How to Prevent Seasickness on Your Cruise

I was born with sea legs so I never thought I would succumb to seasickness. Boy, was I wrong. You see, I come from a family of avid cruisers. We cruise at least once a year to places like Alaska, Belize, Honduras, Mexico, Aruba, The Bahamas, etc. Cruising is our favorite way to vacation, and let’s face it, it couldn’t be any easier! Your lodging, meals, entertainment, and transportation and all rolled together in a sexy little package. Let’s face it, there’s one thing that can ruin all of that… seasickness!

There is nothing worse than being seasick and spending your entire vacation hurling in your cabin. Luckily for me, I have only been seasick twice- once crossing the English Channel on a ferry and once on a cruise ship that was sailing through a tropical storm.

What causes seasickness?

Before I delve into ways to prevent seasickness, let’s quickly touch on what causes the worst feeling in the world. Seasickness is caused when your inner ears and your eyes send different signals to your brain. Your ears are like, whoa! we’re moving! but your eyes see that you’re indoors (on a ship) so… you can’t possibly be moving. This wizardry is what causes seasickness. The brain gets all kinds of confused and bam! instant motion sickness. BLAH!

And my goodness, is it awful. It kind of feels similar to the flu. You get dizzy and nauseous, your body feels off-center so the whole room feels like it’s moving. You lose your sense of appetite and your body starts producing more saliva. It’s absolutely dreadful.

So what can you do to prevent sea sickness?

1. See your doctor before the cruise.

If you know that you’re someone who is prone to motion sickness do yourself (and your travel companions) a favor and get prescription-strength meds from your doctor before you leave. Better safe than sorry, right? Trust me… answer right on this one!

2. Stock up on OTC solutions.

There are all kinds of over the counter meds for seasickness. They range from pills to patches and sea bands. It won’t hurt to pick up a few before you leave. Amazon offers all of these solutions for a great price! We recommend Travel Wristbands, Motion Sickness Patches, Bonine, or Dramamine.

3. On-Board Solutions

Okay…so you didn’t heed your body’s previous warnings that you’re prone to motion sickness and now you’re stuck on a boat feeling the urge to ralph. Now, what do you do? Well… luckily the ships are actually full of remedies on the buffet line!

Natural remedies such as:

• Green Apples
• Ginger Ale/Sprite
• Saltine Crackers
• Peppermints
• Pretzels
• Bread

4. Other Preventable Measures

• Spend as much time as you can on the deck. Use the horizon to maintain your equilibrium. Trust me, this works! This method helps you see the motion, which will fix those mixed up signals your brain is receiving.
• Book a cabin in the middle of the ship. This is the natural balance point of the ship so you’ll have less movement.
• Avoid trans-Atlantic crossings and the Caribbean during hurricane season.
• Book your trip on a larger ship. The bigger the better! Larger ships have more stabilizers!
• Avoid booze (sorry), spicy foods, and acidic foods.
• Choose your excursions wisely. Trust me, you don’t want to go horseback riding, boating, or zip-lining while you’re nauseous!

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Fingers crossed that these tips help you enjoy your vacation as much as possible! Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more travel tips and tricks. See you next time!

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