North Atlantic in September.

[fred549]

Hello,

 

We're looking at a cruise in September, 2022, that starts in Baltimore. It goes to Boston, Portland, Halifax, and Saint John. How will the weather, ocean be then? I got sea sick on our first cruise. It was going from Baltimore to the Bahama's, in April. We hit a storm on the first day. 

 

So should plan on this trip?

 

Thank you.

[PelicanBill]

I've cruised out of NYC a number of times. And it's not so much the time of year, as the weather going on just before or during the cruise.  Any time of year you could have beautiful calm seas... or any range up to a raging storm.

 

I would say half of the 13 transits (in or out of NYC) were rough seas. A couple were seriously rough. the rest were pleasant.

[princeton123211]

14 hours ago, fred549 said:

It goes to Boston, Portland, Halifax, and Saint John. How will the weather, ocean be then?

Important thing to consider too is that on this routing you will not necessarily be out in the middle of the ocean as you would on a transatlantic crossing. For the most part you'll be hugging the coast. It's out past Newfoundland that the fun really tends to begin.

 

Nothing is guaranteed but for the most part you should be in a fairly sheltered part of the Atlantic given the itinerary. 

[fred549]

Thank you for the replies. They were helpful.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Important thing to consider too is that on this routing you will not necessarily be out in the middle of the ocean as you would on a transatlantic crossing. For the most part you'll be hugging the coast. It's out past Newfoundland that the fun really tends to begin.

 

Nothing is guaranteed but for the most part you should be in a fairly sheltered part of the Atlantic given the itinerary. 

Once you are in the open Atlantic, any area can be as rough as the middle -- in fact shoaling bottom, which generally occurs near the shore usually gives the roughest ride -- see Bay of Biscay - between Spain and France and Diamond Shoals off North Carolina

[Nitemare]

Have to agree with nbt, September is the middle of hurricane season.  You are not likely to be sailing during a storm, but if there is one you will absolutely be aware of it and there is a real chance your ship will have to divert

[LB_NJ]

There is probably a 50-50 chance of a major storm off the northeast coast of the US during September.  

 

A quote from Wikipedia about New Jersey hurricanes (one of the state you pass on your way).  

"Tropical cyclones affect New Jersey the most during the month of September, though the state has experienced tropical cyclones throughout the hurricane season, excluding November. Storms affect the state most in September due to peak warmth in water temperatures. No recorded storm has affected the state between November and May except for Hurricane Gordon on November 1994. "

[navybankerteacher]

9 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

There is probably a 50-50 chance of a major storm off the northeast coast of the US during September.  

 

A quote from Wikipedia about New Jersey hurricanes (one of the state you pass on your way).  

"Tropical cyclones affect New Jersey the most during the month of September, though the state has experienced tropical cyclones throughout the hurricane season, excluding November. Storms affect the state most in September due to peak warmth in water temperatures. No recorded storm has affected the state between November and May except for Hurricane Gordon on November 1994. "

Of course that 50-50 chance means in the whole month -- and a hurricane, if it does hit, really impacts any particular area for one or two days, meaning even if there is one it will be there for 1/15 of the month, and the northeast coast extends about 1000 miles, while the path impacted is no more than 500 miles, so divide that 1/15 month by two --- meaning 1/30 ... It works out to perhaps one chance in 30 of any particular area being impacted while you are there -- not too bad.

[shipgeeks]

We've done that route in September several times.  I can't remember any particularly rough seas.   The main difference from day to day was the temperature; from short sleeve to sweater and jacket weather.

When you sailed from Baltimore to Bahamas, how long ago was that, and what month?

[Nitemare]

Not sure about that "2 day" thing.  Hurricanes can easily churn from the Bahamas to Atlantic Canada for 7-10 days, and the waves will be felt over a good 50% of the coast or more, depending on strength of the storm.

 

Heck, we were in Cancun during the storm that sunk the Andrea Gail ("The Perfect Storm").  That was in New England and the beaches in Cancun were red-flagged due to the high surf.

[LB_NJ]

Whether or not you should do a cruise in the North Atlantic in September comes down to a few questions:

 

1) are you very susceptible to sea sickness, you are much more likely to get rough seas  in the North Atlantic in September then a cruise out of Tampa to the Caribbean in January (personally I would try a TA on the QM in December, but that is me);

 

2) there is a good chance that the route will change that time of year, how important is that to you (personally I have been to St. John and if you don't make that stop I do not think it an issue) or are you just doing this trip to be on a ship and don't really care about itinerary; 

 

3) the weather is highly variable that time of year, could be hot, could be cold, do you care;

 

4) these cruises are sometimes billed as fall foliage cruises however when peak foliage hits is a crap-shoot so can't be counted on, does that matter.

[princeton123211]

7 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

personally I would try a TA on the QM in December, but that is me

The QM2 also hardly moves even in some pretty rough weather. I've never experienced that on a ship before. We left Boston early on a July 4th cruise because of a hurricane coming up and it would be safer for the ship to be at sea instead of caught in port. The ship was only sailing to New York and there were quite a few folks that got off in Boston and just took the train home. 

 

The windows that night, even on the upper decks, looked like a washing machine with the wind and rain. The ship hardly moved. 

[navybankerteacher]

On 2/19/2021 at 7:59 AM, Nitemare said:

...

 

Heck, we were in Cancun during the storm that sunk the Andrea Gail ("The Perfect Storm").  That was in New England and the beaches in Cancun were red-flagged due to the high surf.

You may have had high surf at Cancun at that time - but it sure as hell would have had nothing to do with the “perfect storm” which impacted the east coast of North America from North Carolina to Nova Scotia.

[Nitemare]

9 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

You may have had high surf at Cancun at that time - but it sure as hell would have had nothing to do with the “perfect storm” which impacted the east coast of North America from North Carolina to Nova Scotia.

I thought it was odd, but that's what they told us at the hotel.