Which Alaska cruise best if prone to motion sickness?

[ninaks]

This will be my first cruise .  I have avoided them since i get motion sickness easily but friends invited us to do an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise next year and I would really love to go. We are looking at all the options now of which one to take so I am looking for recommendations.  I already read to avoid cruises leaving from Seattle.  Any other good advice or specific recommendations someone could share?  I do plan on taking Bonine and Ginger and anything else that makes sense but would also like to find the best cruise possible with the least potential for motion sickness, realizing nothing is guaranteed.  Thank you for your help

[Flatbush Flyer]

17 minutes ago, ninaks said:

This will be my first cruise .  I have avoided them since i get motion sickness easily but friends invited us to do an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise next year and I would really love to go. We are looking at all the options now of which one to take so I am looking for recommendations.  I already read to avoid cruises leaving from Seattle.  Any other good advice or specific recommendations someone could share?  I do plan on taking Bonine and Ginger and anything else that makes sense but would also like to find the best cruise possible with the least potential for motion sickness, realizing nothing is guaranteed.  Thank you for your help

Whether you leave from Seattle, Vancouver, SF, or LA, you need to realize that it’s the Pacific Ocean - smooth as silk unless it’s not.

Here’s an example from the transatlantic portion of our most recent cruise: The day prior to the short video, all was calm and then...

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, ninaks said:

I do plan on taking Bonine and Ginger and anything else that makes sense

 

Regardless of which port the cruise departs, i suggest keeping a full stomach and watch how much alcohol one is drinking to help avoid seasickness.  

[lobsternight]

A round trip Vancouver departure will travel up the east side of Vancouver Island, so saves a few hundred miles of open water each way.  At some point you will have some open water, usually the first morning in a following sea, the last sea day it will be usually around noon.  Either way, try get up on deck for fresh air and watch the horizon.

 

Check the itineraries of the lines you are interested in. ICY straight and Sitka stops may add a little more open ocean.  Although both wonderful ports, perhaps you should look for Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.

 

Best wishes and really hope you go.

[Roz]

If you're really prone to seasickness, best to see a medical professional beforehand for their advice.  I do know this - you can't wait until you're seasick to start taking medicine.  Also, I think you'll be surprised at how large the ship is and how unaware you'll be most of the time that you're even on the water.  

[crystalspin]

10 hours ago, ninaks said:

 Thank you for your help

Vancouver roundtrip that visits (only) Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway -- is the way to go. THis is the classic "inside passage" cruise.

 

At Ketchikan visit at least one of the totem sites: 

1. The Totem Heritage Center. The Totem Heritage Center was developed in 1976 to stabilize and preserve 19th-century totem poles. ...
2. Totem Bight State Park. ...
3. Saxman Native Village and Totem Pole Park.

I have been to all three! The State Park gives you more of a feel for the rainforest complete with bald eagles as thick as seagulls!

At Juneau go whale watching: whales guaranteed. Skagway ride the railway and/or take a self-guided walking tour and enjoy the gold-rush city.

[Aanchalk]

Hi, 

I also have motion sickness issue, so yes, I do recommend getting a doctor's advice before cruising, as only meds will work when the ship sways on the waves, cause lets face it, its the Pacific, it is not going to be a smooth right all the time. 

[ninaks]

14 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Vancouver roundtrip that visits (only) Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway -- is the way to go. THis is the classic "inside passage" cruise.

 

At Ketchikan visit at least one of the totem sites: 

1. The Totem Heritage Center. The Totem Heritage Center was developed in 1976 to stabilize and preserve 19th-century totem poles. ...
2. Totem Bight State Park. ...
3. Saxman Native Village and Totem Pole Park.

I have been to all three! The State Park gives you more of a feel for the rainforest complete with bald eagles as thick as seagulls!

At Juneau go whale watching: whales guaranteed. Skagway ride the railway and/or take a self-guided walking tour and enjoy the gold-rush city.

thank you so much, this is very helpful!

[Hlitner]

I will give the OP what sounds like a wise a^% answer but is the truth.   The best cruise if you are prone to motion sickness is the cruise that goes through the calmest waters with minimal wind!  And having literally spent years on cruise ships I will make an outrageous statement that there is no way to predict weather and sea conditions more than a few days in advance.

 

Hank

[rkacruiser]

18 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I will make an outrageous statement that there is no way to predict weather and sea conditions more than a few days in advance

 

2002, Asia Pacific Cruise on the Volendam, before leaving Vancouver, Captain Harris informed us the weather for the next 24-36 hours would be very good.  The next morning, we awoke to very rough seas and strong winds.  Even predicting the weather and sea conditions 24 hours in advance can provide surprises.  

[Moondogy]

We don't have motion sickness, but I would recommend a cabin on the lowest deck you can get and as close to the center of the ship as possible. Less motion felt there.

[lenquixote66]

I am prone to seasickness.I have tried every thing that is advertised.The only thing that has ever helped was Bonine.

Enjoy your cruise.

[good42n]

No guarantees, but generally, the southbound trips are smoother than northbound, since the ship runs with the current instead of against. 
 

[klfrodo]

This is what I'm hearing from the original question.

 

I tend to get sick when I ride in cars. So, I'm looking for opinions as to which route I should take to get from Kansas City to St. Louis.

 

If you tend to get sick, the route isn't going to make one ioda of difference. You're still going to get sick.

[travelingman]

One other note for sea sickness.  Many of the lines now have green apples on the ships which is supposed to be good for queasiness.

As mentioned above there is no guarantee. 

When we cruised some years ago round trip Vancouver everything was good until one evening at dinner my wife mentioned she was feeling queasy.  I asked why.  She said the ship was moving up and down.  None of the remaining 10 of us could feel anything.  When we looked out the window the ship was moving up and down about 3 - 4 feet.  It was nothing to most of us but she could feel it.  She did et over it and was able to eat dinner.

I will say this was during one of the moments when there was no islands on the West of us.

She has now found that ginger helps her a lot.

Stan

[skrufy]

On 8/1/2022 at 11:07 AM, ninaks said:

This will be my first cruise .  I have avoided them since i get motion sickness easily but friends invited us to do an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise next year and I would really love to go. We are looking at all the options now of which one to take so I am looking for recommendations.  I already read to avoid cruises leaving from Seattle.  Any other good advice or specific recommendations someone could share?  I do plan on taking Bonine and Ginger and anything else that makes sense but would also like to find the best cruise possible with the least potential for motion sickness, realizing nothing is guaranteed.  Thank you for your help

Best route to Alaska is departing from Vancouver. You do not go on the west side of Vancouver Island into the Pacific Ocean. You travel the east side of the Island into the Inside Passage much calmer a trip. Coming back the same route.

[buckeye7]

The routes does make a difference (for both ships and cars.) My daughter and I both get severe motion sickness. We plan car routes that avoid windy roads when we have the option. We did the cruise out of Vancouver. We both wore patches, prescribed by our doc, behind our ear. I ended up having issues with the patch (it’s powerful), so for other cruises I’ve relied on Bonine. It really does help. When seas are rough, I may feel bad for awhile, but haven’t gotten really sick with Bonine. To me it’s been worth feeling queasy for a short portion of some trips to keep on cruising. Have a great time! (And good advice about cabin placement— low deck and central or toward the aft. )

[CruisingWalter]

On 8/1/2022 at 12:07 PM, ninaks said:

This will be my first cruise .  I have avoided them since i get motion sickness easily but friends invited us to do an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise next year and I would really love to go. We are looking at all the options now of which one to take so I am looking for recommendations.  I already read to avoid cruises leaving from Seattle.  Any other good advice or specific recommendations someone could share?  I do plan on taking Bonine and Ginger and anything else that makes sense but would also like to find the best cruise possible with the least potential for motion sickness, realizing nothing is guaranteed.  Thank you for your help

 

First off, ensure that your cabin is on the lower decks in the middle of the ship. That is the smoothest ride on the entire ship so having your cabin in that location will be important to ensure you have the best experience. The higher you are on the ship the more you will feel whatever motion there is. That's why most ships have most of their entertainment and dining on decks 5-8, those are the smoothest decks. 

 

In general Alaska is a very smooth ride because you're hugging the coast the entire cruise. Especially if you do a cruise that's round trip Alaska, not starting from Seattle. But even from/to Seattle is generally a very smooth ride unless a storm blows through. That did happen this year with a storm chopping up the waters for about a week or so. But when we went it was basically smooth as glass the entire week. 

 

A friend who has been on over 100 cruises highly recommends Sea Bands for your wrists. That's the brand name, they come in a variety of colors so she has them color coordinated with her outfits. 🙂Crew members swear by green apples for motion sickness. 

 

[bbwex]

I have not done this for awhile, so let me tell you a bit about motion sickness, and what your options are:

First of all, the most recent science tells us that motion sickness is caused by a conflict between what the eyes are seeing and what the inner ear is sensing.  So if you are inside, and your eyes are telling your brain that you are not moving, but your inner ear senses that you are moving, the result is that some people will have some motion sickness.  Many people take some time to get their "sea legs," and until you do, it is best to stay where you can see the horizon, i.e. see the motion, and it is even better to be out in the fresh air.  If you have to go inside, stay near windows or even sit inside looking out a window.  For most everyone, this will pass in anything from an hour or so to a day.  (Yes I know, there is a very, very, very small number of people who do not seem to get over their motion sickness, but it is a tiny, tiny, tiny number and I do not need to hear that they exist!)

 

Some previous advice is correct, you should eat normal meals.  By normal meals, eat at your normal times, but do not overeat, and stay away from greasy foods.  It seems to be counter-intuitive, but you tend to get less motion sick if you have food in your stomach.

 

As to cabin location, the old rule was "stay low and amidships."  The "amidships" part of the advice is valid.  Look at a ship as a large seesaw.  If the ship is pitching (the bow and stern are going up and down), the middle of the ship, measuring from the bow to the stern, would be the area moving the least.  The center of the seesaw barely moves.  If the motion is caused by the ship's rolling side to side, then you would want to be in the center, measuring from one side to the other.  HOWEVER this would put you in an inside cabin, and go back to the necessity to be able to see the motion, which requires a cabin with a minimum of a window -- a veranda is better.  So if you have any thought that you might have any motion sickness, DO NOT get an inside cabin.  Now let's look at the "low" part of the equation.  In the old days, ships did not have the monstrous number of decks that they have today.  In those old days, you would want to stay down at the level of the main deck.  That's not so easy today, as you need to know the center of motion, and that is likely a few decks higher.  The best advice is to try to stay about in the middle measuring from the keel up to the topmost deck.  Good luck with that.

 

Before going into the various remedies, let's talk about cruise ships a bit.  Most people might remember that they have been out on a small boat and got seasick.  Small boats bob around like a cork, and are particularly hard to take if they are going slowly or maybe even stop as people fish.  That can be brutally hard to take if you have any tendency to get motion sick.  You might have been in a car or a bus and gotten motion sick, but if you were reading or playing a game, etc,. and not looking out the window, remember the cause -- you eyes might not have been seeing the motion.    Cruise ships are large, and though they are moved by the ocean's waves, etc., the motion tends to be slow and gentle.  (Please no comments about how it can get nasty, I have spent a lot of time at sea in the Navy, and I have seen what Mother Nature can do when she wants!)  Most of the time, while there is some motion, mostly rolling motion, it is fairly mild, and you will have gotten your sea legs.  Always keep one hand for yourself and hold onto a railing along the passageway or deck. 

 

Another thing is to not talk yourself into getting sick.  The human mind is a complicated thing, and if you talk yourself into it, you can make yourself more motion sick than you might have naturally.  One new ensign in the Navy was seasick as we left the dock, and honestly if you didn't look out the window you would not have known we were moving yet!  He had convinced himself that he was going to be seasick.  After a little while, if you are like the vast majority of people, you will be fine.  While there is some motion, do not let your mind exaggerate it.

 

As to remedies: ginger is the simplest thing -- it is a natural product that settles nausea.  Drug stores sell ginger pills, you can eat ginger candy or even ginger snap cookies.  Note that ginger ale does not have very much ginger and you need to drink a good bit.  The next step is an OTC (Over-the-Counter) medicine such as Dramamine, Bonine or meclizine.  These should be started at least a half day before getting on the ship, and continued for awhile after boarding -- perhaps a couple of days before stopping, or you can continue if you wish.  There are, as mentioned by someone else, SeaBands.  These bands are worn around the wrist and apply pressure to a pressure point that, for some people, calms motion sickness.  They seem to work wonderfully for some people and not at all for others.  "Ya pays yer dollar and ya takes yer chances."  Finally, and I know some people are going to recommend it, is the scopolamine patch.   The patch is, and has always been, a last-ditch solution for people with really bad motion sickness, and who have tried everything else and nothing works.  It is an extremely strong drug, and has some really serious side effects for some people.  If you have tried everything else, and nothing works, you need to see a doctor for a prescription and you should try it on dry land first to see how well you tolerate it. 

 

The bottom line is that you are likely to be just fine after a short while.  Otherwise you would not see millions of people cruising everyday.

[boopuff]

I'm a nervous traveler on top of getting motion sick.  A few years ago my doc prescribed the patch for me. A life changer.  I was able to do a catamaran (I was fine many other hearty soles were....shall we say... bending over the edge)  I know smaller boats are a different story, but I'm hopeful my first cruise, all patched up, will be a ton of fun.

[9tee2Sea]

the only time you MIGHT get seasick is leaving Seattle.  Some cruise lines cruise thru the San Juan Islands ( Between Seattle and Canada).  Usually there is 1 day of open seas where you might queazy.  Once you get into the Inside Passage, Its as smooth as glass.  You will be spending many hours going from side to side of the ship just looking at the scenery.  I always take a travel tube of Bonine ( it fits into my pocket) no matter what the cruise is.  For Alaska Cruise, take the amount suggested right after the Muster Drill. That should get you thru the first day of the cruise.  Take other dose when you leave the Inside Passage towards the end of the cruise.  You won't need to take anything during the travel of the Inside Passage.  Keep a look out for whales, eagles, seals.  You WILL see them.