How to reassure nervous hubbie?

[chasbos]

Our family of 6 is going on the Jan 23 Wonder 4 day cruise - to break us in to the whole cruising thing. We are all very excited except for nervous hubby! He is afraid of hating it and being sea sick the whole time (that is why a 4 day!)

Any suggestions on how to reassure him or anyone had the same feelings before sailing and everything turned out fine?

Thanks in advance - we have 5 months to turn his attitude around!

 

[ksjayhawks]

There are medications you can take or patches and/or bracelets to wear to avoid seasickness.

What is it that he thinks he will hate? Activities? Being on water and not seeing land? If you could give us an idea we might be able to give better suggestions/advice/help.

 

[katz99]

Tell him to just relax. A cruise is what you make it. You can have all sorts of fun and excitement or relaxation, just depends on what you want and what activities you want to participate in.

As for seasickness, if you dwell on it and worry about it you are going to experience it. This is a huge ship with stabilizers, your chances of experiencing seasickness are slim. You will hardly notice the movement at all. Being on this ship is nothing like going out on a small fishing boat, if that was what he was thinking.

Assure him there is nothing to worry about, but if he wants to worry he is going to cheat himself and his family out of a trip of a lifetime.

 

[chasbos]

Yes, being "stuck" on the ship and not being able to be on land! We are very active and have to be going, going, going. We would never go to a resort on any of the islands that are unsafe to leave your resort because we like to explore and have different scenery every day. So I guess we will see how the 4 day goes - I hope that with only 1 day at sea we can ease ourselves into cruising.

 

[PoohJen]

Hmm; take a look at the Navigators (sample daily itineraries) for 4 day DCL trip at www.dcltribute.com, so you can have an idea of what's available on the ship.. (I for one was looking forward to just relaxing in a deck chair on my verandah for a week...after obsessing over the Navigators, I don't know how I'll fit in all there is that I want to do!

As for seasickness, I'm worried about that too for myself. I have read here to take your bonine/dramamine the day before and the day of boarding to avoid issues (that if you take AFTER feeling sick, it is less effective/takes longer, etc.)

Good Luck and have fun planning!!!!

 

[allears]

Chasbos,

Our first cruise was also the 4 night as part of the land/sea package. We also thought it would be a great way to see if we liked cruising. At the time, and unbeknownst to me, my wife was not all that thrilled. She knew I always wanted to go on a cruise so she kept her thoughts to herself. She was sure she was going to hate it, 4 days stuck on a ship, what were we going to do, etc, etc..

She is now a full fledged cruise adict! We had the most Wonderful time. There is plenty to do, but the pace is so much more manageble than a land vacation. With everything right at your finger tips and most everything already planned and taken care of, all you have to do is decide how to have fun.

The ship is beautiful, never confining. You feel just like you in a hotel, but it moves.

Has he watched the promotional DVD? And take the advice that was already here, go out and visit those sites with Navigators, it will give you a good idea of just how much there is to do, or not to do, your choice.

You'll have a great trip. But beware, if he gets converted like my wife did, it's gonna cost you. She (okay we) don't think we could do less than 7 days from now on. Which of course costs more. God willing we'll be on our third one in a few weeks, see what I mean.

Bon Voyage!

 

[jellybungsters]

Chasbos,
I am a person who gets motion sickness easily. I once got so seasick on a 40 min. boat ride from Long Beach, California to Catalina Island. Our first cruise ever was on a 3 night to Baja Mexico. I took Dramamine an hour before sail-away and none the rest of the way.

Before we went on our 7-day Magic Eastern cruise, I was really worried about being seasick and being stuck on the boat for seven days. I took one table of dramamine just in case. The only other time I took a tablet again was the night before we were to arrive in Port Canaveral after hurricane Charley hit Florida. It turned out I didn't have to take them either time.

The only problem we have with a 7-day cruise is it's way too short!!!

 

[goingbacksoon]

Tell him to think of it like this for starters...

Since food is the largest expense not paid in advance on any vacation, say "Food is already paid for. And there's a whole lot of it." Also, there is no tax on anything. You probably spend less on a cruising day than one day in a theme park.

You said something about seeing different scenery every day. Well, that's covered say " Just look out the portholes - we'll be moving!" And there's plenty of exploring to do, too.

I have more good persuations if need be.

goingbacksoon

 

[Grumpy's Mom]

Chasbos,

We are very active and have to be going, going, going.

We took our first cruise 12/03. I was looking forward to a relaxing 7 days, knowing my DD's (17 and 13) would be entertained and safe. I needed a vacation from my vacation when we got home! We tried to do as much as we could, and there were many things we missed out on (can't wait for the 2005 trip to pick up where we left off). Like Katz99 said, it is what you make of it. We could have spent the entire time up on Deck 9 drinking!! My DH is a type A professional who was also very hesitant about going on a cruise. Several of his peers in our small city who had recently been on a Disney cruise had told him what a great time they had had. The neighbors catty-corner to us were on the Wonder for Thanksgiving that year, and had such a great time. they had a Cat 5 and went on and on about the Verandah, so much so, that we tried to upgrade at the port, but the ship was full.

Join the thread for your cruise on the "Cruise Meets" board. If there isn't one (you can do a search in that forum for the date), start one. Arrange a "Dis Meet" with the people on your thread during the Sail Away Party, or as our group did, a brunch at Palo's the second day. You will have a group of people you know before you get on board, and you can decide if you want to spend some time with them or not. Our group became very fast friends, and are all cruising together again in 12/05. If your DH is at all frugal (as mine is), you may be able to convince him to do the 7 day - you all will be traveling from Canada - might as well make good use of the time and expense!!

My DH has two favorite hobbies, golf and any kind of fishing. Fly fishing is what he does the most of here, because we are at the base of the Appalachians, but he was excited when I told him I had booked a guided fishing trip (not Disney) in Key West for him, and convinced him to do the bottom fishing excursion with Jgalecpa, whom he had never met, nor even talked with on the boards. They are now fast friends, in fact, a dangerous if somewhat hilarious, duo!

As for the sea sickness - I would be the queen........My DH and I used to live in San Francisco. We went salmon fishing on a head boat 20 miles out of the bay into the Pacific. It took us 3-4 hours to get out to where we were going to fish. I was up on deck at the rear of the boat because I was feeling queasy, unknowingly inhaling the deisel fumes, and finally just gave myself over to it, and hung myself out over the rail. I don't recall ever having been so sick in my entire life. I prayed for a helicopter to come and take me home. Now, every time I smell deisel fumes, I get a mild Pavlovian response. I was concerned about taking such an expensive vacation on the Magic during Christmas week, and being confined to my cabin most of the time. I bought Bonine, and took it every morning and did just fine. There were a couple of moments when you could really feel the boat moving in the cabin, and it didn't bother me at all. One of our friends (Dis'ers we met on the boards) and her two daughters took their Bonine every night before going to bed and found that it worked just as well, and they were never caught at a bumpy time without the medicine in effect.

While we are looking forward to the things we didn't get to do next time, we also have talked about the idea of staying on board in while in port, and enjoying an "empty" ship and relaxing!

Have a great time -- he will have a great time, too!!

 

[chasbos]

Thanks all for your great advice. We will be bringing plenty of motion sickness drugs - nobody 6 miserable people! Especially 4 very tired kids.

The kids are of course why we are going and I am sure we will have a great time. A good enough time that I can convince him to rebook a Western while on board.

We already have plenty of excursions that we would like to do - especially the parasailing. So I have to call early on day 60!

My DH is also a big golfer - me too. Has anyone ever took the time to find any courses in Nassau?

Also, my 4 girls are looking so forward to Atlantis - Mary Kate and Ashley helped that. Is a tour around on your own better than with Disney?

Thanks again and I can't wait for the wonderful service and catering atmosphere of the Wonder!