Question about kids and cruising?

[DSNY FN]

Just curious about what others do for their kids on the ship. Our kids have only ever been out on the great lakes in boats and have not had any signs of seasickness but when we take them on the DCL we are not sure if they will. Our question is what do you use for your kids to help prevent this? We are looking at seabands but not sure how well they would work for kids any help would be greatly appreciated.
Darren

 

[magic cruiser]

Adults are more likely to be seasick than children.You see children riding all sorts of rides at Disneyworld that adults can't ride due to motion sickness. Also, you mentioned that they had been on boats on the Great Lakes. I would think they would more likely be sick on the smaller boat. The Disney cuise ships, like all modern cruise ships, have stabilizers that prevent most rocking. To help , you should get a stateroom that's in the center of the ship or toward the back. I have used the seabands on a recent cruise around Hawaii, but the Pacific is rougher,anyway the seabands worked well. I'm not sure if they are recommended for children. I would check with my pediatrician. The kids along with Mom and Dad will love the cruise !!!! Happy Cruising !!!

 

[dclwdwlover]

My kids have cruised three times & have never experienced sea sickness with the exception of our last cruise (11/03) when we experienced hurricane winds. Only our youngest (12yo) got sea sick - but only for an hour & wouldn't take anything. Good thing he didn't since it passed so quickly. Sometimes the side effects from the medicines can make you feel yucky.

 

[TheWog]

Our DS6 didn't experience any motion sickness issues. Either with his first flight or the cruise. I think as posted above, adults and older children are more prone to it. We did have the children's dramamine ready just in case.

 

[DSNY FN]

Thanks for the replies everyone. We are not cruising till 06 when the kids will be 9, 5, 4 when we go the oldest had no problems flying but the other 2 have never been on a plane or to many rides other than the train around WDW and a few things like Dumbo. We are going to check with our family doctor and see what he says about it thanks again.
Darren

 

[hydster]

When we took the kids on the Wonder in 2002 our oldest dd was 9, ds 7 and ds 3. Only my dd needed any kind of medication but my boys were just fine with nothing in fact they didn't "know" they were "supposed" to get sick according to them. Our oldest we gave 1/2 of a meclizine to every morning and she did just great. If your doctor recommends having them take any form of medication PLEASE try it out on them at home so that if there are side effects you can figure out how to deal with them before ruining your vacation. Also the seabands are great IF they hit the pressure point! My husband and I both have too deep of pressure points in our wrist to actually have them work so if you are going to rely on that do so with a backup plan in place. Also some people swear by Ginger candy or tablets. Another thing I heard from one of our waitresses on our Carnival cruise was to eat a green apple when feeling ill. Tried it and it did help but it was not a long term solution for the whole cruise but it did help almost immediately when I was already ill.

We will be whipping out the Meclizine in a couple of days in preparation for boarding the Magic this weekend
Heidi

 

[mickeyboat]

DD3 and DD4 didn't even feel the ship's movement. They kept asking if the boat was going yet. DD3 gets car sick on winding roads. No problems on the Magic.

Our Ped recommended benadryl. She said that sea sickness meds can work unpredictably in young children. I would ask your Dr. what he/she recommends.

Denae

 

[rsjj]

worked for us! our pediatrician recommended that! (along with benedryl) thought it was sorta strange, but it worked! try it! it's safe!

 

[DSNY FN]

Thanks for the input on the green apples our biggest concern is both the youngest ones are prone to ear infections not so much lateley mind you. They both seem to get them quite a bit so we are hoping it isn't something that will affect them on the ship not an infection but with seasickness.