Bigger ships less movement?

[Ontariocruisers99]

We've sailed on 2 smaller Carnival ships, one from Long Beach to Cabo and the movement on that ship was terrible.

We sailed Freedom and twice on Liberty in the last two years, very smooth all 3 cruises. We will be on our biggest yet in Feb, Symphony. 

Have we just been lucky with good weather and smooth waters or do you really feel less movement on the bigger ships? I do wonder what the bigger ships are like on rougher waters but I'm also ok with not finding out

Since Carnival we have only booked bigger ships, Carnival was 2100 capacity.

 

 

[smokeybandit]

I think you just got lucky.  

[Ontariocruisers99]

13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I think you just got lucky.  

Well that's not what I want to hear!

It does seem like the Caribean is generally calmer than the Pacific but maybe we just went at a bad time. We also sailed from NJ to Halifax in June and that was a super calm trip as well.

[DoomSlayer]

Newer and bigger ships have better stabilization technology and have a smoother ride in calm and moderate seas, but they are not immune to rough seas.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, DoomSlayer said:

Newer and bigger ships have better stabilization technology and have a smoother ride in calm and moderate seas, but they are not immune to rough seas.

The stabilization is only for side to side rolls. Front to back is tough to overcome no matter how big a ship is.

[Ontariocruisers99]

The side to side is definitely what we noticed the most so that's good to know. The first night at dinner out of Long Beach we were running into the walls walking throughout the hallway. That was our first introduction to cruising!

[tonyfsu21]

4 hours ago, Ontariocruisers99 said:

We've sailed on 2 smaller Carnival ships, one from Long Beach to Cabo and the movement on that ship was terrible.

We sailed Freedom and twice on Liberty in the last two years, very smooth all 3 cruises. We will be on our biggest yet in Feb, Symphony. 

Have we just been lucky with good weather and smooth waters or do you really feel less movement on the bigger ships? I do wonder what the bigger ships are like on rougher waters but I'm also ok with not finding out

Since Carnival we have only booked bigger ships, Carnival was 2100 capacity.

 

 

It’s a whole different experience in a good way. The Oasis class ships are noticeably smoother and the Caribbean waters are also less turbulent than the Pacific waters. You will really enjoy Symphony. 

[Matt]

You can feel movement in a big ship, so don't assume they're immune to it or less likely.  That being said, since they are bigger, it may take a bit more motion in the ocean to get them moving, but I wouldn't characterize an Oasis Class being fundamentally different in terms of sway than a smaller ship.

[Ditchdoc]

True ...

other factors include ..

stability systems that help negate movement

No ship is too big when it comes to the ocean and its power

consider ....

I go fishing on a 20 to 30 foot boat ... in 10 foot waves ... you spend more time going up and down than you do goring forward.

Large cruise ships over a a 1,000 feet in length laugh at 10 foot seas, you barely notice.

Cruise ships are generally made for near shore where waters are typically smoother.

Some people are more prone to motion sickness than others and even small movements induce unwanted affects.

You can get into more detail with wave height, period and are they on the bow or off the beam. I have been on cruises where the horizon would move from the top of the window to the bottom and beyond as the ship rolled. Fortunately, this is rare.

[steverk]

The OP specifically mentioned the LA to Cabo run. There's a very strong current coming from Alaska. That has made every cruise I've taken there rougher than I've experienced in the Caribbean 

 

[Ontariocruisers99]

4 hours ago, steverk said:

Oh that's very interesting I didn't know that!

4 hours ago, steverk said:

The OP specifically mentioned the LA to Cabo run. There's a very strong current coming from Alaska. That has made every cruise I've taken there rougher than I've experienced in the 

 

 

[jbrinkm]

We sailed Allure two years in a row in April, but from different ports (2021 Fort Lauderdale and 2022 Galveston). We felt a LOT of motion on Allure from Galveston last year, much more than the year before. I don't know if it was different currents, a different weather pattern, or what, but I felt a little bit of motion sickness a couple of nights - and I don't typically get seasick. I used a public restroom after some show, I think I was down on deck 3 in the front of the ship, hung my little phone bag on a hook, and watched it sway back and forth, almost bumping the walls, on one of the nights.