Choppy seas on the Ventura

Hi, we are going on the Ventura this Sunday from Southampton to the canaries. Been looking at the shipping forecast and it seems likely that the seas will be rough. My wife gets sea sick if they are too rough so we have only ever done fly cruises to the med before and this is the first time we are doing the bay or biscay. How well stabilised is the Ventura? What are others experience of this? Thanks.

Biscay can be very calm, but it does have a reputation. Ventura has all the stuff that modern ships need, but like most modern ships has a flat bottom which means in big swells it can roll around a bit. However do not worry unduly, according to weatherbadger.com, the seas on Sunday / Monday look pretty good.

Hi, we are going on the Ventura this Sunday from Southampton to the canaries. Been looking at the shipping forecast and it seems likely that the seas will be rough. My wife gets sea sick if they are too rough so we have only ever done fly cruises to the med before and this is the first time we are doing the bay or biscay. How well stabilised is the Ventura? What are others experience of this? Thanks.

Be prepared. I have used Sturgeon in the past (from Boots). If the report is bad (and the captain will say if they are expecting bad weather) I take one before going to bed the first night. Two fold, helps me sleep that first night, and gets it into your system, so if the weather is bad you already have one tablet working.

Others swear by nibbling on ginger (biscuits/candied etc)

Or others have sworn by the wrist bands you can get for seasickness.(again Boots)

Don't leave it until you get onboard..an injection from the doc on board is instant but costs about £60. Otherwise reception charge about £2-3 for seasick tablet.

Don't go thinking the worst, it might not be as bad as you fear.

Ventura is big, so the seas don't seem to affect her as much as they would smaller ships. I've been across the BoB several times in her and never had problems, though that was in calm weather. In fact the worst experience I've had in her was in the Med! - traversing the Strait of Bonifacio, between Corsica and Sardinia. That gave rise to a number of 'bumps', as if she'd hit a pothole, rather than rocking and rolling. (It was due to the combination of tides and winds coming from various directions through the Strait that night - it's a well known spot where things can get rough).

My experience is that Ventura is more likely to roll (left to right) than pitch (from and back). Whereabouts is your cabin?

Hi, we are going on the Ventura this Sunday from Southampton to the canaries. Been looking at the shipping forecast and it seems likely that the seas will be rough. My wife gets sea sick if they are too rough so we have only ever done fly cruises to the med before and this is the first time we are doing the bay or biscay. How well stabilised is the Ventura? What are others experience of this? Thanks.

When we sailed on Azura, Ventura's sister ship 2 years ago, it was pretty choppy on our last sea day, across the Bay, and you hardly felt a thing. My daughter, who gets seasick, was perfectly OK and didn't need to use any remedies. It was choppy enough for the outdoor decks to be closed due to the high winds, spray, etc. When walking down corridors there was a tendency to "zig-zag" more, caused by the ship's movement, but this was very slight. Other than that there was an occasional lurch, or "bump" as tom-uk said, nothing more.

Wishing you a wonderful cruise.

Be prepared. I have used Sturgeon in the past (from Boots).

You can buy STUGERON at Boots, but their own travel sickness tablets are pretty much the same and cheaper. We always take these with us.

Am not sure buying a Sturgeon would help much though! Sounds a bit fishy to me.....:D

I find sea-bands useful and these can be obtained from Boots and some supermarkets in their travel section. But make sure you wear them it he correct position on your wrist. They should be tight, too.

Hope the Bay of Biscay behaves!

We were on board Ventura in May and sailed to the Canaries.

Going out was fine, but we had more than two days of storms on the way back.

Ventura does not behave well in rough seas and we were thrown around quite a bit. My daughter (crew) said it was the worst BoB crossing in four months and the crew had to keep their port holes closed.

Rather good fun really.

Stewart

Thanks for the replies, she's off to boots before we go. Our cabin is B633 balcony. Not mid ships unfortunately as they were all sold out.

I have been aft on Ventura B and C deck three times and movement has been minimal. I am sure you will be fine.:cool:

My wife and I were on the Ventura's sister ship (or should that be cousin?) Caribbean Princess.

On the previous three cruises we had on similar sized Royal Caribbean ships my wife at some point felt a little worse for wear from the motion. But on Caribbean Princess she never felt it - even on the day that the water was slopping out of the pool and over the deck.

We're hoping the same is true for Ventura as we will be on her in October.

Hi, we are going on the Ventura this Sunday from Southampton to the canaries. Been looking at the shipping forecast and it seems likely that the seas will be rough. My wife gets sea sick if they are too rough so we have only ever done fly cruises to the med before and this is the first time we are doing the bay or biscay. How well stabilised is the Ventura? What are others experience of this? Thanks.

Looks like we are on the same cruise.... We went on the Ventura on just a 4 day mini and can honestly say we couldnt tell we were actually on water it was that smooth although we didnt cross the BoB. We did cross the BoB on the Azura though and apart from very limited movement again it was very good, Nothing to worry about..... I HOPE :D

Candied Ginger Nuggets from Holland and Barrett on line are good. Just shove a few in the mouth chew a bit and swallow as soon as you can because they taste very strong. Apparently they make the upper stomach muscle sort of contract and keep everything southbound. I believe modern ships also have giant seawater tanks which operate like a submarine and make the ship heavier and float lower in the water.

Regards John

All the advice so far should help you. But the BOB ( ...and the oceans generally!) is quite frankly very unpredictable, as is the amount of movement you feel. A lot will depend on the size and direction of the swell, whether it is a long nor short swell, wave height, how much wind there is & it's direction etc etc. stablisers only help reduce roll, they won't make much difference to pitching.

On Azura in May the seas were a bit lumpy but coming down the west coast of Portugal was worse than the bay itself. The hurricane force winds we had in the med were fun.....:)

On Azura in June last year the BOB was like a millpond.

Have a good cruise.

Definitely the candied ginger. Helped my friend when she felt queasy. She also uses sea bands. Problem with the pills is they make you sleepy.

Definitely the candied ginger. Helped my friend when she felt queasy. She also uses sea bands. Problem with the pills is they make you sleepy.

The very first cruise I did I took Stugeron every day just in case and slept through all the theatre performances.:eek:

Definitely the candied ginger. Helped my friend when she felt queasy. She also uses sea bands. Problem with the pills is they make you sleepy.

I have noticed that some lines provide ginger outside MDR in the evening but when people get sick these are withdrawn because of a norovirus scare perceived due to people being sick; funny how the seas got rough at the same time. Much better to take your own supply.

Regards John

My experience is that Ventura is more likely to roll (left to right) than pitch (from and back).

That was not my experience last summer on Ventura when we sailed up from Corsica to Genoa, when the seas were rough and the seasickness bags were out in force.

Fortunately I don't suffer, so took a stroll up to Metropolis at the top of the ship at the back, and looked out from the 'wings' where you can see all the way along to the front of the ship.

That was a marvellous sight and really showed the huge movement up and down, as the front of the ship crashed down into each trough and then was thrown up by the next wave. There must have been 20+ degrees relative movement up and down.

The roll of the ship is much more controlled due to the stabilisers, but it is the roll that is really likely to set people off, so is much more noticeable.

For seasickness tablets, I would recommend Lloyds Pharmacy own brand travel sickness tablets, which contain Promethazine Teoclate. My wife suffers badly from motion sickness, but on a recent cruise up and around Iceland, where the seas were very 'interesting', she had no issues at all.

I dont get sick but I do get frightened, the fear of sinking is what gets to me.

How do regular cruisers get over this irrational (is it?) fear.

I dont get sick but I do get frightened, the fear of sinking is what gets to me.

 

How do regular cruisers get over this irrational (is it?) fear.

By asking myself when was the last time I read of a well maintained cruise ship sinking,except titanic and posidon.

Seas do get rough, and ships move about in them,but they don't sink.

Beachmad, I liken the movement to that on an aircraft, turbulence on the sea as opposed to in the air. I guess that may not help if you are a nervous flier!!

By asking myself when was the last time I read of a well maintained cruise ship sinking,except titanic and posidon.

Costa Concordia?

The BoB was a bit bouncy on our cruise a couple of weeks ago. It didn't affect us, and fingers crossed that you and your wife will be fine too even if there's a bit of movement.

Beachmad, I liken the movement to that on an aircraft, turbulence on the sea as opposed to in the air. I guess that may not help if you are a nervous flier!!

Thats me :o

Im thinking of getting in some Stugeron for the future, they sound like they calm you down a bit.

It never gets as rough as this on Ventura

Regards John