Weather on the Atlantic last week?

We came across the Atlantic last week (arrived New York on December 12)
on the Norwegian Gem, and the seas seemed fairly rough. We had 30 foot
waves and 90 knot winds, which combined to create a lot of movement.
Lots of people were not feeling well. The cruise director said it was
the first time in six years onboard that he got seasick, so that says
something (to be fair, he probably has the most illness-inducing job on
the ship).

We heard that a Princess ship and an RCCL ship that crossed about the
same time fared worse than we did. Does anyone have the details?

"Jack Hamilton" wrote in message
...
We came across the Atlantic last week (arrived New York on December 12)
on the Norwegian Gem, and the seas seemed fairly rough. We had 30 foot
waves and 90 knot winds, which combined to create a lot of movement.
Lots of people were not feeling well. The cruise director said it was
the first time in six years onboard that he got seasick, so that says
something (to be fair, he probably has the most illness-inducing job on
the ship).

We heard that a Princess ship and an RCCL ship that crossed about the
same time fared worse than we did. Does anyone have the details?


I said a few months ago that if anyone wanted to do a crossing, they should
consider doing it on the only ship designed for the North Atlantic, the
Queen Mary 2. We had a wave go past the window in the dining room on the
QM2 during lunch one day. The dining room is on deck 3, so that wave came
30 ft. up. And since they measure waves from peak to trough (not mid
point), that's a 60 ft. wave (30 up and 30 down from the midpoint). And we
never noticed anything other than visually seeing it go by. The ship never
even reacted to it. So 30 foot waves (15 up and 15 down from midpoint)
should be nothing on the QM2.

Many ship do crossings, but all of them (except for one) weren't "designed"
for it... only the QM2 was designed for it. That's the one we went on. If
I do another Transatlantic, she'll be the on I'll be on again. He hull was
designed for rough seas, not just the calm seas of the Caribbean.

Lesson learned.

--Tom

It is called Winter on the North Atlantic.

I you want to stay in a place that does not move, stay on land.


--
The modern world,
Would be less snarled.

If the most important Marx,
Had been Groucho, instead of Karl.

Willis Frick
SYSOP, Sherlocktron
http://members.cox.net/sherlock1/Sherlocktron.html
"Jack Hamilton" wrote in message
...
We came across the Atlantic last week (arrived New York on December 12)
on the Norwegian Gem, and the seas seemed fairly rough. We had 30 foot
waves and 90 knot winds, which combined to create a lot of movement.
Lots of people were not feeling well. The cruise director said it was
the first time in six years onboard that he got seasick, so that says
something (to be fair, he probably has the most illness-inducing job on
the ship).

We heard that a Princess ship and an RCCL ship that crossed about the
same time fared worse than we did. Does anyone have the details?

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:50:38 -0500, "Tom K"
wrote:


"Jack Hamilton" wrote in message
.. .
We came across the Atlantic last week (arrived New York on December 12)
on the Norwegian Gem, and the seas seemed fairly rough. We had 30 foot
waves and 90 knot winds, which combined to create a lot of movement.
Lots of people were not feeling well. The cruise director said it was
the first time in six years onboard that he got seasick, so that says
something (to be fair, he probably has the most illness-inducing job on
the ship).

We heard that a Princess ship and an RCCL ship that crossed about the
same time fared worse than we did. Does anyone have the details?


I said a few months ago that if anyone wanted to do a crossing, they should
consider doing it on the only ship designed for the North Atlantic, the
Queen Mary 2. We had a wave go past the window in the dining room on the
QM2 during lunch one day.

What do you mean by "had a wave go past the window"? We had water
splashing up to the windows of the thermal suite on deck 12 a few times,
but I suspect that that's not what you meant.

It wasn't a problem for us, but it got monotonous after a while.


The dining room is on deck 3, so that wave came
30 ft. up. And since they measure waves from peak to trough (not mid
point), that's a 60 ft. wave (30 up and 30 down from the midpoint). And we
never noticed anything other than visually seeing it go by. The ship never
even reacted to it. So 30 foot waves (15 up and 15 down from midpoint)
should be nothing on the QM2.

Many ship do crossings, but all of them (except for one) weren't "designed"
for it... only the QM2 was designed for it. That's the one we went on. If
I do another Transatlantic, she'll be the on I'll be on again. He hull was
designed for rough seas, not just the calm seas of the Caribbean.

Maybe after I win the lottery. I'll need new clothes.

"Jack Hamilton" wrote in message
...

What do you mean by "had a wave go past the window"? We had water
splashing up to the windows of the thermal suite on deck 12 a few times,
but I suspect that that's not what you meant.

The bow of the 2 ships could be drastically different as far as waves
splashing. On the old Nordic Empress we had white water up on our 11th deck
window, but that was because the ship would bounce all over and hit a wave
with the wide bow, and then water would splash everywhere. It was the bow
coming up and down in the water that caused the big splahing.

On the QM2, the hull was designed to knife through the water. We saw no
splashing white water, despite the high waves. The wave that went past the
dining room window was a wave that we sailed through head on. All the
people in front of us in the dining room all went "WHOW" as the wave went
by. Being on the 3rd deck we had no waves go past us, and suddenly this
high, large wave did. I'm sure a ship with a short, wide bow would have hit
the wave hard, splashing white water everywhere. But the long, sharp bow of
the QM2 just knifed through it. Plus the QM2 is very long, so she might be
able to ride on 3 wave peaks, which lets her ride much more smothly.
Shorter ships bounce much more if they're only as long as 2 wave peaks.

Similar to the video that was on the internet some time back that showed how
the Queen Victoria had touble with rough seas, while the QE2 (a few hundred
yards away) knifed through the water with her long, sharp bow. Queen
Victoria is not designed for the ocean. She's a HAL Vista class ship
variation. The QE2 was designed for the ocean.


It wasn't a problem for us, but it got monotonous after a while.

Maybe after I win the lottery. I'll need new clothes.

I got bye with a black suit and a sport jacket.

The QM2 wasn't really that expensive for the crossing. Less than many
Caribbean or Bermuda sailings I've been on (though there is air to Europe
that you have to include). And much less than our Baltics and Fjords
sailings (of course the crossing was only 6 nights) which also required
Europe air. I though the crossing in June (not in peak summer) was under
$900 per person, for a balcony. I thought insides were in the $650 pp
range.

--Tom

On Dec 17, 10:50*pm, "Tom K" wrote:

I said a few months ago that if anyone wanted to do a crossing, they should
consider doing it on the only ship designed for the North Atlantic, the
Queen Mary 2. *

That's not necessarily true Tom. A December or January crossing - yes
only QM2 is designed to handle the type of seas that will be
encountered on the northerly route. But during the months when the
seas are calmer or a ship is taking a southerly route to the tropics
or Florida you don't need QM2.

Warren

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:50:38 -0500, "Tom K" wrote:

Many ship do crossings, but all of them (except for one) weren't "designed"
for it... only the QM2 was designed for it. That's the one we went on. If
I do another Transatlantic, she'll be the on I'll be on again. He hull was
designed for rough seas, not just the calm seas of the Caribbean.

QM2 is an ocean liner. Others are merely cruise ships.

In article , Tom K
wrote:

I got bye with a black suit and a sport jacket.

You wore a tuxedo on the crossing. Some did wear a dark suit. Still
have to dress up every evening.

--
Charles

"Warren" wrote in message
...
On Dec 17, 10:50 pm, "Tom K" wrote:

I said a few months ago that if anyone wanted to do a crossing, they
should
consider doing it on the only ship designed for the North Atlantic, the
Queen Mary 2.

That's not necessarily true Tom. A December or January crossing - yes
only QM2 is designed to handle the type of seas that will be
encountered on the northerly route. But during the months when the
seas are calmer or a ship is taking a southerly route to the tropics
or Florida you don't need QM2.

Warren


There's a difference between "need" and "want". Ships like the old Ocean
Princess and Grand Princess tend to bounce all over the place like corks,
even in the calm Caribbean. And I recall sailing the old Zenith through a
Nor-Easter storm coming back to NYC from Bermuda. That wasn't pretty. Put
those kinds of ships in the Atlantic (even the southerly route of the North
Atlantic) for 6-7-8 days... unless you can "guarantee" no rough seas or no
storms (which you can't), I think I'd much rather be on the QM2.

It might be true you don't need it, but if there were rough seas, I'd WANT
it. Plus, the QM2 is about the only ship with enough "spare" speed where
she can change course pretty significantly to avoid a storm while still
keeping her schedule. We did exactly that on our crossing, per the Captain.

--Tom

On Dec 18, 2:56*am, Gettamulla Tupya
wrote:

QM2 is an ocean liner. *Others are merely cruise ships.

yada yada yada.

An ocean liner isn't for everyone, including QM2.

And I say this as someone with more Cunard sailings than I have with
any cruise line I've been on (RCI, Celebrity, Princess, HAL, Costa,
Carnival, etc. etc.) other than NCL out of nearly 50 sailings. That
includes a current booking on QM2 for a roundtrip crossing in 2010.

Warren