Rough seas on trip

[mnkauf]

I was wondering how many rough sea days you experienced on your world cruise.  Do you "get use to" the movement on the ship?

[Heidi13]

The answers will be very subjective, as it depends on a persons tolerance.

 

Our last WC was 104 days and DW probably thought about 75% of sea days was rough. While very few days were flat calm, I would say only 3 or 4 were rough, as we ran alongside a Tropical Revolving Storm in the approaches to the Persian Gulf.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

4 hours ago, mnkauf said:

I was wondering how many rough sea days you experienced on your world cruise.  Do you "get use to" the movement on the ship?

 

Longest I've been onboard is 18 days so far, but yes, to some extent you do get used to it.  But I always keep meds on hand, and if we're warned we're going to have a rough day or two, I start taking it beforehand.  I take Bonine.

 

As for how many rough days, that will depend on luck.  We've had stormy weather in the Atlantic and in the Pacific, but how many is totally a crapshoot, nobody can predict that.

[travelwell]

We have been through several storms, surprising the worst were in the Med and Asia. Anytime the captain warns we will be in rough seas I take 1/2 a Bonine. Bonine is a double edged sword for me as it makes me sleepy but I do not get seasick. Surprisingly the cheap over the counter sea bands work amazingly well. I always tell sceptics  just try them, super cheap. I will be wearing  these things for moderate seas and bus trips. For the WC I will probably bring 5 pairs as they are easily lost and make such a difference in my quality of Cruise life.The key for is to treat  before you are motion sick. It is hard to treat once seasick. People swear by ginger also.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, travelwell said:

We have been through several storms, surprising the worst were in the Med and Asia. Anytime the captain warns we will be in rough seas I take 1/2 a Bonine. Bonine is a double edged sword for me as it makes me sleepy but I do not get seasick. Surprisingly the cheap over the counter sea bands work amazingly well. I always tell sceptics  just try them, super cheap. I will be wearing  these things for moderate seas and bus trips. For the WC I will probably bring 5 pairs as they are easily lost and make such a difference in my quality of Cruise life.The key for is to treat  before you are motion sick. It is hard to treat once seasick. People swear by ginger also.

 

Is this the sea bands that has a battery, or just the pressure points?  I tried the latter once and it did nothing.  I swear by Bonine.  It doesn't make me sleepy, luckily, but can give me nightmares.  

 

We had a very rough day on our Seabourn cruise in the Gulf of St. Lawrence last fall. Hurricane level, almost.  The captain, unfortunately, did not warn us sufficiently in advance.  People were falling out of bed and stuff.  So I woke up sick, and it took hours to feel better, as usual.  The barrista made me ginger tea with fresh ginger, it was lovely and worked a treat--usually on Regent there will be candied ginger set out publicly to take as well.  So yes, if you think the night or next day will be rough, take that pill tonight!

[Heidi13]

DW has used the pressure point sea-bands for many years. Getting the correct spot initially was a challenge, but with practice she has it figured out. Works well for her up to moderate seas, then she applies a patch. Due to side-affects the patch doesn't work for everyone, but she is one of the fortunate ones. 

[rkacruiser]

The Tasman Sea is known to be active at times and I have had that experience.  But, none of the seas matched my 2002 Asia Pacific cruise on the Volendam in the North Pacific.  More than one day (not in succession) of seas that caused water to fly over the Crow's Nest when the ship's bow crashed down into a deep trough.  Fortunately, I have no issue with seasickness.  My method of prevention:  keep my tummy full!

 

Only once did I have an "odd" feeling which was on the Nordic Prince.  There was much pitching and walking along a long corridor of staterooms, I found my foot hitting the deck sooner then expected when the bow was rising and my foot hitting the deck later than expected when the bow was dipping into a trough.

 

I do take a package of Bonine along on each cruise, just in case.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I can feel that "odd feeling" on a ferry, but still love being at sea!  I will be taking a case of Bonine with me, lol.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I can feel that "odd feeling" on a ferry, but still love being at sea!  I will be taking a case of Bonine with me, lol.

Wendy - out on the West Coast, I have experience a few interesting trips, with winds of 70 + kts in Georgia Straits. Current passengers aren't so accepting of the need to experience these conditions, so they now shut down way more often.

 

Unfortunately the young chaps & gals never get the opportunity of handling the ships in extreme conditions.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I read recently that Viking Sun had a couple of quite unsettled days in the South Pacific after leaving Papeete to go west.  Just another data point.  I've been in rough seas coming from the Cooks to French Polynesia as well.

[Go-Bucks!]

My current world cruise has been blessed with great weather and nothing more than moderate seas and wind which has caused some rolling. Thank you, Lord!

 

Funny thing...my traveling friend rarely gets seasick but I do!  But on this cruise it's been the opposite...I brought 2 types of sea bands, Bonine, ginger capsules, Zofran and compazine. I wore the stretchy sea bands for the first 2 days (prophylactically) then nothing after that! Of course, we still have 4 months to go so anything can happen. But 2 months of good weather is amazing...even through the Tasman Sea. 

 

Here are pics of my sea bands...the black ones are the stretchy ones (the left one is inside out to show the button) and the striped ones are plastic with an adjustable pressure button. 

[WESTEAST]

I've use Gravol (Canadian equivalent to Dramamine I believe) as well as ginger tablets and lozenges to much success. However, last year I tried the Relief Band with excellent results for rough seas, switchback roads etc.

Link: https://www.reliefband.com.

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I was in the health food store yesterday looking for herbal teas, and spotted one that's heavy on ginger.  So I'm planning to take that with me as well.  On my Seabourn cruise last year, when we had hurricane-force winds, the barrista made ginger tea for me from fresh-sliced ginger.  Delish, and very settling.

[Floridiana]

I love ginger and eat/drink/chew it daily on ships. Azamara had ginger-fruit drink shot glasses in the morning. HAL has after dinner candied ginger. In addition I have medication from several countries and found that the stuff from NZ makes me sleepy for days, but it works. This will be my fall back when we get into a real storm.

[Harley52]

The first is antihistamines, both prescription and over-the-counter. These are the most commonly used medications for motion sickness, and they're available in any drug store and in many supermarkets. Cyclizine (Marezine) and dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) are two major ones.  After spending 27 years in the Royal Canadian Navy, the best medication to take is NOTHING, just let nature take its course.  

[Wendy The Wanderer]

17 hours ago, Harley52 said:

The first is antihistamines, both prescription and over-the-counter. These are the most commonly used medications for motion sickness, and they're available in any drug store and in many supermarkets. Cyclizine (Marezine) and dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) are two major ones.  After spending 27 years in the Royal Canadian Navy, the best medication to take is NOTHING, just let nature take its course.  

 

Ha ha, that's funny.  I'm sure for a "professional" sailor, letting nature take its course would be best.  But for someone who's just plunked down a small fortune for a cruise, they don't want to wait that out.  In my case, I'd be miserable in heavy seas.  I know this, and have tried waiting it out in the past, and it never gets better.  I'd certainly lose weight at least!

[Harley52]

1 minute ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Ha ha, that's funny.  I'm sure for a "professional" sailor, letting nature take its course would be best.  But for someone who's just plunked down a small fortune for a cruise, they don't want to wait that out.  In my case, I'd be miserable in heavy seas.  I know this, and have tried waiting it out in the past, and it never gets better.  I'd certainly lose weight at least!

Terrible way to lose weight, I can think of other options.  Where are you cruising and what time of the year.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 hours ago, Harley52 said:

Terrible way to lose weight, I can think of other options.  Where are you cruising and what time of the year.

 

World  cruise, January - May,  Miami - Barcelona, westbound, through the Panama, coast to Lima, Polynesia, NZ, Australia, bits of SE Asia, Sri Lanka, India, Middle East, Suez, Med.

[Harley52]

7 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

World  cruise, January - May,  Miami - Barcelona, westbound, through the Panama, coast to Lima, Polynesia, NZ, Australia, bits of SE Asia, Sri Lanka, India, Middle East, Suez, Med.

Holy smokes bring your Gravol....

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

Holy smokes bring your Gravol....

 

No.  I use Bonine, Meclizine, although it's not available in Canada any more (or at least Ontario.)  I buy it in the States when I'm there.  I generally only need it when we have a very rough day, like last September going up the Labrador Strait on our way to L'Anse aux Meadows.  

[Harley52]

1 minute ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

No.  I use Bonine, Meclizine, although it's not available in Canada any more (or at least Ontario.)  I buy it in the States when I'm there.  I generally only need it when we have a very rough day, like last September going up the Labrador Strait on our way to L'Anse aux Meadows.  

Which ship were you on when you went to L'Anse aux Meadows....Did you pull into St. Anthony?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

12 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

Which ship were you on when you went to L'Anse aux Meadows....Did you pull into St. Anthony?

 

Yes, it was too rough further north.  We were on Seabourn Quest.

[Go-Bucks!]

Have to say how happy I am that after 6 months of sailing around the world,  we've had only 6 days of moderate seas and NO rough seas or storms!!!  What's the odds??!!  I've had many other cruises with horrible seas, but this one was so mild that most days you didn't even know you were on a ship in the water!

[Kate P.C]

Nothing that a Bonine pill wouldn't help! I suffer from motion sickness, not really severe, but enough to make me want to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing but feel nauseous.

 

The world cruise can be challenging when it comes to people who don't get along well with some waves.

 

On the world cruise we did, we didn't experience many rough seas. I followed all possible tips to prevent sea sickness and I was fine. Some night I felt more sleepy than the others, but I didn't really feel sick.

 

The only thing I didn't like was that when the sea was a bit ''rough'', I couldn't go to the gym and work out.