This post will start out as a news story but has potential to turn into a rant of mine. Right when the Freedom of the Seas took to the open ocean after departing Port Canaveral, she encountered some rough weather. The line is describing the event as “severe ship movement.” Apparently some cabins and public areas were “damaged.” Judging by the photos below, nothing anywhere close to being a concern.
Naturally, passengers flock to the closest media medium to post about it: CruiseCritic I’ve been incredibly vocal in my absolute revulsion for the site and in cases like this my views are confirmed. They just posted the article: Why Did Freedom of the Seas Sail Into a Storm Two Other Cruise Ships Avoided?
Yes CruiseCritic, RCI and their extremely experienced crew decided to forego passenger safety and sail into a storm on purpose. Obviously its sarcasm here (I don’t want RCI upset with me.)
Their argument in the article mostly focuses around the following:
“two other vessels — Disney Dream and Carnival Sensation — delayed their departures until weather conditions calmed”.
RCI fired back via their spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez:
“Freedom of the Seas was the first ship scheduled to leave Port Canaveral on Sunday — making it something of a guinea pig. ‘When Freedom of the Seas departed Port Canaveral, the port was still open and the pilots were still taking ships out’ ”
I think its also important to note that Freedom has further to go has a significantly deeper draft [7.9m vs 8.53m]. Besides, if the port is open, its captains decision. He knows his ship better and knows what she can and cant handle.
Carnival’s take was the following:
"We felt it was best to keep the ship in port until conditions improved for the comfort of the guests and crew," explains spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz.
As any experienced mariner will tell you, the most dangerous place to be in, in a storm is along the pier. There is so much that can snap, break, and objects the ship can slam into. Why do you think that when a hurricane is approaching, ports close down and ships flee for open water?
Anyways, here are photos of the inside of the Freedom. You’re on a ship. IT MOVES. That’s what they do!
UPDATE: We got video. Notice how the ships railing tends not to move in relation to the horizon. Freedom is 4 wave lengths in, well, length. This helps minimize the total movement of the ship. Stabilizers help too, but I doubt they were deployed in this rough of weather.