Yes, cruise ships are designed to safely handle lightning strikes. Yes, lightning strikes do happen - but extremely rarely.
While cruise ships can typically "outrun" most storms, passengers may still experience rough seas as their ship skirts the edges of a storm. On rare occasions, a ship may have to go through the outer bands of storm to reach safe haven in a port, though most times ships will go out to sea to avoid storms.
Even if the crew tries to steer clear of a storm, there could be times of rough seas. Often, the safest place for a ship during a storm is out at sea because the ship is a safe distance from anything it might crash into.
Additionally, while it is likely that a cruise ship will survive - and not sink - there's a very high likelihood that the vessel will experience major damage and there will also be human casualties and potentially even deaths occurring during the experience.
While generally, a cruise ship will continue on to its destination if poor weather conditions can be avoided, there are sometimes exceptions. A modern cruise ship is equipped with stabilizing technology for when it encounters rough seas. However, if the storm is more serious, the ship may attempt to avoid or outrun it.
In a cruise ship, a captain can sail the ship out of the way of a storm. Cruises lines have a meteorologist working with the staff who is there to predict any uncertainty in the weather. Their skills make it easier for the captain to sail out on time.
Wet season and dry season are both good times to cruise the Caribbean. The worst time for a Caribbean cruise weather-wise is August to September, as it is peak hurricane season.
The significant wave height is the average of the highest one-third of waves that occur over a given period. Rogue waves can disable and sink even the largest ships and oil rigs.
According to the Maritime Injury Guide, which collects information from the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 448 major cruise ship accidents between 2005 and 2023. Fifteen cruise vessels sank, and 16 people died in cruise ship accidents.
Over the past 100 years since the RMS Titanic sank in 1912, only 18 cruise ships and some ocean liners have been publicly known to have sunk. And, over the past 50 years, only four cruise ships have sunk while navigating on a cruise.
The front of a ship can be the most uncomfortable place to be in big waves. This is because the front of a ship pitches a lot more in waves than the center of a ship or even the back.
According to Department of Transportation (DOT) data analyzed by Business Insider, sexual assault is consistently the most reported crime aboard major cruise ship lines, making up about three-quarters of all crimes reported from 2010 to 2022.
If seasickness is a worry of yours, the best way to avoid that is getting a room in the center of the ship. As cruise ships tend to bob on waves and slightly roll from side to side, the heart of the ship is its only part that stays virtually in the same place.
For instance, cruise ships are basically designed in a way that any lightning strike would hit the highest point on the ship and then be conducted through the hull to the water.
Issues: Ocean crossings always encounter the roughest waters because there are no nearby landmasses to provide shelter. Avoid: The winter months are the most intense, with transatlantic cruises hitting very rough seas from November through February and Pacific cruises from February through April.
A large cruise ship usually has several ballast tanks. So the combined effect of a ship's buoyancy, low center of gravity, and ballast keep the ship from tipping over.
The last time a cruise ship sank with passengers on board was a Chinese river cruise ship in 2015, which hit an unexpected and severe storm that capsized the boat.
Any ship can capsize if the weight distribution and buoyancy are compromised to provide negative stability. But in the case of large vessels like cruise ships, tipping over would be almost impossible, even in the roughest seas.
On 13 January 2012, the eight-year-old Costa Cruises vessel Costa Concordia was on the first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea when she deviated from her planned route at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, sailed closer to the island, and struck a rock formation on the sea floor.
The ship must keep its bow (the front end) pointing into the waves to plow through them safely, since a massive wave striking the ship's side could roll the vessel over and sink it. Wind and waves will try to turn the vessel, and pushing against them requires forward momentum.
The ship's bow must be kept pointing into the waves so that the vessel can plough through them safely, which helps prevent waves from striking the ship on its sides. The heavier the vessel the better during a hurricane – the most dangerous ship is an empty one.
Laymen claim they aren't, and that ocean liners were safer, but real-world experience and naval architecture show that a cruise ship can roll to almost 60-degrees before it's in danger of capsizing, and can ride out 50-foot seas without danger of sinking.
If this is the only chance you have to cruise, keep in mind that itineraries can change or be canceled depending on the weather. If you dislike large numbers of children, avoid sailing late June through August or during school break times (late December, early January and March through mid-April).
It's best practice to fly into the cruise port the day before your cruise departs, which ensures you can still get to the ship even if you experience travel delays or cancellations. It's also less stressful for everyone when you fly the day before. Nobody wants to be a ball of nerves at the start of vacation!
If you're bringing the whole family, a 5 or 7 day cruise might be the best way to make sure everyone has an awesome getaway. And for those lucky folks with even more time to spare, a cruise of 10 days or more will give you an incredible experience of all the best things a cruise has to offer.