The thought of being seasick can put a lot of people of a cruise experience.
Although I am lucky that I am not susceptible to the problem I know a lot of people that are, including my wife, but only in really bad weather.
The Cause
Seasickness is really motion sickness, that occurs on a boat.
It happens because your brain gets confused because your sense of balance and your eyes tell it different things, and with constant motion it doesn’t have time to adjust..
Here are a few thoughts on the problem
Things Are Improving
Modern ships with computer controlled stabilisers roll much less than cruise ships of the past.
Better weather forecasting means ships are more likely to avoid really bad weather
When You Book
There are a few things you can do when you start to plan a cruise holiday
Outside cabin are best so you get a good view of a stable horizon, which reduces the brains confusion.
The closer to the middle of the ship your cabin is the better, as it will move less.
Larger ships will be less affected by the waves.
Consider cruises with more port days, rather than days at sea.
On the Ship
There are a number of tips also designed to help you acclimatise yourself to sea life:
Spending plenty of time on deck, and look at the horizon not at the waves .
When inside try to be close to a window, and again watch the horizon.
Stay in bed for a day as lying down can help.
Drug-free Cures
I’m not a fan of taking drugs so here are a some drug-free remedies that many regular cruisers say work including:
Sea-Bands These are acupuncture-inspired wristbands, which have a plastic bead that presses against a pressure point on the inside of your wrist.
Chewing gum
Ginger Either in tablet form or just chewing a stem of fresh ginger.
Finally avoid others who may be suffering: as the sounds and smell of them being sick could set you off.
Medical Cures
Most ships will have range of over the counter drugs that help reduce seasickness including:
Scopolamine
Meclizine
Diphenhydramine
If you’re taking any of these drugs it’s important to check any side effects particularly as you may be drinking alcohol.
I’m currently cruising the European Rivers from Amsterdam to Budapest so here are some travel hacks.
Weather
As you can see from the above photo it was a bit of a grey day in Amsterdam when we boarded the boat.
But as our Cruise Director, Roland, says “There is no bad weather: just a bad choice of clothes.”
A good jacket, and every cabin has an umbrella, . . . so no worries.
N.B Generally the further you get from the oceans the better the weather.
Schedules
With River/ Canal Cruising its likely that there will be some adjustment to schedules.
On the narrower rivers and canals the amount of traffic can make a difference to the timing, especially when there are lots of locks.
Sometimes either too little, or too much, water mean that traffic is prevented from moving on the river.
The best advice I can give is to chill.
The Captain, and the Cruise Director, however will work with other ships and coach operators to ensure that you get the best chance to have a memorable holiday.
On our cruise a damaged lock mean’t that we had to change ships.
The faster coach transfer, across country, meant we were able to spend additional time at two of the ‘ports’.
Cabin Location
For this cruise we had a cabin on the second of three levels on the port (left) side of the ship.
Next time we will probably pay extra to have a cabin on the higher level as the additional 2-3m of height makes it easier to see over the canal/river banks.
We will also aim to choose a cabin on the starboard (right) side as it gives a bit more privacy when the ship is docked. (except when another cruise ship pulls up alongside)
Time on Ship, or Time on Shore?
If you are on a one way river trip the direction can make a difference.
Going upstream the ship will be going slower so you might find yourself on the boat longer.
Going downstream the ship will be able to go faster so the time ashore may be longer.
Explore Instead of Eating
On a river cruise it’s unlikely you will go hungry with three large meals and snacks; so if you really like exploring it might be worth skipping a meal.
A couple of times a meal was served while we were in port, but we got off the ship and had another couple of hours for sight seeing.
Friends or Acquaintances?
Some people like to make friends with other couples early in the cruise and stick with them, eating meals together.
For us we try and meet as many different people by dining with different people at each meal.
It’s really up to you.
Disclaimer I haven’t been paid, or received any benefit from this post.
Before we went on our first couple of cruises we spent hours discussing whether or not to have the alcohol drinks packages.
In the end we decided against it and having experienced cruising life we really feel for us it would have been a waste of money.
Cost
The cost of the packages vary from cruise line to cruise line but the break even point for the standard packages seems to be around the price of 6 drinks per person per day.
Some cruise lines it may be 6 drinks with gratuities included, others it may be 8 drinks but you may be expected to tip the staff.
How Much Will You Drink?
Well my wife and I are occasional drinkers, so at home we may have a couple of glasses a wine in the evening.
On holiday we may have a beer, or sometimes two, at lunch and perhaps an extra drink at night so that’s only to five drinks.
We certainly aren’t keen on drinking to ensure our moneys worth and getting a hangover every morning.
Cruises, with never ending food, are also bad for the waistline so the extra calories from more drinks are going to make the situation worse.
Packages Are Only For The Ship
An additional point we hadn’t appreciated until we were on the cruise is the fact that most days the ship was in port, so we were off exploring.
That mean’t that we would be having lunch in a local cafe or restaurant and buying a wine or beer with that meal.
With only evenings on the ship we would only have been having around 3 or 4 drinks on the package on most days of the holiday.