The Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Ship Caught in a Bomb Cyclone (1 Viewer)

[Laron]

Thee Norwegian Breakaway. Image Source Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)​

First I asked myself, "What is a bomb cyclone?"

I've actually never heard of the term.

A Bomb Cyclone is a phenomenon with an explosive cyclogenesis, or bombogenesis which is not that uncommon.

The "bombing" happens when a low pressure system falls to 24 millibars under 25 hours.

It's predominantly a maritime winter event, but also occurs in continental areas.

It basically means it can get real cold, so snow and ice can form, on top of it being a bit windy.

In the video below, a 2018 new years cruise by passengers on the Norwegian Breakaway, a cruise ship operated by the Norwegian Cruise Line—with a capacity for 3,963 passengers containing 1,024 staterooms and 238 suites—experienced a bomb cyclone while returning from the Bahamas.

At the time it's reported the ship had over 4,000 passengers.

A lot of flooding inside occurred and it got a bit rocky. Snow formed around the outside of the ship.

"Although the ship is capable of handling such a storm, we saw some people sleeping in the hallways because of water leaking into their rooms from the balcony doors (or because some thought the ship was going to capsize.) We even saw a family walking around with their life jackets"

 

[Lila]

Yup, mother nature has always been powerful

What constantly amazes me is our ability to forget that she is so much bigger than we so that we build things not in synch with her ways... from houses built at the edges of ravines or cliffs to all kinds of stuff built on fill or swamps (especially in earthquake areas!). Guess desperation and short memories are a pretty crippling combination

 

[Linda]

I imagine the bridge crew got standing ovations from the passengers. I also bet there will be some refitting on all their ships.

The people were pretty calm on the video, though they were quiet while watching the ocean - it was an up close and personal reminder of the power of nature.