Thread: Worst sections of a ship to get a cabin?

I will be a first-time cruiser, and don't know much about the layout of a ship and how each deck is in terms of rockiness. I've heard the front of a ship is the rockiest? Is that the case on every ship? I'm assuming the cabins in the front on the lower decks will be the rockiest parts. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Btw, I will be on the Norwegian Spirit, if anyone has any insight on NCL ships. Thank you!

Originally Posted by bhf108

I will be a first-time cruiser, and don't know much about the layout of a ship and how each deck is in terms of rockiness. I've heard the front of a ship is the rockiest? Is that the case on every ship? I'm assuming the cabins in the front on the lower decks will be the rockiest parts of the ship. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Btw, I will be on the Norwegian Spirit, if anyone has any insight on NCL ships. Thank you!

Well, the motion of all ships is pretty much the same.

the lower the deck = less motion.
the higher the deck = more motion
the more midship = less motion
front (forward) of ship = lots of up and down motion
back (aft) of ship = more of a wallowing motion rather than up and down

front cabins on a low deck will hear the anchor chains
low, aft cabins will be more aware of the engine noise and the side thrusters

cabins over or under public rooms or pool deck may hear noise from bands or moving equipment
cabins on decks between other passenger decks will have the least noise

avoid cabins near the laundry rooms

Don't know about your particular ship, but someone will be along to help.

Char has said it perfectly!

It's strange, because the most expensive suites are always high up on the ship and sometimes in the very back or the very front of the ship! Not the best place to be on the ship.

If you're subject to motion sickness, the best place on the ship is as low as possible and as close to the middle as possible.

I refer to it as the 'motion of the ocean' and there's actually two affects; I call it the 'rocking and rolling'. The rocking motion is front-to-back and the rolling motion is side-to-side. The more forward you are, the more you'll feel the rocking, and the higher up you are, the more you'll feel the rolling.

But keep in mind that all the newer bigger ships have the latest stablizing devices so they don't rock and roll as much as they use to.

The problem is that those of us who were teenagers in the 60's grew up with rock and roll!!

Pete

Since this same question was posted in another part of the board, please go there to see the responses;

http://www.cruiselinefans.com/norweg...get-cabin.html (Worst sections of a ship to get a cabin?)

This is a topic I dealt with on my blog about a week ago. The bottom line is that the most stable part of any ship is in the middle of the ship at the waterline. Thus, the higher the deck the more movement you feel. Also, the closer to the stern or the bow you are the more you are going to feel motion.

In general most modern cruise ships do not move around so that most people would notice except in a severe storm. That is one reason why the most expensive cabins can be at the top of the ship near the bow and near the stern.

From a naval architecture point of view, a ship with a long sharp bow is going to do better in a storm than a ship with a wider blunt bow. This is most apparent when you compare ships such as Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2, which were designed to go through all types of weather, with cruise ships that were designed to spend the majority of their time in calmer waters.

NCL has a variety of ships in its fleet. The newer ones are relatively fast, which is good because the faster a ship is the better chance it has to get away from bad weather.

I hope this is helpful.

What Char said!

We actually like to book the highest deck most forward possible because we LOVE the "motion of the ocean"!

Originally Posted by Cruise Planner

But keep in mind that all the newer bigger ships have the latest stablizing devices so they don't rock and roll as much as they use to.Pete

We HATE these new stabilizers! We loved being "rocked" to sleep ... and miss it!

Beyondships ... Nice helpful reply! Thanks!

bhf108 .... While the motion is not a factor to us, we do pay LOTS of attention to what is directly above and below us.

It's no fun to be in a cabin where the deck directly above is being cleaned with chairs being dragged/banged around at 5 AM each morning!

Having the Casino directly below will make you feel a part of the celebration each time someone hits a BigWin!

We were "upgraded" on my first cruise to right under a dining room. Could hear the vacuuming late at night. Hopefully you and your travel agent had the deck plans open while discussing which cabins to consider, checking to see what they're close to or under.

The one time we asked for a specific area was for our Hawaiian cruise as we heard it can be pretty rough seas. The hubby and girl aren't bothered by any wave action at all, but I tend to be, so we got a midships cabin halfway up, deck wise, and marked our booking "no upgrade."

We were on a maiden voyage of an NCL ship in Hawaii, where we were near the front of the ship. Since it was registered outside of the US, we had to go to at least one foreign port, Fanning Island, 2 degrees north of the equator. As mentioned above, beware of rough seas. Returning to Hawaii, we went through 18 foot seas (splashing our 8th level window) and 44 knot winds. We experienced the brunt of the crash of the bow into the rough seas, which shook the ship so much that dishes crashed in the dining room and bottles of alcohol in the shops onboard fell from the shelves, creating a BIG mess. My suggestion is to stay with midship.