Alaskan Cruise and Motion Sickness

[2013Frozen]

Hi, how was your experience in August with motion sickness? Overall was the sailing pretty smooth? Fortunate enough to go next August and just curious. I did a three night Caribbean in 2015 and was ok. Thank you!!!!

 

[xavier2001]

For the most part it was smooth as glass, no issues. There was one evening (right before glacier day) that the ship leaves the inside passage at night that it got a little rough. It wasn't so much rocking as it was the ceiling creaking during the night. But in comparison to the Carribbean you would never know you were on the water unless looking out the window.

 

[lklgoodman]

I went on a cruise to Alaska 2 yrs ago and only felt a little movement one night while waiting in line to see a character, nothing bad. Now that the Wonder is going to have some updates, I am dying to go on another one. We went with 7 other family members who had never cruised before and none of them had any problems with motion sickness during the cruise.

 

[AngelDisney]

I am prone to motion sickness and felt ok cruising Alaska on the Wonder last August. We really enjoyed the Alaskan cruise. You will have a magical time!

Have fun planning!!

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

I really only felt movement twice and it wasn't drastic at all, just a reminder that we are on a boat.

 

[cruisehopeful]

We had a couple nights where we could really feel it when we had to be in open ocean for a while. I think it only bothered me because it happened during dinner (late seating). Otherwise, it was no big deal.

 

[SDJEL]

Both my son and I suffer from terrible motion sickness. I was more sick from the patch then from the boat. The only time either of us has ever gotten sick was when we did a short excursion on a smaller boat. The whale watching trip we took in British Columbia was awful and half the boat got sick. Bring some Dramamine from home that you can take on an as needed basis and you should be fine. If you are really worried, get a prescription for a scopolamine patch from your doctor. Put this on several hours before the crew ship leaves. That way, you will have an adequate dose in your bloodstream when the boat starts.

 

[AquaDame]

We sailed 7.29-8.5 from Vancouver to Seward (on RCCL) and the whole way it was like glass. Hardly any motion at all.The inside passage is a thing of beauty scenery and motion wise.

 

[2013Frozen]

Thank you all for your input! Glad to hear of positive experiences!

 

[psac]

Very smooth sailing, but be wary of excursions. We did whale watching, which was totally awesome, and another boat based excursion elsewhere. Those had much more motion. Bonine and Sea Bands combo worked well for me, though.

 

[xlxo]

The worst part is the sea days between Ketchikan and Port Hardy. You are exposed to the might of the Pacific.

 

[Disneyteachers]

We were a party of 13 -- all ages -- earlier this month. Nobody really got sea sick. Those that were prone wore sea bands the whole time. I think one person had to lay down for a few hours, but that's really it. You could definitely feel the ship move from time to time, but it wasn't rough.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Just disembarked yesterday and I can offer we definitely felt more "movement" with this sailing compared to our June 2013 sailing. Another poster above mentioned what I felt like was the most movement, was after our sea day and into the "Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm" day was the most movement. We were far forward this time and I know everyone has their own opinions on where they feel the most movement (I've stayed every location and almost every deck) and we were "pitching" up and down several times. Nothing major compared to being in the North Seas but noticeable enough people were chatting about it. We had some decent swells and also pretty gusty winds which I'm sure contributed to it. My best advice, if you are prone to motion sickness, I'd take precautions in the beginning and see how you do but I wouldn't expect anything major.

Heather

 

[Geomom]

We just got off the 8/8/16 Alaskan cruise as well. First ever cruise. (Loved it!) DD12 never felt any of the movement. DH felt the movement, but stomach was fine. I felt the movement, but just needed some ginger ale to settle my stomach at dinner the first night (Parrot Cay--where our bottoms were vibrating in our seats due to being far aft, deck 3.) DD16 (who gets an upset stomach when anxious anyway)--felt awful that first sea day, couldn't eat breakfast. She had sea bands on, didn't help her, gave her the Dramamine naturals--pure ginger, that helped some. I went down to Deck 1, Medical services--you don't need to see anyone. There is a bin down there with chewable Meclizine samples and tips to prevent/treat motion sickness. At some point when she felt so-so, tried her first with 1/2 a pill, helped some and no ill effects, she took the other half a couple hours later--then she felt great. She didn't need anymore until the last at sea day. Going from the glacier visit, to all 3 ports in the inside passage was fine--it was the times we faced the open ocean on 1 side. We were on deck 2, near the aft elevators--lots of rocking at night first and last sea day. Quite an experience! We went on an Art of the Theme Show tour on the last sea day. Even our tour guide felt the rocking of the ship--she said if you ask a crew member if they feel movement and they say yes, then you know it's really moving.

Of course now 3 of us feel the land moving...hopefully a good night's sleep will help out with that. We had an overnight flight and didn't get more than a few short naps in on the planes, and a 2 hr nap in this afternoon.

 

[2013Frozen]

Thanks to everyone again, appreciate all the comments and experiences!

 

[anricat]

We also just got off the Aug 8 cruise and it was great. My first cruise on the Dream I used Bonine only. I have pretty bad motion sickness so I took one a day. It was not enough! So on the second cruise, I got patches and I used two patches (they are good for three days) and then when the second one fell off, I switched to Bonine for the last day and was fine. For Alaska, I took patches, but decided to just try Bonine. I barely felt the ship moving at all. I'd say 75% of the time it was like glass. The rest of the time, the movement was very slight. I was totally fine on Bonine only. In fact, I forgot to take it a couple of times and took it 2-3 hours late and was fine. I've experienced a couple of slight cases of feeling the ground moving since getting off, but nothing like that first cruise (in fact, I had doubted we would ever cruise again after that experience). Alaska is great. There were more than a few tears getting off the boat.

 

[RedSox68]

We sailed to Alaska in 2012 (on HAL), but same route as Disney out of Vancouver, and we never felt bad seas. The only rough seas we felt were on the Kenai Fjord excursion when it crosses into the open ocean to the fjord inlet -- lots of seasick people on that one.

 

[AngelDisney]

I am prone to motion sickness and felt ok cruising Alaska on the Wonder last August. We really enjoyed the Alaskan cruise. You will have a magical time!

Have fun planning!!

By the way, the only time I felt under the weather was after the helicopter ride to the glacier for dogsledding. I was not feeling well afterwards for a while before I realized it could be motion sickness kicking in. I put on some Motioneaze behind my ears before bed and felt ok the next day.