Seasickness from Galveston

[ILovePixieDust]

Just asking for a friend. Wondering about the roughness or potential roughness of sailing from Galveston in December. Anyone with experience re. how rough the waters can be? Would a verandah towards back of ship be ok? How important is being midship?

 

[Disneyfam854]

It was bad when we went in December last year and we were midship. First night was the worst and I missed dinner bc it was so bad. Would not recommend if a first cruise- but that being said I still booked again recently at VGT -risking not being mid.

 

[Silly Girl]

That is such a great question!!! Of all our cruises (11 for me) Galveston has been by far the worst! Our last cruise out of Galveston was in December of 2019 and that was exceptionally bad. That last night coming back was by far the roughest seas we've ever had. Most of the ship was missing at dinner that evening. I had to go get DH dramamine from guest services and just walking was difficult. I will say this was an exceptionally bad cruise and most have been fine but the rough seas do happen. We had a midship verandah and not sure that made any difference on that particular cruise. I've heard that lower decks may be better. We usually are on deck 7 for most of our cruises. I would not discourage anyone from cruising out of Galveston though. I love the itineraries and the ease of the Galveston port. It's by far my favorite port!

 

[Disneyfam854]

I do love ease of Galveston as well. I just know if that had been my first cruise ever, I would have probably thought “I can’t handle cruising ” and I generally do not get motion sickness. Still managed to have a lot of fun after first night - just felt I would give fair warning of the roughness! I don’t fully discourage I should say, but think about your sensitivity to motion when booking. I would hate to pay for a trip and be miserable the entire time. I was actually disappointed there was no Galveston on the fall 2023 itinerary release.

 

[JWelch62]

We did a NYE cruise from Galveston. It was the roughest seas I have ever had. I never saw so many empty tables (pre-pan) at dinner. As a family we generally don't get seasick, but my daughter definitely was a little queasy one night.

 

[BStieers]

Your mileage may vary, and clearly I am an outlier on this, we sailed the Wonder out of Galveston Dec 21 with a group of 14 folks ages 7 to 72, no one got seasick or experienced any queasiness.

 

[Akck]

We did our first DCL cruise out of Galveston last December. There was some vibration aft due to the ship going full power, fighting currents and wind. It didn’t bother us, but I go out in a sports fishing boat in 2-3 foot waves. We had a tasting as we left Cozumel and at one point, I thought I had too much to drink. Then I realized the ship was rocking side to side and not me, so I felt better about it. For the most part, all we experienced was a gentile rocking occasionally, nothing that bothered us.

 

[KatieKepic]

While not all of our cruises from Galveston have had rough seas, we've had them more often than not. The roughest seas we ever had were coming back into Galveston in December 2017. That being said, we came back to snow so the fronts crossing definitely caused some major swells. It didn't bother my kids or I but even with wearing the patch, my husband was sick. Although it was fun trying to walk with how much the ship was moving.

 

[Marc D]

As for most other people here, the first and last evening of our Galveston cruise on Wonder a few years ago was very rough. The problem is not that the Gulf is particularly windy but rather it is because the ship has to cover a lot sea rapidly to get to the first port. Therefore, the captain pushes the engines to their maximum and the ship hits the waves at full speed.

The other frequent problem with a winter Galveston cruise is fog preventing the ship from coming into port. Do not plan on getting off the ship at the posted time. In our case, the incoming cruise docked around 10. The cruise before that one didn’t get in until the afternoon. Lots of missed flights…

 

[meliscan]

It has been a while since I cruised Galveston but the seas can be fairly choppy. It was right up there with the time we cruised around a hurricane on the Fantasy. I am a proponent of the Ginger pills and Sea bands (they look like the 80's wrist and headbands but have plastic pieces to hit your pressure points). I also always travel with Dramamine and Bonine. For us the kids Dramamine worked great for the adults and didn't make us groggy like Bonine and regular dramamine.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

We live in Texas so we've cruised out of Galveston a good number of times. The shelf in the northern gulf of Mexico is what gets most people who experience motion sickness and I, unfortunately, am one of them. There are deep currents out there due to deep slopes and there are good sized ocean swells... it is not pleasant.

I would say that the likelihood (potential roughness as you put it) is high. I've not once gone out of Galveston and not felt the motion of the ocean and retreated to my room on my first night. And, unfortunately, it doesn't matter where on the ship my room is.

If you're prone to motion sickness the gulf waters the month of December is not fun. That's not to say that I won't continue to do cruise out of Galveston in December, but I know what to expect and how to attempt to manage it. The good thing is that it is short lived and the whole trip does not feel this way.

 

[tinkattitude!]

Hmm... we've sailed out of Galveston in November and December and don't remember it feeling choppy/swelly at all. Of course we start Bonine the day before our cruises and take them one day after as well to minimize any motion related sickness symptoms.
Our worst cruise was a Port Canaveral Eastern in April - and it was our first cruise ever LOL! The ship had the baffles out and we were still rocking like a tug boat. ½ the staff didn't show up for dinner service and you could hear the dishes crashing in the kitchen. The chairs in the promenade lounge were moving (and you all know how heavy those are!).
My husband loved it HA HA! And here we are ready to go on our 8th & 9th cruises this year

 

[ljhayes]

To add my anecdote, we sailed out of Galveston in Jan. We did have insane fog that delayed the sailing prior to us returning and thus us leaving and we ended up missing our first port, but I don't remember the seas being rough at all on that cruise.

 

[Peaseblossom36]

I haven’t cruised from Texas but we did a Western Caribbean cruise from PC in December (so possibly some of the same ports?) and I get really bad motion sickness.

Being midship made a big difference for me. I struggled through dinner most nights since I could feel the motion pretty badly in the dining rooms, one of the nights that was rough I had to leave right after ordering but felt fine in our room. This was with taking Dramamine and using sea bands.

If they’re worried about being sea sick tell them to ask their doctor about the patches. Another passenger who saw my husband coming back to our room with crackers and ginger ale gave him a patch they hadn’t needed. I felt like a different person! Had zero issues the rest of the cruise and really regretted not getting them from my doctor to use from the beginning.