Wave heights

[cs]

What's the average wave height (on a cruise ship) that starts causing people to feel seasick? I'm asking for a guesstimate, I know there's no specific/real answer. What would your guess be?

 

Also, is there a specific wave height that causes a cruise ship to change course?

[spacewoman]

From what I recall of watching our cruise info on the TV's I don't believe we've ever been in seas higher than 12 feet. Didn't bother us but neither one of us gets seasick. I would suggest that if you're prone to it, please get a patch from your doctor. Why risk it as long as the doctor says you can use it?

 

One lady posted that the Dawn did take a different heading to Bermuda because of tropical storm Colin. She said the seas were fine. I would imagine this would be that case on any of the cruise lines. They most certainly aren't going to put anyone in danger.

 

On a CCL cruise we were told we were going through a small weather disturbance and we might get a little bumpy. We were in the casino (deck 2) while going through this and it felt just a bit bumpy to us. We did have difficulties walking down the hall to our cabin though, but laughed so hard we had all the cabin stewards laughing with us.

[Sauer-kraut]

Its not neccessarily the wave height, but rather how the inner ear is affected by any motion. Do bumpy roads cause more car sickness than flat ones? Its just the motion of the vehicle.

 

I am not prone to seasickness, but if I am reading in a car on a trip I get a bit of tummy trouble. If I feel queasy on a ship I just go up to the upper outside decks and sit down and watch the sea and I'm good to go after a few minutes.

 

Most ships nowadays are very stable and the sea needs to be really churning in order for it to pitch. Are you worried about the tropical storms/hurricanes? Usually the ships will detour around the bad weather so you probably won't have any worries at all. :)

[cs]

I was just curious thinking about the upcoming storms and all.

 

I always take precautionary (half dose) Bonine before boarding and daily while on the cruise -I'm not even sure if I need it but I'm not chancing it.

 

I sailed through hurricane Noel and we had 25ft seas. That made me feel a little queasy but I took the full dose of Bonine and I was fine.

 

I wonder if the captains have a set wave height that they try to avoid when possible.

[luddite]

Wave height isn't the only criteria. The direction of the waves can have a tremendous effect effect. If you're rolling in ytoughs and are prone to motion sickness, you'll want carry a paper bag with you.

[crew mom]

Seems to me they start putting out the seasick bags when the waves hit about 12 feet. The Captain will divert around storms for everyone's safety if possible, even if it means arriving late. Or you could miss a port altogether depending on the itinerary. But sometimes, they have no choice but to go thru the storm, but they do try to avoid doing that. A lot will depend on the storms direction, winds, currents etc. so it's a call that can only be made on a case by case basis. Just have to remember that the Captain is taking the safest way he can. He doesn't want seasick, therefore unhappy, passengers!

[Don Haynes]

Sea conditions are directly related to the current weather winds. Read the Beaufort scale link below:

 

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/beaufort.html

[luddite]

Oh yeah. When you see ralph bags in the lifts and on the stairs, you know you're in for a ride.

[Dance2Nite]

Our first cruise in Feb 2003 had following seas and 40 ft. waves - we were pitching forward the first sea day. DW got sick, but made it fine after that. Ask steward for green apples and take along some ginger ale.

 

2007 from San Diego to the Mexican Riviera is always bumpy and rolling side to side along the Baja pennisula - made dancing quite a spectacle to watch, but we and a lot of others made it just fine - near misses but no train wrecks.

 

The Captain doesn't like a bumpy ride, either. He's your best friend in unfriendly seas.

 

Have fun!

[Globaliser]

What's the average wave height (on a cruise ship) that starts causing people to feel seasick?

It really depends on the "people". There are some people I know who would start to feel seasick if the wave heights were as little as a foot. Needless to say, they take the view that cruise holidays are not for them.

 

OTOH, I was very happy in a Force 10 gale in the Bay of Biscay, sitting at the very front of the ship at the top (where the buffet was on that ship), tucking into a very large cooked breakfast.

[PeleNipsy]

I get car sick very easily, but didn't have a problem with seasickness until we hit a day of 40' waves. The crew was commenting on how unusually rough it was.

[Hikini]

From my experience, you can start to feel the motion when waves are from 4-6 feet, but not everyone is the same. I don't get sick, but I also have never been on terribly rough seas. But that's when I personally, start to feel the motion. (And I know that is the height only because it is shown on the TV in your cabin.)

 

On each cruise though we see people here and there who are a little 'green' even though we don't necessarily feel much motion ourselves.

 

On one cruise we had a wait staff member in the buffet on a sea day and she wasn't feeling the greatest. She said this was her first week and there was nothing she could do but tough it out. They had given her something to help ease her tummy and she was able to work.

[alwalaska]

Its not neccessarily the wave height, but rather how the inner ear is affected by any motion. Do bumpy roads cause more car sickness than flat ones? Its just the motion of the vehicle.

 

I am not prone to seasickness, but if I am reading in a car on a trip I get a bit of tummy trouble. If I feel queasy on a ship I just go up to the upper outside decks and sit down and watch the sea and I'm good to go after a few minutes.

 

Most ships nowadays are very stable and the sea needs to be really churning in order for it to pitch. Are you worried about the tropical storms/hurricanes? Usually the ships will detour around the bad weather so you probably won't have any worries at all. :)

 

Bumpy roads don't cause more of a problem, but windy roads most certainly do. Waves have more of the same affect as windy roads, not bumpy ones.

 

I wish I could remember what the wave heights were on the 2 cruises where my hubby and daughter had significant problems. I know on the first one, it was as much the wind that was making the extra ship motion as the wave height.

 

The patch works well for both my DH and DD if they put it on before they start to feel sick. Everyone seems to have different things that work best for them.

[Duncan28]

I got sea sick at 21' waves but I think that size is kind of unusual! At least I hope it is! :)

[alwalaska]

Sea conditions are directly related to the current weather winds. Read the Beaufort scale link below:

 

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/beaufort.html

 

Thanks for the interesting link. I guess on our Disney cruise we were looking at 13-20 foot waves. I remember looking at the wind speed (wave height wasn't listed) and seeing that we were at the upper end of the term "gale force winds".

 

On the Explorer, by the descriptions in the link, we were looking at 20-30 ft waves. There was a ton of dense foam on the sea.

 

Everyone in our family felt at least a little queasy on the Disney cruise until we put on the patches and they started to work (first cruise) and DD and DH went beyond queasy to sick on the Explorer because we had had 2 cruises where we didn't need the patches and decided ginger and bonine would be good enough to save money. Bad choice.

[garycarla]

There are multiple factors, some that impact different people.

 

Wave height.

Swells - those long rolling things which are sort of like waves

Direction as compared to ships heading

Speed

Smell

Temperature

Vibration

 

For example, I have gone through the eye of a Typhoon and did well. But heading from Calif to Hawaii, there were long slow swells hitting us from the side which really took their toll on me. Another time, there was a foul smell in part of the ship, but no seas. Did not do well.

[dtiger]

As other posters have mentioned I find you really start to feel the waves when they're about 12 feet.

[PenguinLife]

A lot also depends on the individual ship and where on the ship you are located. We had some 20+ foot seas on our cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest a couple of years ago, in our cabin even though it was forward and on the top deck with cabins the motion was not bad, however in the main theater in the bow area you could really feel the motion even with less than 10 ft seas. The worst locations are usually extremely forward or aft on most ships if traveling into or with the waves, and the higher the worse it is for roll when having crossing waves which is not as much of an issue on modern ships with stabilizers as it once was.

[Ms belp]

I think we had 17-18' waves on one of our early cruises. It didn't bother us but it was rocky. The thing that brought me down on the Spirit was the wind blowing us sideways repeatedly into the dock. That side to side threw my back out and put me in bed for most of the cruise. It was so bad that we couldn't leave the port and missed our next POC.

[newsman]

Don't forget the size, and weight, of the ship.

We've been in 18-foot seas on the tiny Crown and the crew was getting sick. I was in 26-foot seas on Carnival's Dream (huge) and didn't see many people having problems.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I always take Bonine before the cruise starts & had no problems at all. However, when we were in Bermuda last June, I felt motion sickness when riding the bus.

 

The busses whip around curvy roads, & I couldn't wait to get off. We took the ferry back to the ship----a much smoother ride. Next time, I'll take Bonine before boarding busses in Bermuda.

 

Barb

[Arzeena]

I always take Bonine before the cruise starts & had no problems at all. However, when we were in Bermuda last June, I felt motion sickness when riding the bus.

 

The busses whip around curvy roads, & I couldn't wait to get off. We took the ferry back to the ship----a much smoother ride. Next time, I'll take Bonine before boarding busses in Bermuda.

 

Barb

 

Barb, Thanks for this tip. Curvey roads make me a bit woozy. I will take Bonine.

[SuiteRose]

I always take Bonine before the cruise starts & had no problems at all. However, when we were in Bermuda last June, I felt motion sickness when riding the bus.

 

The busses whip around curvy roads, & I couldn't wait to get off. We took the ferry back to the ship----a much smoother ride. Next time, I'll take Bonine before boarding busses in Bermuda.

 

Barb

 

oh yeah! bus rides in Bermuda are crazy! Almost like a carnival ride at times! Funny to watch people the first time they are on one of them...

 

I agree about the size of the ship, we were on the Crown and hit a storm... people seasick all over, we were in a similar storm on the Gem and I didn't see anyone sick.

 

My DH has a tendency for motion sickness and he takes some Bomine while on board as a precaution... we were upgraded to an AC penthouse on the Gem (the one that was stormy) and eventhough we were getting tossed around at night being in the very front of the ship.. he weathered that storm fine and wasn't sick at all.

[Ask4Jay]

In addition to the suggestions listed earlier, try to keep your head steady when you start feeling funny. Don't bend down or make quick movements with your head.

We are fortunate in that we don't seem to get sea sick. We had 57.7kn (66 mph) wind and 26ft waves while on the Jewel last year. We spent a lot of time on our aft balcony, protected from the storm, enjoying the ride. Cruising can't get much better.

[Don Haynes]

Really folks, if you won't take the sea sick pills, or wear the patch, don't board a ship if you are prone to seasickness...

 

Its really that simple, book a land based vacation instead...