Newbie Cruiser Concerns

Hi all!!

I am an experienced cruiser, my husband went on his first cruise with me last August for our honeymoon. He loved it even though he was a bit skeptical about it at first. But now we are planning a vacation with our best couple friends for winter! However they have never cruised and usually go the all inclusive route for vacations....they know we love to cruise and are considering trying it but are concerned about getting sick on the ship due to motion sickness. I myself don't get any form of motion sick so I have no idea how it would affect anyone with this issue. My husband does a little and he was fine on our cruise, but he wore those little ear dots the whole time.

Any of you avid cruisers affected my motion/car sick usually but fine on the ship?? What can we tell them to asure them it will be fine?

Thank you!! :D

If they feel like they would get motion sickness then take something early to prevent it.

There are many things out there to help ease motion sickness

• Ginger Pills
  
• Patch behind your Ear
  
• Seasickness Bands
  
• Bonine, Dramamine, or Meclazine
  

If you get motion sickness in a car then I'd expect to also feel sick on the ship! I definitely have those issues and so does DH! In order to be OK you need to prevent it and not wait until you feel ill!

We both take Meclazine which is the generic ingredient in Bonine or Dramamine II. IF your friends are used to getting motion sickness then they probably already know what to do to prevent it.

Everyone is different . I take one pill a day unless the seas get rough and then I take a 2nd pill.

My husband has experimented and now we know he needs to take 2 pills before the ship leaves and then 1 in the AM and one at night while at sea.

We don't use the other remedies like Ginger pills because we don't know how much to take in order to feel OK.

I have not tried the sea bands because we know the pills work and don't want to experiment.

You are lucky that you don't get motion sickness at all!!

Booking midship and lower deck would help for the time in the cabin.

Booking midship and lower deck would help for the time in the cabin.

I agree with midship, lower deck. My SO gets sick when he goes out in his boat on Lake Erie but has never had a problem on a cruise, even when the sea is rough and the "barf bags" are at the elevators.

Ginger pills worked perfectly for friends & family of mine on previous cruises.

...and has tried all of the remedies out there:

• We always try to get mid-ship, that helps
  
• Sea bands -- did not work for me
  
• Transderm scopolmine dots -- worked, but made me feel woozy. Plus, one time I got some in my eye after applying the patch and had one crazy, dilated pupil for 6 hours!:o
  
• Meclizine (Bonine) -- works great for me.
  
• Ginger capsules and ginger ale also help
  

Bottom line, I do what I have to do so I can keep cruising! I haven't let it ruin a cruise yet!

Agree with the Bonine/Meclazine (24 hour). The hubs isn't prone to motion sickness, but will usually take a pill before getting on the ship. After the first day, he doesn't bother. I start before getting on the ship and continue for a couple more days. Then I'm fine. If the seas get rough, or we'll be tendering (sometimes that's pretty choppy) or taking a potentially motion-sickness-inducing tour, I'll take another pill beforehand.

DO NOT wait until feeling ill to take them! This is key!

I'm pretty sure I'd actually be fine without taking anything during relatively smooth sailing, but better safe than sorry.

I use to do Bonine on my first few cruisers a couple days before until I realized that I didn't need it. I also have taken ginger Altoids which are hard to find except on eBay. This time around I have dried/candied ginger and Bonine for several new cruisers that will be going with us.

Where do you find the 24 hour Bonine at? I have done the patches in the past but they do make me feel like I am in a fog or haze.

I get really car sick, but I've only got motion sickness on a cruise ship once, for one day that we had really rough seas on a transatlantic crossing (and it's mostly because we had an aft cabin on high deck).

I have dealt with motion sickness since I was a small child. About ten (10) years ago, I was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease which could sometimes be an issue. However, very rarely do I have trouble on a cruise. If the ship is really moving back and forth, I will feel it, but it's not enough to make me stop cruising!

I have found that midship is the best place for our cabin and that seems to help considerably. I've used the patches but really dislike the way that it affects my vision. I've had to get my DH to read the menu to me at dinner bc my vision was so blurred. I've also used the sea bands but couldn't really tell a lot of difference. I've got prescription Meclizine that I bring along in case it gets bad enough to warrant it and I bring Ambien to help me sleep at night, if needed. I've also taken the Ginger tablets and just used the directions on the bottle. This seemed to help somewhat.

I do have a question about Bonine since I've never tried it. I've heard several people say that they take it at night. Does it make you feel like you're in a haze the next day? That's my only concern with it.

As for the OP's question about their friends. If they are really concerned, book a shorter cruise just in case. This is what we did the first time since we didn't know how well I could tolerate it. Now, we're addicted! I would take two or three a year if time and money would allow it! :)

I have never felt seasick but I took my sister as a first time cruiser. She wore the sea bands, and she has worn them every cruise since, and swear by them.....I don't know how or why they work but she says it is better than taking pulls that make her feel bad.....hazy or in a fog instead of seasick!

I'm able to buy the 24 hour Bonine over-the-counter at CVS/Walgreens, etc.

Personally, I've never experienced any side-effects.

I don't find that it makes me drowsy, but your mileage may vary.

The warnings say that alcohol may increase the drowsiness, so taking it at bedtime is probably a good idea, if you like wine with dinner or an evening cocktail.

Another trick for when you are on an outer deck. DON'T look down at the water! Look towards the horizon, and the ship doesn't seem to move as much. ;)

I have motion sickness pretty bad and as you can see, I'm addicted to cruising. I chew a Bonine before getting on the airplane because it helps me with the ascent and descent. That one gets me through the day on the ship. I'm okay after that on the ship, but if we are doing a water excursion, I'll chew one before breakfast and I'm good for the water excursion.

Bonine can be found at Walmart and Costco pharmacies, no prescription needed. I tried the patch once, but it made my vision blurry. I cut one in half and my vision wasn't blurry, but it really didn't help the motion sickness much.

I was worried about motion sickness before our first cruise, too. I brought Dramamine with me and took it a couple of nights when it felt a bit rocky. But now I get Bonine and I take it as a preventative measure. I start taking it the day before and I take one every day. It also helps with travel on some of the shore excursions. We had one shore excursion in St. Lucia where we had to keep stopping the van to let people out to barf. My husband and I had read the warnings about the winding roads and took our Bonine. We weren't sick at all, but it was quite unpleasant watching and hearing others get sick.

I'd say let your friends take some meds before boarding as a preventative. Then judge the motion of the ship for themselves. If they think it feels calm enough they can try going without. Or they can just take it every day as a preventative. They should also be careful with alcohol consumption if they're taking motion sickness meds.

First, you can not assure your friends that they'll be fine. It's a case by case basis & everyone is different, & they don't know they'll get sea sick until ship's underway.

You can't compare car motion sickness to cruising, since car motion is only 2 dimension/axis movement; whereas ship's motion is 3 axis (pitch, roll, & yaw). much more like airplane's movement. It's the unpredictable 3rd axis movement (yaw) that causes much of the discomfort. But today's bigger ships with great stabilizers keeps most of the motion under control.

Our suggestion:

book bigger ships, shorter trips, gulf or caribbean trips instead open ocean, inside & mid-level cabins, stay hydrated, work out, lots of food & alcohol...

Chances are......sea sickness will be mild if experienced at all. I have been on many cruises with many different friends and the subject has rarely come up.

More sickness due to too much sun than motion in the deep blue sea....

Unless of course; if you have the privilege to experience a fall storm at sea...

Thanks for all the great/advice and personal experiences! Now I have some info to go and talk to them about.

If anything I think we'll do a 4 or 5 day cruise, on a bigger size ship! I'll have some researching to do this afternoon :)