Rough start to QV World Voyage?

[Sail the seas]

Queen Victoria left Southampton in Force 9/10 winds last Thursday and was only doing 7 knots at one stage in the Western Approaches last Friday. The Atlantic storm responsible seems to have persisted and has been causing problems since then. QV was due in the Azores today as her first port of call but AIS live shows her 95 miles SE of Ponta Delgado 2 hours after she was due to arrive. She is still heading away from the port on a SW course at 20 knots so it would seem the current high Atlantic swells may have prevented her picking up a pilot or docking. Has anyone heard any reports from anyone on board?

Edited January 6, 2014 by Sail the seas

[Slow Foxtrot]

Queen Victoria left Southampton in Force 9/10 winds last Thursday and was only doing 7 knots at one stage in the Western Approaches last Friday. The Atlantic storm responsible seems to have persisted and has been causing problems since then. QV was due in the Azores today as her first port of call but AIS live shows her 95 miles SE of Ponta Delgado 2 hours after she was due to arrive. She is still heading away from the port on a SW course at 20 knots so it would seem the current high Atlantic swells may have prevented her picking up a pilot or docking. Has anyone heard any reports from anyone on board?

 

Fourth day into Q.V.'s World Cruise and we still have stormy seas. Reduced to 3 knots at one point so missed the Azores and Capt Philpott decided to steer south west to find calmer seas !! Will have had 10 continuous sea days by the time we reach Fort Lauderdale. It's been a very bumpy ride so far.

[Sail the seas]

Fourth day into Q.V.'s World Cruise and we still have stormy seas. Reduced to 3 knots at one point so missed the Azores and Capt Philpott decided to steer south west to find calmer seas !! Will have had 10 continuous sea days by the time we reach Fort Lauderdale. It's been a very bumpy ride so far.

 

Thanks for that reply I was curious because we have not heard from friends that are on board. We came back from Lisbon on 19th December on QV in Force 9 and 8 metre swells for 2 days and think it has been like that or worse in the North Atlantic ever since. Hope you find calmer waters soon.

[Underwatr]

Someone had linked to this in a different thread. The center of the red spot indicates 12 meter wave height. The spot was further to the west a couple of days ago.

 

[Dcoy]

At least the forecast calls for sunny and 82 when I board in Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday. :D:D

 

Don

[cunardaddict]

Fourth day into Q.V.'s World Cruise and we still have stormy seas. Reduced to 3 knots at one point so missed the Azores and Capt Philpott decided to steer south west to find calmer seas !! Will have had 10 continuous sea days by the time we reach Fort Lauderdale. It's been a very bumpy ride so far.

 

Lucky me! I planned to be on this cruise up to SF but due to the recent loss of a close relative I had to cancel. Have a safe trip!

[Slow Foxtrot]

Monday noon and at last passengers are allowed onto the decks, the first time since sail away last Thursday. However, not many stayed there as the winds are still strong and there's still quite a swell. Not to worry because that nice Capt. Philpott has promised better weather on Wednesday.

Tonight is Rock & Roll night in the Queens Room and that promises to be very interesting. Non dancers can just stand still and let the rough weather do the rest.

Things can only get better.

[keithm]

Fourth day into Q.V.'s World Cruise and we still have stormy seas. Reduced to 3 knots at one point so missed the Azores and Capt Philpott decided to steer south west to find calmer seas !! Will have had 10 continuous sea days by the time we reach Fort Lauderdale. It's been a very bumpy ride so far.

Ahh the trials & tribulations of a ship that pretends to be an oceanliner! We rocked & rolled in modest seas back in 2012 on the QV. I was quite surprised at the difficulty this ship had in less than calm seas. I'm sure the QE has the same problems. A Vista class ship is no true liner!

[Slow Foxtrot]

Ahh the trials & tribulations of a ship that pretends to be an oceanliner! We rocked & rolled in modest seas back in 2012 on the QV. I was quite surprised at the difficulty this ship had in less than calm seas. I'm sure the QE has the same problems. A Vista class ship is no true liner!

 

I've spent many months on the QM2 and on a recent trans-Atlantic crossing there was considerable movement for many days. But, in any event, a little rock & roll is no real problem to experienced cruisers. And Queen Victoria has certain qualities that are superior to the QM2 - not least the Lido Buffet restaurant which is in a different class to the rugby scrum on the QM2. The Commodore Club, the Golden Lion and many other aspects are also better.

So please keep an open mind - the QM2 is a wonderful ship. But it's not the last word in everything!!! And, apart from the weather, no-one is complaining about the current Queen Victoria world cruise.

[Cats2010]

No ship crosses the atlantic better than the QM2! While QV was creaking and croaning, QM2 did what she was built for - including 3 nights with no or very little sleep on my QV transatlantic in January 2011!

[keithm]

I've spent many months on the QM2 and on a recent trans-Atlantic crossing there was considerable movement for many days. But, in any event, a little rock & roll is no real problem to experienced cruisers. And Queen Victoria has certain qualities that are superior to the QM2 - not least the Lido Buffet restaurant which is in a different class to the rugby scrum on the QM2. The Commodore Club, the Golden Lion and many other aspects are also better.

So please keep an open mind - the QM2 is a wonderful ship. But it's not the last word in everything!!! And, apart from the weather, no-one is complaining about the current Queen Victoria world cruise.

I'm just saying the QM2 handles rough seas much better than the QV/QE. We had to help "steady" quite a few more elderly pax on our way to & from the theater on QV. The lido..yes far superior to Kingscourt. Also like how the Grills are more secluded so you don't get pax trying to shortcut through like they do in Todd English. Commodore Club much better layout than on than QM2. Golden lion pretty nice on all Cunard ships. The QM2 definately goes up & down with the seas. It was the strong pitching side to side on QV that really through a lot of pax(almost literally!)..Sorry, but I never really experienced any real degree of that on QM2 & we sailed some pretty rough seas in late Nov.2010 as some pax will probably attest to.

[Slow Foxtrot]

I'm just saying the QM2 handles rough seas much better than the QV/QE. We had to help "steady" quite a few more elderly pax on our way to & from the theater on QV. The lido..yes far superior to Kingscourt. Also like how the Grills are more secluded so you don't get pax trying to shortcut through like they do in Todd English. Commodore Club much better layout than on than QM2. Golden lion pretty nice on all Cunard ships. The QM2 definately goes up & down with the seas. It was the strong pitching side to side on QV that really through a lot of pax(almost literally!)..Sorry, but I never really experienced any real degree of that on QM2 & we sailed some pretty rough seas in late Nov.2010 as some pax will probably attest to.

 

Yes, you summed it up quite nicely Keith. The three Cunard vessels all have their own advantages in different ways. No doubt the Queen Mary is most stable but the Victoria and the Elizabeth are both very popular with passengers, hence their popularity on World Cruises. Suffice it to say that the current cruise on Queen Victoria is most enjoyable, despite (for the first four or five days) experiencing some really dreadful sea conditions. The weather henceforward is forecast as rapidly improving so things can only get better. There is a big American contingent joining us at Fort Lauderdale.

[rgaudet]

How's everyone doing on board QV now? By looking at the webcam, the seas look much better. Hope the ship is sailing smoothly again.

 

Rob

[Slow Foxtrot]

How's everyone doing on board QV now? By looking at the webcam, the seas look much better. Hope the ship is sailing smoothly again.

 

Rob

 

Great improvement today with calm seas and some sunshine. Still a little windy on deck but as we approach Florida it should get better still. Everyone is glad to get outside after being virtually confined indoors through that long notorious Atlantic storm. And how nice it will be to dance on floors that are not moving !!

[rgaudet]

Great improvement today with calm seas and some sunshine. Still a little windy on deck but as we approach Florida it should get better still. Everyone is glad to get outside after being virtually confined indoors through that long notorious Atlantic storm. And how nice it will be to dance on floors that are not moving !!

 

Nice to hear, enjoy it Slow Foxtrot!

 

BTW, how do you really find QV in the rough seas, not compared to QM2, but compared to other cruise ships? Average? worse? closest I've been is the Nieuw Amsterdam and did find that it had more movement in modest seas that I had experienced on other different classes of ships.

 

Rob

[Slow Foxtrot]

Nice to hear, enjoy it Slow Foxtrot!

 

BTW, how do you really find QV in the rough seas, not compared to QM2, but compared to other cruise ships? Average? worse? closest I've been is the Nieuw Amsterdam and did find that it had more movement in modest seas that I had experienced on other different classes of ships.

 

Rob

 

We have cruised regularly since the days of QE2 and P & O's legendary Canberra and of course each ship has its individual characteristics but this is our first time on Queen Victoria. We really like the ship and it was unfortunate that the cruise started with five days of appalling weather with heavy seas and Force 10 winds which reduced the speed to just 3 knots at times. The captain said it was amongst the worst conditions he had seen for such a long period. So, all ships, no matter what the size or shape, would have struggled with that. Maybe the Queen Mary 2 would have coped a little better but rest assured she would have moved around too.

Perhaps, apart from the QM2, we found Queen Victoria little different to any of the other cruise ships. And it has many facilities which are much superior to those on the QM2. Would we cruise on her again? - certainly. Would we cruise on the QM2 again? -certainly.

At the moment we are heading for Port Everglades and the conditions are excellent with sunshine and smooth seas. One must realise that a cruise ship is not going to spend all its life in major Atlantic gales .. there's more to cruising then just crossing the Atlantic. Thank goodness.

 

Foxy