Choppy Waters?

[yayvacation!]

I know this can vary greatly from season to season, but I'm hoping someone on a recent trip can chime in! I am just wondering what the condition of the waters have been on sailings.

 

We are head r/t Seattle mid-August, I am extremely prone to motion sickness, and just want to be prepared!

 

Thanks in advance!

[flashdog_1]

My trip is not until Saturday so I can't speak from experience, only from what I've read.

 

The ships that leave from Seattle travel in the Pacific Ocean, on the left (west) side of Vancouver Island, so it is choppy, indeed, according to the reviews I've read.

 

But as you know, every day the sea may be a little different than it was the day before, so just go prepared. Do you have a prescription for motion sickenss patches, etc.?

[pacificcoral]

Well I just got back on Friday and we had pretty good conditions considering. I am also prone to motion sickness and did the R/T from Seattle on Rhapsody of the Seas.

 

On the way up it was great. It was as the captain put it as flat calm as you can get in that part of the ocean. We only had about 2 ft seas and I was just fine.

 

On the way back I did have to take some meds for the motion as we did have about 6-8 ft seas. I probably could have dealt with it, but I had packed plenty and figured I might as well be comfortable. Particularly since I ate at the Windjammer cafe at the front of the ship.

 

If I had a room at the front of the ship it might have been a little worse, but all in all a good trip.

[Budget Queen]

You have chosen the roughest potential sailing route of the Alaska cruises.

 

If you are prone to motion sickness, then you need to take some kind of precautions. Consult your health care provider.

 

Rough seas can and do happen in the Pacific.

[Quigley10]

Just to chime in, we were on the Century's third AK sailing this year, Vancouver r/t on June 5th dep. After we passed Vancouver Island our first full day, we unexpectedly hit 18' seas that kept half of the ship in bed. The seas calmed as we traveled into the passage again, but grew rough when we hit open water in the middle of the night. My husband was loaded up on Bpnine, which provided some relief. We bought acupressure bands that helped him immensely.

 

Coming home, the brief parts in the open ocean were like glass.

[yayvacation!]

This is great information, thanks everyone!

 

Flashdog I am awaiting your review - I hope your trip is awesome!!

 

I do bring lots of medications with me, I just like knowing what I'm up against from recent experience :):D Hopefully future cruisers will come in and report their experiences during this summer season!

[JGetCRUSING]

OP thanks for posing this question! i leave saturday on the NCL Star and was wondering this same thing. i got the scolpomine patches just to be safe cause i've heard differnt things about the entrance to the inside passage

[InternetAgeTraveler]

I started a set of cruise time lapse video compilations starting last year for this very kind of question. I can say to date this year, the ships have hit quite a bit more rougher weather than they did last. June 5-6th as noted above was perhaps the strongest of both last and this year.

 

Ships that travel west of Vancouver Island do get the most of it, both because they are in open ocean but also because they spend more time here (the Star goes north east of Vancover island but returns west). San Francisco cruises have even a high chance for the same reason.

 

However, as you would expect, it does vary a lot and the majority both last year and this have had reasonable good sailing, but as BQ says, it pays to be prepared.

 

My collection includes over 200 time lapse videos from several Princess ships, the Star and the Pearl, and for this year the Symphony and Regatta.

http://www.youtube.com/user/InternetAgeTraveler#g/u

 

 

I can also speak from some experience as the picture below was from our trip on the Pearl in 2010.