Just booked a *very* Forward room......your thoughts?

[MomOTwins]

When we stayed forward on the dream, it was the WORST. Was throwing up all night and never spent a minute more than I absolutely had to in the room when the ship was moving. People who say "you'll be fine" clearly don't have sea sickness (which is not the same as motion sickness--I've never once had an issue with car rides or theme park rides that give my DH motion sickness, and he is totally fine on the ship).

It's annoying that the concierge rooms and lounge on the Dream/Fantasy are so far forward. The Magic/Wonder do have midship concierge rooms. For a Dream cruise, I'd be okay toughing it out because it is just a few days and most of them are in port, but for the fantasy eastern cruise with all those sea days, there is no way I'd sail concierge.

Bonine is the best for me. Still, midship is the best place for seasickness.

 

[DCLDVC1]

We've sailed in Concierge on the Dream & Fantasy many times and never noticed much motion. The worst motion we've ever felt was in a midship Concierge room on the Wonder.

 

[Sarco11]

Thanks for all your responses!
We are on the Fantasy on an E Caribbean cruise in September 2022.
We'll be on Deck 12.
Just crossing our fingers for a smooth sailing, no storms and good times!

We had 15-20 foot swells on a December 2019 E Caribbean on the Fantasy, and I was pretty ill the first full day at sea (no vomiting, but stayed in bed). We were in 12510. After I put on my Sea-band wrist bands, which I should have done immediately, I felt better 2-3 hours later. Ginger Ale was also helpful. I think that I forgot to bring my ginger pills which had worked well on prior sailings, but with smaller waves. Sleeping was weird with the large swells. The whole ship was affected, not just upper decks and forward. Walking down hallways was problematic with the swaying.

 

[GPaLarry]

I believe your stateroom position depends on the ship and your itinerary. We have been forward on almost of our nine cruises without much concern. This area is convenient to the somewhat seldom-used elevators and fortunately, the rocking of the ship does not bother us. We also like a verandah where we can get fresh air, if needed. One caution is being in a port forward verandah during an Alaska cruise. The smoking area is just above and we had ashes and smoke all over our verandah the day we did the glacier viewing...dead calm, no wind and we were miserable.
Motion might be a consideration more with a transatlantic or Caribbean cruise during hurricane season. The medications suggested earlier should help there. Good luck!!

 

[kathi]

We have sailed Deck 11 and 12 on the Fantasy a number of times and have not had any real problems. I am very prone to motion sickness and I do much better forward than aft. Obviously the motion will be greater that high up and that far forward, but I use sea bands and take Bonine/Dramamine and it's been fine. You will love concierge.

 

[elittleton]

We generally choose forward staterooms on deck 7 ....

Our preference is forward on deck 7.....

I also have more problems with motion sickness in the dining rooms than our forward rooms. The people at our table actually got a laugh out of watching me because I would be green from the motion until my medicine kicked in.

What is a good option for seasickness? I hear bonine.

I use Bonine. Dramamine makes me sleepy, even the non-drowsy. Start taking it the day before your cruise thru the day your disembark. With my first cruise I quite taking my motions medication the night before and was so sick the night we disembarked. I could feel the motion more that night on dry land than any other time.

 

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

12016 on the Dream, and no problems, but we did notice a little bit of motion on the first night out of Port Canaveral. Our motion-sickness prone kid wasn't even bothered. Oddly enough, our non-motion sickness prone kid is the only MacSpiff family member who ever had problems with seasickness, and that was on a cruise when we had a midship stateroom. It hit him right in the middle of dinner; DH took him up to our room, our servers sent him some ginger ale and green apples, and he was fine before long.

 

[kathi]

I agree, when I feel the worst from motion it is in the dining rooms. I may feel more motion in my forward cabin, but the aft movement is the worst for me, personally.

 

[Shellyred8]

I was in one of the forward-most rooms once on the Fantasy and I don't recall there being much more motion than anywhere else. But the weather on that trip was excellent and the seas were pretty calm the entire trip.

 

[babyruth]

I have been on two large cruise ships and took medication the entire time. I have done three small boat cruises and took very limited medication but did get very ill one evening in the San Juan Islands. For me it seems to make no difference where I am. Rocking motion just gets to me. I medicate for flying and do not do certain rides. Parents say I was alwasy the one that would be sick in the car. No doubt, I remember but medication helps so much and I travel well with it. My point, it depends sometimes on the person and how susceptible they are to motion..

Blondie, what do you take if you don’t mind my asking? I have taken Bonine and it seems to knock me out.

 

[Starwind]

Blondie, what do you take if you don’t mind my asking? I have taken Bonine and it seems to knock me out.

Not the poster you were asking. but I take Dramamine Less Drowsy [same active ingredient as Bonine, meclizine] to deal with motion sickness. I also layer other methods at the same time: ginger candies, ginger ale, ginger snap cookies, wearing SeaBands. I have to start a couple days before we board and continue some days after leaving the ship.

However, to deal with any drowsiness meclizine still causes me, the best advice I have been given is to take the dose *at night* before bed; you sleep through the worst of the drowsiness. There may or may not be some residual during the day, but any of the "I must lie down and sleep NOW" feeling is most likely to have happened when you were sleeping overnight.

SW

 

[babyruth]

Not the poster you were asking. but I take Dramamine Less Drowsy [same active ingredient as Bonine, meclizine] to deal with motion sickness. I also layer other methods at the same time: ginger candies, ginger ale, ginger snap cookies, wearing SeaBands. I have to start a couple days before we board and continue some days after leaving the ship.

However, to deal with any drowsiness meclizine still causes me, the best advice I have been given is to take the dose *at night* before bed; you sleep through the worst of the drowsiness. There may or may not be some residual during the day, but any of the "I must lie down and sleep NOW" feeling is most likely to have happened when you were sleeping overnight.

SW

Thanks for the response! How do you know the sea bands are in the right spot? I used them last time but never could figure out if I was wearing them in exactly the right place as they didn’t seem to help.

 

[Starwind]

Thanks for the response! How do you know the sea bands are in the right spot? I used them last time but never could figure out if I was wearing them in exactly the right place as they didn’t seem to help.

If they don't help they aren't in the right place ;-)

Of course, it isn't that easy an answer !!

SeaBands do not work for everyone. And even when they do work, they may not solve the issue 100%. They can... but "help" may be in the form of *reducing* but not *eliminating* symptoms.

I've used them for decades now [motion sickness; nausea due to migraine] and find the basic directions for placement SeaBand provides on their website to be really good: https://www.sea-band.com/ca/why-seaband/

For me, they work [but usually not 100%, although sometimes they have which is an *amazing* feeling when it happens!!], so if I find they aren't at least *helping* then I check and adjust their placement. If they have been working and suddenly aren't as much, checking oftens finds one or both have shifted out of place somehow.

I think I notice how well they are working more in their absence. So for example, when cruising I take them off to shower because wet SeaBands can be really irritating on the skin. That 30 minutes of them off is always lets just say an interesting experience The nausea that had been reduced to this kind of steady state of annoyance in the background that most of the time you could pretend wasn't there comes back [not full-on, but it reminds me it is very much there] - I have found sucking on a ginger Tummydrop significantly helps] and I have balance issues [walls and grab bars are your friend!!]. If we at all are having rough seas at the time... well... it is a challenge to ensure it to ends well and safely*. When the SeaBands go back on, fairly soon and things go back to that previous steady state.


*one of the reasons I like DCL's round tub showers is that at all times I can reach out and have two walls to touch to steady myself with, vs the rectangle tub where that is not the case. Plus there is a ready seat to sit on if needed.