First time cruiser question. Seasickness?

[Ravens girl]

In May my DH and I are doing our first cruise. I’m concerned about getting seasick. What are some suggestions from veteran cruisers? I plan to take ginger chews for myself and peppermint for DH (he doesn’t like ginger). Should I take something else as well? Do pills, bands or patches work best?
Our cruise is on the Dream if that makes any difference.

 

[TheBigErn]

I was seasick once on a cruise many years ago. It may have been a one time thing but I've never taken that chance again because it was miserable. I use patches placed behind the ear prescribed by my doctor. They work great. Never had another issue. The only side effect I've had is that I get thirsty. I always notice a lot of people walking around the ship wearing them.

 

[Alottasky]

I use my relief band Explorer. It’s a bit pricey but no side effects or restrictions. I usually only have to wear it for the first day or two until I become acclimated. I’ll also pop it back on if we encounter rough seas or if I start to feel a little queasy. It looks like a watch that’s worn on the inside of your wrist and sends an electrical pulse to the nerve there. Intensity can be turned up or down depending on conditions.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

I’ve only had mild seasickness once, on the first night of our Alaskan cruise. Luckily it passed quickly on its own, but since I am an over-preparer on every cruise I bring:

Bonine
Motioneaze
Ginger chews
Queasy beads (same principle as sea bands, but look like bracelets instead of sweatbands)

Most of these are just to be prepared and I haven’t needed them, but I do wear the queasy beads every cruise after sail away and for the first evening. I also order ginger ale the first night at dinner.

 

[bethy]

We are somewhat sensitive and what works for us is: Bonine - start one or two days before the cruise. Take one every night before bed and if needed another in the morning. And then the Seabands work really well on top of that.

 

[Intr3pid]

If you have a choice of cabins, pick a low, mid-ship location. Or mid-ship at the very least.

And if you have an Apple Watch, try the Sense Relief app. It pretty much does what the bands do but in a more controlled fashion:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sense-relief/id1457764420

 

[PrincessShmoo]

In May my DH and I are doing our first cruise. I’m concerned about getting seasick. What are some suggestions from veteran cruisers? I plan to take ginger chews for myself and peppermint for DH (he doesn’t like ginger). Should I take something else as well? Do pills, bands or patches work best?
Our cruise is on the Dream if that makes any difference.

My husband always had (before cruising) motion sickness, particularly on boats.

When we started cruising he opted to get the patch (by prescription) and it was extremely helpful. For me, I had a small supply of dramamine/bonine and ginger tablets.

I never needed any of the options, as it turns out. And, after 4-5 cruises my husband no longer needs the patch (the side effects can be more troublesome than the sea sickness) and uses sea bands only on really rough seas days.

 

[jlg263]

On our first cruise, I got really in my head about it and had to leave Palo dinner because I thought I was getting sick. It was dark outside and we were seated facing out a window and I remember the little chain on the window shade kept clinking against the window, just reminding me how much we were moving. Then they brought out the calamari with that comically giant fried shrimp and I just lost it and started crying and had to go back to the cabin. At that point I was convinced that cruises just weren't for me and I was going to be queasy for the next 3 days. It was awful.

Then I took a bonine and I was fine. lol. I still don't really know if the sickness was all in my head or not, so now I take bonine every morning on the cruise and haven't had an issue since. 3 cruises down! We still laugh about that dang shrimp.

 

[Joe Brig]

I'm prone to motion sickness but had only had 1 bad night out of 25, during a storm. I tried the low drowsy medicine, but that still makes me sleepy and who wants to be sleepy on a cruise? Now I just wear the bands.

The ships have stabilizers that work very well. We play a game to see who can be the first to noticed that the ship has left dock, sometimes it's hard to tell.

 

[melmel]

We hit really rough seas on our Bermuda cruise, and I was sick as a dog. I took Bonine, and wished I'd of done it from the start. It was like night and day, I don't remember how long it took to kick in but once it did, I was fine the rest of the cruise, even though it got rougher. This time I'm going to take it in the morning before we board and continue until we get off. I prefer Bonine because it doesn't knock you out. There are two versions one is just ginger pills that I've found don't do much (at least for our family).

 

[Strawberry's mom&dad]

I have had acupuncture for motion sickness. I have had great luck with it. I had it done on the Wonder a couple of weeks ago. Also worked for car rides and theme parks.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

I found green apples surprisingly effective.

 

[elittleton]

I start taking Bonine the day before the cruise thru the day after. Once I stopped before getting off the ship and I got sick when I got home. I tried taking it at bedtime but I started filling motion sick in the dining rooms. Our table mates got a kick out of my green face until I started taking the Bonine about 30 minutes before dinner.

 

[msmama]

The weird thing about seasickness is that I feel like it's unpredictable. Sometimes it'll come on when the seas don't appear to be that bad while other times seas can be pretty rough and I'm fine.
Personally, if it was only a 3/4 day cruise, I'd take bonine/dramamine (bonine is the non drowsy version) through the whole thing. Better safe than sorry.
I will say I find alcohol (as little as one glass of wine with dinner) is more likely to bring on the seasickness, as is becoming dehydrated (probably related).
And if you do get sick and don't make it to the bathroom, the CM's take care of it incredibly quickly and thoroughly (sadly, my kid gave me first hand experience with that) and it won't be the first time.

 

[Peaseblossom36]

If your doctor offers to give you patches take them! I turned my doctor down and regretted it, thankfully a very kind passenger saw my husband coming back to the room with crackers and ginger ale and gave him one of her extra patches. They are so helpful if you end up needing them. I was wishing I had them sooner.

I took Dramamine every day and wore sea bands. For the most part I was okay, the bad thing is the dining rooms are all where you’re going to feel motion the worst and dinner tends to be while the ship is moving fastest. The night we were at Enchanted Garden we hit rough water and I had to leave during dinner.

 

[Travel60]

Don't get it in your head that you will be sea sick. Most people aren't.

I've never been and we've been in some rough seas...the worst was a Drake Passage storm leaving Antarctica. DH got sick only once while standing in a small shower in a 35 passenger boat off Australia when a storm rolled in. He laid on the bed for a while and was better. But he got it in his head that he might get seasick on subsequent cruises.

 

[Clojel]

We are somewhat sensitive and what works for us is: Bonine - start one or two days before the cruise. Take one every night before bed and if needed another in the morning. And then the Seabands work really well on top of that.

This!! Taking the first one at least the day before you cruise is crucial. And then another the hour before. Then daily if needed.

 

[Cheburashka]

In May my DH and I are doing our first cruise. I’m concerned about getting seasick. What are some suggestions from veteran cruisers? I plan to take ginger chews for myself and peppermint for DH (he doesn’t like ginger). Should I take something else as well? Do pills, bands or patches work best?
Our cruise is on the Dream if that makes any difference.

Don't take any medication in advance of your first cruise, because there is a good chance you won't need any. A cruise ship is not nearly as rocky as most non-cruisers imagine them to be. The exception is when there are high winds, which is rare, but even then, it won't necessarily make you sick. I get motion sickness from anything involving spinning, and can't even go back and forth a few feet on a swing set without feeling dizzy, but I've consistently been fine on cruises without any medication or anti-sea sickness strategies, even when we sailed forward on the Fantasy on a very high winds cruise. On the first night of our Alaskan Wonder cruise, as the ship sailed into the open Pacific a bit, I felt slightly woozy at dinner, but it went away on its own within an hour. That was the sum total of my seasickness in 6 cruises. My son has been the same: he sailed every cruise with me, got sea sick for one evening only on that very rocky Fantasy cruise (our 2nd cruise, and our later Fantasy cruise on the same itinerary was not rocky btw), never took medication & recovered quickly, and never had any other discomfort before or since.

Different people have different constitutions, but my point is, one should never assume that one will need to be medicated. I think threads labelled "seasickness" tend to attract posters who are prone to seasickness, and they often recommend medicating in advance, which is unnecessary for many people. Bring some remedies with you (Bonine or Dramamine, ginger candies, maybe Sea Bands, etc.- I've never used any of them but it can't hurt to have them just in case), but don't take them in advance of your first cruise. Give your body a chance & see how it acclimates on its own. Otherwise you could end up needlessly medicating yourself for every cruise you take in the future.

 

[sethschroeder]

Take the bands, pills, gum all with you.

Also a full stomach helps avoid issues as well so make sure you keep eating.

I wouldnt worry about it too much as your mind can play tricks on you as well.

Also fresh air can help so going down to walk around the boardwalk can also help if you feel a little weird.

I am sure you will be fine though.

 

[Ravens girl]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I’ll be prepared but overly so.