My daughter and I are planning a vacation to Norway.
She is reluctant to take a cruise, because she is afraid she’ll get sea sick.
For those of you who have taken such a cruise – is this likely?
Haven’t done a fjord cruise but when I take a cruise I always use the prescription motion sickness patches for behind the ear.
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Fjords are relatively protected waters, so it shouldn’t be that rough. If the cruise stays in the fjords unless a major storm comes up it should be relatively smooth (the North Sea may not be, if starting from the UK). If your D is worried about that, the patches mentioned do work if she finds she has a problem.
If using patches it was recommended to me to put them on before the cruise starts – I’m told that once you get seasick it is hard to shake it.
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My seasick prone daughter has gotten sick even in the calmest of waters on big ships. I’d be reluctant to try the North Sea as the weather can be so highly variable.
Depends what you mean by a cruise. We did one a few years ago but it was only a couple of hours. It was relatively smaller boat- may 100 people and we walked around from top to bottom and front to back. We don’t get sea sick but I could see where someone might. You could always see out and the land.
Agree with this- what kind of “cruise”? We did the one day out of Bergen deal-- you board a boat in the harbor, they take you out, they bring you back. It’s a small boat (maybe 50 people capacity) and it didn’t have the rocking motion that I know many people find nauseating. Just a smooth ride.
I think a longer cruise has the potential for seasickness- you’re further out (ours hugged the shoreline and then circled some of the close by glacier and icy mounds but the water was perfectly still) and you’re far from land for some of the trip.
I don’t think the day cruises sail if the weather is bad…
I’ve been on a couple of cruises where the motion bothered me a bit. My daughter gets motion sickness very easily but Dramamine works very well for her.
There are certain areas of the ship that are more stable. I think middle section of the lower decks. We had a cabin on an upper deck on the end of the ship and there was quite a bit of motion.
Our last cruise had ports in Iceland, Norway, Amsterdam, Belgium, and
Southampton. It was great even though we had to skip the stops in Iceland due to bad weather. Instead, we had a day in Reykjavik and went on what they call the golden circle tour by taxi. It was a good, but rainy day and we saw a lot of cool features in Iceland.
The pics below are in Geranger, Norway.
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I got so horribly sick on our first and only cruise (needed shots). Sleep was the only time I wasn’t horribly nauseous and out of my mind. The sea was flat and there was no detectable motion (according to everyone else). The problem is that I can handle a roller coaster, but I can’t handle a “marshmallow” ride (like my dad’s Cadillac). I’ve never been so sick in my life, and I missed every single event. Horrible waste of time and money. I will never board a commercial liner again as long as I live. I don’t care what anyone says about Dramamine, patches, or any preventative, I’ll never take that chance again. Dante’s rings of hell don’t begin to describe the misery.
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That sounds miserable to the extreme and I would never do that again in your shoes.
Good thing you didn’t join the Navy! 
Cruise Critic is a good source of information. The other CC
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I got sick on my first and only cruise, but only when the waters were rough. Dramamine and patches did nothing. I did have better luck with Bonine.
Entirely dependent upon the person. Some people become seasick setting foot on a boat tied up at the dock in a perfectly calm harbor with flat water and no wind. Others have no problem even in 30 foot swells. If she is prone to motion sickness, probably not a good idea.
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So true! A stiff suspension is so much better for those prone to motion sickness. You go over a bump and you feel a jolt…but then it’s over. Way better than the nauseating “floaty” feeling you constantly experience in cars like your dad’s Cadillac.
The driver can make a big difference too. When drivers find out they have a passenger prone to motion sickness, they often try to drive more carefully and “gently” but this is the exact opposite of what helps. I tell people, "Drive assertively, drive definitively, do not make the car “float.” And please, for the love of all that is holy, park the car in the very first empty slot you get to at the edge of the parking lot! Nothing worse than the unpredictable, floaty, rotational movements of slowly winding up and down the rows looking for a closer spot.
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There are fabulous train tours through Norway which don’t involve water. Disclosure- I have not (yet) been on one. But I’ve heard the views and the scenery and experience is other-worldly.
Just an option of seasickness doesn’t translate into train sickness…
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I haven’t cruised the Norwegian fjords though it is on the bucket list. I always used 25 mg generic Meclizine taken at night so I sleep through the hours when it makes me drowsy. I start taking it the night before the cruise. The pharmacy at Walmart has them in bottles of 100 for $6-7. They keep them behind the counter so you have to ask for them.
We did a cruise of the Norwegian fjords years ago. There were a couple of days of our 10 day cruise that were full days at sea in the North Sea. There was one day that was particularly rough and quite scary. I agree with another poster above that the North Sea can be unpredictable. If your cruise goes all the way to Nordkapp (as ours did) you will have at least a full day at sea to get there. The waters within the fjords were relatively calm. We enjoyed the trip but wouldn’t travel there again. Even in mid summer the weather was kind of miserable, but the scenery was breathtaking.
I have seen coronary artery vasospasm caused by meclizine. It can help with motion sickness. Most people do not experience it, but those who do, have chest pain and pressure with very mild exertion while on it.
My daughter gets sick from a wide array of motion types and we learned that early on. She can’t even watch 3-D movies. She’s very fortunate that Dramamine does work very well for her … when she’s not too stubborn to take it. She’s done her share of barfing after saying “I’m fine, I’m fine!” Her fun fact is “I’ve barfed on x number of our vacations!” She still loves to travel. I understand, though, that others get no relief from meds.
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