Experience with motion on Escape

[CruisinwithZ]

I don't get sea sick, but get nervous (like when hitting turbulence on a plane)... When you all say you can feel the motion, is it such that you can see the drinks in your glass moving, or if you left your bathroom door open it would swing back and forth? Just trying to get an idea of the extent of the motion that is being felt. Thank you (we are sailing on the escape on 3/26)

[kat32cruiser]

Oh no, absolutely not the case for us. It wasn't like that but rather you could really feel like you were on a boat/water. I've been on smaller vessels and didn't feel any movement like that. I guess i was expecting to not really feel the motion at all because of the sheer size of the ship. I didn't mind it, but I definitely had some adjusting to do to get my sea legs.

[cjw928]

I don't get sea sick, but get nervous (like when hitting turbulence on a plane)... When you all say you can feel the motion, is it such that you can see the drinks in your glass moving, or if you left your bathroom door open it would swing back and forth? Just trying to get an idea of the extent of the motion that is being felt. Thank you (we are sailing on the escape on 3/26)

 

 

Hmm... well that depends who you ask. They say that the higher you are the less you feel and also that the lower you are and more towards the aft or front of the ship the more motion you'll feel. We had a front facing OV on deck 14 and it took us 2 days to shake the vertigo feeling we had. We dont get sea sick and both of us were feeling dizzy from all the movement. Our bathroom door swung shut a bunch of times and would open with the slightest wave; if it clicks shut it wont open, the magnet will hold it shut but if you dont hear the click assume your door will open by itself. The 2nd night at the Manhattan room I fell into my seat while being seated. The menu fell to the floor and some people stared. I was already really dizzy so I'm not sure if that was just my balance issues or if the wave was larger at that moment. In general the sea was pretty calm last week during our trip; I believe they were only 2ft waves. Our captain was tailing another ship midway through the week and we needed to hold on to the railings on our way back to our room because we kept zig zagging in the hallway due to the large ripples that other ship made. The Escape was not made properly and it shows. The crew tried very hard to assure us that the ship wasnt moving but the evidence is too great to ever believe them; they kept telling us we just needed to get our sea legs. By the 3rd day the dizzy spells went away and we were able to enjoy ourselves but we still felt the motion and used the hand rails in the hallways. Just a word of caution... if you feel the motion don't be like my husband and try to drink away the feeling. He got so sick the 2nd night and had to stay up all night in the bathroom; sick from the vertigo feeling mixed with a belly full of alcohol just doesnt mix well. Motion aside the cruise was amazing and I would love to go back and do it all again. The waves made falling asleep very easy though, just a pain to walk.

[cjw928]

Oh no, absolutely not the case for us. It wasn't like that but rather you could really feel like you were on a boat/water. I've been on smaller vessels and didn't feel any movement like that. I guess i was expecting to not really feel the motion at all because of the sheer size of the ship. I didn't mind it, but I definitely had some adjusting to do to get my sea legs.

 

 

We've been on many larger ships and this is the only ship we've ever felt the waves; other than during storms. Our door slammed shut a few times as we were at the very front of the ship.

[barzm]

I used a sea band and drank like a fish!! No issues. Tried taking it off one night. Yea...went right back on after dinner. Saw a few people wear one on each wrist. I just wore it on one. Alternating as the area became sensitive. This was my first cruise. So I felt I was overly sensitive to it in comparison to others I talked with.

[cubsfan2008]

Wow not looking good for this ship. I heard someplace that possibly the ship has an issue with its stabilizers and it was undergoing repair?

[Zena2005]

We sailed in a forward penthouse on the 14th floor from 1/9 - 1/16. No problems with seasickness. There were four people in our party, with two prone to motion issues, but no problem on the Escape and no need for pills or patches.

 

Thank you for the info. In the past we've been just fine and I know this topic is subjective. The Mrs. was concerned it may be an issue with all the chatter taking place. 115 days to go!

[dolita22]

Gah! We sail the Escape this Saturday! My DH and I sailed on the 3-day in November and had a super smooth sailing. But that cruise was just to the Bahamas. We've sailed a similar itinerary as next week, but on the Epic, and had no issues with seasickness, so I'm crossing my fingers we'll be good to go. It's only the second cruise for our friends who are traveling with us, so they have stocked up on Bonine. Hoping for smooth sailing!

[Zena2005]

Gah! We sail the Escape this Saturday! My DH and I sailed on the 3-day in November and had a super smooth sailing. But that cruise was just to the Bahamas. We've sailed a similar itinerary as next week, but on the Epic, and had no issues with seasickness, so I'm crossing my fingers we'll be good to go. It's only the second cruise for our friends who are traveling with us, so they have stocked up on Bonine. Hoping for smooth sailing!

 

dolita,

 

Curious, where is your stateroom? Also, if you remember, please report back when you return from your trip. We too did the similar itinerary on the Epic at had no issues.

 

One thought I had, and not sure if it is a contributing factor, but the Epic and Gataway would leave Miami and head to St Maarten which is farther than the Escape's first stop at St Thomas. I would think that if you were heading to St. Maarten the ships cruising speed would be increased to make port on Tuesday. With the increase speed, it could impact the ride of the ship, meaning that you are cutting through the waves as opposed to going slower where the wave could be tossing the ship around. Since the Escapes first stop is St. Thomas, maybe the overall cruising speed or lack there of, is causing the problem.

 

Just a thought and would love to hear what other's may think.

[cubsfan2008]

I will report back in Feb, we are deck 10 midship. I have never had any issues on other ships except for one night in a terrible storm years ago.

[minnesotamamafish]

Ugh I'm wishing I didn't read this post! We are sailing on July 31 on Escape; staying in the Haven. We had a horrible time on Epic; my husband had said that was because of how tall they built it so I was hoping that Escape would be better. This will be our first cruise over summer months; but it did seem like our Dec/Jan cruises have been more rocky so I'm praying that we will be ok. For the Epic; I used sea bands, scopolamine patches, and Bonine but basically just laying in bed was my only relief. My daughter found an oil to run behind her ears and that was pretty effective as long as she laid down also. We were in bed right after dinner every night. Thanks for the suggestions; I will try anything to feel better! The funny thing, my first ever cruise in Jan 2007 on Jewel, even the captain/crew were sick from the huge waves but haha I did well on that one, maybe because of all the alcohol! This one has a margaritaville so that may not be a problem!

 

Just an fyi, I was looking all over for that oil for behind the ears before our cruise because it worked for my girls on a previous trip. (I used chewable Bonine which worked well for me. )

 

I could not find the oil anywhere, only to find it being sold in the Escape gift shop! I think it was 6 or 7 dollars.

 

Start to use your patch or pills a few days before your trip, so it is built up in your system.

 

As an aside, my girls used the oil on the Conquest, but never needed it on the Escape. We felt swaying on occasion, but nothing disturbing.

[dolita22]

dolita,

 

Curious, where is your stateroom? Also, if you remember, please report back when you return from your trip. We too did the similar itinerary on the Epic at had no issues.

 

On Saturday's sailing, we're in a mid-ship balcony on deck 14. I will try to remember to report back when we return! :)

[Zena2005]

On Saturday's sailing, we're in a mid-ship balcony on deck 14. I will try to remember to report back when we return! :)

 

Thank you Dolita22.

 

Have a great cruise, enjoy!

[CamaCama]

We sailed Thanksgiving week and felt constant motion, more than any other ship we'd been on. We went through a bad storm that was pretty scary one night too. But out of the 7 of us, only 1 got seasick the night of that storm... and none of us were on seasick meds at all. We did bring them with us though, just in case. Bring bonine and ginger pills.

 

When we got off we all felt like we were still on the ship for 2 days after... that's something we'd never felt before after getting off a ship!

[Shelli]

Hmm... well that depends who you ask. They say that the higher you are the less you feel and also that the lower you are and more towards the aft or front of the ship the more motion you'll feel.

 

This is actually the opposite of the truth! The least amount of motion is felt midship on lower decks; the most motion is felt on the higher decks, particularly in the front of the ship.

[MacGuffin]

It's because some document in the cabin has ship stats and for the Away class they include the lifeboats, whereas for the Escape the figure is at the waterline.

 

You are correct that the Escape is wider but unfortunately the misinformation is starting to get established and keeps cropping up.

 

One person got quite upset about it in a thread last year.

 

That's very interesting that NCL uses a different standard when measuring the width of the Escape vs. Away class! It has the exact same length, and the extra tonnage is due to an additional 1.5 decks of cabins. It would be odd for them to only tweak the ship design by adding only a few extra feet in width, and not length. Not unheard of, as the Queen Elizabeth/Koningsdam is just a stretched and tweaked Zuiderdam. So perhaps the Escape and Away are also the same width, too, if measured at the same point?

 

I say this because our cruise on Getaway in calm calm seas had the most movement of any ship we've cruised on! We ventured back to the crowded Spice H2O one day and felt like we were getting whiplash. We only lasted about 30 min back there. It seemed inevitable that piling 2 extra decks on top of an already top heavy design would cause even more motion. And with 200+ more people on board, too! We've had the smoothest rides in some rough seas on the Breeze, HAL Vista class and Princess Grand+ class.

[Kdiamond55]

We were on this boat in November and never once did anyone in our party feel the boat moving. That said we only went to the Bahamas and were traveling slow, but it did move. We had a midship balcony on deck 12. Never even felt the nighttime "lull" when I was in bed.

[jewliana]

We sail on the Escape this Saturday. I get motion sickness but have not really had any trouble on recent cruises. I am NOT taking any chances this one! Stocked up on Bonine and hoping it works because checking the weather shows 28 mph winds for sailaway. YIKES!

Thinking I should unpack pop a Bonine put on a blindfold and lay down! LOL!!!

Edited January 21, 2016 by jewliana