC running. I hear this on every cruise and often.

 

Those are the people I was pointing out - they are also getting 50% off their next cruise. And we know there are plenty of them. Had these doors been shut and latched, it's not likely that every single one of them was going to pop open or spring a leak. Some maybe, but not a chance all of them would.

 

I wasn't saying every wet room was caused by the occupant leaving the door open.

 

Gina

[dk2202]

Please submit any photos or videos from this cruise. Thanks

[proudpatriot07]

Oh wow, my coworker is honeymooning on this cruise right now... guess I'll get to hear from her first hand when she returns to work next week!