Tell me about sea sickness...

[Mikeb1892]

...like how long it will last once it starts? Will I have it the entire cruise? If I do vomit, will I feel better instantly, and if so, for how long?

We're cruising in October out of NY on the Magic, and I am very prone to motion sickness. I take Dramamine when flying and that seems to help, but I'm worried about cruising (1st cruise). I'll have the patches and meclizine and Dramamine at my disposal, and plan to begin some type of regiment of those a full day prior to sailing. We have a midship Deck 7 Veranda room.

Some examples of what makes me motion sick: BTMRR: I almost lost it on this ride! I was fine on Small World and Living with the Land. Pirates doesn't bother me, and for the most part was ok on Frozen. Garden Grill started to bother me towards the end of our meal. Skylon tower in Niagara Falls was somewhat bothersome, but being able to look outside helped. Elevators don't seem to bother me at all, but then again you're on them for only a short period of time.

With the 4 full sea days, I'm a bit worried. Should I be?

 

[RobInMD]

I used the patch for my first cruise and was fine. Put it on the night before and made sure to change it every three days. You'll be fine.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

I can only tell you that cruise ships are not NEARLY as bad as other things. I get carsick, airsick, seasick on fishing boats, motion sick on rides, etc. But on a cruise ship, I feel nothing or next to nothing. I do use Bonine (meclizine) once a day when I am on board. But I would need to use that for the plane and any smaller ships we sometimes do for excursions anyway, so I just take it every day, just in case. For me, Bonine has no noticeable side effects. You will know how it effects you. On one trip, the ship had to navigate around a hurricane, the waves were very high, and that one day I could feel the motion, so I spent most of that day lying down, but all the other days I've felt nothing. Plan ahead, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Msmit002]

So I'm not *quite* a sensitive as you are, judging by the examples you cite. So first, the patch will do you well. And that is all that you need. In fact, do NOT double up on a bunch of these antihistamines unless you plan on being comatose for the duration of your cruise. The patch (scopolamine) has a pretty long half-life, pharmacokinetically speaking, so it will work even for a little while after you remove your last patch.

As others have said, put your first patch on the evening before you travel, wear for three days then switch out. Do this until the day after you get back from your travels. This is what I have done for each of my cruises and have been fine and I have sailed from the mid Atlantic to the Caribbean to Europe and Asia. The ride form NYC to the Caribbean is a bit rough at first. Until you hit right about Georgia (maybe a little sooner since it will be fall and the water a bit warmer than spring) so just keep that in mind.

Otherwise, have a great trip! Once I realized that I didn't have to let motion sickness control me, I have enjoyed being on the water VERY much!

 

[lorimay]

I swear by Bonine, I start it the night before we sail and take one very night at bedtime throughout the cruise. I have no issues thankfully!!

Have fun!

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

...like how long it will last once it starts? Will I have it the entire cruise? If I do vomit, will I feel better instantly, and if so, for how long? Ours usually lasts the first 12-16 hours. We usually feel better by lunch time on our first sea day. No, you shouldn't have it the entire cruise - or from our experiences - none of us ever has and my 19 year old has motion sickness in cars. If you vomit you will likely not feel better. It's not something that comes from your stomach - like an upset stomach. With that being said, none of us have ever vomited. The best way for me to describe how I feel when I have seasickness is like gravity is pushing down on me. My family feels this way too, but has headaches as well sometimes. Our best remedy is sleep.... I highly recommend it too.

We're cruising in October out of NY on the Magic, and I am very prone to motion sickness. I take Dramamine when flying and that seems to help, but I'm worried about cruising (1st cruise). I'll have the patches and meclizine and Dramamine at my disposal, and plan to begin some type of regiment of those a full day prior to sailing. We have a midship Deck 7 Veranda room. Get ginger chews from Trader Joes!

Some examples of what makes me motion sick: BTMRR: I almost lost it on this ride! I was fine on Small World and Living with the Land. Pirates doesn't bother me, and for the most part was ok on Frozen. Garden Grill started to bother me towards the end of our meal. Skylon tower in Niagara Falls was somewhat bothersome, but being able to look outside helped. Elevators don't seem to bother me at all, but then again you're on them for only a short period of time.

With the 4 full sea days, I'm a bit worried. Should I be?

In my experience your days AT sea will definitely be the best days for you. Leaving ports and arriving back at ports has always been the problem for my family and I. We've cruised out of both Galveston and Port Canaveral numerous times and have had sea sickness in both locations on different trips/different years/different time of year. We were told that leaving Galveston is harder than some other ports and once we reach the continental shelf that the seas become more calm and things get better. I've found that to be true leaving Galveston. Often times we cannot make it through the first night's dinner due to motion sickness. We've tried all of the typical sea sickness methods (meds, bands, etc.,) including acupuncture and acupressure -- and acupressure from the ship's acupuncturist seemed to be our best bet. Yay! We've also had the same issues leaving Port Canaveral. With all of that being said - I'd never let sea sickness keep me from cruising. I just make the best of it and book longer cruises (6/7 nights or above) so that we're in calmer seas the majority of the time. Hope this helps!!

 

[CamperMomma]

I'm very prone to motion sickness as well. I mainly ran into an issue with motion sickness on the Dream (deck 6, slightly aft) at night when I was laying down. I started to take a Bonine about 20 minutes before laying down for the night and that helped immensely. We had some pretty rough wind to contend with (water splashing around in the pools rough), so that certainly didn't help. Even after all of that, I'm scheduled for another 3 night on the Dream in February with some friends!

 

[tefrench]

I swear by Bonine, I start it the night before we sail and take one very night at bedtime throughout the cruise. I have no issues thankfully!!

Have fun!

Agreed! I have issues with motion sickness, but used Bonine on my first cruise and no issues.

 

[tefrench]

I swear by Bonine, I start it the night before we sail and take one very night at bedtime throughout the cruise. I have no issues thankfully!!

Have fun!

Agreed! I have issues with motion sickness, but used Bonine on my first cruise and no issues.

 

[RedSox68]

I use nothing but Bonine -- once every morning and I start it the day before. I even use it for excursions in case I feel car sick. My whole family has never been seasick, but we never skip taking the Bonine just in case.

IF you do get seasick, order green apples from room service and ginger tea (or bring ginger tablets).

 

[cmph]

I take meclizine (bonine) too. It helps tremendously in the parks, as well. I *almost* enjoy Star Tours then; it's the 3D combined w/motion that hits me hardest. I've started taking it on planes too, b/c it's not worth taking a chance that it'll be a smooth flight when it causes no side effects for me.

I've only had the rides/airplanes sickness issues in adulthood, really. But on a Mexican Riviera cruise in my late teens, I did get seasick for the first time ever. We hit really bad seas, the kind where you can't even really walk - you just kind of knock back and forth between walls on the way to your stateroom. My sister, dad, and I got pompous and had only taken meds the first day or two, so we were unmedicated at that point. However, we didn't actually throw up - just had to lay down and felt awful. My mom hadn't let up on her meds and just rolled her eyes at us while saying "I told you so", b/c she was totally fine! We all took a meclizine (back then was available by prescription only, but the same stuff that OTC now), and we were totally fine the next day. As far as I can remember, we starting feeling ill in the early evening shortly after leaving port and hitting the seas, took the pills, skipped dinner and had a light meal later from room service... and just went to bed early. I guess the "how long until you feel better" part will depend on the timing. If you get sick first thing in the morning, you'll probably not feel well for most of the day. But get sick in the evening, take a pill, then go to sleep - and you're probably going to be fine the next day (assuming the pill works for you). However, there is very little point in taking a risk! Just take the pill if you know you won't have side effects anyway. it's once per 24h, and you can take it before bed even if it does make you drowsy.

Whatever you choose to take, try it out in advance. Like I said, i have no side effects from meclizine, so there is just no point NOT taking it daily.

 

[gizmo3234]

I suffer severely from motion sickness. I can't even stand on a floating dock. I am 65 years old and was "forced" on a Disney cruise because my daughter was getting married on the cruise. There was no way I was going to miss that wedding, so I had a long discussion with my doctor and we both agreed the patch was the way to go. I put on the patch the night before I left on the cruise and there was no looking back. I had no problems, none, nadda (except dry mouth, which is a side effect of the patch). I had the best time ever, and my husband and I have an NCL cruise booked for this Thanksgiving and my family has booked another Disney cruise for October, 2018. So don't worry about a thing. Take whatever drug regimen you think will be right for you and you will be just fine. Enjoy every moment of your cruise.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

I suffer severely from motion sickness. I can't even stand on a floating dock. I am 65 years old and was "forced" on a Disney cruise because my daughter was getting married on the cruise. There was no way I was going to miss that wedding, so I had a long discussion with my doctor and we both agreed the patch was the way to go. I put on the patch the night before I left on the cruise and there was no looking back. I had no problems, none, nadda (except dry mouth, which is a side effect of the patch). I had the best time ever, and my husband and I have an NCL cruise booked for this Thanksgiving and my family has booked another Disney cruise for October, 2018. So don't worry about a thing. Take whatever drug regimen you think will be right for you and you will be just fine. Enjoy every moment of your cruise.

Lots of people wear the patches, yes!!! The acupuncturist on the ship will also give out acupressure patches for behind your ear. Those are my favorite of all of the sea sickness options out there!

 

[jrabbit]

@Mikeb1892 - Have you used "the patch" before? If not I would try it out at home before leaving on your trip. There are some (IMO) nasty side effects of the patch. Dramamine also has side effects (mostly causing drowsyness / sleep - which isn't terrible, but who wants to sleep their vacation away). I use the 24 hour, less Drowsy Dramamine. Sometimes when flying (just because), and EVERY DAY at Disneyland or WDW. To make DW happy, I now take Dramamine every day while on a cruise. I had only gotten seasick a handful of times in my prior 100 nights onboard. Last time I got seasick, vomiting didn't make me feel better, but about 18 hours of sleep did (and then having a day in port helped as well). I started taking the Dramamine after vomiting but once you get sick, it's too late, therefore I take it preventively (no side effects for me, DW happy )

Here's a link to a post about many of the motion sickness meds ...

https://www.disboards.com/threads/motion-sick-meds.3064080/#post-47495625

 

[jrabbit]

So first, the patch will do you well. And that is all that you need. In fact, do NOT double up on a bunch of these antihistamines unless you plan on being comatose for the duration of your cruise. The patch (scopolamine) has a pretty long half-life, pharmacokinetically speaking, so it will work even for a little while after you remove your last patch.

Isn't this the "drug of choice" for the "kids" doing "Zombie Walks" - Scopolamine in higher (over) doses can / will turn you into a zombie for a while.

 

[mandylovesdisney]

Sea sickness was my biggest fear for my first cruise so I bought bands, Bonine, and ginger gum before our cruise. I never opened the bands and just took 1 bonine every morning and I was fine, and the ginger gum was terrible. The only time I felt weird...not sick, just kind of weird was the first night right before dinner. I am coming up on my 6th cruise and still feel weird the first night before dinner. Once I get in the MDR I'm fine. I would also recommend taking bonine for a day or two after you get home if you still feel like your moving. It helps A LOT!

I think someone mentioned it earlier, but I've heard green apple also helps. I've never tried it though.

 

[crazy4wdw]

I swear by Bonine, I start it the night before we sail and take one very night at bedtime throughout the cruise. I have no issues thankfully!!

Have fun!

Same for me, worked like a charm even with rough seas the first night of the cruise. I continued to take Bonine several days after the cruise so I wouldn't have any motion sickness while traveling back home.

 

[JBeaty0507]

My mother-in-law gets sea sick. Up until her last cruise she had always taken dramamine and still had never made it to the first nights' dinner. The thing with dramamine is that the dramamine itself makes you not feel so hot. Therefore, before her last cruise, she started taking ginger pills about 2 weeks beforehand and actually made it to dinner the first night! Due to the success, she took them before we flew to Vegas (as she has motion sickness on planes as well) and had a wonderful flight! We're pretty big believers in it now as it has no side effects that go along with it

 

[hanscarlet]

yea jumping on the bonine train... I am not prone to motion sickness, my husband is though and he was good with bonine... I will say we had a very rocky day during our eastern cruise and I'm the dummie who decided to run on a treadmill during a rocky trip and do not do that... that got me so sick... anyways I took a bonine and was surprised how effective it was, I felt so much better after taking it.... I've read that if you have really bad motion sickness problems, it's a good idea to take one before even getting on the ship... I am not sure how the NY cruise will be, I've read that the waters can be rocky up the coast of US... we're going to Canada so will keep you posted

 

[nhgirl]

I've been on five cruises. Three out of Boston and two out of New York. I used the patch for every one. No issues at all even on rough sea days.