Sea sickness !

Hi,

Close family have said that they would love to give a cruise a try and we are looking at April 2018. One of them suffers from travel sickness and sea sickness, however, and apart from telling her that they need a cabin as close to the middle as possible (and that the medical centre can help) I'm not really sure how they can help her. (If that makes sense) Hubby and I are very fortunate and whatever the weather we don't seem to be affected by sea sickness and the 'boppier' the better for us !

Has anyone who suffers from sea sickness got any encouraging things I can tell her please as I don't want them to have the holiday from Hell !

Thanks

:)

Hi,

 

Close family have said that they would love to give a cruise a try and we are looking at April 2018. One of them suffers from travel sickness and sea sickness, however, and apart from telling her that they need a cabin as close to the middle as possible (and that the medical centre can help) I'm not really sure how they can help her. (If that makes sense) Hubby and I are very fortunate and whatever the weather we don't seem to be affected by sea sickness and the 'boppier' the better for us !

 

Has anyone who suffers from sea sickness got any encouraging things I can tell her please as I don't want them to have the holiday from Hell !

 

Thanks

 

:)

Go prepared get some stugeron or other such

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1199016/Five-best--travel-sickness-remedies.html

Some people use the seabands you can get.

Some take ginger to eat.

As you say go for a midships cabin, rather than fore/aft.

If you wait until onboard the injection from the doctor cost approx. £60, so That is why I suggest going prepared.

They will sell you a sea sick tablet as well, cheaper, but go prepared.

Some people say if you go out on the prom deck and look at the horizon, that will help.

I have only suffered with it the once, and purchased a tablet from reception. Now I always go prepared, and have never needed them.

Can recommend liquid phenergan from the chemist - it's the liquid drinkable form of the medication that is used in the injection from the doctor on board and costs approx £3.99 . I have found it works brilliantly for me at a fraction of the cost. Worth a look.

A friend of mine suffered from bad sea sickness but loves cruising she takes half of an Avomine tablet (available at chemists) every morning says it works for her. We now always take a pack with us for days with bad swells, one tablet , a couple of hours sleep and it works a treat.

Ginger, motion sickness bands and motion sickness pills are your friend here.

Which ship are you going on? If you're on a bigger ship you should feel little to no movement.

Dan

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I pack ginger tea and ginger lozenges. I always take a Bonine tablet 2 hours before I cruise then one every morning. It's over the counter, so it's easy to get and doesn't make me drowsy.

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I take crystallised ginger and start eating it on the way down to the ship. Never felt queasy yet, although I used to feel seasick on our boat.

I suffered from dreadful travel sickness. Always have done, despite being on my parents boats from a youngster. Mum said she'd never known anyone go physically green! I still was very bad in 2003 when on a yacht for 3 days on the Barrier Reef, until I popped the Boots pills... I still get travel sick at times on buses, cars, etc...

All those natural things people suggest, did and do nothing for me

I used to swear by the Boots non drowsy travel sickness pills, they were brilliant. BUT Boots have changed their ingredient now :mad: I have tried a few things since they changed. All make me drowsy but that's better than being sick, so they're my backup plan

I went to Antarctica nearly 10 years ago and the Southern Ocean helped (kill or cure!) ... I finally could be on board and not feel sick despite the little vessel being in waves crashing up to the Bridge... last year I went on my first true cruise, on Aurora, and despite the F11 storm Dec 25th-26th, I finally didn't feel sick.

I will still carry those pills with me though in case... and will continue to do so. I make sure we have a balcony mid ship cabin so my head and brain can synch. I try and eat 3 times a day if I'm not too bad. I only drink water. I do not read a book, etc, if I think I am going to be bad. I try and remain near a window too. Once I have my sea legs I now seem to be fine doing anything :)

Thanks everyone, some really good tips. I will pass them on.

We are thinking of Oceana and know that you can feel her move when it gets a bit boppy. :D

My wife swears by stugeron and sea bands, they obviously help her a great deal and she has suffered no sea sickness as of yet, this is a result for someone who felt really queasy while standing on the pontoon waiting for the Gospot Ferry on a flat calm day:D:D

10 pints of stella in the crow's nest works wonders.:eek:

Travel /sea sickness is a terrible thing. My husband and daughter both suffer dreadfully,,my husband is usually fine on a ship but can't do any rides in Disney or anything like that,,not good on coaches either. When it gets him , it strikes hard and fast and he just collapses in a heap and you think he's dying,,it takes hours for him to recover from it. We make sure he has avomine or stugeron well before going anywhere. They work for him in that they stop him feeling so bad he vomits and collapses but don't make him completely better. They don't work for my daughter at all and she refuses to try cruising again. I, myself, am lucky enough not to suffer it but I do get very dizzy if there is a bit of sway but I go outside and focus on the horizon until my head realigns itself. I've also noticed that distraction techniques work! After all is said and done though if you don't like the motion of the ocean and can't stop thinking about it then will anything work? It's horrible and definately spoils your holiday. I hope you manage to figure it out.

I use the sea bands for the wrists when it gets a bit bumpy and stick to the larger ships. Also the cabin position can make a difference.Have heard ginger tea or biscuits is good for sickness in general. We found the Sea Princess very bumpy in the Caribbean and prefer the Britannia.

Yes, the second Oceana has somewhat bad weather she can bounce her way through the Bay of Biscay!! I believe it may be because when she was with Princess she was built for calmer seas and that would explain the reason she's staying in the Med. If they do book a cruise on her she is a beautiful ship but keep in mind they'd need a cabin as low down and as midship as possible to ease the movement.

When we went to the Med on Oceana in April 2009 we were offered an upgrade to a balcony cabin but declined - knowing what the Bay of Biscay can do I think we made the right decision as the balconies are higher up; we were on D Deck and still felt a lot of movement!!!

Whatever happens tell them to go and enjoy their cruise.

Dan :-)

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Hi,

 

Has anyone who suffers from sea sickness got any encouraging things I can tell her please as I don't want them to have the holiday from Hell !

 

Thanks

 

:)

The seasickness starts for me within an hour if I don't take precautions. All the oral medications make me so tired that I sleep my cruise away! But the Scopolamine patch is a wonder! You apply the small patch behind your ear four hours before sailaway and change it every 4 days. It's really the only thing that handles it for me without the strong side effects. You must get these through your doctor before sailing, though. Hope the family member has a wonderful cruise experience!

Thanks for all of this great advice everyone. They're very excited already and we haven't even booked yet :D

Travelling is difficult for me, for medical reasons, and cruising is really my best option if I want to go more than an hour from home (good job Southampton is nearer than that! :) ). So seasickness is very bad news for me.

My seasickness was such that I thought I would have to give up cruising, and therefore all travelling, completely :( Wrist bands, ginger, aromatherapy concoctions, green apples, OTC and prescribed tabelts all failed to improve matters substantially :(

My lovely GP was happy to prescribe the scopolamine patch and it has been my saviour! I put it on the evening before the cruise starts. If we have a few quiet days mid-cruise I am happy to leave it off but it goes back on before we start the homeward journey.

Concurrent alcohol can increase the side effects of the patch but I haven't found this a problem. I do suggest that people test it out at home first though (with and without alcohol) so that they can make other arrangements if side effects are severe.

We are going up to the northern cape in February and I wouldn't even be able to consider this without my trusty patches :)

Travelling is difficult for me, for medical reasons, and cruising is really my best option if I want to go more than an hour from home (good job Southampton is nearer than that! :) ). So seasickness is very bad news for me.

 

My seasickness was such that I thought I would have to give up cruising, and therefore all travelling, completely :( Wrist bands, ginger, aromatherapy concoctions, green apples, OTC and prescribed tabelts all failed to improve matters substantially :(

 

My lovely GP was happy to prescribe the scopolamine patch and it has been my saviour! I put it on the evening before the cruise starts. If we have a few quiet days mid-cruise I am happy to leave it off but it goes back on before we start the homeward journey.

 

Concurrent alcohol can increase the side effects of the patch but I haven't found this a problem. I do suggest that people test it out at home first though (with and without alcohol) so that they can make other arrangements if side effects are severe.

 

We are going up to the northern cape in February and I wouldn't even be able to consider this without my trusty patches :)

Thanks to everyone for this advice. I will pass it on. Well they have booked now and we will be taking 2 very excited new cruisers on a cruise with us in April 2018. We have sorted a balcony cabin mid ship for them, though it is on B deck as they wanted a nice balcony.

Reading all of this makes me realise how lucky we are that neither of us gets even the slightest bit sea sick. We were meant to sail :D:D

Thanks again everyone

Thanks to everyone for this advice. I will pass it on. Well they have booked now and we will be taking 2 very excited new cruisers on a cruise with us in April 2018. We have sorted a balcony cabin mid ship for them, though it is on B deck as they wanted a nice balcony.

 

Reading all of this makes me realise how lucky we are that neither of us gets even the slightest bit sea sick. We were meant to sail :D:D

 

Thanks again everyone

What did you end up booking?

Just to add a little to cabin position; certainly midships is better than forward however we found that aft of centre may be better still. I believe this is due to the majority of the mass of the ship is probably in line with or just in front of the funnels. As the ship pitches it will tend to rotate around the centre of mass and motion will be more apparent the further you are from that point. For similar reasons lower is better than higher decks but this needs to be balanced against access to fresh air & open deck space which is obviously easier from upper decks.

Hope thus makes sense !

Steve

What did you end up booking?

Booked the 1 week Fly cruise to the Eastern Med 5th April on Oceana for us and they are doing the 2 weeks. We have to go back to work ;-( We are on A deck forward and they are B deck mid ships

Having said that we may repeat it in the August ... but are waiting to see what else there may be before we book that one.

Whatever, VERY VERY happy with the choice and cost :D

Just to add a little to cabin position; certainly midships is better than forward however we found that aft of centre may be better still. I believe this is due to the majority of the mass of the ship is probably in line with or just in front of the funnels. As the ship pitches it will tend to rotate around the centre of mass and motion will be more apparent the further you are from that point. For similar reasons lower is better than higher decks but this needs to be balanced against access to fresh air & open deck space which is obviously easier from upper decks.

Hope thus makes sense !

Steve

Sort of ... ha ha

We went for the B deck as they wanted a nice balcony and we know that the A deck are under the lido deck and the C deck ones are smaller. Fingers crossed they will be ok :)

Sea sickness is indeed hideous and I can still remember the first time I experienced it on a Portsmouth - Le Havre ferry over 30 years ago. The last time was on a Whale and Dolphin Watching excursion whilst on a cruise to the Canaries around 10 years ago.

I think that most sea sickness non-medicinal remedies such as bands are primarily placebo effect and most travel sickness pills (Quells etc) are useless.

Having been recommended them on this forum and used them on every cruise since with 100% success rate for all family members, even in force 10 storms, I can wholeheartedly recommend STUGERON.

Take 2 tablets a few hours before you set sail, one before you go to bed the first night and then one in the morning and one in the evening for at least the next day. I then find that I can stomach pretty much anything, weather wise, for the rest of the cruise. They do make you feel a little drowsy (but it's quite a nice 'chilled' feeling) and, best of all, you can drink alcohol when taking them with no ill effects :D

If stormy weather sets in later in the cruise I take one or two more of them as a precaution. I remember returning from the Canaries on Oceana and the waves were massive and the ship was going up and down like a yo-yo. Most passengers were green and unable to walk around and I actually enjoyed it. Had a frightening experience on Azura one night in a freak storm in the Med (captain had never known the like of it in the Med before) where we were almost thrown out of bed and you could hear the superstructure creaking and groaning as if it was going to be torn apart. Didn't even bother to get the Stugeron that time as I had decided that I was going down with the ship as there was no way I was getting in one of those little life boats in waves that size!

Sort of ... ha ha

 

We went for the B deck as they wanted a nice balcony and we know that the A deck are under the lido deck and the C deck ones are smaller. Fingers crossed they will be ok :)

Last week I learned that it's not just about the storm but how the ship is riding it. On the way across the Atlantic to the US we were in a force 9+, it was rocky, but I didn't feel sick and I didn't suffer much noise disturbance in the cabin. It was a different story on the way back last week; we were in a lesser storm but it made us late, it was clear the captain had his foot down all the way. There was a swell most of the way and I felt nauseous (which I never usually suffer), we got no sleep - the aft suite we had on B deck was creaking, banging and continuously vibrating as if there was a pneumatic drill on the deck below. This made me realise that when you read conflicting stories about the noise in these cabins, it is all about the way the ship is being sailed in poor weather conditions - on the way back to Southampton the arrival time being the overriding priority over passenger comfort.

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I'm one of those smug passengers who really are "never ever sick at sea" and do wonder why people put themselves through it.

David.