Is the Eastern rough?

[Anna Chassereau]

For those who've sailed the eastern on the Fantasy was it rough? Specifically in June if anyone has sailed then...was it more rough than other itineraries you've done?

 

[squirk]

I’ve sailed the Eastern four times now, in both late February and in late May. YMMV, but I’ve never found it to be rough.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I've only been on an Eastern itinerary once. It was in late June and was likely the smoothest of all my cruises. But there are no guarantees. My last cruise was a Western Caribbean at the end of last May. We had to deal with a very early tropical storm and had decently rough seas. That was probably the roughest cruise I've been on.

 

[Pollito916]

We just did Eastern on the Fantasy in October, and it was fairly rough at times. Hurricane Michael was going on, but not near us. The captain did announce one night that we had gone through tropical storm force winds that they did not see coming, which was the reason for the roughest night.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

Typically the "roughest" night on either Caribbean itinerary is the first night out of Port Canaveral as you go through the Gulf Stream. Tropical weather can affect any itinerary in the region that time of year, but I would not describe the Eastern as any more or less rough compared to other routes.

Essentially everywhere DCL goes is fairly placid as long as the weather is good.

 

[Dug720]

In 2016 it was fairly rocky because the polar vortex in the US was wreaking havoc on the currents. We barely made it into Castaway (and had we not had Commodore Tom I have my doubts as to if we would).

Bottom line is, you are on the ocean which is always moving, and at any point it could get rough. Summer 2016, I was on RCCL on a 12-night Med cruise. The final night we had to cut directly across the Med to get to Barcelona. The prediction was smooth sailing. Well, at around 2am we ran smack into a random pop-up storm that was in Tropical Storm territory on the Beaufort Scale. I had a bow facing cabin and could hear waves crashing over the bow. And we were rocking. On the usually reported as smooth as glass Med (I later learned it it notorious for these pop up storms). I loved it - the rockier the better so I know I am on the water (I would not cruise if I didn’t) - but a lot of people didn’t.

 

[Marc D]

No itinerary is systematically rough. There are some rougher zones, mainly the Gulf Stream, and rougher days, based on the weather. You can never know. We’ve sailed Eastern many times at different periods and we’ve had all kinds of waves. If you are looking at a sailing out of Galveston, the first and last days will be rougher because the ship is going full on to reach the port in time, but that has nothing to do with the seas.

 

[FSU Girl]

It will really depend on the weather and if it's really windy causing big waves. I've been to the Caribbean a bunch of times, both west and east and some were smooth as glass and some were choppy and these were same itinerary and time. Since it'll be during hurricane season it's possible a storm could be out there that could cause rougher seas, but will be hard to know ahead of time. My last time sailing the eastern on the Magic was perfect weather and seas, but was in December.

 

[LizGirl]

We sailed eastern in October during Hurricane Michael as well. Our first night leaving Florida and going out into the Atlantic was pretty rough. I actually saw some people leave the dining room which I'd not experienced on our two other cruises. The Gulfstream can be a little bumpy but I think weather is the biggest contributor.

 

[bcwife76]

We sailed the Eastern in January 2017 and it was as smooth as could be! We just did the Western this past October and, though there were no hurricanes anywhere, it was still one of the roughest cruises I have ever been on. So yeah, basically you just never know for that area.

 

[DCLMacro415]

We sailed the Eastern in June 2018 and it was by far the smoothest sailing we have had. It was wild in that at times it was like sailing on a sheet of glass and little to no waves. From our stateroom window we could see flying fish jumping out of the water. and skimming along. Even the captain on one of the daily announcements noted how oddly calm the waters were.

 

[fredandkell]

In 2016 it was fairly rocky because the polar vortex in the US was wreaking havoc on the currents. We barely made it into Castaway (and had we not had Commodore Tom I have my doubts as to if we would).

Bottom line is, you are on the ocean which is always moving, and at any point it could get rough. Summer 2016, I was on RCCL on a 12-night Med cruise. The final night we had to cut directly across the Med to get to Barcelona. The prediction was smooth sailing. Well, at around 2am we ran smack into a random pop-up storm that was in Tropical Storm territory on the Beaufort Scale. I had a bow facing cabin and could hear waves crashing over the bow. And we were rocking. On the usually reported as smooth as glass Med (I later learned it it notorious for these pop up storms). I loved it - the rockier the better so I know I am on the water (I would not cruise if I didn’t) - but a lot of people didn’t.

This! On our Med cruise this summer, it was the smoothest cruise I've ever been on...until the last night, when, like you, we were heading back to Barcelona. Hoo boy, did that shop start rocking!!

 

[Jess_S]

We happened to do the Eastern route right after the Japanese tsunami and we definitely felt a lot of movement. Crew told us the seas were the roughest they had ever experienced, and even that wasn't enough to impact our enjoyment of the cruise. Unless there's a hurricane or something, it should be pretty smooth.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We happened to do the Eastern route right after the Japanese tsunami and we definitely felt a lot of movement. Crew told us the seas were the roughest they had ever experienced, and even that wasn't enough to impact our enjoyment of the cruise. Unless there's a hurricane or something, it should be pretty smooth.

Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious, but I'm struggling to see how a Japanese tsunami could impact an Eastern Caribbean cruise. One of the Hawaiian or Western US coast cruises, yes. But an Eastern Caribbean?

 

[Anna Chassereau]

Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious, but I'm struggling to see how a Japanese tsunami could impact an Eastern Caribbean cruise. One of the Hawaiian or Western US coast cruises, yes. But an Eastern Caribbean?

Im with you on the confusion! Lol