Motion, sea sickness

Curious about cabin availability on Crown (for Oct 20) I wondered about the old adage that the likelihood of motion sickness aboard ship is dependent on the location on the ship. That is, a cabin forward is worse (more likely) than a cabin mid-ship. Found this article below, link given, read all if you wish, five pages long. Here is only the introduction.

from - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2310/7060.2000.00042/pdf

Journal of Travel Medicine Volume 7, Issue 3, Version of Record online: 8 MAR 2006

Cabin Location and the Likelihood of

Motion Sickness in Cruise Ship Passengers

Paul M. Gahlinger

Background:

The prevalence of motion sickness approaches 100% on rough seas. Some previous studies have reported a strong association between location on a ship and the risk of motion sickness, whereas other studies found no association. This study was undertaken to determine if there is a statistical association between the location of the passenger cabin on a ship and the risk of motion sickness in unadapted passengers.

Method:

Data were collected on 260 passengers on an expedition ship traversing the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica, during rough sea conditions. A standard scale was employed to record motion sickness severity.

Results:

The risk of motion sickness was found to be statistically associated with age and sex. However, no association was found with the location of the passenger cabin.

Conclusions:

Previous research reporting a strong association of motion sickness and passenger location on a ship, studied passengers in the seated position. Passengers who are able to lie in a supine position are at considerably reduced risk of motion sickness. Expedition or cruise ships that provide ready access to berths, allow passengers to avoid the most nauseogenic positions. The location of the passenger cabin does not appear to be related to the likelihood of seasicknes

I took Bonine every day on my 7-day cruise this past February on the Emerald.

I can tell you that I absolutely could feel a difference when I was all the way forward in the Princess theater - and we were in very calm seas. Still, I felt the motion there much more than I did in any other location.

I would never book a forward cabin, because I know I don't do well. Lots of people prefer those locations - I'm more than happy to let them have them, and reserve a mid-ship location instead. Happy all around :)

I believe you. You know yourself and what to do. Me, well, I never get motion sickness no matter how I am jerked around. So we, you and I, are individuals. This Journal study is a statistical analysis and that shows group probabilities. You and I are at the outer limits. Lucky us?

I get carsick if we are on a winding mountain road and I'm not driving so you can imagine how well I do at sea. :rolleyes:

I get a prescription for patches from my doctor. Our first cruise we were almost all the way forward and up high. People were staggering from wall to wall in the hallways and stumbling around deck and in the buffet. Not a problem. I've been through stormy seas where the outer decks were closed off due to high winds and the motion of the ship. Many of the "iron stomach" people took to their cabins while I had steak and lobster in Crown Grill. I didn't get sick at all.

I won't cruise without my patches. It doesn't matter to me if I'm up high and forward or all the way aft or midships. I simply don't get sick with the patch.

That study was done on a small ship (260 pax). I can well believe that on a ship that size, there's no difference where your cabin is -- when one part of the ship bounces, the whole ship bounces. On the other hand, when you're talking about a ship that's measured in football fields, it's quite likely that the bow and aft are going to experience more motion, motion which isn't transmitted as much to the centerpoint.

I feel like if I had paid more attention in AP Physics in high school, I could explain the above in proper scientific terminology. Alas, I spent too much time sighing over my lab partner, the cute cross-country athlete . . .

Yes, I wondered about the ship size also for 260 pax. On page 3 there is a Figure 1 and at bottom of that chart, the X axis, it has - distance from ship center. And that maximum distance from ship center is 40 meters. (farthest cabin? But ship was xxx? long). That chart also shows that the degree of ship (that ship) movement from the center out to that 40 meters. And they explain it but I can not interpret the curve like I'd like to. That is - what did it feel like by being in center versus 40m away? A lot, or, little difference?

They do say, note last sentence, page 3 Figure 1 -

Figure 1 provides these calculated values for the

ship. Distance, refers to the distance of a passenger cabin

from the center of gravity of the ship. The maximum

upwards and downwards acceleration of the cabin is

shown to clearly increase with distance from the center.

That study was done on a small ship (260 pax). I can well believe that on a ship that size, there's no difference where your cabin is -- when one part of the ship bounces, the whole ship bounces. On the other hand, when you're talking about a ship that's measured in football fields, it's quite likely that the bow and aft are going to experience more motion, motion which isn't transmitted as much to the centerpoint.

 

I feel like if I had paid more attention in AP Physics in high school, I could explain the above in proper scientific terminology. Alas, I spent too much time sighing over my lab partner, the cute cross-country athlete . . .

Where you been, Annie? :) We had a bunch of sea sick people on the Grand this last trip a couple of weeks ago. The sea was crazy rough out of SF, and there were people all over the ship getting sick. (Well, not me.)

We just got off at TA that took the northern route to NYC via Norway and Iceland. We had several days where the ship was rocking and rolling in 27 foot waves and 45 knot wind. There were many sea sick pax aboard those nights. It made little difference where you were on the ship. In our cabin one night the drawers in the cabinets keep sliding open. We would close them only to have them reopen on the next big wave. We finally just left them open. We went down to the IC the next morning and had a supervisor wait on us. He said that half the crew was in bed sick! Luckily the seas and wind calmed down later which made it a lot nicer cruise. While this was the worst we had ever seen, we have experienced other times that were almost as bad over the years.

Curious about cabin availability on Crown (for Oct 20) I wondered about the old adage that the likelihood of motion sickness aboard ship is dependent on the location on the ship. That is, a cabin forward is worse (more likely) than a cabin mid-ship. Found this article below, link given, read all if you wish, five pages long. Here is only the introduction.

 

from - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2310/7060.2000.00042/pdf

 

Journal of Travel Medicine Volume 7, Issue 3, Version of Record online: 8 MAR 2006

Cabin Location and the Likelihood of

Motion Sickness in Cruise Ship Passengers

Paul M. Gahlinger

 

Background:

The prevalence of motion sickness approaches 100% on rough seas. Some previous studies have reported a strong association between location on a ship and the risk of motion sickness, whereas other studies found no association. This study was undertaken to determine if there is a statistical association between the location of the passenger cabin on a ship and the risk of motion sickness in unadapted passengers.

 

Method:

Data were collected on 260 passengers on an expedition ship traversing the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica, during rough sea conditions. A standard scale was employed to record motion sickness severity.

 

Results:

The risk of motion sickness was found to be statistically associated with age and sex. However, no association was found with the location of the passenger cabin.

 

Conclusions:

Previous research reporting a strong association of motion sickness and passenger location on a ship, studied passengers in the seated position. Passengers who are able to lie in a supine position are at considerably reduced risk of motion sickness. Expedition or cruise ships that provide ready access to berths, allow passengers to avoid the most nauseogenic positions. The location of the passenger cabin does not appear to be related to the likelihood of seasicknes

260 pax is a tiny sample.

As are expedition ships,

Think of it like a kids see saw (teeter totter), there is more movement at the end than the middle, the same applies to a ship.

I can tell you 100% for Mrs Gut it makes a huge difference.

We always book a cabin in the middle of the ship on deck 10 or 11 and it was great. We never felt much motion at all.

Tony

I have definitely felt more motion forward and higher on a ship. When a ship is rocking from side to side, the higher up in the ship the more it will move. People say that the center of the ship moves less than forward and aft because the ship will pivot around the center of the ship but that has not been my typical experience. In very rough seas I have experienced forward moving up and down more than the center and even more than the aft. Rather than pivoting around the center the ship has tended to pivot closer to the aft. Our cabin all of the way aft on Caribe deck was moving significantly less than the Lido deck by the Trident Grill on the Star Princess.

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I have definitely felt more motion forward and higher on a ship. When a ship is rocking from side to side, the higher up in the ship the more it will move. People say that the center of the ship moves less than forward and aft because the ship will pivot around the center of the ship but that has not been my typical experience. In very rough seas I have experienced forward moving up and down more than the center and even more than the aft. Rather than pivoting around the center the ship has tended to pivot closer to the aft. Our cabin all of the way aft on Caribe deck was moving significantly less than the Lido deck by the Trident Grill on the Star Princess.

 

 

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That is what we have found. The 'pivot point' seems to be close to two-thirds of the way from the bow to the stern. The bow definitely moves more than the stern. When the ship is rolling, the higher decks move more than lower decks.

I love it when the ship rocks and rolls.

I took Bonine every day on my 7-day cruise this past February on the Emerald.

 

I can tell you that I absolutely could feel a difference when I was all the way forward in the Princess theater - and we were in very calm seas. Still, I felt the motion there much more than I did in any other location.

 

I would never book a forward cabin, because I know I don't do well. Lots of people prefer those locations - I'm more than happy to let them have them, and reserve a mid-ship location instead. Happy all around :)

When we had a cabin at Plaza deck FWD and had rough seas going back to FLL, we had to hold onto the hallway railing from Princess theater to our cabin. We took our Meclizine. Our first experience of serious motion sickness.

I get carsick if we are on a winding mountain road and I'm not driving so you can imagine how well I do at sea. :rolleyes:

 

I get a prescription for patches from my doctor. Our first cruise we were almost all the way forward and up high. People were staggering from wall to wall in the hallways and stumbling around deck and in the buffet. Not a problem. I've been through stormy seas where the outer decks were closed off due to high winds and the motion of the ship. Many of the "iron stomach" people took to their cabins while I had steak and lobster in Crown Grill. I didn't get sick at all.

 

I won't cruise without my patches. It doesn't matter to me if I'm up high and forward or all the way aft or midships. I simply don't get sick with the patch.

I'm in the same boat (haha!). Before I went on my first cruise, I had taken two ferry crossings - one from England to France, and another from the North Island of New Zealand to the South. I literally spent the entire time on both of those crossings laying down, praying not to get sick. When I decided to go with family on a cruise, I got a prescription for patches. The 5 day cruise, I only wore it for a couple days and didn't reapply - but the last night we hit rough water and I was again laying down, praying not to be sick. Now, I wear it the entire time just to be safe. I don't have any side effects from the patch, and I'd rather be having fun on my cruise. I feel like it is much harder to get rid of sea sickness once you get it than to just avoid it entirely with medication.

I love it when the ship rocks and rolls.

I sleep far better...

I sleep far better...

Another vote from me. The dining rooms and bars are quieter :)

Having said that I do sympathise with those that suffer seasickness if they get it bad as it's not nice. Luckily I have never suffered and I've done small Tall Ship sailing.

I don't get sea sick and have crossed the Atlantic with 30ft seas and force 10 winds, it was so rough and strong winds they closed the outer decks for 2 days. My daughter got a little queasy, she made the mistake of reading, never do that in rough seas, same way you don't read in a car if prone to motion sickness. At any rate, she wanted to curl up and crawl into bed, that's the worst thing you can do. You have to address the symptoms immediately or they become harder to remedy. I made her go out on deck, we were able to use our balconies, the wind was really hammering the opposite side. In 10 minutes her queasiness went away, then gave her ginger. She was fine after that. So long story short, recognize that some things trigger it and aggressively address symptoms if you do feel sick. If you are unable to get out on an outside deck, find a window and focus on the horizon till symptoms subside.

Middle & lower best. I take non-drowsy Dramamine before I board and take freeze dried type ginger here and there. Stay ahead of getting the sickness

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I find that my orientation on the ship is what counts. First cruise with my sister was on the original Royal Princess, Buenos Aires to Manaus. We had an OV cabin pretty far forward on promenade deck. The bunks were under the window, and we both found we could not sit in our beds and read, etc. We had to go out into other areas of the ship. I have been all the way forward on Carnival Splendor and not had any problem. When it got rough on QE2 in the Irish Sea we had to resort to our seabands, which work for us. I found in a porthole cabin forward on Carnival Celebration, I couldn't sit facing the portholes and read or compute. Last month on Carnival Glory in another porthole cabin. pretty far forward and low, I again found I couldn't sit facing the porthole on a bouncy night and use the computer to write my journal. I had to give up and go to bed. It was late, anyway. So for me/us, position on ship doesn't matter, orientation does. EM

A serious issue with that study is that perhaps people who are sensitive to motion sickness will preferentially book midship cabins, and those who are less sensitive will book anywhere, even far forward or aft.

Hence, a serious confounder limiting interpretation of these results.

I have a very strong stomach but on my very first cruise I discovered that cruise ships make me a little queasy. A very nice lady that I met gave me a seasick tab for behind my ear and it worked great. After quite a few cruises I still carry them with me but don't get seasick anymore.