Mega ships in rough seas

[MNice]

I was just reading a post about a ship caught in a tropical storm, and sea sickness. We are going on Freedom of the Seas, in feburary. I've never cruised before. One of the things I liked about this large of a ship, is In my head I'm thinking it should take one helluva storm to make passagers even notice movement, much less enough to get sea sick.

Am I wrong? Do these massive ships get tossed around as much as all the rest during bad weather?

If anyone has experenced a tropical storm on a freedom class ship how bad was it?

Jayson

[Bruce Chafkin1]

Very large cruise ships and very large airplanes have a great deal in common.
They tend to be far more spacious - and very heavy.

Mother Nature is very powerful, but she has a much more difficult time throwing around 100,000 tons of steel, than she has with 20,000 tons.

[Manuel]

Today's cruiseships all handle rough seas quite well. On one of our cruises we encountered seventy mile winds and all the ship did was rock a bit.

Not to worry you will be fine.

TM

[DragonflyDeb]

You will not have to worry about any tropical storms in February anyway!! Tropical storm season is June 1 through Nov 1.

[green_rd]

The length of a large ship allows it to span several waves at once and reduces the movement you feel.

[Paul Motter]

I can say with full honesty that I have been on cruises on ships of that size where I never even felt the ship move the entire cruise. I have also been on cruises where we hit rough seas - and they do move, but not nearly as much as a smaller ship.

I cruised the North Sea (above England) in a 4,000-ton expedition ship and we were pretty sick most of the time, but I just sailed the same waters, same time of year on a Celebrity Solstice class (Silhouettte) and I barely felt the ship moving. I don't think anyone was seasick although those are notoriously some of the roughest waters in the world.

In the Caribbean in February you are preactically guaranteed you will have a very smooth cruise. Don't worry.

But DO buy some bonine just in case. Vulnerability to sea-sickness is something no one can predict. And first-timers tend to get sick more often than veterans just because they think about it so much. Veteran cruisers don't think about ship movement because they expect it, but first-time cruisers tend to focus on each little motion.

Hopefully you can enjoy any the movement of the ship as most veteran cruisers do.

Keep in mind that most of the world's most expensive ships; Seabourn, Silversea, Regent, etc, are much smaller than mainstream ships and people pay a lot more to sail on them. That means that even on smaller ships the movement couldn't be bad enough to affect most people negatively.

On a ship like Freedom (156,000-tons) you are practically on solid ground . (not really, it can shake, but probably won't).

[johnthed0g]

We went ship spotting today down near Southampton UK & was chatting to some people about the ships, they asked about stability & the best place to be, I gave the usual info but did say these days I don't think it matters THAT much.

[Queen of Oakville]

Originally Posted by DragonflyDeb

You will not have to worry about any tropical storms in February anyway!! Tropical storm season is June 1 through Nov 1.

We sailed Eurodam in March ... I believe she is about 70,000 tonnes; about half of FOTS. The seas were especially stormy that week, and I, for the first time in my cruising life, became seassick

Just got off FOTS on the heals of Irene. We had a forward cabin, so I was worried. The ship was incredibly stable. I did not feel any movement on the last day. I find that on the last day, the captians are trying to make up lost ground and the ship always seems to be moving faster on that last night. I felt some movement on the last night, but nothing a little gravol didn't quell.

The one thing I did find with FOTS was that the "Vibration" of the ship was really strong. There were some parts of the ship (like the kid's club - deck 12 aft) where the vibration was really strong. I'm not sure why you would feel the vibration so high up?

[Kamloops Cruiser]

We ran into a Force 7 gale between Port Canaveral and Puerto Rico. They anly closed the bow area to passengers . Didn't feel anything on board. If I remember some people did miss supper that night
We where on the Mariner of the Seas..

[vaguy222]

Having worked on 200,000 ton tankers with just about all below the waterline i can say ANY ship is subject to rolling or pitching. If you are in heavy weather and your ship starts to roll, reduce food intake and find something to do that will take your mind off the ships motion. Good luck.

[Manuel]

Modern cruise ships don't roll as much as cargo ships because of their stabilizers.

TM

[Paul Motter]

True - stabilizers. Plus sheer size.

While you see some large cargo ships most are smaller than the average cruise ship.

I am pretty sure Oasis and Allure are the largest ships in the world right now, by gross tonnage (not dead weight tonnage) although some larger container vessels have existed in the past, but they have all been broken up.

[fun2cruiz]

You are sailing in February.....possibly a stray tropical disturbance may arise, but it is rare at the time you are sailing and you are waaaaaay outside the huricane season months. (But mother nature can sneak up on ya when least expected)

Take your worrys and place them in file 13 and bring along some "Bonine" as a security blanket !

[Cruisegal8]

Just cruised on the Freedom of the Seas the end of November. We did have a few days of rough seas and yes we could feel the ship moving. None of us got sick and the other passengers we saw all seemed fine as well. It was somewhat difficult at times to walk in heels during diner but hey..we are on a ship in rough water. It didn't bother me but I don't get sea sick. It just adds to our stories to tell when we get home!

[patrick401ca]

I was on a large RCI ship that ran into incredibly rough weather (it was during hurricane season). It was not that bad. Make sure you take Bonine every day if you are concerned about sea-sickness (buy it at CVS or Walgreens and not on the ship).

The captains of the ships are very experienced and know how to handle rough weather. To be honest, I actually still had quite a good time.;-)

[Golden1]

You will be okay in February. I went in October and sailed eastern caribbean during Hurricane Otto. Our itinerary was changed. The ship did move quite a bit. I didnt get sick because I took Dramamine. However, it makes you very lethargic and drowsy so I did not enjoy myself as I would have had the ship not rocked. But, like I said, you will be fine in February. My next cruise is in April. I'm not sure I would chance an October cruise again.

[Marsdude]

Thank you for all of the info. My DW and I sail on the Dawn in a few days and I was a little concerned about sea sickness. I feel much reassured now.

Did anyone see the episode of Mythbusters where they tried out all the different home remedies for sea sickness. It was a funny show. The only thing they found worked, and worked very well was ginger.

I am going to take the Bonnie with me of course, but I am going to take some ginger capsules on a daily basis just in case.

Thank you once again for passing on this info. I am really looking forward to our first cruise.

[Paul Motter]

I did not see that but it sounds like good episode. In the old days ginger ale was often prescibed for stomacvh problems. The carnonated water helped settle the stomach and the ginger calmed the nausea. Not the sure all the sugar helped, though.

[NevilleJ]

I usually do good but I have gotten sea sick on smaller vessels. I haven't been on a cruise ship but I would think that you wouldn't notice any movement unless it was a really bad storm.

[Marsdude]

Well, I am back from my cruise on the NCL Dawn. We did hit some rough seas on our way back and the ship was "rocking and rolling" enough so that it made it interesting to use the stairs.

I have been sea sick before but I was fine on this cruise just taking ginger capsules and eating some crystallized ginger root.