Motion Sickness

We are on the Wind Spirit Tahiti cruise in Feb. I'm a little nervous about the motion sickness on a small ship. My doctor prescribed the patches behind the ears but have never used them. I usually take Bonine each day but sometimes it doesn't work. How is the motion on the Wind Spirit compared to the larger cruise ships? Our first Windstar cruise we are really looking forward to it.

I always use meclizine. Tahiti is a pretty calm area. we did it on

the Paul Gaugin

You might try ginger tablets and gum that you can get from the health food store. I have had success with that.

Because of the hull configuration of a sailboat, they usually roll less than a powerboat. We did a Mediterranean cruise on the Windspirit about five years ago, and it seemed to roll much less than much larger cruise ships on which we had traveled.

If in doubt, use the patch. Put it on 24 hrs before departure. Good thing about a patch is that it's effect tapers down over a few days, while your "sea legs" taper up over the same period :). My DW is a little sensitive to ship motion and this works well for her. She has never applied a second patch.

Great cruise. Tahiti is very smooth sailing because most of the time you are inside the Lagoon. The very best way to see the islands. Happy Sailing.

If have not traveled to Tahiti YET (on my list), but if you have never used the prescribed patch before, be sure to take it for a "test drive" prior to sailing. Most people have no problems, but I had a severe reaction to scopolamine so it can happen.

Just a heads up. Enjoy your cruise.

Maybe my experience is atypical, but I experience significantly more seasickness on the larger ships than I did on the Wind Spirit. Even though the Wind Spirit definitely moves more, the type of motion on the larger ships is more disorienting to me.

I felt like the small size of the Wind Spirit helped my system process what was going on. As in, since I could see from one end of the ship to the other and see it moving up and down, my mind and my body could communicate clearly to each other as to what was going on.

On the big ships I am constantly taking pills. I feared the worst for the Wind Spirit, but I ended up not taking a single pill the whole time. I guess you just never know.

That is a very keen observation. It's always best to keep your head level with the horizon and shift your body with the motion. Never "freeze up" and keep your head stationary with respect to your body.

We were once on a small Greek passenger ferry going between two nearby islands and the waves got quite high in the passage. Many people, including my DW, we're getting ill. I led her to the front of the boat and had her lock her eyes on the horizon and hold onto the railing, and "ride" the boat like a horse or surfboard. She quickly got the hang of it, moving around quite a bit with the motion, and soon she felt better and actually enjoyed the "ride". Sadly, the crew had a lot of cleaning up to do due to others that didn't follow our example....

My bride uses the Patch on all our cruises. On our last cruise out of Miami on Oceania's Marina she had forgotten to attach the Patch until we were under way. After 30 minutes she was not feeling well so we applied the Patch. Within 15 minutes all was fine. I disagree with the suggestion you should apply the Patch 24 hours in advance given this experience although everybody is different. One consideration is the time limit for each Patch. After 3 days they must be replaced. Using one on dry land wastes a day of use.

Hopefully your Doctor instructed you on the Patch and touching your eyes after application. If your hands are not washed thoroughly you may find your pupils will dilate and your eyes will be sun sensitive for some time. Same goes for your partner if he or she applies the Patch and then touches their eyes.

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

Windstar's sailing ships use the sails, water tanks they can move water from or to and wing stabilizers to help stabilize the ship. Tahiti and her islands offer a lot of sheltered waters, so it should be pretty calm.

We've done four cruises on Wind Song, a sister ship, and M/S Paul Gauguin. The most motion we had was on our first trip, going to the more isolated Tuamotus (open ocean, a good swell).

The ship has Meclizine freely available, but as a frequent traveler on small live aboard dive boats I personally prefer ginger (ginger in any form will work pretty well).

Talk to your physician about the Scopolamine patch and about Meclizine as well, as though it is over the counter it may interfere with some medications. And remember to start before the motion begins, rather than after you begin to feel ill (if you do so).