Possible sea sick for cruise

[Anonymous]

No one has been on a cruise. Kids are 5 and 8. We have been those 1-2 hour harbor cruise, and no one were sick. If we plan our first cruise, how would we know in advance that someone in our family may get seasick to the point that we would regret and hate cruise trip? Is there any way to find out earlier before we are thinking of cruising?

We are in dmv area. Any fun (esp. fun for kids to entertain), decent quality and stable cruise for first timer?

[Anonymous]

I get quite sea sick, and I did well on the very large boats (Oasis of the Seas size). Go outside of hurricane season, and choose routes without a lot of open ocean. That's the best way to guard against this.

I personally can't handle a smaller boat at sea, like for whale watching. If you're looking for a test cruise, try to find something like that for a day trip.

[Anonymous]

We put off going on cruises for years for this reason. We booked our first cruise during the summer in Norway. We used NCL and my kids were 8 & 10 at the time. My youngest gets quite motion sick and my husband used to get motion sick. So, we took a 7 day cruise (not a longer one) to see how we would do. We also chose a cruise that was in milder waters. I purchased dramamine for kids and adults, and sea sickness bands. Everyone did beautifully! Enough so that we have now gone on two more cruises and have one booked for this summer. I would strongly advice you keep the cruise short (7 days max) to start and that you pick a location that does not involve a lot of travel in rougher water. We took a 14 day cruise in the winter (of South America) - we did not go to Antartica ...so we did not truly enter Drake's Passage, but we had days with 26 foot waves. You felt everything! My youngest threw up in the lobby of the ship (NCL was lovely about it) and we decided that the rougher water cruises were not for us. The difference between being on a large cruise ship and being on a smaller harbor boat is huge. My youngest gets sick on buses, but except for the one time with the 26 foot waves, has done beautifully on a large cruise ship. I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

You can’t know in advance.

I never had motion sickness but was so sick on third evening. Got off boat next day and slept on beach all morning. And back on the boat.

Never going on week long cruise again.

[Anonymous]

ask your doctor to prescribe scopalomine patches. they are good for a few days, help with seasickness and dont make you just want to go to bed like dramamine. i dont get seasick but my family use them for scuba diving.

[Anonymous]

I get VERY sea sick -- like, to the point that I don't go on any harbor cruises or anything because I have had a bunch of horrible experiences. But we went on a cruise and beforehand we researched where in the ship we would feel the most comfortable and I was (mostly) fine the whole time. I only felt slightly weird twice and I never actually got sick. Just do some research and have an agent help you pick a stateroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ask your doctor to prescribe scopalomine patches. they are good for a few days, help with seasickness and dont make you just want to go to bed like dramamine. i dont get seasick but my family use them for scuba diving.

+1. I got seasick on the one and only cruise I went on and the patch was the difference between being miserable in bed for a day and being able to function.

[Anonymous]

It's SO BIG you won't notice it moving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ask your doctor to prescribe scopalomine patches. they are good for a few days, help with seasickness and dont make you just want to go to bed like dramamine. i dont get seasick but my family use them for scuba diving.

I didn’t think kids could get these? My pediatrician said the kids could bring bonine (12 and up) and children’s Dramamine. I myself got the patch but never needed to use it, thankfully.

[Anonymous]

I get sick on smaller boats (and in long car rides as well) but was fine on a cruise. I took bonine with me just to be sure, and the wrist bands as well, but didn't need them.

[Anonymous]

I was also very worried about this.

My daughter who is very prone to motion sickness never had an issue. I am also prone and had a few moments of feeling off but it never descended to full blown sickness. We wore the bands on our wrists and I had dramamine ready. My few moments were when I was inside my cabin at night and had no sight lines to horizon.

I was told any kind of sea days with open sea crossings (as opposed to hugging the coast line) are much more potentially problematic. So we didn't do a cruise like that. We were actually in a very small boat and I was still fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's SO BIG you won't notice it moving.

Unfortunately this isn’t true. I’ve had good sea days with clear water on large cruise ships where I wasn’t sick but could absolutely feel the movement, but I’ve also been in stormy weather where I was miserable. The problem is you can’t predict what you’ll get, so you need to be prepared with meds in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's SO BIG you won't notice it moving.

Unfortunately this isn’t true. I’ve had good sea days with clear water on large cruise ships where I wasn’t sick but could absolutely feel the movement, but I’ve also been in stormy weather where I was miserable. The problem is you can’t predict what you’ll get, so you need to be prepared with meds in advance.

+1

One cruise I was on had such bad weather they had vomit bags stationed everywhere. You could definitely feel it.

[Anonymous]

Get a cabin mid ship.
About cruises out of Baltimore or NY as the seas are choppier.
Take non drowsy Dramamine or Bonnie if it bothers you.
The worst times are usually the first and last night—basically whenever they have to cover a lot of mileage they will go faster and it will feel rougher. That’s when to take the Dramamine. Going from island to island overnight is usually very gentle.

If you’re nervous about kids taking adult Dramamine, Benadryl works but will likely make them very tired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's SO BIG you won't notice it moving.

That's not true at all!!!!

Being trapped on a dirty cruise ship barfing doesn't sound like a fun vacation to me.