Seasick?

We’ve never been on vessels as small as those in the Windstar fleet. Is it more likely that we’d get seasick? We’ve never had much of an issue on 40+ cruises on the big ships with stabilizers, but it’s time to do something different!

After 11 cruises on Windstar I have never felt seasick. In fact I only remember two days of rough seas.

Tim

Never been seasick in the Med or French Polynesia. Many people were seasick on a Barbados cruise. It was extremely rough.

All three sailing ships have stabilizers that help somewhat. Low and center of ship staterooms are the most stable. I have been on 15 or so

Windstar cruises and have never been more that mildly affected. My wife always takes some Bonine at the start of the cruise and in rough waters and it really works for her. The ship should have some in reception or outside the Dr's office.

I went on the Wind Surf and was really surprised at how stable it was. We only felt some movement on one day. I take Ginger capsules as a precaution. Our cabin was on the lowest floor and midship. I guess it depends on the conditions, but it was way smoother than many of my Caribbean itineraries on large ships.

Used to get seasick on large ships from what I called the big roll. Never sick on 17 Windstar sailings. I do feel more motion on the 2 small sailing ships on really rough days. On the Surf have been in 50 knot winds and she is stable.

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I was never the least bit seasick during many previous cruises on ships carrying 1,200+ passengers, not even in very rough seas. Our first day on the Star Pride this February, a sea day in rough seas, I woke up feeling fine, took a shower, and immediately had to go back to bed and lie flat, I was so sick. I could not even sit up in bed without vomiting.

My hubby, who was also never sick on any of our larger ship cruises, was also nauseated. Luckily, he was not as badly affected as I was, and was able to make it to Reception to pick up free meds. We both skipped breakfast and lunch. I was able to make it to my 2:00 spa appointment, although I still felt rocky and carried a bag in my pocket just in case! Thankfully, the meds kicked in and we were both able to enjoy dinner that night.

The rest of the cruise, we regularly collected meds from Reception and took them just before the ship sailed. We were both a little under the weather on the last day, another sea day with rough seas - but not as badly, able to get around and eat.

I will never again be cavalier about seasickness. If you are at all unsure of how you will do, have meds available and take them proactively until you are sure you’ll be OK.

Really good input! Thank y'all very much :D

After 40+ cruises on RCCL, Princess, HAL, Celebrity and Carnival, we're anxious to try something different!

Think it really depends on the sea and wind conditions rather than the size of the ship. I’ve done about 7 cruises on larger ships (2500 passengers) and just did our 5th Windstar cruise. While I’ve felt the motion before, our 5th WS cruise was the first time I’ve been affected by sea sickness; however we had high seas and gale force winds for 24 hours. The Captain had to cancel our first port of call due to the conditions. A high number of passengers and a few crew were feeling under the weather that day. That being said, that was the first time I’ve been on a cruise with such weather conditions; I could have reacted in the same way on a bigger ship. I’ve seen people on bigger ships not feeling well even when there’s only a slight swell while I just found the swell to make it more fun! Fortunately the rest of our recent WS cruise was smooth sailing and we had a great time.

Hey chrickets,

Keep in mind that there really is no such thing as a large ship. The ocean and sea will always be bigger. Even an Oasis Class ship is not immune to what Mother Nature can offer up. Today's over 1,000 foot long ships are designed to cruise not be trans Atlantic/Pacific Ocean Liners. Ride control is not as much a design criteria in these designs as is passenger capacity. If you don't think you can get kicked around on a giant cruise ship visit YouTube. As you seem to be a little apprehensive about the effects of motion sickness due to ship size choose a cruise in waters that have a reputation of being [usually] tranquil and try to book a Windstar cruise during seasons not associated with stormy weather. That simple advice is not the private domain of just small ships. I've done many small ship cruises and only rarely experienced what might be considered nasty weather.

While you can't control Mother Nature you can hedge a bit. Do it wrong and you'll get an understanding of this verse taken from an old Gordon Lightfoot song 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' which as a sailor I can easily identify with. It said, "..........when the waves turn the minutes to hours". That line is the poster child for defining sea sickness.

Were I you I'd take the very slight chance of having an 'interesting' at sea weather experience while aboard any of the Windstar ships just to see how wonderful it is to avoid the large crowds and Vegas atmosphere associated with today's huge ships. Book low and center if still worried about ride and enjoy the experience. Be warned, small ship cruising is addictive.