Sea conditions, May vs July? - Baltics

[cookiersmom]

For those experienced, what have you seen on sea conditions in May vs. July? Is one or the other less rough? Also, in that same vein, on the larger Celebrity ships such as Eclipse or Silhouette, how much better or worse are cabins near the rear of the ship?

thanks

[Desdichado62]

Sea conditions will vary during the entire year and from year to year. It is impossible to make any generalisation in difference between those two months.

 

It will depend to 100% of the weather and the weather is impossible to predict as well, except that July normally is warmer then May but that won't affect the sea state.

 

You should expect calm seas regardless if you cruise in May or July but like the rest of the year bad weather/seas can happen.

[CruiserBruce]

Agree totally. If you have an issue with sea sickness, you must be prepared every day you are on a ship, as it can be rough, or calm, at any time.

[dogs4fun]

I agree - sea conditions are impossible to predict. However, each time I have sailed the Baltic (May, June & August - all in different years), the seas have been very calm.

Edited March 13, 2015 by dogs4fun

[Ultima Thule]

Teoretically July should have the best weather of the year and the odds are that the sea will be calm. However, there are no guarantees. I once had the bad luck to be at sea during a rather nasty storm in late July.

[TLCOhio]

For those experienced, what have you seen on sea conditions in May vs. July? Is one or the other less rough? Also, in that same vein, on the larger Celebrity ships such as Eclipse or Silhouette, how much better or worse are cabins near the rear of the ship? thanks

 

Agree with the earlier posters that there is no one, perfect, generalized answer to this question. Generally, the Baltics is going to be fairly decent for its conditions. We have done three different sailings on the North Sea in July and things were fairly decent for there, normally consider a rougher area of the world. Personally, for this region, your "odds" are probably going to be better in July.

 

You can go to

http://www.wunderground.com

and check for the very specific weather history on many of the key towns in the world for their past temperatures in that specific area for a date in the past. Just look lower left in the page for weather history area, put in your exact dates and the year prior. You will then see what last year was like, along with recent highs and lows for that date there.

Here are a few weather averages/details for these three key cities in the Baltics by looking at the 7th, 15th, 23rd days of each month from this site.

 

Copenhagen: High/low averages,

May, early: 61 high/47 low °F

May, mid: 63/48 °F

May, late: 65/50 °F

 

June, early: 67/53 °F

June, mid: 68/54 °F

June, late: 69/54 °F

 

July, early: 69/55 °F

July, mid: 69/54 °F

July, late: 69/54 °F

 

August, early: 67/53 °F

August, mid: 66/52 °F

August, late: 64/51 °F

 

Sept., early: 60/49 °F

Sept., mid: 58/47 °F

Sept., late: 56/45 °F

 

St. Petersburg:

May, early: 60 high/41 low °F

May, mid: 62/44 °F

May, late: 65/46 °F

 

June, early: 68/49 °F

June, mid: 70/51 °F

June, late: 72/53 °F

 

July, early: 72/53 °F

July, mid: 71/52 °F

July, late: 70/51 °F

 

August, early: 66/48 °F

August, mid: 64/46 °F

August, late: 61/45 °F

 

Sept., early: 55/41 °F

Sept., mid: 52/38 °F

Sept., late: 48/36 °F

 

Stockholm:

May, early: 60 high/44 low °F

May, mid: 62/46 °F

May, late: 63/49 °F

 

June, early: 66/52 °F

June, mid: 68/54 °F

June, late: 70/55 °F

 

July, early: 71/56 °F

July, mid: 70/55 °F

July, late: 69/54 °F

 

August, early: 67/52 °F

August, mid: 65/50 °F

August, late: 63/48 °F

 

Sept., early: 58/44 °F

Sept., mid: 54/42 °F

Sept., late: 51/40 °F

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 174,140 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[spbstan]

The Baltic and particularly eastern Baltic are somewhat protected shallow linked bays. It is very unusual for sea sickness in such calm waters. Even during a summer storm 10 in seas is considered big conditions and the Hydrofoil is prevented from carrying passengers but cruise and cargo ships would think they becalmed. Expect wind and rain for at some hour or more during a summer visit. If it rains it is in the afternoon and for a short time. Mornings are usually fair. Like most maritime climates, rain showers blow in and out quickly and just as likely to be dry and sunny an hour later. It is pretty rare to have a day where it rained all day, summer or winter. This winter we had more rain than snow, another total lost season for the ski resorts. Considering that we are within 500 miles of the arctic circle, we have had very mild winters for 6 of the last 7 years, each setting records for warmth. Didn't break out the cold weather clothing all winter, and used gloves only once.

That change from the norm predicts that predicting will be wrong since weather patterns are shifting throughout the world, some getting much colder and others area like here getting drier and warmer. This is a major river delta and the surrounding forests are swamps normally but in recent years forest fires and drought has been more of an issue.

Looking at averages tell you nothing of the range likely to experience over the span of a day. Average would be 25 C if it was a comfortable steady 25 all day or going from 25C to 5C than 45C which would be an entirely different experience.