Spirit Review 11/19- 11/27

[alioness]

Even though the seas appeared calm it is very possible that they had some kind of rolling action going on that caused all your grief. It was explained to me by the crew on RCCL's Radiance. We had such a rough ride all the crew was sick. It has to do with a certain type of wave motion, however I don't have the expertiece to explain it.

 

As for the Spirit, on the way down from Vancouver we had a rough night. After that things were great. When we were in The Carribean we met a group sailing on a Princess ship that had the worst experience coming down the east coast and swore they would only sail out of Miami in future. Well we got quite nervous about our last leg heading to NY. It was perfect, no problem at all.

 

IMHO there may have been a stabilizer problem, or strange wave action, but we had no complaint on our 23 night cruise in all kinds of water.

 

As for BuddyGus, I just scroll right past his. Some people are just plain negative and seem to draw the worst out of life.

 

As for the rest of you that had a rough experiece I'm truly sorry. The Spirit has been wonderful for us and we have cruised other lines. We do know what's out there. I have had no reason to bash any other line. However, this past cruise on the Spirit was the best trip of my life.

 

Barb

[shoreguy]

Even though the seas appeared calm it is very possible that they had some kind of rolling action going on that caused all your grief. It was explained to me by the crew on RCCL's Radiance. We had such a rough ride all the crew was sick. It has to do with a certain type of wave motion, however I don't have the expertiece to explain it. Barb

 

I can't explain it either but I experienced this coming out of San Juan and heading for Bermuda. It was a perfect day, no wind, seas looked like glass, just small rolling waves one behind the other.

 

I lost half my family for a day, the restaurants were empty, and the crew green.

[Ginamarie]

Even though the seas appeared calm it is very possible that they had some kind of rolling action going on that caused all your grief. It was explained to me by the crew on RCCL's Radiance. We had such a rough ride all the crew was sick. It has to do with a certain type of wave motion, however I don't have the expertiece to explain it.

 

As for the Spirit, on the way down from Vancouver we had a rough night. After that things were great. When we were in The Carribean we met a group sailing on a Princess ship that had the worst experience coming down the east coast and swore they would only sail out of Miami in future. Well we got quite nervous about our last leg heading to NY. It was perfect, no problem at all.

 

IMHO there may have been a stabilizer problem, or strange wave action, but we had no complaint on our 23 night cruise in all kinds of water.

 

As for BuddyGus, I just scroll right past his. Some people are just plain negative and seem to draw the worst out of life.

 

As for the rest of you that had a rough experiece I'm truly sorry. The Spirit has been wonderful for us and we have cruised other lines. We do know what's out there. I have had no reason to bash any other line. However, this past cruise on the Spirit was the best trip of my life.

 

Barb

 

 

Barb, I'm curious as to whether Julie was your cruise director on the 23 night repo cruise. My first reaction was that she seemed to be working as a cruise director for the first time, because so many mistakes were made on the entertainment end.

 

I would seriously like to compare the Navigators from the 23 night cruise with the Navigators for our 8 night cruise to see what was included on the other itineraries. On our cruise, most of the daytime activities were actually sponsored by the spa/Columbian Emeralds store/art auctioneer, and not by the cruise director's staff.

 

It did not occur to me that there would be a large staff turnover after the repo cruise. It seemed much more likely to change the staff after drydock in October, giving them about a month onboard to adjust to the ship before our voyage. I'm wondering if I could have been completely off-base on that note.

[lunaseaII]

:) Just some info...

Captain Gunnar Hammerin of Sweeden

Hotel Manager - Alexandra Schroeder (sp) of Germany

CD Julie Valeriote

Port & Cruise - Sherry

 

My inside cabin had 27 inches of hanging space.

The under bed clearance was 10 1/2 inches.

The midweek laundry special was $25- all you could fit into a 24x17 inch flat paper bag.

The bed was 30-33 inches wide (without or with the egg crate cushion).

Shelf space was sufficient...move the lifejackets under the bed and you gain an entire 40" wide shelf.

The bathroom had plenty of hooks/knobs to hand wet garments.

There is a clothesline in the shower.

You definitely need to bring a power strip...just one outlet in the main cabin area.

 

I'll get back to the voyage later!

 

[SailAways]

:)

My inside cabin had 27 inches of hanging space.

The under bed clearance was 10 1/2 inches.

The midweek laundry special was $25- all you could fit into a 24x17 inch flat paper bag.

The bed was 30-33 inches wide (without or with the egg crate cushion).

Shelf space was sufficient...move the lifejackets under the bed and you gain an entire 40" wide shelf.

The bathroom had plenty of hooks/knobs to hand wet garments.

There is a clothesline in the shower.

You definitely need to bring a power strip...just one outlet in the main cabin area.

I'll get back to the voyage later!

 

Our inside cabin on deck 10 of the Spirit had a full closet with two sliding doors - probably 5' total of hanging space. We didn't take a tape measure along, as you obviously did - Another thing to remember next time, I guess!

 

We were able to get all of our suitcases under the bed, and left the life jackets on the upper closet shelf. Had space to spare in all aspects.

 

We did take the power strip, but did not use it. Only needed the one outlet to recharge camera batteries.

[Mr_Rusted]

Last year on the Spirit October repositioning cruise, Julie called Bingo numbers. I was surprized she was the director. The first words out of her mouth were wrong. We were on an 8 day cruise, not 7.

 

That said, while she was not nearly as polished as the folks she succeeded, she is genuinely nice and cheerful personality. I am sure she will smooth out the wrinkles. It takes a little experience to stand in front in the theater and play hostess......We will see how she does in December on the Christmas cruise.

 

Regards to all.....

[electricron]

An interesting read on ship stabilizer technology science.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:uCkiec5LQJEJ:www.ohshe.bs.teu.ac.jp/papers/ascc00/pdffiles/papers/s03-676.pdf+%22ship+fin+stabilizer%22&hl=en&client=safari

 

Fin stabilizers are an active rolling reducing device. When a ship is rolling under a sea wave, the fin stabilizer will turn some angle to the wave disturbance. Fin stabilizers are fixed at both sides of ship, the fin stabilizer of one shipboard produces up force and the other shipboard's fin stabilizer produces down force.

A sea wave is produced by wind, ship movement, earthquake, and gravitation forces between the earth and moon. Wind caused waves are the predominate factor in making a ship to roll.

Factors determining effective wind wave motion are, wind, slope of wave, frequency of waves, randomness of waves, angle of wave to ships direction, speed of ship, weight of ship, beam of ship, etc. etc. etc.

Stabilizer are controlled by controllers, consisting of sensors within the fins, gyrocompasses, and hydraulic equipment to position the fins.

 

Note: Fin stabilizers do little to nothing to correct the pitch of a ship. A roll is the side to side motion of a ship, port to starboard. A pitch is the front to aft motion of a ship.

 

Equipment failure, a gyroscope tumbling, a hydraulic line rupture, a hydraulic pump failure, an electronic problem in the controller, can cause the stabilizing system to fail.

[Don Haynes]

Finally more information. Someone else posted a review saying the seas last week with the Spirit were 4-8 feet. This is no where near what many negative posters claimed as calm seas. No wonder the ships pool wasn't filled and the barf bags were out. Anything over 4 feet causes some ship motion, at 8 feet there is significant ship motion.

 

 

But there are those who will blame the ship for a rocky ride instead of the seas. I suspect they expect a 80,000 tons displacement ship to fly over the waves.....

 

As for stabilizers, the Spirit has the best. From the ship-technology website:

To ensure maximum passenger comfort, she features retractable fin stabilisers manufactured by Fincantieri’s Riva Trigoso-based Mechanical Business Unit. According to the shipbuilder, Meyer Werft, these are said to be capable of reducing the rolling motion by 85 per cent at a speed of 18 knots.

[monsignor]

Don - only issue with the stabilizers in ur post is it claims reduction of 85 percent at 17 knots.. Everytime we were rocking the ship was hauling a**... 22 knots.. 21.7 to be exact according to channel 3 on the TV.

 

Even one of the waitresses in the casino said "what is this captain doing".

 

Perhaps the ship was moving too fast for the stabilizers to be effective.

 

Regardless, I had a blast.. Just stuck with beer as to not spill my drink...

[greenie]

Thanks to all the replys by people who were actually on the cruise.I do agree that different people give different views on the same sailings.But so many negatives on the same sailing does say that something was wrong.I hope the bashing from people who were not on that sailing doesnt stop others from giving thier opinions positive,or negative. TOM

 

This is a forum for people who like to cruise to voice their opinions, ask questions, share information. If the only replies you feel are justified are from other cruisers who happened to be on the same cruise that you were on, then the thread should have been called "Only for Cruisers Who Were On the Same Cruise As I Was, All Others Keep Out and Keep Yer Thoughts & Opinions To Yourself". Of course, if the thread HAD been called that, I'm pretty sure our Fearless & Fair Moderator would have stepped in, because guess what?! This is a forum for people who like to cruise to voice their opinions, ask questions, share information. Even people who weren't all on the same cruise.

 

:(

[Tatka]

Oi... people I know were on the same cruise. It was their very first cruise. I hope they are ok..hadn't talked to them yet.

 

We are booked on Spirit for next August... one of the ports will be Bermuda... We are not prone to the sea-sickness and experienced rock-&-rolling on our both last cruises Mercury in Pacific and Carnival Liberty (in Caribbean!!!!), but sailing too Bermuda in August will probably be bad.:(

 

We also don't usually eat in additional restaurants.. hope DR food will be good.

[tommy]

This is a forum for people who like to cruise to voice their opinions, ask questions, share information. If the only replies you feel are justified are from other cruisers who happened to be on the same cruise that you were on, then the thread should have been called "Only for Cruisers Who Were On the Same Cruise As I Was, All Others Keep Out and Keep Yer Thoughts & Opinions To Yourself". Of course, if the thread HAD been called that, I'm pretty sure our Fearless & Fair Moderator would have stepped in, because guess what?! This is a forum for people who like to cruise to voice their opinions, ask questions, share information. Even people who weren't all on the same cruise.

 

:(

What are you talking about?But since you felt the need to comment on what you thought I meant[wrongly].I did not say what replies were or were not justified.I guess thats your job.It [iMO]seems lately when people take the time to review a cruise get ridicuded or challenged on any negative remarks they give. TOM

[Don Haynes]

Most of us are experienced cruisers, the majority having had a rough cruise at one time or another. When one reviewer says the seas were calm and another says the seas were moderate, 4-8 feet, with the barf bags out, and the ship rocking to the point the crew won't fill the pools, who would you believe.....the person saying the seas were calm, or the person saying the seas were moderate?

 

None of us like a rough ride, we all prefer smooth seas. But we don't blame the ship.... or the cruise line for a rough ride.... The blame lays squarely on mother nature..... and the elements of the sea.....

[brooklynphil]

I guess so far that I've been lucky. I've been on the 3 cruises listed below for a total of 13 nights. I have never felt any big movement. Always smooth as glass. Always left from New York too. I hope that this luck continues.

 

I was on the 1 night Spirit cruise a few weeks ago and I couldn't even tell that we left port it was so smooth.

 

Phil:)

[shoreguy]

I guess so far that I've been lucky. I've been on the 3 cruises listed below for a total of 13 nights. I have never felt any big movement. Always smooth as glass. Always left from New York too. I hope that this luck continues.

 

I was on the 1 night Spirit cruise a few weeks ago and I couldn't even tell that we left port it was so smooth.

 

Phil:)

 

Warning this could happen to you - Atlantic winter not quite glass:D

[brooklynphil]

Gee thanks.:o

 

That looks baddddd.

[Ginamarie]

Finally more information. Someone else posted a review saying the seas last week with the Spirit were 4-8 feet. This is no where near what many negative posters claimed as calm seas. No wonder the ships pool wasn't filled and the barf bags were out. Anything over 4 feet causes some ship motion, at 8 feet there is significant ship motion.

 

 

But there are those who will blame the ship for a rocky ride instead of the seas. I suspect they expect a 80,000 tons displacement ship to fly over the waves.....

 

 

Don, most of the time we were onboard, the seas were not listed at 4-8 feet. There were a few times when seas were listed at that level, but most of the time they were not.

 

 

I do agree that most of the time when the motion was bad, we were travelling well over the 18 knots of speed listed by another poster. On the way down to St. Thomas and again on our way from St. Martin to Bermuda we were travelling at well over 20 knots (21-23 knots). Our last day at sea (Bermuda to NY) we were going MUCH slower and felt no motion at all.

[ts01854]

Don, most of the time we were onboard, the seas were not listed at 4-8 feet. There were a few times when seas were listed at that level, but most of the time they were not.

 

 

I do agree that most of the time when the motion was bad, we were travelling well over the 18 knots of speed listed by another poster. On the way down to St. Thomas and again on our way from St. Martin to Bermuda we were travelling at well over 20 knots (21-23 knots). Our last day at sea (Bermuda to NY) we were going MUCH slower and felt no motion at all.

 

Don't tell Don anytying he knows everything. The man is

omniscient. I have been reading the posts and most people say the seas were calm. 1 poster says the seas were 4-8 feet and Don goes with that as gospel.

 

Either way 4-8 feet seas should not make a ship as large the spirt rock and roll but Don will tell you otherwise because he was on the ship once and it was the greatest

[greenie]

Warning this could happen to you - Atlantic winter not quite glass:D

 

Yeesh! And oye! I feel cold just looking at that, Shoreguy.:eek:

 

***************************************

 

"What are you talking about?But since you felt the need to comment on what you thought I meant[wrongly].I did not say what replies were or were not justified.I guess thats your job.It [iMO]seems lately when people take the time to review a cruise get ridicuded or challenged on any negative remarks they give. TOM"

 

Sorry Tom, I guess I misunderstood what you meant and jumped to the wrong conclusion.

[alderaniandad]

that crossing into the Gulf Stream current as well as adding in weather phenonomea might cause these adverse wave conditions? Seems plausable to me.

[alderaniandad]

aft quartering wave action seems to be the worst as it causes the ship to pitch and roll at the same time which can be somewhat uncomfortable. As for me bring it on --- that is why I am at sea!!!!

In Alaska this summer on the Dream, we had a couple of rough days. So we got midships and watched the action. Kinda fun to see pax staggering all over the place.. Work your way through the passageways and the the folks coming toward you stagger to the left as youo stagger to the right. We were all laughing at how silly we felt not being able to walk a straight line. THAT'S CRUISING!!! An office mate just got back from Mexico on Sapphire Princess and thay had a rough trip too but it didn't slow them down.

[Don Haynes]

Not exactly correct. I'm spend some sea time in the Navy on tin cans of less than 5,000 tons of displacement with no bulbous bow or fin stabilizers.... When I say you'll feel some ship movement at 4 feet when the white caps start, significant ship movement at 8 feet with even more white caps, and a lot of ship movement at 12 feet with many white caps.....its experience.....

and it gets worst.....

 

I have been on lake resort dinner boats, when the waves weren't even one feet, and I have seen people get sea sick..... I suspect they will never cruise.....

 

Here is an interesting wind/seas Beaufort chart:

 

http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Resources/Weather/Charts/beaufort.html

[njkate]

Not exactly correct. I'm spend some sea time in the Navy on tin cans of less than 5,000 tons of displacement with no bulbous bow or fin stabilizers.... When I say you'll feel some ship movement at 4 feet when the white caps start, significant ship movement at 8 feet with even more white caps, and a lot of ship movement at 12 feet with many white caps.....its experience.....

and it gets worst.....

 

I have been on lake resort dinner boats, when the waves weren't even one feet, and I have seen people get sea sick..... I suspect they will never cruise.....

 

Here is an interesting wind/seas Beaufort chart:

 

www.stvincent.ac.uk/Resources/Weather/Charts/beaufort.html

 

Yikes after reading these reviews my evil :eek: hubby, ex navy is HOPING for seas like this when we leave on 12/29......says there will be less people around..they'll be in their cabins....evil evil man :)

[ts01854]

He is absolutely right, I was on the Dawn with over 20 foot swells for over 24 hours. The ship was a ghost town. I had most of it to myself. It's hard to balance your helemt of beer on the table in those waves :D

[njkate]

He is absolutely right, I was on the Dawn with over 20 foot swells for over 24 hours. The ship was a ghost town. I had most of it to myself. It's hard to balance your helemt of beer on the table in those waves :D

 

HAHA:D :D He would manage..believe me!!