You can never guarantee the weather or the sea conditions

One thing I often get asked by my clients is what the weather is going to be like on their cruise.

This is always a difficult question to answer and is very difficult to judge.  Let’s face it even the professional weather forecasters get it wrong a lot of the time.

I used to think that certain locations at certain times of the year were nearly a safe bet but I am a bit cautious these days, especially after hearing from some reports of my returning passengers.

I had a good passenger of mine sail with Regent around the Med recently in the first week of September, which they very much enjoyed but they said that for half of the cruise it was tipping it down and subsequently wouldn’t cruise in that area at that time of year again.

On the flip side, when I went on an MSC cruise departing from Venice last November the weather was lovely, and that was in November !

I remember last year also I had decided to go on a motorbike tour through the Alps which involved camping out every night.  I thought I would go in the last week of June as the weather on the continent should be pleasant at that time but no, it was cold and rainy virtually every day, which is not when motorbiking every day and then camping all night.  At least on a cruise ship you have lots to do inside the dry, warm and comfortable confines of the ship.

Passengers always ask me about the Bay of Biscay as well and what the crossing will be like.  Well unfortunately that seems to be a complete lottery as well, at any time of the year.

Cruise ships are well designed to deal with rough seas well though and have excellent stabilization features.  I know that there are flat bottomed ferry’s that manage the crossings ok and also over the English channel, I’d rather be on a cruise ship in rough seas than one of those ferry’s I can tell you.

Of course some people are a lot more sensitive to the motion of the ship and sea sickness then others.  I am very fortunate in this respect and it doesn’t seem to bother me, that is why I am not really interested to pay more for a mid-ship cabin.

For people that do suffer from this though, the most stable place to be on a ship is the most central and lower down possible.