Rough Seas - LA to Hawaii

[Syracuse44]

My wife and I have cruised in the Caribbean in February with Princess three times and never had seasickness. We are considering the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii in July or August. My wife's biggest concern is rough seas and having seasickness ruining the trip over & back from Hawaii.

 

How rough is the Pacific during July & August? Thanks for your help.

[Cruisin' Chick]

This may be the first summer that one of the cruiselines is sailing roundtrip from LA to Hawaii so you may not get any answers on this, if this is true. There's a current that runs near the west coast that causes the rough seas. It seems that many of the sailings have had rough seas coming and some going and some both ways. In December 2005, we had the wave action leaving LA for a few days (and even then my hubby and 8-yr-old weren't bothered at all) and then calm seas the rest of the cruise. The sailing before us had the opposite. It's definitely not a cruise I recommend for those looking for their first cruise. But if you enjoy sea days (as we do), it can be a great experience.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We will be onboard from SF to Hawaii in September so hopefully it won't be too bad. We did find the Pacific rougher than the Caribbean when we cruised to the Mexican Riviera but nothing that caused us any problems but we did know we were on a ship where in the Carib. it is so smooth you sometimes forget:D :D

[shofer]

We have done this cruise 2x and found the seas tolerable. In May, 2002 we cruised from Hawaii to Vancouver and the sea was like glass. Doing the RT LA to Hawaii in January it was rough the first 2 days but not awful and then got better as we approached the islands. It was the reverse going back. You can't plan the weather and I think it could be any way depending on conditions.

 

If you are concerned w/seasickness, take the appropriate precautions. My cousin who is very prone to seasickness actually took her patch off after 2 days because she felt fine and never put it back on.

[LuvRVacay]

Hi - We've done this cruise twice; both on the Island Princess. Once in April and the other in December. We found the seas to be a little bit rougher and certainly cooler than we usually found in the Caribbean. Until we found our "sea legs" again, we took one dramamine 2 (less-drowsy formula) around 5:00 each night which stayed in our system throughout the day and gave us the added bonus of a good night's sleep without feeling lethargic during the day when we were most active. You will love this trip - the sea days are wonderful.

[cruiserjanet]

We went in October. The sea was just a little rough the first night but not too bad. For the rest of the cruise, the sea was nearly calm.

[Dan Tanna]

It is a roll of the dice on how the seas will be. I traveled the Eastern Caribbean in December and we had 12+ foot waves when we left Port Everglades. We were a day and half into the cruise before it settled down.

Btw My DW and I are doing the Hawaii cruise in December. What I have read December in the Pacific can be pretty rough.

[MattInFLL]

You are traveling in open ocean - there are no guarantees. I did a transatlantic crossing in June once... we were lucky with calm seas most of the route. Generally there are fewer major storms to stir up the currents at that time of year on either side of the world. Hawaii is notorious for its rougher seas in the winter - hence all the big surfing competitions take place in the winter... and much calmer seas in the summer before typhoon season. So all things being equal, you are going at what should be a calmer time of the year.

 

On average July would be calmer, because as you get further into the height of hurricane/typhoon season (August/September) greater chance of rougher seas.

 

BUT, let me stress again... you are sailing across thousands of miles of open ocean. Anything can happen. There are great sea sickness shots available in the infirmary. They knock you out for 4 hours, but then you are as right as rain for a good 6-7 days.

[JDMOR]

As someone has said, weather on any cruise can be a roll of the dice. We lost on our latest Hawaii trip on Island Princess (1/26 from L-A). The last two days out were "moderate seas" (to a sailor, that is - "very rough" to the rest of us). Island Princess handled it quite well compared to some of the ships we have been on. It was so rough that the Captain decided it was too bad to attempt to enter the tiny port of Nawiliwili, Kuai. He then proceeded direct Honolulu to off-load a medical emergency. No dock available so we sat off-shore from Wakiki for a while. Nice view! Next day it was still too rough for tendering ashore in Lahina. Then after missing two ports the ship was hit by norovirus. BTW, we were very unhappy with Princess's handling of the virus problem and feel they contributed to the spread. They insisted on dragging sick people and roommates through passageways and on elevators and then keeping them in the unsanitary sick bay rooms for extended periods instead of coming to the cabin to administer the shot. For our session at 3:00AM, they were not at all busy! We have been on two other cruises (not Princess) where they immediately came to the cabin. In addition they allowed apparently unsick roomates to be free to roam the ship instead of quaranteeing them too. Doesn't make a lot of sense. The remainder of the trip was OK, other than food service. You had to be served from the buffet and the waiters in the dinning room had to salt your food for you - bringing the annoying peppermill routine to a new high. The five sea day back to L-A were relatively calm.

[Gbeman]

There is often a moderate to strong swell about 900+ miles off of San Diego in the direction of Hawaii. Tends to be a long lazy swell and not bad for most people with even moderate sea legs. Kind of rocks you to sleep more than a seasick/rollercoaster sea. I personally have never sailed it on a cruise ship but have ridden it MANY times on a US Navy Frigate. We were only a bit under 4000 tons and few if any of the guys were green.

 

As earlier posters have noted, the Pacific can get mean just about anytime but that area is not one of the worst by any means.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

An Ex "Squid"