SEA CONDITIONS FOR AUSTRALIA/ASIA CRUISES any feedback will help

[CRUISELDP]

Thinking of cruising on HAL in March of 2009. It is a 16 day great barrier reef cruise. Starts in Australia and ends in Singapore. Has anyone done this type of cruise and if so what were the sea conditions like, especially from Australia to Indonesia and Indonesia to Singapore. We have done many cruises, but this will be our first time in Australia. :confused:

[caliber35]

On this year's Crystal World Cruise we encountered nothing but smooth seas in this region. The only rough weather we encountered was crossing the Bass Straight on the Southern end of Austrialia. Hope this helps!

[Aussie Gal]

We cruised from Sydney to Vanuatu and New Caledonia on the Pacific Princess last year and have did a cruise many years ago to Fiji and Auckland as well as visiting the above two places.

 

The Pacific Ocean can be rough and if you are cruising anytime between December and April, you could strike one of our cyclones. We struck rough weather on both occasions. On the Pacific Princess it was in January and we got the tail end of a small cyclone that was hovering around Fiji. The other cruise was in August and we just struck the Pacific Ocean in the middle of winter when it was very angry.

 

Remember that those rollers come all the way from California without much land to halt their progress so they can be big waves.

 

Being on a HAL ship and I think it is probably one of the S class, you should be fine as they are good ships in rough weather. We have sailed on the Maasdam twice, once in the Baltic and the other time we went to Greenland, Iceland and across to the Shetland Islands and down to Norway where we did encounter rough seas but we were fine, though we don't get sea sick.

 

It is really only luck and one cannot predict the weather conditions.

 

Jennie

[Keith1010]

If you have concerns with the seas, then my recommendation is to prepare for them as you just can't be certain what to expect. I have sailed parts of the world multiple times and have enountered calm to rough seas.

 

Our first sailing in this part of the world was also on the world cruise with Caliber and as Caliber noted the seas were calm. But, as Jennie noted you just can't be sure.

 

So, I always say prepare for the worst. Select a cabin that is as mid-ship as possible and bring some remedies for sea sickness. We bring the patch which is prescribed by the doctor. We've never had to use it but we have it just in case. We do use Bonine if the captain says we will have rough seas as a precuationary method. And, we have used the sea bands as well.

 

Keith

[CRUISELDP]

I know that most times it is hit or miss for rough seas, but I know there are certain cruise itinerary's where you are almost certain of rough seas and wanted to see if this cruise was one of them.

 

In the past three years we have been through two hurricanes (both of which happened our last day on each cruise) needless to say it was not a fun sea day! I wear my bands when the seas are rough and even have multiple colors for formal nights just in case. When people ask me if they help I usually reply "I think they help, so they help".

 

Thanks for the feedback....getting ready to explore the MS Eurodam for a 3 night cruise out of New York on Labor Day weekend so I can see if it lives up to all the hype. We are huge HAL fans.