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First time cruise anxiety - Anthem of the Seas


HazzaGrazza
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Hi All, 

 

I'm in my 30's and have just booked my first cruise with partner, departing Jan 2020. We're doing an 11 night from NJ to the Caribbean, 5 ports and 5 cruising days. 

 

I started off watching all the fun videos of cruises and was really excited. We chose NJ, as we're from London and it's easier and cheaper to travel and depart from NJ, rather than Miami. It was an impulse buy and didn't research too much into it.


I'm now going into a bit of panic though, reading about the rough seas in the north atlantic. I then found the video from Anthem of Seas, where they were stuck in hurricane winds, after leaving NJ (in Jan) and also the Norwegian ship that was caught in a storm, heading back to NY (in Jan). I have always suffered with travel anxiety and hate flying (another reason we chose NJ, for the short flight time). After watching the videos of cruises in storms though, I'm terrified we're going to have really rough seas and start listing badly and capsize in the middle of the ocean. 

 

I feel like I have chosen a really bad route for our first time and freaking out. I have a whole year to wait too and hoping the anxiety doesn't get worse due to the long wait. 

 

Has anyone traveled this route in the winter, that could offer advice?

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I've sailed on many vessels much smaller than any cruise ship in weather worse than most will encounter. It would take much, much more than a storm to cause a vessel that size to capsize. The ship might rock and roll with the wind and the waves but they are designed for that. I would suggest that you stop watching those videos, they won't do anything to help you prepare for the wonderful time you'll have.

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The ship will not capsize.  When was the last time a cruise ship capsized anywhere due to a storm?  While you cannot predict the sea conditions at anytime, the ships are designed to withstand very significant sea conditions and the Captain's first responsibility is to the safety of his ship, crew, and passengers.  He will do everything in his power to avoid any dangerous conditions.  You will also only be in the northern part of the Atlantic for about 2 days out of the 11.  Relax.

 

BTW, in 28 years of cruising, by far the worst sea conditions we ever encountered were on one cruise in the Caribbean with 25-30 foot waves between the Panama Canal and Jamaica on Christmas eve (which interestingly was not associated with any storms), and the calmest on one cruise in the Atlantic between NY and Bermuda one day away from Bermuda where the seas were literally smooth as glass (during the middle of hurricane season).  There is no predicting.....

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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The Atlantic is generally the most calm in the winter. This year has been unusual. But it's also been a fairly warm winter so it's really just luck of the draw. I experienced the ocean smooth as glass in May going from Halifax Canada to NYC last year.
Don't stress. Get sea bands (https://amzn.to/2C9n7Bb) and/or the sea sickness patch from your doctor and go in assuming everything will be okay. I personally like when it's a little bumpy, but I don't get any motion sickness. Sounds like a great cruise!

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The ship will not capsize. Cruise ships are an enormous monetary investment as well as the liability cost for putting passengers in danger. Not to mention the captain would also like to survive the journey. The itinerary may change if there’s a large storm coming but they rarely sail into one if they can help it. I’ve been in seas considered ‘rough’ on a cruise ship and never felt remotely unsafe. I have been on a ship that listed but it was very temporary and due to a mechanical issue (this actually happened in calm seas).  It was fixed quickly and there was no danger.

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This July will be my our 26th Cruise and enjoy everyone of them.

 

We look forward to sailing as often as we can and sailed to many parts of this world.

 

Yes have we experienced certain weather and sea conditions but have not let them keep us from sailing again in the future.

 

My wife is ok with these conditions and sometimes I must admit they affect me and I just use medication to deal with it and get back on my feet.

 

Looking forward to cruising for many many years to come.

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Anthem is a great ship;  you have almost a year; so you can most likely cancel this ship and fly to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, or Orlando and cruise out of there.  I think you will have so much fun on this ship.  

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You will be in the Atlantic...although, not deep at sea!  You will be following the shipping lanes down the East Coast.  If there should be a storm, they will do their best to avoid it.

 

Stay excited....a cruise is a fun way to vacation...and that's what it is...a VACATION!

 

While it will be pretty cool on the 1st and last days (because NY is pretty damn chilly in January), you will have a great time, once you hit the area around Florida and south.  No worries.

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On 1/7/2019 at 6:32 PM, HazzaGrazza said:

After watching the videos of cruises in storms though, I'm terrified we're going to have really rough seas and start listing badly and capsize in the middle of the ocean. 

 

on a ship that size you won't even feel it... and definitely won't capsize.

Get a cabin in the back of the ship and you are all set.

 

P.S. no need to be anxious, but, perhaps, some medications or therapy would help? After all, it's supposed to be the time to relax and enjoy your marvelous vacation, and not to bite your knuckles while being stressed to no end.

Edited by Itchy&Scratchy
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I'm new here and getting very useful tips and info around. Good to hear those ships are very reliable. The wifey had slight anxiety on our last short cruise trip. It would be good ease to know the big ships would be just fine on little rough weather.

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I actually don't like the bigger ships b/c I so rarely feel any motion.... I have to look out the window to see if we've pulled away from the dock or not on port days!

I love being rocked to sleep on a ship, but even Explorer and Freedom class (which are smaller than Anthem) are too big to feel motion on most cruises.  

Start watching videos of things people do on the ship.... tours of the rooms, tours of the ship.... you'll soon see that you're talking about a huge resort on the ocean, not a little rowboat or dinghy!  No worries, just fun!

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7 hours ago, dHiger said:

I'm new here and getting very useful tips and info around. Good to hear those ships are very reliable. The wifey had slight anxiety on our last short cruise trip. It would be good ease to know the big ships would be just fine on little rough weather.

This would hold true for any of the cruise ships built in the last 25 years or so - not just the "big" ones.  They are all stabilized and are all designed to handle challenging sea conditions. Even the smaller ones are still large ships by comparison and are all quite safe.  This is an industry with many millions of customers - and crew - annually, sailing every week of the year all over the world.  Safety of the ships involved is paramount for obvious reasons.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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15 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

This would hold true for any of the cruise ships built in the last 25 years or so - not just the "big" ones.  They are all stabilized and are all designed to handle challenging sea conditions. Even the smaller ones are still large ships by comparison and are all quite safe.  This is an industry with many millions of customers - and crew - annually, sailing every week of the year all over the world.  Safety of the ships involved is paramount for obvious reasons.

This should ease her mind more. Thanks

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I want to dispel the whole "You'll never feel it" thing.  I just got off Symphony last week, and while we didn't feel anything for the first day and a half or so, we did start to feel the motion eventually.  It didn't take much in terms of weather (just light rain clouds) to churn up the seas enough.  BUT, it wasn't an issue at all.  As others have said, these ships are massive, and it's going to take more than even a major storm to cause problems for them.

 

I suggest searching YouTube for documentaries about how cruise ships are built.  I think that will help out a lot.  Here's one I was able to find: 

 

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My first cruise was on the Anthem for a  10 day Christmas and New Years cruise in 2016. We visited Labadee, St Martin, St Thomas and San Juan. There was weather that was bad enough to force them to re-schedule one performance of Spectra's Cabaret because of the moving platforms and air acrobatics stuff. You could feel it a tiny, tiny bit when walking around. But other than that there was...nothing. Try to focus on all the fun stuff you'll be doing. You'll have a great time!

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The ship is safe, it would take an unprecedented storm and mistake by the Captain to put the ship in danger. 

 

As for the cruise you picked. Days at sea are nice and relaxing, however you will likely have some cold days at sea. Not sure about wave height, that can't be predicted. But it will likely be pretty cold for a few of those days. So keep that in mind. If you are ok with that, I would not change the trip. 

 

If you want more of a warm vacation for all the days. Leaving from Miami, Ft Lauderdale or Cape Canaveral would be better. Plenty of flights to Orlando and Miami/FLL from the London area. But yes, in January they would be more expensive than the flight to NY area. 

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