How many kt seas before they divert route?

[Covepointcruiser]

We were on the Eclipse TA in November of 2014 where the itinerary was altered due to a storm in the North Atlantic. We were due to sail from Southampton to New York. Instead we sailed from Southampton south to Madeira and then to New York arriving New York 2 days later than planned and skipped the overnight Bermuda stop entirely. The change was announced as we boarded in Southampton. Even still we had some rocking and it was reported that we had a > 70 kt gust just prior to entering the channel in NY. We were in a lounge where the ship was rocking back and forth then it rocked to 1 side and didn't rock back, some things on the shelves fell over. It was noticeable but wasn't scary at all.

 

We were on that crossing but I don’t remember the list to one side without returning. At times we had a crosswind and the ship leaned slightly to one side and stayed that way until we were out of the wind. It was wonderful to be overnight in NYC and glad the captain could arrange it. On a transatlantic you always take chances on the weather. With today’s normal cruise ships, i.e., a hotel that sits on a barge, bad weather is avoided if possible. You can’t count on arriving at a port on a given day and sometimes ports are skipped for safety reasons.

[MojoJones]

I can’t remember how rough the seas were when Anthem got tossed around and RC took a lot of flack for sailing through the storm. We are on Eclipse next week and the forecast has a considerable low forming, particularly bad the day we sail from Belfast to Reykjavík. 35 kt seas. Personally I don’t want to sail through this.

 

When would they call it and how far in advance? Frankly if the seas are this bad with no itinerary change, I’m scared to get on. And if we don’t sail to Iceland, where could we go? Norway? South to France? Doing my best thoughts that the storm fizzles, but am wondering what the options will be. The meteorologist on twitter says the Eclipse and Indy are being watched next week.

 

 

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Hi Michelle,

 

On the current Eclipse sailing and we've had more wind than what they are predicting for next week. 45 - 50 knots which caused some delays in arrival times. Ship is handling it well though and the Captain is doing everything in his power to avoid the worst of the winds. We're aft on deck 11 (after the hump) and it's not bad at all.

 

Even the people in Iceland commented on how weird our weather has been. Snow, sleet, hail, wind- you name it we've had it. We're having a great time though.

 

Thanks,

Kris

[mackjack9139]

I highly recommend you obtain scopolamine patches if your doctor is OK with it. The only time I was seasick out of 8 cruises was on Empress of the Seas in 25' swells, and meclizine (aka Bonine, Antivert) and green apples did nothing. Floating in the hot tub did help, until I was a raisin and they had to close the hot tubs from all the water splashing out.

[ECCruise]

Please, please, please do NOT be concerned about 35kt winds.

 

We have been in winds of that speed or a bit more literally hundreds of times. Most times little or no effect on the ship. Trust the poster above who is on the ship NOW with wind speeds in excess of that and it is "not bad at all."

 

I think this is much ado about very little. Relax and enjoy your cruise(s).

[sr4mjc]

Please, please, please do NOT be concerned about 35kt winds.

 

We have been in winds of that speed or a bit more literally hundreds of times. Most times little or no effect on the ship. Trust the poster above who is on the ship NOW with wind speeds in excess of that and it is "not bad at all."

 

I think this is much ado about very little. Relax and enjoy your cruise(s).

 

I actually wasn't worried so much about the winds as the waves. Although I'm not surprised the winds are a little higher in actuality. I took whatever they gave in medical once on the Mariner years ago and it knocked me out for the rest of the day and made me super groggy. I've stocked up on bonine, ginger, peppermint drops, sea bands and something else I grabbed at the drug store. I can do this :) My other half is retired Navy and will have a ball if the seas are rough.

 

I am glad to hear the ship and Captain are weathering it well, thank you!

[Jim_Iain]

Sea condition change fairly rapidly in the North Atlantic. I've been on a number of cruises where the course of the cruise has been shifted to make for a more comfortable ride.

 

Take a look at the Wave Height Model in the link below. It shows an animation of wave heights over a 180 hour window (about 7.5 days). You can get a pretty good idea of the sea heights.

 

http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display.cgi?a=natla_height

[Jazzbo]

We were on the Eclipse TA in November of 2014 where the itinerary was altered due to a storm in the North Atlantic. We were due to sail from Southampton to New York. Instead we sailed from Southampton south to Madeira and then to New York arriving New York 2 days later than planned and skipped the overnight Bermuda stop entirely. The change was announced as we boarded in Southampton. Even still we had some rocking and it was reported that we had a > 70 kt gust just prior to entering the channel in NY. We were in a lounge where the ship was rocking back and forth then it rocked to 1 side and didn't rock back, some things on the shelves fell over. It was noticeable but wasn't scary at all.

We were on that same transatlantic. We could definititely feel the movement, but it was certainly manageable. I learned that dizziness is seasickness, and Bonine took care of that in short order.

It turned out to be a fantastic cruise. We met so many great people on that cruise, and the sea days even in high seas were so memorable. One of my favorite cruises!

[wrk2cruise]

Was also one of our favorites. It was our first experience in Michaels Club. The people in there really got along great and we had a blast. We also met the Godmother of the Eclipse and had the pleasure of eating dinner with her three nights. Unfortunately she passed away in 2016. It was a pleasure to meet her.

[Fissues]

I wouldn't even flinch at 35 kts and a 5m seas of a 10 second period in my own 15 meter vessel.

 

It's about the wave period of 10 seconds which is nothing to even consider. Now if the wave period were 5 seconds or less, I would pack it in on my boat and forego tuna fishing for the day.

 

Bon Voyage!

[A Sixth?]

..... The problem with that is the boat was going at a leisurely 9kts. This prevented the boat from having any momentum to plow through the seas, so the waves that we had made the boat move even more so than it would have if we were going 18-20kts. .....

 

Not sure where you heard this tid-bit, but slowing down is to arrive in port at the assigned time AND smooth the ride.

 

A 120,000 ton ship has all the "momentum" it needs. :D

[sr4mjc]

Unfortunately our forecast isn’t looking better, but still hoping! If this low pressure system would speed up and blow past before we cross, that would help. Here’s our latest of when we are heading out of Belfast. I'm a Floridian, I know those swirly things are good to avoid.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 7, 2018 by sr4mjc

[chengkp75]

The problem with that is the boat was going at a leisurely 9kts. This prevented the boat from having any momentum to plow through the seas, so the waves that we had made the boat move even moreso than it would have if we were going 18-20kts.

 

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Not sure where you heard this tid-bit, but slowing down is to arrive in port at the assigned time AND smooth the ride.

 

A 120,000 ton ship has all the "momentum" it needs. :D

 

The first quote is actually correct. When a ship is heading into seas, the lesser the relative speed between the ship and the sea (the vector addition of the sea speed and the ship speed in opposite directions) affects the ability of the ship to maintain directional stability (the ability to maintain a constant heading), and a slower moving ship will be more susceptible to having the seas "throw the bow" in one direction or the other, therefore changing the angle of attack to the wave, and changing the rolling motion. However, going too fast into seas will cause banging, pounding, or shuddering, so there is a fine balance in speed to optimize the ride based on the current weather conditions.

 

For the second quote, you do know that the ship does not weigh anything close to 120,000 tons, don't you? Gross tonnage is a measure of volume, not weight, and while I don't have the exact figure, I would estimate Eclipse's displacement (the amount of water displaced when the ship is put into water, hence the actual weight of the ship) as around 50-60,000 tons. I could create a shape that had a rating of 120,000 GT, but that only weighed 10,000 tons, and that object would not have "all the momentum it needs" to push through seas.

[derekjp47]

Relax, you have nothing to worry about, after all you’re going on a cruise so be excited about it. Have trust in the captain, he’s going to keep everyone safe. Enjoy your cruise and don’t worry about the weather.