Seasick solutions

[Crusin Karen]

😣  We are sailing NY to Bermuda on Saturday.  Well that was the original plan.  Not sure where we are going now!  Have sailed "around" 4 hurricanes and never had a problem.  But I'm older now lol.  Should I take something with me "just in case?"  TIA.

[ColeThornton]

If you think you might need it then take something.  Pretty simple.  lol

[JT1962]

Yes. We use Bonine (Meclizine) during the day and Dramamine at night, if needed.

[dheat789]

Yes I take chewable Bonine once a day every cruise. It works great.

[Crusin Karen]

55 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

If you think you might need it then take something.  Pretty simple.  lol

Have never taken anything so just asking opinions on what others have done.  What works and what DOESN'T!

[Crusin Karen]

54 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

Yes. We use Bonine (Meclizine) during the day and Dramamine at night, if needed.

 

49 minutes ago, dheat789 said:

Yes I take chewable Bonine once a day every cruise. It works great.

Thank you! 🙃

[Elaine5715]

43 minutes ago, Crusin Karen said:

Have never taken anything so just asking opinions on what others have done.  What works and what DOESN'T!

Medications and ear patches work. Anything else is a "maybe, might work".  I take Rugby brand meclizine twice a day.  It is about a tenth of the price as the name brand, same dosage but you need to ask the pharmacist for it since they keep it behind the counter. It does not require a prescription. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Elaine5715

[bigdog1958]

Eat a green apple each day. Thats what crew members have said works for them.

[Theosprey247]

My wife uses those wrist bands.  If you are feeling queasy eat a green apple (or drink one of those pressed juices with ginger).  I also heard that peppermint can sometimes work.   

[jamie717]

It's already been mentioned but we find Bonine works well and never use anything else.  It doesn't make you feel sleepy and it doesn't give you that medicated feeling either. It also works well after the cruise when I have those 2-3 days that "my ship is still rocking" feeling. 🤣

[asalligo]

One Bonine the night before the cruise and every night at bed. Works better than anything. Candied real ginger chews for when the seas start overcoming the Bonine. They sell them at Walmart.  

[bambam]

If you want a non-chemical/intrusive  solution:  Posted Sunday at 10:04 PM

With Fiona (and maybe others) pitching a hissy-fit, I thought maybe some folks would like a non-intrusive way to reduce or eliminate seasickness during rough seas.

 

My father was a Navy WWII sailor and avid cruiser.  After sailing on the Imagination in 1995, dodging “Roxanne” before it hit Cozumel, and getting mildly nauseous during the sail-around, I then chatted with my Dad and he gave me this “anti-seasickness” tip:

 

Cause: it is a disconnect between the eyes and ears.  Your eyes are showing all kinds of movement that does not match what the balance mechanism in your ears are feeling, somewhat similar to virtigo.  The effect is the nausea and queasiness, sometimes leading to total bedrest on a moving ship.  Yuck...

 

The Tip:  You have to get your eyes and ears to match-up.  No matter where you are, lobby, cabin, bar, casino... find a spot on the nearest wall, the size of a quarter, and stare at it....keep staring, uninterrupted, until the nausea starts to go away.  This may take 5-10 minutes of uninterrupted staring.  If you glacé-off the spot to look at your spouse or something, you’ll have to start again. 

 

By staring at the spot on the wall, you are training your eyes to match with your ears. Once they are aligned, you should be good to go.  If the queasy returns, do it again.

 

Then again, you can get a patch from your Dr. or take ginger bits to settle your stomach.  

[Crusin Karen]

7 hours ago, JT1962 said:

Yes. We use Bonine (Meclizine) during the day and Dramamine at night, if needed.

 

7 hours ago, dheat789 said:

Yes I take chewable Bonine once a day every cruise. It works great.

Thank you! 🙃

[Crusin Karen]

Thanks everyone, Bambam that's very interesting.  I think I've heard something about that-staring at a place on the horizon.

[TexasJohn82]

My Wife, daughter and young kids all went through various forms of sea sickness.  My Wife and daughter are impacted the worst.  They both tried Dramamine to no effect and the sea bands work to take away the throw up factor but still left my Wife feeling queezy.  The best thing we have used are the MQ Motion Patches that go behind the ear.  They put them on the day we leave and change them daily

 

Amazon.com: MQ Motion Sickness Patch, 30 Count : Health & Household

[karmamule]

We were cruising with our 2 daughters and one got very seasick, despite taking bonine. We tried the wrist bands and that did nothing. What did help the most was to go to the lowest deck in the middle of the ship with comfy seating. The motion was less there and gave her a chance to relax and adjust and that plus more bonine finally got her over the worst of it.

[ShakyBeef]

I've never been seasick in my life, despite rough seas on large and small vessels (knock on wood and thank the Lord!).  But I know it could happen.  We all change as we age and I'm not getting any younger.   So, just in case, and for any of my family members or cruisemates who might experience seasickness, I take on every cruise: seabands, meclizine, Dramamine, ginger gum and/or ginger caplets, and crystalized ginger.  I'm a bit of what some might call an overpacker.🤭 

 

Also, the sushi bar (Bonsai, etc.) on every ship will have gari, pickled ginger, which will help with queasiness, in case you forget to or don't want to bring your own.  

[JordanAndJJ]

We get queasy so we started to get a prescription for scopolamine patches. They work beautifully but are a little pricey. 

[Elaine5715]

Many people do confuse travel constipation which causes nausea with sea sickness.  Dehydration can also mimic sea sickness so resolving those issues will provide relief    

[Crusin Karen]

All good to know!  My DIL cruised with us on the Miracle when she was in her first trimester of pregnancy and had mild morning sickness.   We had very rough seas.  Between that and the purple grapes in the MDR I was very worried but she was fine.  What a champ!!!  

[sredish]

The key is to get any medication you take in your system BEFORE you feel sick.  If you feel sick, it's too late.  So I always start taking one Bonine the morning before I board, then I take another right before going to bed. I can then maintain it in my system by taking one before bed every day.  I've never had an issue so far!

 

I tried a "natural" seasickness patch that was highly recommended on Amazon on my last cruise.  I was fine on embarkation day, but started feeling super tired that night.  By the next morning I was out of it.  I felt drugged and I couldn't figure out why...I thought maybe I was just tired from travel??  Most of our first sea day I had to lie down and felt like my head was too heavy to lift off the pillow...but not nauseous like seasickness.  Then it dawned on me I was wearing that stupid patch!  I ripped it off and literally within a half hour I was feeling better.  Who knows, may have been all in my head...but I swore off those patches from then on.  Bonine for me!

[YourWorldWithBill]

Just an FYI: if you're a male and has bph - and there's good chance you do, if you're a certain age - all the seasickness medicines discussed here are antihistamines. Not good for bph.

 

On a recent cruise, the last day we hit some rough seas, so I talked to the ship's doctor. This issue was new to him, but he looked it up and gave me Ondansetron. He said I was the first person to ask about the bph issue.

[pacruise804]

On 10/7/2022 at 12:36 PM, YourWorldWithBill said:

Just an FYI: if you're a male and has bph - and there's good chance you do, if you're a certain age - all the seasickness medicines discussed here are antihistamines. Not good for bph.

 

On a recent cruise, the last day we hit some rough seas, so I talked to the ship's doctor. This issue was new to him, but he looked it up and gave me Ondansetron. He said I was the first person to ask about the bph issue.

Thanks for this info.  My husband takes multiple antihistamines daily for allergies and never heard of this contraindication (no bph yet though).

 

How does Ondansetron work?

[ninjacat123]

On 9/21/2022 at 6:48 PM, ShakyBeef said:

I've never been seasick in my life, despite rough seas on large and small vessels (knock on wood and thank the Lord!).  But I know it could happen.  We all change as we age and I'm not getting any younger.   So, just in case, and for any of my family members or cruisemates who might experience seasickness, I take on every cruise: seabands, meclizine, Dramamine, ginger gum and/or ginger caplets, and crystalized ginger.  I'm a bit of what some might call an overpacker.🤭 

 

Also, the sushi bar (Bonsai, etc.) on every ship will have gari, pickled ginger, which will help with queasiness, in case you forget to or don't want to bring your own.  

You are as bad as me!  Together we make Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman😉

[Elaine5715]

4 hours ago, pacruise804 said:

Thanks for this info.  My husband takes multiple antihistamines daily for allergies and never heard of this contraindication (no bph yet though).

 

How does Ondansetron work?

I also take several daily antihistamines for my allergies.  Neither my general care docs nor my allergy docs  have a concern about me taking Bonine or Dramamine