Rough Seas In Alaska

We really want to take our parents on a Celebrity Alaska cruise yet my mom has an issue with "rocking" boats and it makes her feel sick. Are the seas rougher than the Atlantic or calmer and which ship can we feel less rocking. Thanks!

My Mom has the same issue. If you sail from Vancouver, the ship goes up the Inside Passage, which is narrow, highly scenic, and (for our two cruises) calm as a lake.

 

Caveat: there are still two places on the inside passage that can catch swells from the ocean. One is fairly short; the other, from the top of the passage to Anchorage/Seward (if you are opting for a longer cruise) is potentially an all-dayer.

 

I gave my Mom a box of Bonine, an over-the-counter anti-nausea preparation that I used to take on dive boats. It is safe (you can take it and still scuba dive); effective (half a tablet works for me for 12 hours); and pretty much free of side effects (a full tablet makes me a little "dopey" so I avoid it). Highly recommended, but you have to take it in anticipation of feeling unwell; it doesn't work at all once you start feeling queasy.

We really want to take our parents on a Celebrity Alaska cruise yet my mom has an issue with "rocking" boats and it makes her feel sick. Are the seas rougher than the Atlantic or calmer and which ship can we feel less rocking. Thanks!

 

Hi Rev. Joe,

 

We have taken 4 cruises to Alaska, all round trip cruises from either Seattle or Vancouver.

 

The Vancouver R/T cruises sail Alaska's Inside Passage which means that you do virtually no open ocean cruising. Typically, this is the smoothest itenerary, but there are no guarantees for a smooth trip. The Inside Passage is subject to wind and tidal changes which can produce noticeable motion.

 

The Seattle R/T cruises typically sail outside of Vancouver Island on both the first and last days of the cruise. This will expose the ship to the open ocean and therefore expose you to more "ocean motion".

 

The modern cruise ships today utilize stabilizers that reduce the amount of motion that is felt by the passengers onboard, but does not eliminate it.

 

There are many types of medication that help mitigate motion sickness, some with little side effects. Some utilize bracelets that put pressure on the wrist that supposedly helps.

 

My wife is prone to motion sickness and has used the patch with some success, but had some side effects that included bouts of light headedness and dizziness for several days after usage. She has also used various types of oral medicine, includine meclazine which helped, but tended to make her slightly sleepy.

 

My recomendation would be to try the Vancouver R/T Inside Passage iteneraries, but be prepared to utilize whatever else necessary to mitigate the motion sickness.

 

If you decide to book a cruise to Alaska, I would recommend booking a cabin in a lower deck, amidships, as this will reduce the amount of movement that you will notice.

 

We love Alaska and hope that you do as well.

Thanks for the tips. A little tip about the patch, 2 cruises ago my wife had the patch on and pulled it off right after getting off the ship and felt sick for three days. Bonine works the best for us

The Inside Passage is a lot smoother than the oceans, but as previous poster said, it can still get a bit choppy and create problems for those with motion sickness. Much prefer out of Vancouver vs Seattle for the scenery, and generally it is smoother.....but not always. Our first Alaskan cruise was out of Vancouver and as we were having supper one evening, the Zaandam started to roll a bit, then as we went to the after dinner show, it really started to roll and the dancers were having a bit of trouble. About 11 pm, we were really pitching pretty good, and we saw several folks fall down in the halls. Seasick bags were posted by all the elevators and many folks were sick. For those of us who are blessed not to have this problem.....it was pretty exciting. Later, I asked one of the ship's officers what the motion was all about and he said that part of the Passage was too fogged in for the ship to continue and it had to go out into the open waters.....hence the rolling. gg

Those ships that leave from Seattle do take the Pacific.

 

Vancouver cruises -- Inside Passage -- really nice and scenic.

We've taken 4 Alaskan cruises, one from Seattle, one from SF and two from Vancouver. They've all been great. Nice smooth, calm seas, though I have heard of some rough water up there once in a while. The bigger the cruiseship, the better they take waves and they'll have less motion. Look at the tonage of the ship you want to take, compared it to others. We have done Hal 3 times and Celebrity once, but like I said all our trips were all greatl.

Just booked a last minute cruise on the Zaandam to Alaska r/t from Seattle 8/27-9/10. We cruised Alaska 6 years ago but this is our first on HAL.. We are Platinum on Princess and decided to try a HAL . Any thought or suggestions on Excursions..etc????

Check out the Alaska board under Ports of Call. There are posts on many favorite excursions and such. Also, it is harder to suggest when you don't know a person's interests.

:)

Check out the Alaska board under Ports of Call. There are posts on many favorite excursions and such. Also, it is harder to suggest when you don't know a person's interests.

 

Thanks👍🏻👍🏻

....

 

Caveat: there are still two places on the inside passage that can catch swells from the ocean. One is fairly short; the other, from the top of the passage to Anchorage/Seward (if you are opting for a longer cruise) is potentially an all-dayer....

 

 

We had smooth sailing on our Alaskan cruise. I can tell you from that experience though that those two places mentioned above will be felt. It is not choppy, but the inside is so smooth that you will notice when you reach the ocean.

Although discussion of the Alaskan seas is a perennial topic, please be advised that this thread was revived today by "morningglory54", and is 10 years old, therefore some of the earlier posters may no longer be on this forum.

We really want to take our parents on a Celebrity Alaska cruise yet my mom has an issue with "rocking" boats and it makes her feel sick. Are the seas rougher than the Atlantic or calmer and which ship can we feel less rocking. Thanks!

 

Book her an inside cabin on a lower deck. My mum wears Sea Bands (Available at CVS, Walgreens or on board ship). I've sailed to Alaska 8X and sometimes we've had rough seas and other times little to no motion in the ocean. You can never tell.

Book her an inside cabin on a lower deck. My mum wears Sea Bands (Available at CVS, Walgreens or on board ship). I've sailed to Alaska 8X and sometimes we've had rough seas and other times little to no motion in the ocean. You can never tell.

 

Again, Rev Joe posted his question 10 years ago. Please see the date on his post.

Just a note for those that might read the comments on this old thread since it has been brought back to life.

 

Not all that leave from Vancouver do the inside passage. Have seen some do it both ways, some that do it one way but not the other and some that go outside Vancouver Island.

 

In general Alaska cruises tend toward being pretty smooth, but that does not mean that your particular cruise might not encounter some rough situations.

. . .

 

The Vancouver R/T cruises sail Alaska's Inside Passage which means that you do virtually no open ocean cruising. Typically, this is the smoothest itenerary, but there are no guarantees for a smooth trip. The Inside Passage is subject to wind and tidal changes which can produce noticeable motion.

. . .

We love Alaska and hope that you do as well.

On our last cruise from Vancouver to Seattle, we had force 8 winds on day 2 out of Vancouver. We were late getting out of Vancouver, and the captain chose to hit the ocean right after leaving Georgia Strait. Until this cruise, I would have said Alaska was pretty calm.

 

 

We've also had some of our roughest seas leaving Seattle. We were right under the pool deck, and I thought the ceiling would fall on us.

If you're going to use the patch, I'd suggest leaving it on several days after returning home. If I get an upper respiratory infection and have cruised, I've been known to get vertigo. It's not as bad if I keep the patch in place.

We just returned from the AK cruise with the inside passage from Vancouver which was very smooth, but a little choppy, but not that bad when we left Skagway en route to Seward...really nothing to be concerned about, though.

:cool: ships are so stabilized these days you need to look over the side to make sure you are still moving. of course I can go deep sea fishing in rough waters on a 20 footer and I still have my greasy sausage and runny eggs for breakfast no problem !!!

If you do use he patch, careful not to touch the inside part with your fingers. If you do make sure you wash your hands and don’t rub your eyes. The medicine will dilate your eyes for like 12 hours and that sucks.

 

 

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We recently went on this cruise, and there was only one day where people seemed to have issues. Otherwise on the Amsterdam you could barely feel any movement.