Did anyone see that special on rouge waves on the history channel last night? Pretty scary stuff. The interviewed some people from the norweigion dawn, they said it was crazy. Talks of 70-100 foot waves coming out of nowhere. Im hoping this doesnt happen to the spirit on my cruise in sept. Anyone experiance a rouge wave?!
Did anyone see that special on rouge waves on the history channel last night? Pretty scary stuff. The interviewed some people from the norweigion dawn, they said it was crazy. Talks of 70-100 foot waves coming out of nowhere. Im hoping this doesnt happen to the spirit on my cruise in sept. Anyone experiance a rouge wave?!
Rogue waves are a phenomenon but not something that is common. The Norwegian Dawn encountered a bad storm, which is different than a rogue wave. I wouldn't worry about it.
Originally posted by lbt43:
Did anyone see that special on rouge waves on the history channel last night? Pretty scary stuff. The interviewed some people from the norweigion dawn, they said it was crazy. Talks of 70-100 foot waves coming out of nowhere. Im hoping this doesnt happen to the spirit on my cruise in sept. Anyone experiance a rouge wave?!
The only place one might see a "rouge" wave would be the Red Sea Hope you love the Spirit as much as I did!!! Enjoy the caviar and pate with some chilled vodka in your suite while you take a bubble bath drawn with one of the Moulton Brown fragrances.
I was being lighthearted with my last post regarding rogue waves - actually I was on a crossing on the HA (old) Noordam (Ft Lauderdale to Lisbon) when we encountered something akin to a rogue wave (no one ever told us what it was that hit us). It was during dinner and the seas had not been particularly rough when we started to list to starboard, we settled back and then suddenly we really heeled over - we were seated at a table for four by the windows. All of the tableware went flying off - my companion's chair started to tip over and I grabbed the arm of his chair and held on while holding the table for leverage. There was a lot of screaming, dishes and glassware breaking. The ship settled back and slowly we all started to take stock. I helped my travel companions up and we made our way to the stairs. I found an older woman in tears, very confused, (she had been in the restroom), looking for her husband. I made her sit down knowing she would be alright. An older gentleman we had met on the cruise did fall out of his chair and broke his hip. Yes, it was scary but it hasn't stopped me from cruising! We were scheduled to sail on her in the Med later that summer, and I know IT (whatever it was) was not the Noordam's fault but we changed our reservations to a different "dam" ship for Baltic cruise instead.
Yes, I saw this. Sounded a bit alramist to me. I'm sure they happen, but not worth worrying about. You are taking more of a risk flying to the cruise (or driving to the airport for that matter) than you have from waves.
I'm glad my wife didn't watch it with me. She still doesn't like going in the water because she saw "Jaws". I'd probably never hear the end of the big waves. She also won't be seeing the new "Poseidon Adventure"
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ChucksOK is correct, they do occur, but RARELY. We've only been on 16 cruises, but have never had anything worse than 14-20' seas. It was rough and you knew the people bouncing off the walls were sober. The one's walking straight had had enough alcohol to navigate wihtout hitting walls. Enjoy your cruise and be reassured there haven't been any cruise ships sinking recently.
lbt43 - Just realized you are sailing on NCL Spirit - silly me - I thought you were going to be on the Seabourn Spirit. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I didn't see the program but suspect that it was not factual. Heavy seas are caused by local storms with winds that have created the large swells. In the case of the Dawn, they were in heavy seas and happened to plow into a large swell among many large swells.
Waves that travel throughout most oceans are created by wind traveling over water for a good distance (fetch) that creates energy that is organized into waves of energy and traverse the oceans as ground swells. These swells are hardly noticable in the open ocean until they are compressed by the bottom of the ocean. This compression is what creates waves. The more energy, the bigger the waves. Unless a cruise ship is in shallow water during a huge swell, it is highly unlikely that any shiip would ever be affected by a rogue wave.
Here in San Diego there are several banks that extend out about 110 miles offshore. Cortez Bank is about 100 miles from land, but has huge waves on it when there is a large west or north west swell. Guys have started to tow-in surf it and have ridden waves estimated to be 70 feet.
If you were in a ship and trying to cruise over Cortez Bank (37 feet deep) during a huge swell, you might encounter a "rogue" wave. But then I seriously doubt that any captain would not know where the various offshore ocean banks are.
Your explanation also goes with tidal waves, which in the open ocean are barely, if at all, noticeable. They don't become a problem until they hit shallower water.
Hope you love the Spirit as much as I did!!! Enjoy the caviar and pate with some chilled vodka in your suite while you take a bubble bath drawn with one of the Moulton Brown fragrances.
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