Question about rough sea's and PH suites on the Sun

[Jasalth]

I am looking to go on our first NCL cruise. My mother has cruised everyone but Carnival and in her opinion NCL is in her top 2 (with Princess, but we travel with kids so.. they aren't a big option for us :)).

 

We were just recently on the Carnival Legend which to date was the smallest ship we had been on, and the cruise we are looking at is one of the 11 day Southerns on the Sun around the same time of year we were on the Legend.

 

The ship was being tossed around a LOT to say the least, to the point we had to jury rid our closest doors (sliding doors front to back of the ship wise) because they would just slide back and forth banging all night.

 

So my main question is how bad are rougher seas on the Sun? This won't be changing my mind about going on her, but would rather be prepared in the long run. Well it will change my mind if she is like a 3 yr old's boat in the bath!

 

I also heard that they close to barriers to the Forward Penthouse Balcony doors at night, is this the case? Do they close them all the time or only in bad weather? Is there a way to not have them close the storm doors on the Forward Balcony's at night? 1 because I am one of the dreaded balcony smokers, and 2 because I generally spend my ship time in either the Casino or on my Balcony. I don't want to have to leave my kids alone at night to have to run across the ship to smoke either. If I remember it has something to do with the lights?

 

Thanks much for any help!

[mousecrazy]

I was in a forward Penthouse on deck 9 directly below the bridge on the Sun. There was no barrier or additional door to the balcony, as you describe. It was a regular door and we could go out to the balcony whenever we wanted...no restrictions (at night or otherwise). It was a beautiful view out there and I was surprised that there was not a lot of wind. In fact, we left the pool area because it was so windy and discovered our balcony was almost completely calm...it depends on the wind direction, I guess. I think the FWD penthouses are awesome cabins!

 

I'm afraid I can't help you with the 'tossed around' question as we had very calm seas. However, the Sun used to do Alaska, so I'm guessing it has stabalizers and would have just as smooth sailing as a larger ship.

[fergusonvt]

We were in a mini on the Sun last Jan. Not a full forward but the first mini on the starboard side just on the side of the bridge. I am prone to motion sickness and with a daily dose of Bonine I was fine. It was a little rocky one night but nothing bad at all. It was very windy on our last sea day but I hardly noticed it on the ship or in our cabin. We were on deck 12 and saw into one of the PH's on that deck. They were very, very nice.

[jetskier]

I was on the Sun right behind Hurricane Wilma. We had 15 foot seas. I felt sorry for the folks in the FWD Suites as it felt like you experianced 2g's of weight on the way up and then weightlessness on the way down. The other two times onboard her the seastate was much better.

 

Dave

[VideoTech]

....So my main question is how bad are rougher seas on the Sun? This won't be changing my mind about going on her, but would rather be prepared in the long run. Well it will change my mind if she is like a 3 yr old's boat in the bath!

 

I also heard that they close to barriers to the Forward Penthouse Balcony doors at night, is this the case? Do they close them all the time or only in bad weather? Is there a way to not have them close the storm doors on the Forward Balcony's at night? 1 because I am one of the dreaded balcony smokers, and 2 because I generally spend my ship time in either the Casino or on my Balcony. I don't want to have to leave my kids alone at night to have to run across the ship to smoke either. If I remember it has something to do with the lights?

 

Thanks much for any help!

 

We sail in forward balcony penthouses as often as possible. Love the space on the balcony and the views. We were on the Sun in #8203 at the beginning of last year. A typical Caribbean winter cruise, as I recall - there was some motion, and it probably had more effect at the bow than in the middle of the ship, but I don't recall that it was excessive. That being said, I'm never bothered by the motion of the ship, but my DW sometimes is, and when that happens, she'll take a motion sickness pill and she's fine.

 

I've never had the crew on any NCL ship close the steel storm door on our balcony, on any cruise, at any time. It is there for protection in case of huge seas, and if that were the case, they'd put up the steel protection plate over the window too, and you definitely wouldn't want to be out on that balcony in that kind of a storm.

 

As long as you are careful, it's easy to open and close the steel storm door yourself. I often close it at night, as I find the wind "whistles" around the inner door frame, and closing the steel door cuts down most of the noise.

 

You are requested not to let your cabin lights shine onto the forward balcony at night, in order not to interfere with the vision of the bridge watch crew. To that end, you need to keep your window curtains closed, and keep the inner door closed too. However, there's nothing wrong with the brief flash of light that occurs when you slip out onto the balcony at night to take in the view...or in your case, for a smoke. If you're really concerned about it, turn off the cabin lights near the door before opening it.

[iluvdoxies]

We sailed on the Sun Ocy 8 and it was the roughest I've ever had - it rained all night and the wind was teriffic --we had an AFT penthouse and we rocled and rolled ---the champagne bucket fell over, the shower door banged open/close all night, the bath salts broke etc etc.

 

Very unusual weather.

[bonvoyagie]

a quick note to the person who thinks the seas in AK are rough - the inside passage is some of the calmest water around as they are protected by barrier islands. It is nothing like what you see on Deadlist Catch.

 

There are exceptions - RCCL,HAL and Princess run ships one way between Whittier and Vancouver - they are on the open ocean from Sitka north

 

Some cruises out of Seattle run on the outside of Vancouver Island between Puget Sound and the beginning of the Inside Passage either on one leg or both legs of their cruise weeks.

[esther e]

Within the past couple of months the seas have been very rough and every ship my friends were on encountered bad weather.

 

We were on the Sun last March and the first night was rough enough that we had to call a steward for a wheelchair to bring my husband to/from the dining room.

 

We were in the forward PH and never had "barriers." I'm not sure where you got that information.

[VideoTech]

........We were in the forward PH and never had "barriers." I'm not sure where you got that information.

 

I suspect many people don't notice the storm door and the storm window cover on the forward balconies. The storm window cover is a metal plate bolted to one of the sidewalls of the balcony, and usually looks like it's just part of the balcony.

 

The storm door is latched to the balcony wall, painted white and blends in pretty well too. If you didn't specifically look for it, you might not realize it's there...but believe me, all those forward doors and windows on any ship have storm coverings available...it's quite possible for the seas to get that high in a big storm, but that's not the kind of storm any cruise liner sails into unless they have NO other choice.

[VideoTech]

a quick note to the person who thinks the seas in AK are rough - the inside passage is some of the calmest water around as they are protected by barrier islands. It is nothing like what you see on Deadlist Catch.

 

There are exceptions - RCCL,HAL and Princess run ships one way between Whittier and Vancouver - they are on the open ocean from Sitka north

 

Some cruises out of Seattle run on the outside of Vancouver Island between Puget Sound and the beginning of the Inside Passage either on one leg or both legs of their cruise weeks.

 

I think when people refer to rough seas on the Alaska run, they are talking about the short stretch across open ocean that everyone has to cross between the north end of Vancouver island and the south end of Haida Gwaii island, before the ship ducks into the protected waters of the inside passage.

 

That area is exposed to the wind, fetch and swell of the Gulf of Alaska, and can be quite rough at times - it definitely was on our Alaska cruise!

 

Also, as you mention, the run along the outside of Vancouver Island can be rough too.

[esther e]

I suspect many people don't notice the storm door and the storm window cover on the forward balconies. The storm window cover is a metal plate bolted to one of the sidewalls of the balcony, and usually looks like it's just part of the balcony.

 

The storm door is latched to the balcony wall, painted white and blends in pretty well too. If you didn't specifically look for it, you might not realize it's there...but believe me, all those forward doors and windows on any ship have storm coverings available...it's quite possible for the seas to get that high in a big storm, but that's not the kind of storm any cruise liner sails into unless they have NO other choice.

 

Thanks for the education! No, we never looked closely I guess because we weren't aware of them. That's very interesting.

[shark with a laser]

The Jade has a similar setup to the Sun with the steel doors. When we sailed on it 2 years ago, the stewards would closed the steel doors every night when they turned down the room. We'd open and continue to use the balcony until we were ready for bed, and then we'd close it to keep the wind from whistling around the inner door.

[Clay Clayton]

We were in a stern balcony on our South American cruise and had a day or so of pretty rough seas but Sun seemed to handle it well, it was nearly as rocky as I had been hoping!

 

Last October, during our eastern carribean cruise, we had two days of rolling waves, it was pretty weird. I didn't notice the ship particularly rolling but the wave action in the pool was incredible. At one point, I was at the deep end and was literally standing on a dry bottom and all the water was piled up at the other end...before it came roaring back to me:eek: The kids in particular enjoyed riding the waves. That being said, it wasn't difficult to walk arond and I don't recall seeing the barf bags out, which was done while we were in South America.

[fergusonvt]

We were in a stern balcony on our South American cruise and had a day or so of pretty rough seas but Sun seemed to handle it well, it was nearly as rocky as I had been hoping!

 

Last October, during our eastern carribean cruise, we had two days of rolling waves, it was pretty weird. I didn't notice the ship particularly rolling but the wave action in the pool was incredible. At one point, I was at the deep end and was literally standing on a dry bottom and all the water was piled up at the other end...before it came roaring back to me:eek: The kids in particular enjoyed riding the waves. That being said, it wasn't difficult to walk arond and I don't recall seeing the barf bags out, which was done while we were in South America.

 

 

It was the same thing on the Sun last Jan. I got some good videos of the pool sloshing from side to side.

[SuiteCruiser]

We were in the forward OS last week on the Gem and they came to tie down our furniture and set the steel doors as we were in 28 foot seas and 80 knot winds. Eeek, very rough, everything fell off of the counters and broke :(

 

Other than that, the seas were perfect.

 

I really think it's hit and miss, you definitely feel it more in the front though.

[DMH15]

I had cruised several times in rough waters with no seasickeness... Then I woke up after my first night on the Sun in an aft PH with a queasy tummy. The butler game me some meds and I was much better. I was hosting the M&G that morning, so I was thinking "oh great!". Several of the people who had signed up for our M&G were sick in their rooms. By day two I was fine for the rest of the 14 night cruise. I have boooked the same ship and cabin for the So. Caribbean in 2013.