What to do during rough seas?

[Arusha]

Take an anti-nausea/anti-seasickness med daily starting the day before boarding to prevent seasickness. Don't wait until the seas get rough. I use an over-the-counter med such as Bonine (which doesn't make you sleepy the way Dramamine can). if you get motion sickness easily, you may want to ask your doctor about a patch.

 

Hang onto handrails, try to keep your drink from sloshing, and you'll have your sealegs in no time!

[Dayenu]

I'm going on my first cruise to the Mexican Riviera. There aren't any expected storms and we should hopefully have calm waters. During heavy turbulence on a flight there's not much to do but to sit, strapped in your chair and endure it. On a boat, what does one do if traveling through rough waters? Do you stay in your cabin and curse Poseidon for this unwanted adventure? Go to the bar drinking with others? My dad told me in his Navy days they would strap themselves while at their posts to keep them from being tossed around. Just curious what one does :). Thanks!

 

I spend some time in the cabin watching a movie or sleeping in. Order room service for breakfast or lunch. Pick sitting activities, i.e. a lecture vs. ring tossing. Try to limit going to the upper decks.

[SuitCaseBears]

Yes cruise liners even with stabilizers get rocky - very very very rarely "lash yourself to something" rockin' and rollin' but it can get rough.

 

If seasickness is not an issue:

 

1. Wear sneakers or flats - sometimes the Captain will even announce "please no one wear high heels" even if it's formal night. Even flip flops can be dangerous when the sea is rough. Even women who wear heels ALL the time would be well advised to wear flats.

 

2. Think of how much it costs to go to Disneyland to PAY to be de-stabilized and here you're getting it as a free added attraction.

 

3. Go back to your cabin and put away all of those little things you left out, which in short order will be tossed around and you'll never find that pen you loved again. This is a good time to put things in baggies, put baggies in cabinets, take out the duct tape that your husband has been laughing at you having packed for years and tape the cabinet doors shut. So there!

 

4. Threaten your spouse with with watching the DVD of the Titanic which you packed just on the off chance of hitting bad weather.

 

5. Do your Core exercises by trying to balance on one foot (with pillows or a friend nearby to catch you.

 

6. Have fun.

 

If you DO get seasick:

 

Take your meds,

Take to bed and

Don't be shy about going to the doctor if you're really miserable. They can give you meds that will knock out the seasickness quickly although you'll sleep for a day - but missing a day to sleep is better than missing a day sitting on the floor in the bathroom grasping the toilet.

[Capt_BJ]

The one true answer is

 

it depends

 

stabilizers or no - if the seas get severe enuf, the ship is going to move. Now way to stop this - it is physics.

 

a lot depends on the angle at which the seas are impacting the ship ... different directions can make a BIG difference in how the ship reacts, and to what effect stab'zer can work. Stab' can reduce roll - the side to side motion, but they can have virtually no impact on pitching. A ship taking beam seas, they are hitting from the side, rolls. A ship taking the seas on the bow (or stern) will pitch. 99% of the time what you get is a combination.

 

How fast the ship is moving also plays a major factor. Sometimes ride in significant seas can be greatly improved by a change in course and/or speed. But this may have impacts to schedules . . . arrival times and port calls, Ditto the ability to 'steer around' the big stuff.

 

Sailing in the Carib, it is often possible to adjust a route to take advantage of nearby islands and shallow waters to "find a lee" and calmer waters. Sailing coastaly along the Mexico/Central American coast .... not so much.

 

The swells in the Atlantic tend to be steeper than the swells in the Pacific due to what's called 'fetch' or the distance the swells travel. A 20 foot swell in the Atlantic will generally FEEL bigger than in the Pacific because it is steeper and sets of swells closer together.

 

I've been on A Pricess cruise ship heading from The Lesser Antilles to Ft Lauderdale east of the Bahama Bank - in other words we were no longer protected from the east. And the seas got pretty big out of the east. Shows were cancelled, pools drained and most weather decks closed. Few people showed up for meals and the one bar I found open I was the only patron for a good part of the afternoon. Conversationally I asked the bartender how often he'd seen conditions like we were in. He told me this was nuthin' as he'd done Alaska cruises and he KNEW how to prepare for it. Just about that time a bigger than average swell hit the ship 'just right' .... I could feel the shudder when it broke on the bow and instintively grabbed my glass to prevent a spill. We healed over just a bit more than average and the entire bar set up .. bottles, glasses etc went sliding to the low side with a mighty crash.

 

"Just like Alaska huh?"

 

 

 

and who ever said the stern is a good place has little understanding of the basic concepts of ship stability including center of buoyancy, center of motion and has obviously never gone fantail jumping!

[OCruisers]

We continue with our normal activities!

 

LuLu

~~~~

[wwcruisers]

Capt_BJ -- Loved those pictures! Just one question (from someone who loves the aft cabins) -- what exactly is "fantail jumping"?

[varoo]

.......The swells in the Atlantic tend to be steeper than the swells in the Pacific due to what's called 'fetch' or the distance the swells travel. A 20 foot swell in the Atlantic will generally FEEL bigger than in the Pacific because it is steeper and sets of swells closer together.

We heard that some people (even those who enjoy sea days) refuse to take the Caribbean cruises out of Florida, or any of the Atlantic coast ports, but fly down to San Juan to begin their cruises there instead.

 

and who ever said the stern is a good place has little understanding of the basic concepts of ship stability including center of buoyancy, center of motion and has obviously never gone fantail jumping!

Fantail jumping is not necessary. Neither is understanding of the basic concepts of ship stability.

 

Anyone can easily prove the truth of what you are saying to him or herself just by riding at the stern briefly during a bad storm when the ship is pitching wildly, then moving forward to ride in the center of the ship, and observing what a difference it makes.

 

[Capt_BJ]

boo boo button push

[Capt_BJ]

Capt_BJ -- Loved those pictures! Just one question (from someone who loves the aft cabins) -- what exactly is "fantail jumping"?

 

when the stern of the ship is pitching WAY UP then WAY DOWN a passtime is to hang out on the fantail and when the fantail reaches the top of an up pitch "JUMP" .... then the ship drops away from you .... and you FLY for a while.

 

Unfortunately this is also a great way to break an ankle or leg ..... on landing.

 

Now why was this a popular 'fantail' activity rather than a bow activity, where the ship ALSO experiences significant up and down movement due to pitch about its center of movement (ships do NOT pitch from the stern)?

 

Because the bridge watch could see the bow and tell crazy folks to stop the dangerous activity while the stern/fantail was typically out of sight before the use of closed circuit TV to provide much more visibility to the bridge watch and increased safety!

[navybankerteacher]

when the stern of the ship is pitching WAY UP then WAY DOWN a passtime is to hang out on the fantail and when the fantail reaches the top of an up pitch "JUMP" .... then the ship drops away from you .... and you FLY for a while.

 

Unfortunately this is also a great way to break an ankle or leg ..... on landing.

 

Now why was this a popular 'fantail' activity rather than a bow activity, where the ship ALSO experiences significant up and down movement due to pitch about its center of movement (ships do NOT pitch from the stern)?

 

Because the bridge watch could see the bow and tell crazy folks to stop the dangerous activity while the stern/fantail was typically out of sight before the use of closed circuit TV to provide much more visibility to the bridge watch and increased safety!

 

Of course, not only is the stern less subject to pitching than anywhere else on the ship, the starboard side is where you want to be if you want to avoid the experience of rolling.

[GeeDunk]

when the stern of the ship is pitching WAY UP then WAY DOWN a passtime is to hang out on the fantail and when the fantail reaches the top of an up pitch "JUMP" .... then the ship drops away from you .... and you FLY for a while.

 

Unfortunately this is also a great way to break an ankle or leg ..... on landing.

 

Great way to get on Report, for a Captain's Mast, for damaging "Government Property".:(

[Slopfrog]

Im no doctor of pharmacist, but scuba diving and fishing out of small boats for many years, and being pretty susceptible to seasickness, I've got my own thoughts (and plenty of experience, unfortunately) on this and think a lot of the conventional wisdom is wrong.

 

Since we aren't talking about mild motion problems, I won't spend much time on it other than to say that Bonine (meclizine) is your friend. NOT Dramamine, which will make you wicked sleepy. All the ginger and pressure bands are just gimmicks with a placebo effect.

 

For the really bad stuff, First understand why it is happening. Your inner ear acts like an accelerometer and detects the motion of your body. When that doesn't match what your eyes are seeing, the brain gets confused. This confusion manifests itself primarily as stimulation of your puke reflex.

 

As for the advice of looking at the horizon, I find that to be poppycock. Looking at the horizon means that point does not move - this EXACERBATES the situation because your ear still feels you moving, and yet the horizon does not move. I believe this "old seaman's tale" came about from experiences when working very close with your hands in pitching seas, which will make you sick as a dog faster than anything. For example, I can NOT tie knots while fishing offshore. So they figured since looking close is bad, then looking far away is good... Which isnt true. My advice is to not look at anything close, nor anything far away. My best piece of advice regarding visual stimulus is to lie down and close your eyes. By eliminating the visual component of seasickness you reduce the confusion in the brain and calm the stomach nerves.

 

The other major component here is motion. Your goal is to minimize it. When you think of your body as a 5 or 6 foot tall lever, with the accelerometer at the top, if becomes obvious that standing up increases the motion your ears are detecting. So again, my advice is to lie down. Furthermore, you can reduce the motion by going to a smart place on the ship. Just like your head standing up, the motion is greatest at the top of the ship. Go as low as you can. On a small boat, you want to go to the stern (this is where I believe the wrong advice of "go to the stern" came from), but in a large ship you want to go to the center of gravity. This will be near the center of the ship, and slightly towards the stern. So my advice is to go to deck 2 or 3 and to the center of the ship, and lie down. (That cheap inside stateroom is looking pretty good now huh?)

 

Finally, you can reduce the seasickness by helping the stomachs nerves to be calm. I suggest eating a small meal of dry toast and a bit of fruit. Not much, but something in there. An empty stomach exacerbates the nerves. Avoid fatty meals, because that's triggering the production of bile and other things and is also having your nerves stimulated down there. I find it helpful to lie down on my stomach, so there is a little pressure against it. Avoid stinky smells (especially diesel fuel!), dirty diapers, or anything else that would normally get you even the slightest bit queasy.

 

Medicines also work by deadening the nerve at the stomach. I can say that I get green as a leaf offshore, but if I put on the scopalamine patch I feel great even in rough seas. It does kinda glaze my memory over a little, but not too badly. I've never needed it on a cruise but fishing and diving it is a godsend.

[Kobayashi]

Slopfrog - thanks for your post! Much appreciated. As well as others information!

[Capt_BJ]

in fewer words seasickness is really just vertigo

 

in my time at sea I had to deal with this - for myself - and crew. How susceptible anyone is to sea sickness/vertigo is hugely variable but 'continued exposure' CAN make some more immune than others. That's why I'd see sea sick crew for the first few days of a trip .... and seldom after that. IMO any one who's NEVER been sea sick has just not yet experienced significant enuf seas! But I suppose there are those with a VERY high tolerance.

 

The drugs used basically block the inner ear signals or just numb all response (aka put you to sleep). These work to varying degrees ... in the same way that people are more susc' in the first place. When I had a REALLY bad case on a new crew member, we'd just drug 'em to sleep for 24 hours .... often that allowed the body to adjust and they were OK from then on. And occasionally their medical record was just annotated not able to perform duties due to sea sickness. Rare ... but it happened.

 

The other placebos and what to eat .... well placebos DO work for some and dry foods can settle an unhappy tummy and having something to toss is usually better than the dry heaves!!!!! In the service we certainly did not try this stuff officially but having a ton of saltines available the first few days out was a standing order on my ships!

 

And I don't know anyone that when their tummy feels a little off, appreciates diesel fumes or the smells of other people not doing so well (if you catch my drift ....)

[navybankerteacher]

in fewer words seasickness is really just vertigo

 

in my time at sea I had to deal with this - for myself - and crew. How susceptible anyone is to sea sickness/vertigo is hugely variable but 'continued exposure' CAN make some more immune than others. That's why I'd see sea sick crew for the first few days of a trip .... and seldom after that. IMO any one who's NEVER been sea sick has just not yet experienced significant enuf seas! But I suppose there are those with a VERY high tolerance.

 

The drugs used basically block the inner ear signals or just numb all response (aka put you to sleep). These work to varying degrees ... in the same way that people are more susc' in the first place. When I had a REALLY bad case on a new crew member, we'd just drug 'em to sleep for 24 hours .... often that allowed the body to adjust and they were OK from then on. And occasionally their medical record was just annotated not able to perform duties due to sea sickness. Rare ... but it happened.

 

The other placebos and what to eat .... well placebos DO work for some and dry foods can settle an unhappy tummy and having something to toss is usually better than the dry heaves!!!!! In the service we certainly did not try this stuff officially but having a ton of saltines available the first few days out was a standing order on my ships!

 

And I don't know anyone that when their tummy feels a little off, appreciates diesel fumes or the smells of other people not doing so well (if you catch my drift ....)

 

Reminds me of the ultimate challenge: amphibious warfare exercise off Onslow Beach, N. C. -- circling in an LCM 6, awaiting signal to head for line of departure while platoon of Marines are reacting to wallowing and pitching in heavy chop and diesel exhaust fumes by adding aroma of half-digested breakfast --- it ruined my no-seasickness record.

[jocap]

If it's really rough, and the outside hasn't been closed off, then I'm outside, as high and as far forward as possible, enjoying every moment.:D

[wwcruisers]

when the stern of the ship is pitching WAY UP then WAY DOWN a passtime is to hang out on the fantail and when the fantail reaches the top of an up pitch "JUMP" .... then the ship drops away from you .... and you FLY for a while.

 

Unfortunately this is also a great way to break an ankle or leg ..... on landing.

 

Now why was this a popular 'fantail' activity rather than a bow activity, where the ship ALSO experiences significant up and down movement due to pitch about its center of movement (ships do NOT pitch from the stern)?

 

Because the bridge watch could see the bow and tell crazy folks to stop the dangerous activity while the stern/fantail was typically out of sight before the use of closed circuit TV to provide much more visibility to the bridge watch and increased safety!

 

Thanks for the explanation, Capt_BJ. I definitely understand the concept. The worst seas we ever had were coming back to SD from Baja. We were packing up our aft cabin on Radiance of the Seas, when I went to take a step and the floor literally fell out from under my foot -- yikes! :eek:

[Kobayashi]

Here's a great site to check for wave height and wind forecasts. My cruise should be fairly calm:). Knock on wood:

 

http://www.surfertoday.com/wave-height-forecast

[Capt_BJ]

you can get the NOAA high seas forcast on line

 

I found this VERY useful

 

both the maps of wave height and wind speed in addition to the general forecast

 

'course as a Captain in the Bering, knowing how to read these maps was a wee bit import'

[Langley Cruisers]

First, do not listen to any of these people....

 

Gosh dude, rude much? You can certainly make a point without being so obnoxious. Unless of course... that's what you were going for.:rolleyes:

[wassup4565]

I'm with jocap. I don't get sick, so if the wind is blowing and the ship is rocking and rolling, I love being outside. It's absolutely exhilarating. Especially in the dark.

 

If it's raining, and the wind is blowing, and you're facing into the wind, you also get a very effective facial. I doubt any scrub the spa offers is as vigorous!

[Treven]

I'm with jocap. I don't get sick, so if the wind is blowing and the ship is rocking and rolling, I love being outside. It's absolutely exhilarating. Especially in the dark.

 

If it's raining, and the wind is blowing, and you're facing into the wind, you also get a very effective facial. I doubt any scrub the spa offers is as vigorous!

And a lot cheaper.

 

On my first cruise, I don't remember if we were going to Fanning Isl., or coming back - we hit a storm both ways. During one area, at night, there were a few of us out on one of the upper decks facing the bow of the ship and the wind was really howling and we were holding onto the railing real tight! It began to rain and one of the crew told us we had to move as they were closing off that deck due to the weather.

[agabbymama]

Hunker down in bed and PRAY!

[Mermaid Sue]

Take Bonine (brand name) or a generic version of it BEFORE YOU SET SAIL and every 24 hours thereafter for the duration of the cruise. I prefer a generic chewable version. It is not for children. I have done this after one sailing on which I got sea sick, the sickest I ever remember being and it doesn't stop until the motion does. If you take it WHEN you get to feeling seasick it doesn't work. It has worked well for me. No more episodes.