It has been a rough season for transatlantic cruises.
These are sailings where ships reposition either from Florida, New York, or Texas to Europe, or ships moving to an East Coast port from a European one.
In the fall, ships sail from Europe to Florida because the European cruise season ends when colder weather sets in. These sailings generally last from 12 to 16 days, about half of which will be sea days.
Related: Video: See Explorer of the Seas as it was hit by a massive wave
As always, the ships' captains chart courses designed to keep passengers safe. But unlike sailing in the Caribbean, where distances to port are generally not that long, transatlantics must cover great distances.
That means that while a captain on a transatlantic will make course corrections to avoid danger, they won't make major corrections to avoid bad weather. They can deviate from a course only so much and still make it across the Atlantic in the allotted time.
Thus it's not uncommon for a transatlantic to sail through rough seas. In such a case the captain might close the outdoor decks, and in rare cases might even order passengers back to their rooms.
The weather you can plan for, however, is generally not the problem. Unexpected weather — as we saw when Explorer of the Seas was hit on Nov. 7 by rogue hurricane-force winds — can cause major problems.
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Rough seas hit Odyssey of the Seas
Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas left Rome on Nov. 3 for a 14-day transatlantic sailing to New York. As it neared the end of that journey, the ship faced an unexpected weather event that led the captain to issue a warning to passengers.
The video above, shared by a passenger who uses the name Rainmaker on YouTube, shows the ship affected by what he called "angry seas."
"Yeah, we've got some angry seas today. Probably the most angry we've seen," he related. "It's really kind of hard to tell. Winds are in excess of 55 knots today. I'm not going to go out. I'm just going to stand here."
Rainmaker did see a bright side, however, despite the scary weather.
"Seas are almost 20 feet today. That's really hard to tell in the video. But, it ain't pretty. But, I ain't at work today so it ain't bad," he added.
Photos passengers posted showed damage like broken bottles and glasses in the ship's pubs.
Odyssey of the Seas is a Quantum Ultra-Class ship. These are megaships designed for colder-weather itineraries.
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Unlike the event on Explorer of the Seas, which happened with no warning, passengers on Odyssey of the Seas did get some advance notice.
"The captain of the 169,300 gross registered ton ship told guests they were going to change directions because of a powerful storm front, which brought 6 to 7 meter [almost 20 to 23 feet] waves and 50-knot [57.5 mph] winds," Royal Caribbean Blog reported.
"He advised passengers to remain seated, as the ship would be changing course and there was a possibility it could list."
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