Cruise Talk: Which ships are stable, which rock badly?

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»	Cruise Talk » Cruise Ships » Which ships are stable, which rock badly? (Page 1)

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Topic: Which ships are stable, which rock badly?

desirod7
First Class Passenger
Member # 1626

posted 11-29-2000 11:38 PM

What ships do people find have good and bad stability?

Good Stability from my experience and word of mouth:

Rotterdam V/Rembrandt
Canberra
France/Norway
Stella Solaris

Bring Dramamine:

Regal Empress/Olympia
Sea Breeze
Caronia
Vision of the Seas
Big Red Boat II
Queen Mary

Anybody share knowledge? please post

Posts: 5727 | From: Philadelphia, Pa [home of the SS United States] | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

tomc
First Class Passenger
Member # 1624

posted 11-30-2000 12:53 AM

Tenders, in a rough sea, are my delight. I really don't care for the stabilizers on ships. If you're in the ocean, you pitch around, by darn. However, I am a bit biased as I grew up on small boats.

Posts: 78 | From: Wilkes-Barre PA USA | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

CRUISOLOGY
First Class Passenger
Member # 1693

posted 11-30-2000 04:42 AM

I want to know that I am on a ship, not sitting, sleeping or dining in a Hyatt. A little rock & roll is good for the soul.

Posts: 29 | From: Mt Pleasant, SC USA | Registered: Nov 2000 | IP: Logged

claudio
First Class Passenger
Member # 1214

posted 11-30-2000 06:01 AM

my experience i think bellorussiya moved around a fair bit, the achille lauro and fair princess were extremely stable but i dont mind a bit rockin and rolling when at sea

Posts: 468 | From: melbourne australia | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 11-30-2000 07:58 AM

desirod6, I can't imagine yhat one of the finest Ocean Liners ever built, the Queen Mary was unstable! She was built of rough seas.

How can you compare the stability of ships anyway? The QM may well have tossed around in a Transatlantic gale, but how would Explorer of the sea perform in the same conditions? Would the Norway and QE2 perfom better or worse than the QM in exactly the same conditions?

We can only speculate! Just because a passenger had a rough ride or smooth cruise, it is hardly a scientific measure.

However, we do know that modern flat bottomed ships are built not built for rough conditions.

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

jwine
First Class Passenger
Member # 634

posted 11-30-2000 08:57 AM

Splendor of the Seas faired extremely well when we were caught in a Northatlantic storm last year (80 ft waves and 90 mile an hour winds) for over 2 days. This was in Oct doing a Fall Foliage cruise. Surprised that desirod6 had Vision of the Seas down as being unstable. Splendour took it realllly well.

Posts: 223 | From: Cincinnati, OH USA | Registered: Apr 99 | IP: Logged

Mercy
First Class Passenger
Member # 322

posted 11-30-2000 09:34 AM

When passengers are falling down and get tossed out of bed in the middle of the night, there just MAY be a problem with the stability.This is in ten foot seas. Not really that bad. We enjoyed this experience on Carnival's Jubilee on our Mexican Riviera cruise. I do love motion on a ship. But not when my ice tea at dinner spills all over the table.

Posts: 697 | From: Stanwood, Wa. USA | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

gohaze
First Class Passenger
Member # 586

posted 11-30-2000 10:30 AM

Malcolm...ships have had flat bottoms for at least 150 years. You really should go and look at the "Great Britain" in Bristol. It's an eye-opener.
...peter

Posts: 1909 | From: Vancouver.BC | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

emgrace
First Class Passenger
Member # 1618

posted 11-30-2000 10:34 AM

I agree with with everyone here who said they enjoy a little rolling! I think it's part of the experience of cruising. Nowadays it is one of the few things that help us to remember we are actually on a ship! I do, however, sympathize with those who experience seasickness. Not fun at all! During my last cruise we were traveling through the reminents of a hurricane, and the ship was tipping back and forth for hours. I enjoyed it, but many of my cruisemates did not. a lot of green faces during dinner!

Posts: 34 | From: Northampton, Mass., USA | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

JP
First Class Passenger
Member # 1373

posted 11-30-2000 11:22 AM

The Queen Mary was known to roll a bit; she was built without stabilizers. So was the United States, for that matter.

Posts: 280 | From: Minnesota, USA | Registered: Jun 2000 | IP: Logged

Strat
First Class Passenger
Member # 1319

posted 11-30-2000 11:58 AM

Last June we took a snorkeling excursion from St. Martin on a catamaran. Wow, did this thing rock and roll. They were going to cancel, but decided not to after a pretty strong objection from many of us. I would guess probably 15 - 20 foot seas. Nearly 1/3 of the passengers were hanging off the back and at least another 1/3 were green! Several injuries from falling over, cuts / scrapes, etc. My son loved it however and did the entire trip riding in the very front.

Strat.

Posts: 25 | From: Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged

nycruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 960

posted 11-30-2000 07:13 PM

The most stable ships I have sailed on: Carnival Destiny, Horizon & Regal Empress

The ships that can make you sick:
Soveriegn of the Seas - THE WORST
Amerikanis
Holiday
Zenith

Posts: 665 | From: Westchester County, NY | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

nzmike
First Class Passenger
Member # 1308

posted 11-30-2000 07:15 PM

The Queen Mary was well known as a ship very prone to rolling, however beyond that her actual seakeeping qualities (ie ability to plough through heavy weather) were very good. When she was built, Cunard were so certain that she would not roll that they did not install handrails; a mistake quickly rectified! Her crew often said that she could roll the milk out of a cup of tea. This was not really solved until 1956 (or '58?) when stabilisers were installed. Interestingly, Normandie was said to be the exact opposite; although she rolled, she righted herself very fast unlike the Mary which hung on the roll. It is amazing what a difference stabilisers will make - I saw a video about the Canberra where the Chief engineer said that at the extreme, stabilisers would reduce a 29 degree roll to 7 degrees - that's pretty effective! From my own perspective I have found that the new Oriana is an exceptional seagoing ship - the worst I have tried is Celebrity's Horizon, which managed to roll quite a bit before it even left San Juan harbour!

Posts: 186 | From: Auckland, New Zealand | Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged

jwine
First Class Passenger
Member # 634

posted 11-30-2000 08:12 PM

nycruiser - don't understand how the Horizon is one of the stabiliest ships and her sister ship the Zenith makes you sick? Sailed on the Zenith thru the Panama Canal and she sailed most beautifully.

Posts: 223 | From: Cincinnati, OH USA | Registered: Apr 99 | IP: Logged

Panos
First Class Passenger
Member # 1022

posted 12-01-2000 07:38 AM

Well, I think the stability of a ship depends at a very high degree on the human factor. Others may fell well at the same time when their fellow passengers are seasick.
Most ships today tend to have stabilisers but these are not very efficient ar certain sea conditions. On of these conditions is swell (I think).
Also we have to take into account the main three ways a ship may roll. Some movements are very difficult to minimise by any mechanical means but only with draft so some older ships may prove to be more stable at these cases.

Posts: 443 | From: Cyprus | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Barryboat
First Class Passenger
Member # 33

posted 12-01-2000 11:07 AM

Ok I need to jump in here. I think that Zenith and Horizon are definitely flawed, because the do roll quite easily. I worked on the Zenith, in fact I was among the crew who brought her across the Atlantic from the shipyard. 9 days on the Atlantic....she did ok, not much rolling, more pitching than anything else. In rough weather Zenith would slam hard through the waves....mostly because of her seemingly flat bow and huge bulbous bow. I did notice that when Zenith would pull into San Juan, sometimes during the turn she would keel over pretty far. I heard that the Horizon did the same thing once while arriving in San Juan, and filled up her lower decks with water, because they had the doors open on the lower decks.

Queen Mary was a very good seaboat, but she did tend to roll steadily. Normandie was a snappy roller, but would achieve a greater roll degree than the Queen Mary would.

I almost forgot about that fact that there were no handrails installed in Queen Mary's cooridors, until after the first voyage. When handrails were installed in the Queen Mary, they used a brand new technology of the day, called "plastic".

Posts: 1851 | From: Bloomington, Minnesota (Home to the Mall of America) | Registered: Mar 99 | IP: Logged

nycruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 960

posted 12-01-2000 03:08 PM

jwine--

I sailed on the Horizon twice and it was a smooth cruise (nyc to Bermuda both times). I then went on the Zenith (NYC to Bermuda) it gave a rough ride.

Barryboat-- I felt the pitching every night at sea especially in the showlounge.

Posts: 665 | From: Westchester County, NY | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

Laura
First Class Passenger
Member # 924

posted 12-01-2000 06:55 PM

The Voyager was extremely stable. Personally, I like that because I get sick easily. (I got very sick on the Noordam and the Dawn Princess, even with strong prescription meds.) We're going on the Enchanment next - is it stable or not???

Posts: 114 | From: Ohio | Registered: Nov 1999 | IP: Logged

geno-r
First Class Passenger
Member # 931

posted 12-01-2000 07:29 PM

We were on the Norweigan Crown last year (NYC-Bermuda) and she gave a real rough ride during a storm. Half the passengers were sick, crew was passing out dramamine like candy. During the storm I came upon a bridge tour and of couse the bridege crew had their feet up and drinking coffe and eating danish's and remarking that the storm wasn't that bad. I was suprised to see that they take on water in tanks as ballast for stability. Is this common? Do many other ships do this?

Posts: 549 | From: Mt. Pocono,Pa. Usa | Registered: Nov 1999 | IP: Logged

Paddy
First Class Passenger
Member # 357

posted 12-01-2000 07:50 PM

On my first cruise on Seawing we were caught in a force 8 on the sea day from Palma de Mallorca to Civitiveccia, and everyone was sick. Not pleasant. When I was on her again this August, it got quite shaky on the sea day again from Limassol to Heraklion, starting in the afternoon. I saw the waves starting from the card room and started to get anxious, and so I drank plenty of water and eat only fresh fruit at dinner (much to the bemusement of our new tablemates). However, it got slightly worse and my mother had to go down to the cabin to lie down, and I was going to go to bed too, but I just thought bugger it, if I'm sick, I'm sick. So off I went to "Name that tune" and I am glad I did because it was so much fun, rolling about at the top of the ship. I was bringing my mum a cup of tea to the cabin and the poor Swedish purser was being sick in a bucket behind the desk - I felt so sorry for her. Awwww.

Once again, I digress. My point is that for the rest of both cruises, it was very smooth, so pretty much no matter what ship you are on, if the sea is rough, people are gonna get sick and some won't. Some (people and ships) suffer more than others but water and fresh fruit works a treat.

Paddy.

Posts: 763 | From: Belfast, Ireland | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

jasonalec
First Class Passenger
Member # 1413

posted 12-03-2000 11:19 PM

Given similar sea conditions on similar routes I have found the Grand Princess to be the worst (based on number of complaints). Voyager was the smoothest I've been on. I think GP might be more top heavy. It rocked enough in calm seas that my cabin had loud creaking sounds.

Posts: 46 | Registered: Jul 2000 | IP: Logged

Steve Read (sread)
First Class Passenger
Member # 788

posted 12-04-2000 05:05 AM

Paddy -- great story!

I too enjoy a bit of rolling, but my girlfriend was very ill on the Sunbird ... at the captain's table! She went down to the medical centre where the ship's doctor gave her a miracle injection which had her right as rain within a couple of hours.

The doc, an Aussie, was hilarious. "A quick one up the bottom will fix it!" Eek! I think going to Name That Tune would have been preferable!!

Posts: 926 | From: Locksbottom, Kent, England | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 12-04-2000 06:33 AM

I'm still not sure how a holidaymaker can really measure the stability of a ship, unless you sail different ship in exactly the same conditions? (Are sea conditions every excatly the same?)

It's all down to perception. They all role and pitch in force 8 gales!

In fact I've seen passengers look at a moderate swell and comment how "rough" the sea is! I bet some folks in a force 8, claim they have sailed in conditions "twice as bad"?

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

desirod7
First Class Passenger
Member # 1626

posted 12-04-2000 09:26 AM

When sailing the Greek Line Olympia, now Regal Empress, we had rough seas. She did not have stabilizers then. The first day most were seasick. There were paper vomit cups all over. 2nd day most passengers grew sea legs. The last nigh of the cruise there was a costume party. One wore as a costume 30 vomit cups, called it 'Greek Line Chow Mein' won first prize

My unscientific judge of boat rocking is to
look at the water movement in the swimming pools.

Posts: 5727 | From: Philadelphia, Pa [home of the SS United States] | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

desirod7
First Class Passenger
Member # 1626

posted 07-15-2001 11:06 AM

The SS United States was quite a rocker. However she was built for speed.

One of the many reasons Carnival turned their nose up at her is because she would rock too much even with stabilizers.

Lusi-Mauritania were known as rough riders too-built for speed.

The 2 extra decks on the Norway required ballasting on the tank top areas. This has compromised her excellent stability. She rocks but gently. Motions are slow.

Norway was specified to be 1035' long so it would ride on all 3 waves at once in formation to eliminate pitching.

I rode the Canberra in storm with 50' waves. She did rock, but took the waves washing up to the boat deck in stride.

On the Stella Oceanis; we were in a winter storm on the South Atlantic, she would hit a trough, the ship would shudder and glasses would break and few kids screamed.

Posts: 5727 | From: Philadelphia, Pa [home of the SS United States] | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

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