swimwear

[sharon_pei]

We understand that Alaska is not typically associated with swimming opportunities. However, considering the several days at sea and the presence of covered pools shown on the deck plan, we wonder if it might be worth packing swimwear. Our main query is whether the heating is turned on in the covered pool area, essentially making it an indoor pool that is weather and temperature-proof. We will be sailing on the Princess Sapphire in June. Thanks!

Edited March 17 by sharon_pei

[wolfie11]

Depends. First, if the ship is full some pools may have to be emptied due to stability issues.  Second, whether the pool is heated seems to be entirely random from ship to ship. Third, what is your tolerance for hoards of screaming children running around and jumping into the pool?

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, wolfie11 said:

Depends. First, if the ship is full some pools may have to be emptied due to stability issues.  Second, whether the pool is heated seems to be entirely random from ship to ship. Third, what is your tolerance for hoards of screaming children running around and jumping into the pool?

Never heard of the ship's occupancy affecting buoyancy, at least not enough to warrant draining pools. Highly doubt it.

 

@sharon_pei, its Sapphire Princess. We have taken, and used swim suits every one of our 27 cruises, including 4 in Alaska. In fact, on Labor Day a number of years ago, we were sitting in the stern hot tubs on a Princess ship in a sleet storm in the Gulf of Alaska.

[karatemom2]

Every time we have cruised on Sapphire or any other Princess ship with a conservatory where there is an indoor pool, it has been heated and very popular - especially with the kids during the summer in Alaska. And we have been on a couple of Alaska cruises where it was warm enough on a couple of days that people were even using the outdoor pools too. Hot tubs are heated as well. 
 

So if you enjoy taking a swim or using the hot tubs, by all means bring swimwear!

[wolfie11]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Never heard of the ship's occupancy affecting buoyancy, at least not enough to warrant draining pools. Highly doubt it.

Stability, not buoyancy, and yes it does. 

[CruiserBruce]

7 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Stability, not buoyancy, and yes it does. 

Maybe some of the members of Cruise Critic who are/were ship's officers can chime in on this. I have trouble believing the weight of a passenger affects the stability that much, unless some extreme situation arises. @Heidi13?

[Coral]

I have been on Princess many times in Alaska with covered pools and the covered pools (and sometimes non-covered pools) are used frequently in Alaska.

 

Bring your suit!

 

I have seen pools emptied if there are rough waters, not due to amount of passengers.

Edited March 18 by Coral

[wolfie11]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Maybe some of the members of Cruise Critic who are/were ship's officers can chime in on this. I have trouble believing the weight of a passenger affects the stability that much, unless some extreme situation arises. @Heidi13?

Well, that’s what I learned at ship school in my basic and advanced stability and naval architecture classes.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Maybe some of the members of Cruise Critic who are/were ship's officers can chime in on this. I have trouble believing the weight of a passenger affects the stability that much, unless some extreme situation arises. @Heidi13?

 

Back in my cadet days the Captain issued us a challenge to calculate the angle of heel resulting from all pax being on the outer decks, on 1 side of the ship. Memory is a little hazy, but I believe it was about 4 degrees.

 

However, I have never been required to conduct a stability calculation with all pax on the upper decks and have never seen any of the templates provided to the Master showing this scenario.

 

When considering ship stability, as a rule of thumb, weight added above the ship's centre of gravity (CoG) reduces the Metacentric Height (GM), which in laymen's terms reduces stability. Weight added below the CoG increases the GM. The height of any weights added is measured from the Keel and is known as KG.

 

Assuming a ship of about 2,500 pax and 175 lbs per pax, the total weight of pax is about 200 tons. This is a fairly significant weight to add to the upper decks, but in conducting a stability calculation, this is not a new weight, as all 2,500 pax are already onboard. Therefore, any calculation would need to include moving groups from an original KG to a higher KG, with the resultant reduction in GM being less than if you added 200 new tons.

 

Prior to departing on a voyage, the Master must ensure the vessel has an acceptable GM, which allows for the consumption of bunkers, water, victuals, etc and the movement of pax and crew throughout the vessel. Even on longer ocean passages, most ships have sufficient stability to not require dumping of the pools.

 

Back on the steam ships, I have experienced dumping one, or more pools to maintain acceptable stability, but it was due to being low of bunkers and FW, at the end of a long cruise. On the steam ships, at 25+ kts we burned 450 - 500 tons of oil per day, so it quickly reduced the GM, as bunkers were stowed close to the keel.

[Ferry_Watcher]

I also have seen pools at least partially drained and closed due to sloshing water over the pool deck. 

[puppycanducruise]

Bring your suit.  A lot of people don't and the pools and hot tubs are often NOT busy.  Besides, it doesn't take up much room in your suitcase.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Yes, better to have your bathing suit, than regret not bringing it.

[karatemom2]

4 hours ago, Coral said:

I have been on Princess many times in Alaska with covered pools and the covered pools (and sometimes non-covered pools) are used frequently in Alaska.

 

Bring your suit!

 

I have seen pools emptied if there are rough waters, not due to amount of passengers.

Agree with this. Out of all of our cruises, the only times I have ever seen pools emptied was in particularly rough weather when the water was literally sloshing out everywhere. That was on a couple of our Hawaii cruises from Los Angeles when we had very rough seas. Other than that or a few times for what appeared to be maintenance issues on certain hot tubs, the pools have always been filled and open. 

[Heidi13]

23 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

I also have seen pools at least partially drained and closed due to sloshing water over the pool deck. 

 

Affirmative, ship movement or maintenance are the primary reasons for closing and draining (partially or completely) pools these days,

[sharon_pei]

Thank you, everyone! It seems we've reached a consensus that bringing swimwear would be a good idea. The reason I was hesitating wasn't just because of the size of the swimwear itself, but also the hassle of washing and drying it in a very small bath sink (well, judging from the online pictures, lol).

[karatemom2]

3 hours ago, sharon_pei said:

Thank you, everyone! It seems we've reached a consensus that bringing swimwear would be a good idea. The reason I was hesitating wasn't just because of the size of the swimwear itself, but also the hassle of washing and drying it in a very small bath sink (well, judging from the online pictures, lol).

 

You'll be fine - enough room for hand wash in sink and there is a clothesline in the shower where you can hang it to dry.

[sherryf]

9 hours ago, sharon_pei said:

Thank you, everyone! It seems we've reached a consensus that bringing swimwear would be a good idea. The reason I was hesitating wasn't just because of the size of the swimwear itself, but also the hassle of washing and drying it in a very small bath sink (well, judging from the online pictures, lol).

When I get back to my cabin after using the pool/hot tub, I always want a shower anyway, so I wear my bathing suit into the shower and rinse it out there, then hang it on the clothesline in the shower.

[jean87510]

On 3/18/2024 at 1:57 PM, sharon_pei said:

Thank you, everyone! It seems we've reached a consensus that bringing swimwear would be a good idea. The reason I was hesitating wasn't just because of the size of the swimwear itself, but also the hassle of washing and drying it in a very small bath sink (well, judging from the online pictures, lol).

Just a suggestion.  Get the metal hooks from Amazon.  Wash bathing suit in shower with you and wring out.  Dry yourself off.  Place bathing suit in used towel and roll up as if making a stromboli or crescent roll.  Walk on top of rolled up towel to get rid of excess water.  let it dry in towel as you do post bath routine.  Then unroll and place on metallic hook that is on the ceiling (not the wall).  Will be dry by the morning.  We have done this for our gym clothes and our bathing suits for 2 years of cruises.  Works better than a clothesline.