The Anthem of the Seas departed Bayonne, New Jersey final Saturday with about 4,500 company and 1,600 crewmembers for what was scheduled to be a 7-day roundtrip cruise to the Bahamas. But throughout Sunday the vessel was crusing southward to a scheduled port name at Port Canaveral, Florida when it encountered a big, hurricane-force storm off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, forcing the Captain to lock down the ship as they rode it out. 

Although Royal Caribbean has apologized to company and crew and promised to strengthen its storm avoidance coverage, the corporate nonetheless maintains that the climate final Sunday “far exceeded” forecasts. Let’s simply have a look:

Weather Forecasts

As early as Wednesday afternoon (Feb 3), the NOAA 96 hour forecast chart was exhibiting a quickly deepening low forming east-southeast of Cape Hatteras early Sunday(Feb 7) reaching storm pressure by early Monday morning.

Updated forecasts late Friday evening indicated that storm pressure winds doubtless would happen nearer to the North Carolina coast than the sooner forecast by late Sunday with situations reaching hurricane pressure winds by early Monday.

By Saturday night the up to date NOAA Forecast chart issued simply after midnight Saturday evening indicated hurricane pressure winds with waves to 24 ft must be anticipated simply off the Carolina coast by Sunday night as a substitute of early Monday morning.

Role of the Gulfstream

The heat waters of the Gulfstream transfer up the US Coast from the Florida Straits and go near Cape Hatteras earlier than turning eastward.  The heat water along with chilly air transferring off the East Coast throughout winter typically gives the dynamics to supply quickly deepening storms off the US East Coast.  In addition, when sturdy winds blow over sturdy currents transferring in the other way waves are inclined to shorten in size and enhance in peak.  Near the north wall of the Gulfstream this can be a well-known phenomena the place there’s a greater threat for rouge waves throughout these situations.

Vessel Track

As of this writing, I’ve not seen the precise place reviews of the Anthem of the Seas  so it could be tough to say what monitor choices had been accessible to the grasp or what selections had been made.   Given that the early forecasts prompt storm pressure situations with the heaviest climate growing in a single day Sunday into early Monday, maybe the voyage plan might need taken the vessel away from this space earlier than the onset of the more severe situations.

Forecast updates issued late Friday evening indicated that the world of storm pressure winds would doubtless happen nearer to the shoreline however the heaviest situations nonetheless growing Sunday evening and early Monday. By late Saturday evening, the voyage was already underway when the up to date forecast indicated that the storm would produce hurricane pressure winds with seas over 20 ft.

The storm did, in truth, deepen quickly throughout Sunday with hurricane pressure winds and waves to over 30 ft growing by early Sunday night simply off the North Carolina Coast when the vessel encountered extreme climate situations close to the place the Gulfstream comes closest to the North Carolina coast.