higher or lower deck if worry about seasick

[Muushka]

I would go lower and to the middle. If you think of a metronome (a piano counter) the part at the bottom barely moves while the top goes back and forth.

 

Great analogy!

 

I just wanted to say that even the largest ships with the best stabilizers are going to toss up and down in 30 foot seas. In other words, if you have a problem with sea sickness, come prepared. The boat can rock!;)

[Cote d'or]

Cote d'or,

 

Just want to say I love your avatar of the Atomium. My very first trip to Belgium back in high school was a stop there. Took great pictures of it, and have one in my office today. People always ask me, what is that, where is that? So I sort of educate them about it.

 

Thanks Ronnie ! :) This year it's the 50th anniversary of the Atomium, so there's a lot to do about it. Since it has been renovated and officially reopened in 2006, it had even more visitors than before.

[forensic]

What do you suggest if we are worried about feelling anything -- stay in the lowest decks possible??

 

I would like to know what ship you are going to be on. Sometimes the best stateroom to have is one the very aft stateroom right on the very stern of the ship. We took our daughter and son-in-law on a cruise and he was sure he was going to be sea sick - he gets car sick (if he is not the driver). It is partly a control thing with him - He is a Pilot in the US Navy - never get sick as long as he is the Pilot). Not too good on Navy ships though. So he started taking Bonine before we left home for the cruise and we each had an aft (Sunset Veranda) stateroom - after a few days he stopped taking the Bonine and he was fine. We were on deck 7 of the Constellation. You barely feel the ship move most of the time.

 

Also, where are you sailing? Caribbean?

[TMaine]

I use the wrist bands as well. I was a total skeptic about them but they do seem to work.

[DAMIFIKNOW]

Shore Deck

[flag fan]

Although I get car sick and (even worse) bus sick, I had no problems on my first cruise (or the ones I have taken after) even though I was "upgraded" from a low deck middle cabin to a high deck cabin. But I think seasickness for some people may be more due to vibrations than motions (that's the case with my carsickness), so a lower deck may be worse than an upper deck, if that's the problem.

[Kathie44]

We almost always have booked the lower deck. I like it for the seasickness prevention, DH likes it for the $$$ savings. It came in handy in Jan. our first night out of Sydney. We were expecting a rough crossing of the Tasman Sea, but before we were out of Sydney harbor and ship was moving a lot. After dinner we went down to the room and stayed put all evening. I took a Bonine and never actually got sick. We were worried about losing our balance walking around and didn't try to go to the show. The singers and dancers were canceled and the comedian got sick at both shows, didn't make it back to finish the 9:00. Ironically, the Tasman crossing was totally calm.

Before leaving the ship we booked another cruise (Galaxy to the S. Carib.) for next Jan. We were able to get a room on the lowest deck even closer to the middle. I was glad because the only other queasy day I've ever had was on our other S. Carib. cruise on Adventure 4 years ago. I didn't have anything to take and stupidly kept reading. :eek: I just thought the movement would stop soon. Two queasy days out of 8 cruises is not a bad record, but I will take Bonine with me from now on.

[Cracker Ken]

Crusing Myth #1 - Stabilizers on these new big cruise ships are great. They make the ship stay still and you can hardly feel it moving. WRONG!! I've even heard and read where people were blaming the Capt. for not using stabilizers because the ship was pitching and rolling. Not true. One thing for sure, those people wouldn't have like it at all if the stabilizers weren't being used at all, since it would have been much worse. I've been told that if the seas were extremely rough, the Capt. might have to retract the stabilizers to keep them from getting damages, but if the seas are that bad, it's gonna be rockin' and rollin' anyway.

 

On average, the stabilizers (per what I've been told on the ships), take care of about 75% of the roll (side to side movement). They have no effect on pitching (the bow rising and falling).

 

Cruising Myth #2 - These are really big ships, so they don't move around as much. WRONG! Certainly better than small ships, but they still can get tossed around by rough seas. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a little boat floating in the great big sea. If the seas are rough, it's gonna pitch and roll. We were on Infinity heading towards Hawaii and had almost 3 days of bad seas, 19 ft swells with wind blown waves on top of that. You had to hold the hand rails to walk around and folks were staggering all over the place on the big ship.

 

Both DW and I get sea sick. I get car sick as a passenger. I've had motion sickness from sitting too close to a movie screen. I've been sick from watching a train cross in front of my car. I avoid fair rides. DW is just about as bad. HOWEVER - We have been on about 16 cruises and haven't barfed yet. Before we leave the house for a cruise, we start taking meclazine (same as Bonine or the less drowsy formula of Dramamine). We don't stop taking it until we arrive back in port. If the seas get bad, we have been known to double up on the pills. We have been a little sleepy feeing when doubling up, but that feels a lot better than sea sickeness. We carry TransDerm Scop patches as a backup, and have never had to use them.

 

Midships, and down low is the least amount of movement. If the seas are rough, avoid the upper decks forward and aft.

 

Take the medicine and TAKE IT. Don't wait until you are ill. Just do it.

[kabado]

I agree on the doubling up of Bonine. I can probably top all of you on the number of times I get sick on ships, cars, whereever, yet I love to cruise. I've visited the doctor on several ships (3 or 4) so far. By the way, your travel insurance pays for the visit, but only after any other medical insurance that you might have.

 

I told my doctor about my problem. Even the patch didn't work. I got the sickest while on it. The wrist bands didn't work either. BUT, taking Bonine the night BEFORE the cruise and then each morning and each evening throughout the trip along with GINGER capsules (buy them by the vitamins) at each meal works unbelievably well. I don't know if drinking Ginger Ale would be enough and I don't want to find out since I have found "the cure".

 

The ginger works so well, I even went out in a tiny tour boat in Cabos San Lucas and although everybody else was sick, I was not. The really weird part is even the disequalibrium goes away. No matter how much rocking you feel, it feels to your head like you are on solid, flat ground.

 

We were on the Rhapsody a couple of years ago and it really rocked and rolled. One poor woman got her foot stabbed by someone else's high spike heel because nobody could keep their balance for long. I WAS HAVING A BALL while many people were hold up in the cabins puking their guts out. I sure sympathized with them, but it was so good to for once not be among them.

 

As for the cabin, I definitely do MUCH better in the lower deck cabins. However, my next two cruises are on deck 7 and deck 10, so we shall see. Of course, when you are not in your cabin (most of the time you are not!), cabin location really doesn't matter, does it?

 

Anyway, enough of this "book". I just HAD to share my findings...