Difference in seasickness on cruises?

I’ve been on two cruises, and had a vastly different experience with regards to seasickness. I’m wondering why there was such a difference. The cruise I was fine on was on the Liberty of the Seas (Royal Caribbean), which was to Cozumel/the Caribbean. The cruise I was really sick on (nothing helped at all) was Carnival Elation to the Bahamas. I know there’s a tonnage difference between the ships, could that explain the different experiences? Or could it be something else?

Very hard to say. My first thought is that the Bahamas cruise was actually in the Atlantic, which is typically not as calm as the Caribbean.

But it could have nothing to do with the ship or seas. It could be something internally going on with you. For whatever reason your senses, like your inner ear, could have been off, or more sensitive, on one cruise as opposed to the other.

I doubt it was the difference in the seas - during the cruise to the Caribbean, there was a huge storm, and I was fine. Might be inner ear though, I did have a nasty ear infection in the years between the two, and I guess I have been a little more sensitive to motion since (had not realized that til now)

I've cruised about 9 or 10 times and have never had seasickness. ONCE out of all those cruises, I had the post-cruise seasickness thing, where I was dizzy, queasy, etc. for WEEKS afterward. I worked on the 4th floor of a building that had floor to ceiling windows right next to my desk, and I had to cover the windows for about 3 weeks.

My husband rarely suffers, but a few times he's felt queasy when the waves are hitting the side of the ship at a particular angle- he calls it "yawing", although I don't know if that's the right term. This has happened on both a vast ship, and one of around 82,000 tons. He's also felt it when he's been in the front pool in a choppy sea, and once when he had a bad ride on a catamaran in the Caribbean, which stayed with him for several days on board the large ship we were on, in calm seas. I put that down to inner ear trouble after snorkelling.

The ships bearing relative to the wind and waves may have reduced the pitch, yaw and roll of the Liberty so you didn't notice it, where-as the Elation may have been taking the waves straight on the side.

My husband rarely suffers, but a few times he's felt queasy when the waves are hitting the side of the ship at a particular angle- he calls it "yawing", although I don't know if that's the right term. This has happened on both a vast ship, and one of around 82,000 tons. He's also felt it when he's been in the front pool in a choppy sea, and once when he had a bad ride on a catamaran in the Caribbean, which stayed with him for several days on board the large ship we were on, in calm seas. I put that down to inner ear trouble after snorkelling.

The motion caused by waves coming across the ship is called rolling, where the ship rolls from side to side as the waves hit the ship. A ship's stabilizers are design to dampen that. The up and down motion with waves coming at the ship from the front is pitching, where the ship pitches up and down as the waves hit the front of the ship. There is no way to dampen this motion and the further forward and higher you are on the ship the more you will feel this motion.

To the OP, the ships you were on had nothing to do with how you were affected by the sea. The sea conditions will have everything to do with that, and how you react to it typically is a function of how significant the sea conditions are.

And sea conditions can and do change daily, and with few exceptions, are not dependent upon location. While we have experienced calm and rough seas in the Atlantic, the Gulf, and the Caribbean. the roughest seas we ever experienced was in the Caribbean between the Panama Canal and Jamaica at 25 ft+, and one of the calmest was in the Atlantic one day out from Bermuda where it was smooth as glass.

I don't get "seasick"...but I can tell you that each cruise is totally different, in regards to movement. I think it depends on if you're going up and down, or side to side...or a combo of all that!

We were on a VERY smooth cruise once, and there was a woman who was so freaked out by any little motion.....I could barely feel it, but she was convinced we were about to capsize! Seas were about 2-4 ft....nothing to a big cruise ship!

The liberty's stablising technology would also be better than the elation's purely due to age and developments.

Elation- 1998

Liberty - 2007

The liberty's stablising technology would also be better than the elation's purely due to age and developments.

 

Elation- 1998

Liberty - 2007

Possibly, but I don't think stabilizers have changed that much in those nine years.

Just to help out

Pitch

Like a sea saw type up and down motion.

Roll

Side to side type motion

Yaw

Front and back swivelling left to right.