Star Clipper - Motion Sickness

[wumav]

I am looking to travel on the Star Clipper for the first time in Nov. I am concerned about the motion sickness. My biggest concern is that I am pregnant (1st Trimester) so I will not be able to tak anything for it. How bad is the "rockiness" on these boats? I have cruised before and did not have a problem, it was a little shaky at the beginning when we first left port the first day, but once we got sailing, I was ok. Thank you!

[Trinka]

I sailed on the Star Clipper in the Med. this past summer and found it to be as smooth sailing as any of the large cruise liners with stableizers There was no rocking and I was almost unaware of the ship's motion. I doubt that you'll have any motion sickness on your trip. Hope you have a great time.

Trinka

[voyageur]

On the Royal Clipper, I found you felt the motion much more than on the larger ships, but it was not "rockiness", it sort of was like a baby being rocked in a cradle at night... very soothing. I have a very weak stomach, and used to have a lot of motion sickness... the clipper did test me, but I was never "sick"

[wumav]

Thanks so much for the advice. We are looking forward to our cruise!:)

[caviargal]

I am a very experienced cruiser and have rarely experience seasickness and that includes being out in tropical storms and twice in hurricanes.

 

I was sick as a dog for a full day on Star Clipper in the Med. The crew said that those waters are usually rough. I know it made me less likely to go again, period.

[Beach lady]

How rough are the seas this time of year (Dec - Jan) on the Royal Clipper out of Barbados, Grenadines route? Anyone on this itinerary experience much seasickness? Thanks for feedback.

[jennib5426]

We leave for our clipper cruise on the 12/3. I will let you know when we return about motion sickness. We are on the Treasure island route on the Star Clipper.

I went on a Windstar Cruise and noticed the motion on the first day, but I was never sick. I would say the motion on the Windstar was about 5x more than your large cruise ship in the Carribean.

[hjpurcell]

we went on the star flyer in Greek Islands 3 years ago and had a smooth 2 weeks with back to back cruises. Then went on the Star Clipper the next year in the Caribbean and again experienced no problem. We are looking forward to another trip on the Clipper out of St. Marteen on 12/11/05. Love the casual atmostphere.

[khk007]

Hello,

 

I crossed the atlantic on the Royalclipper (a bigger vessel of the same company) from 10/21 until 11/06.

 

The ship was almost rolling as if there were no stabilizers at all with swell of 2 - 3 m from starboard most of the time on the atlantic. Sometimes glasses fell down on the floor, chairs fell over and it was difficult to walk straight (without having had alcohol before of cause...). It might be a bit less critique in the caribean or the mediterranean. But the captain told me that if you don't want to feel the rolling of the vessel in case of swell, you need to go on cruiseliners of 200 m of length or more. His vessel was not heavy enough to compansate for the swell.

 

Regards,

 

Kai

[clipperskipper]

Hi,

 

believe that you go on a real sailing ship, not on a big steel box. But take it easy. A tall ship is much more safer at sea.

 

For your trip: The trip from and two Barbados will be Atlantic waters where you can expect long period waves which the RC takes very smooth. Cause of her hull construction, Star Clippers moving is a bit less but also smooth. They both are ships with a deep long keel which makes them sail fast and stable.

 

I am sure you won't have any problems when you don't think about seasickness, when you eat enough (important), stay on the open decks, fixing a point at the horizon and stay close to the ships center. And once you look into the caribbean stars through the masts under sail, you won't forget these moments.

[jennib5426]

Just returned Saturday from my Star Clipper cruise and I am still walking sideways. Let me first say we had a wonderful time, loved the ship, staff, food and all our fellow cruisers, and we want to go again next year.

 

I am not one for motion sickness and have sailed on the Windstar with no problems. The Star Clipper is a whole new ball game. I was fine the first few days but then the winds kicked up about Wednesday. We had 20 - 45 mph winds for 2 full days. The ship was not only rocking but we tore a sail because of winds. There are no stabelizers on these ships so even under motor you rock and roll. There were glasses flying of tables and the have these boards they put up to keep you in bed because the ship leans so much. If you had a cabin on the lower deck you had water hitting your porthole all night. At one point in the night the back end of the ship came out of the water. We were never in any danger but we were taking motion sickness pills like candy.

 

Because of winds we missed 1 port, and it took us an extra 7 hours to get to St. Kitts. We had 2 days of very ruff sailing. On our last night sailing back to St. Martin we had to put our luggage out and it would roll down the hall.

 

Just be aware even in the non-hurricane season the winds can pick up and everything on your graceful sailing ship can change. We did not have alot of rain, but the winds were awful. Also make sure to secure evertiny in your cabin, things were flying around like a tornado.

 

I would be hapy to answer any questions.

[sandbag7]

Jenni: We're on the 12/17 cruise to/from St. Maarten; did you bring motion pills on board or did you get them from the infirmary when you needed them. Did you have a presrciption or is there an over the counter pill that you recommend? Thanks.

[jennib5426]

I used the Less Drowsey Dramamine pills and I also used the free pills from the ships nurse. The free pills were yellow but I don't know what they were. I took half dowses on all and I was fine, never got sick. We also had a cabin in the center of the ship by the dinning room, which helped. Those who had a cabin towards the back or front of the ship stayed up on deck because it was so bad. Hopefully the weather will be better for you next week.

 

On another note the one HBO channel they had on the TV went out, luckely I brought DVD's and a book. You have a DVD player in your room, I suggest you bring movies just incase you hit bad weather like us.

 

Have a fun time, all the staff on the ship were really great.

[clipperskipper]

Hi,

 

Jenni: that sounds like a great sailing. 45 nautical miles per hour wind is best for sailing (or did you mean miles?). In this conditions, we had the SC once on over 17 knots speed over ground when the great Captain Uli was still alive. :)

 

And once in the Mediterranian she showed perfect behavior in force 11 winds in the street of Bonifacio between Corisca and Sardinia.

 

Would be interested to know who's the captain today. Was it Captain Sergei? (Know him from times as first officer under Captain Uli's command).

 

However, the normal trade winds in the Caribbean from the north-east are perfect for sailing and they usually blow with about 25 kn/h. That's what the clipper ships are built for.

 

You are right saying that Star Clipper is a new ball game. It's absolutely not comparable to the Wind Star which is not able to sail anyway. For me it's a cruise ship with some "decoration sail".

[sandbag7]

Jenni:

 

Could you tell us what cabin you were in?

[jennib5426]

When I say 20 - 45mph I mean, miles per hour. The winds were so bad, it ripped a sail and we had to use the engines for most of the trip to St. Kitts. It took us an extra 7 hours to get to St. Kitts because we couldn't use the sails. The crew said we had very unusual weather, high winds no rain. On the bright side they fixed the sail on the deck so everyone could watch.

 

Yes the captain was Sergei, cruise director was Fredric.

 

We were in Cabin 331, on the same deck as the dinning room in the middle of the ship. I found our Cat 3 cabin just fine for our needs, pleanty of closet space. It was smaller than a large ship cabin but still nice. My only complaint was that the pillows were to thin, but they provided extra when I asked for them.

[sandbag7]

Thanks for the info; we're in cabin 127; lower down and a little towards the back of the ship, but should be ok; based on your comments we're picking up some dramomine and packing some DVD's; we always bring books, and I've got 2 IPODS with 50G's of music, so we're prepared if we have to hole up; won't mind some wind as long as we can sail in it; can't wait to see the sails, especially at night.

[JBW/YMW]

Jennib5426, thanks for your info you have posted on the Star Clipper. We are going on the January 28th sailing out of St. Martin, we have cabin 300 booked. I have been wondering about the motion as well, we have only been on the typical cruise ship sailings before, and they didn't bother us at all. This one we have been planning to do for years. Cannot wait! By the way, what area of Virginia are you in? We are in Northern VA, just outside of DC.

[jennib5426]

JBW/YMW, I am also from NOVA, Centreville.

I would say if you get car sick you may want to bring some dramomine just incase. Even with the bad weather we had fun. Make sure to talk to the crew they have some funny stories about past cruises.

Another tip, bring all the cash you will need for the whole week. You can not get US dollars on the ship, they use Euros. All the islands take Dollars but the only ATM I found with US dollars was on St. Kitts at the Marriott Casino.

 

Have Fun

[sandbag7]

Jennie

Can you tell me whether the extent of computer availabilty (and cost) on board? Did you use computers on any of the islands you visited? Thanks.

[jennib5426]

There were 2 computers on board, in the library with internet access. I think they were 12 euro's an hour. You buy a card with time on it to use, like a credit card. I mostly saw the crew using the computers. I left my computer at home, I was on vacation :D The only island we saw any computer access was St. Kitts, and St. Martin were we boarded the ship. These were also the only islands we saw were people could download there digital cameras onto a disc. Lots of people had full cameras by the time we got to St. Kitts.

[wumav]

We were on the 11/27 cruise on the Star Clipper out of St. Maarten (Captain Sergei, First Officer Fernando, Frederic the Cruise Director, David the Engineer, etc). We went into expecting rough seas and we were not disappointed. One of the couples on the trip had been on 6 other cruises with the Star Clipper line and commented that they had never seen seas as rough as they had on this trip.

 

We had a fantastic trip, but the seas were a little rough during several of the nights. Fortunately I brought a couple of motion sickness patches (a Transderm Scopalomine prescription, since I am pregnant). One night we were awoken in the middle of the night with things sliding all over our room and bathroom. We had to taken a couple of minutes to put everything away.

 

Active seas are a mixed blessing. My husband thoroughly enjoyed it because it gave us the true sense of sailing. I tolerated it (it was THAT bad), but was glad that it didn't last the entire trip.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and can not imagine doing any other type of cruise.

[sandbag7]

We were on the December 17 sailing of Star Clipper; seas were rough on the first night to the point where I was rolling back and forth in bed; fortunately we had a mid ship cabin (127) and this made all the difference. Experienced sailors, including ship owners we met who were in fore and aft cabins got actively ill, while we were only moderately uneasy. After the first night it was smooth sailing, a little chop on several other nights, but nothing troublsesome.

We took no medicine (had dramamine on hand) and didn't need it. The point is, as we are average sailors (we get sick on small craft on Lake Michigan), that you should seek a mid ship cabin if at all possible.

The two computers on board, by the way, rarely worked; we never used them, but found that we were able to use our phone call home from the ship in several ports.

[beachnative]

We've sailed on the Star Clipper twice: once out of St. Martin and once out of Barbados. The St. Martin trip (B.V.I.) was quite gentle. The Barbados trip was fine until the last leg...back to Barbados. When we began the last leg the captain announced that we would be encountering some rough seas. I immediately took two Bonine and a couple of hours later took a third one. I am not a sailor but would say that the captain was correct...the seas were rough. Half the guests did not show for dinner and many spent the night on the top deck in an effort to avoid seasickness. I was fine but many were not. Thank goodness I took the extra Bonine. Several of our friends said that they would never sail again, however, I am eager to return. Bonine was the key.

[shiela]

Hi,

 

I'm seeing lots of comments on motion sickness in the Caribbean.

How about the Mediterranean?

We'll be sailing on the Royal Clipper from Venice to Rome.

My husband (who's a sailor) tells me that prevailing winds in the Mediterranean are westerly, so he believes, in normal weather, I should be okay on the first leg, but once we head round the boot, and start up toward Rome, I may have some difficulty. We sail a 38-ft. cutter in the Long Island and Block Island sounds and a couple of hours in seas over 3 - 4 feet can make me "woozy." I cannot go below deck until we arrive at our port.

I'm planning to take either the patch or some other type of medication with me. But I'm worried. Can I have some feedback, please?

 

Thanks!

 

Shiela