First Cruise Post-HELP-sorry it's long.

[keishashadow]

My DH, who served on an aircraft carrier for several years during the Vietnam war, has finally "almost" convinced me (claustrophobic, prone to motion sickness and probably neurotic) to try a cruise.

Hopefully, even with a worse-case scenario of being sick as a dog, I can tough it out for a 3 day cruise.

First, how's the Cruising weather the first week of February? I'm getting nervous hearing about the "failed Castaway Cay" tenders. I assume it's warm enough to swim in on-board pool/ocean @ Nassau or Castaway.

I'm waiting for the new edition of the Passporter (now April) to release. In the meantime, I'm trying to wade my way through the different material and reviews.

Everyone I speak to says I "need to book NOW" if I'm considering sailing in early February, 2006. I hate to hurry up and make a costly mistake.

So far, I'm leaning to DCL Category #7, #10 (are the secret porthole rooms ok?) or inside room #11.

I'm not sure whether to go with the Land & Sea Package since we'd like to:

-- Stay at the HRH, Universal, 1 night, 2 days in parks;

-- WDW for 3 nights with 3 days in parks, staying either at the Polynesian, Contemporary or French Quarter.

--3 night cruise

Although if the price factor is overwhelming, we could just do the 7 night Land & Sea.

Since we already have WDW MYW tickets, the all-inclusive of the package is not essential to us. Additionally, with AAA discounts on room only reservations I could probably get a good deal on the WDW room portion of the trip.

I welcome ALL suggestions/recommendations you may have.

Thanks in advance, hope to see you all on a cruise soon.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

First of all, let me say that we have done two cruises in back to back years - 7 day - eastern and western. My hubby gets extremely seasick - which we didn't know until we left on the first one, but he thought he might based on another time being on a smaller boat when in Hong Kong. We were barely underway and he was feeling seasick. Upon the advice of one of my clients, I brought along, just in case, Bonine and the little motion sickness wristlets (which he never used). My DH simply took a Bonine every morning and he was perfectly fine. There were absolutely no side effects whatsoever. It worked so well, we immediately booked our second cruise when we returned from the first. Just bring stuff with you and take it if you feel the least bit seasick. Once you start taking it, you will completely forget about everything but having a good time.

We had a category 6 each time (in fact we even got the same exact room on the second cruise). My hubby wanted the verandah because this way, it made the room "feel larger". That was important to him since he had been worried that he'd get seasick.

Can't give you any input on the cost and which one to do, since we belong to DVC and used points for both cruises.

Relax and enjoy! It's the best vacation you'll ever take.

 

[princesspumpkin]

I cruised Feb. 13 and the weather was great. Around 80 everyday. Pools were warm as well as CC. Ocean water was cold, but we were still in it. I suggest booking your land and cruise separately. Much more cost effective. You can always book your cruise now, and if circumstances change, you can cancel at the end of the year and get your deposit back. At least you would have locked in a good rate. Using AAA will get you good rates at both WDW and HRH. If you are at all concerned about claustrophobia (as I am), I would suggest spending a little extra money on getting the lowest possible outside cabin (if you can snag a SPH room - great. IF not, then cat. 10 would probably be best). I'm not sure how many of your will be going, but renting a car for the land portion might be cheaper than DCL transfers or a town car. You'd have to price out all of your options. I just did one night at Pop Century, but actually went to US/IOA and did the one day/two park deal. then we did the 4-day Wonder. We rented a car for our entire trip and parked it at the pier. It was cheaper that way, even paying for a week of rental and 4 days parking. Good luck.

 

[Princess Tink]

I am claustrophobic and prone to motion sickness (I get car sick the minute I step into a car)......with that said, I thoroughly enjoyed our cruise last May.

We stayed in a Cat 6, as I was very concerned with the whole being locked in a room with one exit, and yes I have a problem sitting in a room with my back to the door (not that it has anything to do with it, just giving you an idea of how loopy I am).

I tried Bonine prior to leaving home and it knocked me out, I could not keep my eyes open. I used the Sea Bands, which I now keep in my bag for trips to the city (45 minute ride), and I had no problems whatsoever. My suggestion is to try things out prior to the trip to see what works best for you.

 

[spotdog]

If you can afford the Cat 7 room, go for it. The fresh air and looking out at the horizon does wonders to alleviate seasickness and claustrophobia.

I have huge anxiety issues and tried the 3 night cruise ( 4 nights Disney) my first time. Unfortunatly I had to fly on Sept 15, 2001. I had a wonderful cruise, it was rocky the first night, but I had taken Meclizine 24 hours before. I felt the motion, but never got sick.

I skipped dinner the first night and ordered room service. Then I spent the rest of the evening floating in the adult pool and looking at the stars. I spent the first night just getting used to the ship.

Castaway Cay is one of the most relaxing places you can ever be. Hope you have a magical trip

 

[wonderfan]

In your situation, I would highly recommend a room with a verandah -- I am extremely claustrophobic and that was my one condition to my husband in order for me to try a cruise I absolutely needed fresh air and thus a verandah -- we had a category 4 on Deck 8 (Wonder), but, next time I might try a lower deck, but I could never do without a Verandah -- just knowing there was extra space was great for me.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

You can't loose anything booking too early (except the interest you'd earn on your down payment sitting in the bank).

When you book your cruise, you will have to make a $250 per person deposit. If you cancel the cruise before final payment is due (90 days before the sail date if I recall for new bookings), you will receive a full refund. You can also transfer your booking to another date without penalty if you are still outside the 90 window.

The down side to not booking now is that as more people book a cruise for a given date, the higher the price climbs. So waiting can only cost you more money.

 

[dwkwootton]

HooKooDooKu's point about no dollar penalty going into effect till 90 (?) days out is a very good. From that angle, there's little or no risk to booking now.

However, there's a pattern I've noticed that might not be the most helpful for someone in a position like you. It seems that many are super quick to encourage unsure newbies to book and go, assuring them that they will have a wonderful time and just love cruising.

When someone posts that their cruise experience was lacking in whatever area, many are super quick to admonish that person that they did not do their research and that cruises aren't for everyone.

I prefer to see the barn door closed before the horse takes off and feel that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If you are claustrophobic, you may well find certain areas of the ship to be very uncomfortable for you. For one example, some people have trouble dealing with the bathrooms. Perhaps try a real life comparison with the size and layout of the ship's bathroom vs your bathroom at home, keep in mind that there will not be a window, even cover your own bathroom window with black construction paper for several days, etc ... and weigh this against your personal comfort level of claustrophobia.

For motion sickness, I can tell you that you will absolutely feel the ship's movement to varying degrees but little movement does not translate to no movement. On the 3 and 4 day, no matter how smooth the seas, there is always increased motion crossing over the gulf stream. Seasickness is common enough that you'll find many a thread on it or on which seasick meds work best. You'll also find threads from people who were feeling movement for days after disembarking the ship.

As for seasick meds, I have no personal experience with any of them but I think it is worth a mention that there are possible side effects with any drug. There's been threads regarding this particular issue with the seasick meds and, if you decide to try cruising, testing different ones well in advance on your person and not on someone else's experience seems prudent. And you could try different ones in a circumstance where you get motion sick (in a car maybe?) and see if they help you.

You cannot assume you will have beach/pool weather in Jan/Feb. The Bahamas can be cool that time of year and the ocean temp is likely to be quite chilly. My personal track record for cruising in Jan/Feb is for 4 cruises: 2 had rough seas, 2 did not ~ 3 made it to CC, 1 did not ~ weather was wonderful for 2, good for 1, poor for 1 with water temps chilly in the Bahamas for all.

You are looking at a multi faceted risk. You know you best. Going into it knowing there is always a risk with the weather, you may conclude that a long weekend at a tropical resort is a better option for you since it removes the risk of motion sickness and claustrophia. I love cruising and if you choose to give it a try, I hope you have the very best of vacations.

 

[geffric]

another thing to consider.. is that the lower down in the ship that you are and the more in the middle, the less motion you will feel. We were on 1 curise , where people that were on the higher decks were feeling sick and complaining about the motion and those of us on deck 2 didn't really feel anything.

However, deck 2 won't help you with being claustrophobic, these are inside and porthole rooms.. The SPH rooms that you mentioned are deck 5 and are booked very far in advance, so you may not be able to get one at this time for a Feb 2006 cruise.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

another thing to consider.. is that the lower down in the ship that you are and the more in the middle, the less motion you will feel. We were on 1 curise , where people that were on the higher decks were feeling sick and complaining about the motion and those of us on deck 2 didn't really feel anything.

However, deck 2 won't help you with being claustrophobic, these are inside and porthole rooms.. The SPH rooms that you mentioned are deck 5 and are booked very far in advance, so you may not be able to get one at this time for a Feb 2006 cruise.

In terms of seasick - my personal experience (which obviously won't go for everyone) is that it doesn't really mater where you are on such a large boat.

Technically different parts of the boat will move more than others, but I find that the rocking of the ship is slow enough and minor enough that it's motion alone does not cause sea sickness.

What does cause sea sickness is when your inside a large room (like on of the theaters or a dinning room at night) and your eyes see a non-movable world, but your hears can feel the rocking of the ship. It's these mixed signals that seem to cause sea sickness.

Now for some reason, we don't get seasick in our cabin very much. I can only imaging it's because your "world" is so small that your eyes don't have enough frame of reference to say the "world" isn't moving.

Again, your mileage may vary.

 

[keishashadow]

Thanks to you all for your comments. I'm sure I'll be posting soon with more specific questions.