<p>Several friend of mine want to go with me on a 3 day cruise but they are afraid of sea sickness. I don’t have a problem with it so I had never pay any attention. So whats your recommendation and experiences? </p>
<p>Its a 75000 ton cruise ship(Carnival) out of LA to Mexico. I called company, they say Summer is a better time in that area.</p>
<p>I’ve had good luck with taking ‘Ginger Trips’ before seasickness sets in. Also with Bonine, especially if I’m already feeling queasy. Hubby and son swear by Bonine the night before a deep sea fishing trip.</p>
<p>I’ve tried the patch before but it makes me dizzy.</p>
<p>Prevention is the key to seasickness. Take something before or at the very first sign. Once it sets in, it’s difficult to get over it.</p>
<p>I agree about taking it preventatively. We went whale watching this summer and we all took Dramamine. I’ll bet the guy in the restroom the whole trip wishes he had. Once you get sick, it’s too late.</p>
<p>I wear pressure point wrist band and it works very well for me. Maybe it’s all in my head…I was on a cruise with a lot of rocking. Everyone felt sick that night, but I was able to sleep through it.</p>
<p>Scopolamine patch made me so sick and almost ruined my Alaska cruise. I would recommend the Bonine instead. Good to know that you can have an anti-seasickness shot on board if you do get sick on a large cruise ship. BUT you will need to sleep about 12 plus hours after.</p>
<p>I do quite a bit of sailing on small craft. I can be out on inland waters such as the Chesapeake in the worst storms and it doesn’t phase me a bit. Put me on the ocean in a small craft on the calmest of days and I get debilitatingly seasick within 30 minutes. Weird.</p>
<p>I have tried pressure bands, Bonine and Dramamine to no avail. The only thing that works for me is Scapalomine patches. They have been so effective that on a 54 foot sailboat, crossing the Gulf Stream with 15-20 foot waves and 30 knot winds on the nose, I was able to retire to the aft cabin down below (the worst position when at sea on a small craft) and read a paperback while being catapulted 2 feet in the air by the boat pitching in the waves. The patches need to be applied 3 hours before departure and you must take care to drink enough to avoid dehydration. That being said, the patches enable me not only to be comfortable but to also engage in all of the tasks, some very physical, that must be attended to during ocean crossings.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, on large cruise ships, unless you hit bad seas, the on board stabilizers do a pretty good job of eliminating motion that could induce sea sickness.</p>
<p>Purchase Sea Bands. They are sold over the counter at most drug stores around $10. They apply pressure to your wrist. Wear them even when you are asleep on the boat.</p>
<p>My Daughter and I are very prone to motion sickness so besides the sea bands, we eat ginger candy/pills and take sudafed. The sudafed avoids fluid build up in the sinus/ear canals. We pack Bonine and take whenever boats on open ocean or the weather is rough. </p>
<p>First sign of feeling ill, head to the deck. Being outside with fresh air and being upright is critical. Laying in your cabin or heading to the bathroom will only make it worse. Bonine is effective but does make us feel sluggish-obviously better than feeling nauseous. Patch made me feel dizzy and sleepy.</p>
<p>We also found that the inside rooms on the upper levels, bow and stern were harder to handle due to more motion. We had to skip out on some of the evening performances due to this. While cruising isnt our favorite vacation, its doable using these techniques and knowing well be spending time with extended family.</p>
<p>If your friends dont typically experience sea/air sickness then Bonine or Sea Bands will be fine.</p>
<p>I do a fair amount of deep sea fishing in New England waters and I’ve found that a half tablet of dramamine helps me. I’ve also had good lucy with the wrist bands.</p>
<p>Any OTC medications that I take, especially ones with side-effects like drowsiness, I always take no more than half the dose of whatever the label says.</p>
<p>As far as sea sickness goes, only had it once … on a small sailboat … what I ate for lunch that day didn’t help. I’ve worked on a larger vessel, been on many ferries and also been on huge cruise ships - no problem.</p>
<p>You can get OTC meclizine (bonine/antivert). I brought a drugstore full of stuff on our cruise (meclizine, ginger root tablets, ginger snap cookies, wrist bands, scopolamine transdermal patch) and didnt use a thing. Anyone want some slightly out-of date stuff??</p>
<p>We keep ginger capsules on hand all the time. You can even open a couple of capsules in a cup of hot water and drink it like a tea. It’s also good for reflux, heartburn, indigestion, nausea in general…</p>
<p>I get drowsy with Dramamine. Bonine works great for me and our friends. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how much those large cruise ships are affected by surf size, but on smaller (two or 3-story) ships (eg. island shuttles), the upper decks wave around much more than the lower decks, so can cause greater seasickness.</p>
<p>Meclizine (Bonnie) works the best for me and is less sedating (I take 1 tab instead of 2 to try to prevent sedation and take it just as you are boarding the boat (i.e. before you need it)). Dramamine is too sedating for me. Pressure wrist bands didn’t work. I worry about Scopolamine patches and the risk of an attack of angle-closure glaucoma.</p>
<p>I’ve done the Carnival - LA to Mexico trip. People told me that the boat is big and I wouldn’t get seasick, but since I get motion sickness on a SWING, I took 1 meclizine daily and had a grand time. The rest of the family usually didn’t take it, and though weren’t motion sick per se, they all felt just blah on the trip.</p>