Channel Button

There are 18 articles on this title. You are reading the article ranked and rated #5 by Helium's members.

Travel   >

Boat Travel & Cruises

Get a Widget for this title

How to avoid sea sickness on a cruise

As any sufferer will tell you sea sickness is never an enjoyable experience, and the fact that you are trapped on board the ship and its the ship thats causing you to feel nauseous only serves to compound the issue further. Sea sickness can also come suddenly even if you are usually fine on boat trips. Although you might have to question the logic of a cruise ship as a vacation choice for someone who knows that they suffer from sea sickness badly already as being optimistic at best.

Personally i don't suffer with sea sickness to any great extent, but i do vividly remember a very rough journey i took when i was about 12 or 13 on one of the small sea cat vessels traveling across the English channel to France. I would say that well over 3/4 of the passengers that day were all gripped in varying degrees of sickness, from having a slightly odd pallor to rolling in the aisles vomiting and dry retching as violently as i have seen outside a graduation party. What this would have been like on a cruise, perhaps being at sea for a month or more, i can only imagine.

Luckily enough though there are several ways you an avoid the feeling of sea sickness whilst on a cruise. The first of which of course is to simply travel on the largest ship you can find. It is a simple fact that the larger a ship is, the less the tides and waves affect its motion in the water and the greater its ability to remain stable in even the worst of storms. Even something as simple as choosing a larger cruise ship as opposed to a smaller one can save you many days with your head over the lavatory bowl.

There are also various chemical remedies and pills that are available from both a wide range of drug stores and from your doctor, but these tend to be very hit or miss, and you wont have any way of knowing whether what you have will work for you until you are on board and experiencing rough seas, which of course leaves you back where you started with a slightly lighter wallet in the process.

Buyer beware also however as a lot of these so called remedies have been found to be nothing more then a placebo that doesn't actually do anything at all. Because such things aren't regulated as such as they aren't traditional medical products as most drugs are, in short they are still legal even in they don't work at all on anyone. There are also patches available that look similar to nicotine patches that quitting smokers have, which I'm told work quite well compared to a lot of the other drugs available.

Some people find it useful to be outside when they are feeling nauseous because this lets them anticipate the movements of the ship before they happen somewhat, and negates the feeling of claustrophobia that can come from being cooped up in a moving cabin without being able to see whats happening around you. Equally some people prefer not to see whats going on at all and find it better to be secluded from the sight and smells of the sea around them.

Learn more about this author, Dambrath.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

How to avoid sea sickness on a cruise

  • 1 of 18

    by Susan Mcdaniel

    If you even think you might get seasick on a cruise, forget about treating the problem and concentrate on avoiding the problem.

    read more

  • 2 of 18

    by Belinda Youlten

    Just let me die! A phrase uttered by many a sea-sick cruise passenger. Luckily euthanasia is not practiced on cruise ships

    read more

  • 3 of 18

    by Sheree Zielke

    It was our first cruise, and the waters off Catalina Island were not being kind. I watched as my normally elegant friend

    read more

  • 4 of 18

    by Allen Teal

    Do you get motion sickness? If so, you are probably skeptical about taking a cruise. If you have ever had sea sickness, you

    read more

  • 5 of 18

    by Dambrath

    As any sufferer will tell you sea sickness is never an enjoyable experience, and the fact that you are trapped on board the

    read more

View All Articles on:
How to avoid sea sickness on a cruise

Add your voice

Know something about How to avoid sea sickness on a cruise?
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Should there be a maximum age limit for driving in the US?

Click for your side.

136238

Featured Partner

Environment Northeast (ENE)

Environment Northeast (ENE) has partnered with Helium, giving you the chance to write for a cause. Browse ENE's ...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA