Ship's motion / sleeping / seasickness

So here's a couple of questions for you experienced cruisers....

The two primary motions you will get on a ship is pitch (up and down bow to stern,) and roll (side to side, port to starboard.) I'm assuming for the most part, beds head and foot are in line with the stern/bow. So in your opinion (or facts if there have been any studies.)

1. Is it more difficult to sleep with the ship pitching or rolling?

2. Do you think seasickness is worsened depending on whether the ship is pitching or rolling provided you are laying in the bed?

This is going to vary by each person. Most pitching and rolling doesn't bother us. Serious seas, yes we notice. But 98% of our over 200 days at sea movement hasn't bothered us sleeping.

What triggers sea sickness is quite variable. Some can't look at the horizon, and it amplifies the sense of motion. Others want a full view. Some it is food, or the smell of food. Some its a full stomach, some an empty stomach. I am sure some don't like lying flat.

While we can easily tell the difference between the pitch and roll movements, we're very lucky in that neither one bothers us. Either movement 'rocks us to sleep'. The only thing that's kept us awake was several times (Tasman Sea several times and once on the Pacific Coast coming south from Alaska) is when the movement was strong enough that cabinet doors keep swinging and banging. The first time it happened, we improvised and used band-aids to keep the doors closed. Since then, we carry a small roll of duct tape and it works great.

I'm assuming for the most part, beds head and foot are in line with the stern/bow.

Beds with windows and balconies are in line with stern/bow for the most part. (Portholes differ depending on bed configuration.)

Interiors are 90 degrees turned from stern/bow.

So here's a couple of questions for you experienced cruisers....

 

The two primary motions you will get on a ship is pitch (up and down bow to stern,) and roll (side to side, port to starboard.) I'm assuming for the most part, beds head and foot are in line with the stern/bow. So in your opinion (or facts if there have been any studies.) Not really true. The split is probably 50/50 as to fore/aft and athwartship alignment for the beds.

 

1. Is it more difficult to sleep with the ship pitching or rolling?5 degrees of pitching is felt much less than 5 degrees of rolling, since the ship is much longer than it is wide. Whichever motion is sideways to the bed is more difficult to prevent you rolling side to side, than pitching your head and feet up and down, because you, like the ship, are much longer than you are wide (I assume). However, having spent 38 years at sea, on ships with radically different stability to cruise ships, and without stabilizers, etc, I can say that the motion on a cruise ship, even in bad weather, is not that great to disturb your sleep.

 

2. Do you think seasickness is worsened depending on whether the ship is pitching or rolling provided you are laying in the bed?Again, the motion is felt more when rolling than pitching, and this will result in more seasickness. Laying down is not really conducive if you are feeling queasy. /COLOR]

As someone else posted, seasickness is pretty personal, but my best remedy is to be somewhere I can see the horizon. Sea sickness is caused by the mixed signals to your brain from your eyes (which tell your brain you are not moving if you are inside) and your inner ear (which senses the changes in atmospheric pressure to tell your brain you are moving)

So here's a couple of questions for you experienced cruisers....

 

The two primary motions you will get on a ship is pitch (up and down bow to stern,) and roll (side to side, port to starboard.) I'm assuming for the most part, beds head and foot are in line with the stern/bow. So in your opinion (or facts if there have been any studies.)

 

1. Is it more difficult to sleep with the ship pitching or rolling?

 

2. Do you think seasickness is worsened depending on whether the ship is pitching or rolling provided you are laying in the bed?

You can't be sure the beds are in a head/foot, stern/bow configuration. Some cruiselines have different layouts in different categories of rooms. 3 of our cruises we had the stern/bow configuration, while the other 2 cruises, the bed was aligned port/starboard.

As PP, we've not bothered by either pitch or roll motions, so it didn't really matter which way the bed was.

I agree with CruiserBruce this will vary by person.

It can also vary by cruise.

The key is to be prepared to prevent sea sickness.

I am also a believer in trying to secure a mid ship cabin.

Keith

As someone else posted, seasickness is pretty personal, but my best remedy is to be somewhere I can see the horizon. Sea sickness is caused by the mixed signals to your brain from your eyes (which tell your brain you are not moving if you are inside) and your inner ear (which senses the changes in atmospheric pressure to tell your brain you are moving)

I agree with this. I've found that as long as I can see the horizon, my motion sickness (to which I am very prone) can be tamed to a great degree.

Also, if there is a good sea running, I've rarely experienced pitch without roll or vice versa. Although most cruise lines' stabililzers do a good job of minimizing roll.

We've found that having the cabin midships on a lower deck and having a balcony so I can see the horizon is more important that which way the bed is facing.

I always take Bonine. I have to take it when I fly, so I keep taking it on the cruise. If the seas are calm, I don't need it. We just returned from a cruise 2 weeks ago where our first 2 sea days were very rocky. If I hadn't taken the Bonine, it would have made me sick. Because of that I continued taking it the entire cruise. I take it at night when I go to bed so drowsiness is not a problem. Two things I discovered about myself this last cruise: I'm better if I keep my stomach full; and, I felt better when I was in the cantilevered hot tub. Apparently the sloshing of the water in the hot tub counteracted the movement of the ship - go figure!

I get sick from seeing the churning of the water when I look down, not from the movement of the ship itself. I start taking Bonine the day before we sail, and I can look down at the water with no problem whatsoever. I take it at night in case of drowsiness, and I don't notice any side effects at all. I love the movement of the ship, and I sleep like a baby.

If you can find what triggers your seasickness, it will make it easier to deal with, and hopefully conquer. Good luck!!

Two things I discovered about myself this last cruise: I'm better if I keep my stomach full;

Luckily, that is not a problem on a cruise ship.

Ship stabilizer will help for the most part

OK, keep in mind that when the ship is pitching, it is often rolling at the same time.

On our recent cruise is "moderate seas" one person sitting in the lounge at the stern of the ship on deck 18 was looking forward watching the bot of the ship rise, and then the ship rolled to port as the bow settled back down. She said it looked like a merry-go-round ride.

My wife gets seasick on small boats almost before she gets on them. She has no problem on a cruise ship (I suppose under extreme conditions, she might have a problem-but those conditions are rare).

In most cases the movement is easier to take for many.

Good luck.

Our bed was always side-to-side, never stern to bow. We reserve lower middle window cabins only as I get sea sick. Not sure if this is due to stress-free vacation, or if rocking helps, but my sleep on ships is much better.

I get motion sick at the drop of a hat, I can't even watch the kids play video games because of it. I've only been sick once on a ship and it was when we slowed to let Hurricane Katrina pass by. The ship was moving every which way up, down, left and right it was brutal.

Like others said though if I could see the horizon I was better.

On the other hand my husband who never gets sick had a devil of a time when we were on Explorer and the wind was making us move in a port-starboard rocking motion.

I guess I'm saying this to show ships can move in different ways and it can affect people differently.

I get motion sick at the drop of a hat, I can't even watch the kids play video games because of it. I've only been sick once on a ship and it was when we slowed to let Hurricane Katrina pass by. The ship was moving every which way up, down, left and right it was brutal.

This goes to show that to a great extent, the speed of the vessel through the water affects the ship's motion. When slowing, as to let the hurricane pass, you are letting the seas strike the ship, instead of the ship cutting into the seas. There is a point, however, where the ship's speed is too great for the seas (this depends on the ship design and the period of the seas), and the ship needs to slow down some to optimize the relative speed of ship to sea. Also, taking seas slightly on one bow or the other (not straight on, but slightly to one side or the other) will reduce rolling.

So here's a couple of questions for you experienced cruisers....

 

The two primary motions you will get on a ship is pitch (up and down bow to stern,) and roll (side to side, port to starboard.) I'm assuming for the most part, beds head and foot are in line with the stern/bow. So in your opinion (or facts if there have been any studies.)

 

1. Is it more difficult to sleep with the ship pitching or rolling?

 

2. Do you think seasickness is worsened depending on whether the ship is pitching or rolling provided you are laying in the bed?

1. My own experience is that it is more difficult with pitching. As the ship cuts through the waves, there is a cycle where typically every seventh or so wave is larger, so it catches the ship "off rhythm", and when the ship hits it, the impact send a "shudder" down the hull. I'm pretty sure this is an individual perception and varies among people.

2. A couple of qualifiers for this question.

Motion sickness is the result of your inner ears and your eyes sending conflicting signals to your brain. If you are in the open and can look at the horizon, your ears tell your brain that there is motion, and your eyes see the horizon moving relative to your position, and send the same signal, no problem for most people. But take the ability to see the horizon or other stationary reference out, and the ears signal that there is motion, but the eyes have no reference for this, so signal no motion, resulting in the brain confusion we call motion sickness.

That is why you do not want to be in an enclosed area, or sit looking down at a book, or watch TV. As all of these move in correlation with our eyes, thus they perceive no motion, while your ears still perceive motion.

Finally to your question... if your are lying in bed sleeping, your eyes see no motion or lack of it to report, thus the only signals about motion are from the ears, with no conflicting signals, and there should be no motion sickness. Lying in bed and looking at the walls, or ceiling, or tv, or book, and you are back to the conflict, thus the possibility of motion sickness.

Having only completed one cruise my knowledge is limited to those 18 nights. :)

We had some pretty heavy seas to the point of missing two ports of call due to the heavy seas. There were two nights after dinner and the show that were heavy enough that I decided I would be more comfortable laying then sitting after we went back to our cabin, so went to bed to read and conked out quickly. The ship rocked me to sleep.

I have always gotten car sick so I came prepared with bonine, ginger pills and seabands. We took the bonine and ginger ever evening beginning when we first boarded. Never tried the seabands.

Beds don't always face bow to stern. Our last cruise the head was to the port and feet to starboard.

.

As someone said above

the trick is to go prepared to handle it.

I board my ship with a 6-pack of Ginger Ale and a roll of Ginger Snap cookies.

Whether I'm feeling motion or not, I drink Ginger Ale throughout the day when thirsty

and nibble those cookies when I feel like.

I don't wait for it to start!

We both do that now, wife and I -although I'm the one who sometimes feels seasick.

Not any more!

..................................

Check the deck plans for this Carnival ship.

http://www.cruisecheap.com/c/deckplan.php?SailDate=&ShipID=212&DeckNumber=6

It has eleven odd cabins located co-axially with the keel

up on Deck 6.

Look for 6287, 6289, 6271 etc.

Eleven of them all in a row, they're not only amidships re. back-to-front

but they also right down the very middle of the ship.

Deck 6 is also

halfway up-and-down the height of the ship from keel to funnel!

So presumably these cabins are optimally placed for passengers who are very prone to motion sickness?

.

Not taking into account that they are directly over the Casino? Optimum for hearing impaired sufferers of motion sickness, perhaps?

To avoid seasickness is it better to sleep feet first (feet toward bow) or head first (head toward bow)?

To avoid seasickness is it better to sleep feet first (feet toward bow) or head first (head toward bow)?

How did you manage to find a 5 year old dead thread?

Head or feet to the bow won't make any difference if you're rolling.

Head or feet to the bow shouldn't make any difference if the ship is pitching. It's still up, down, up, down.... if it's in one direction only then you've got bigger things to worry about.

No idea how I got to that thread. Your reply was informative to a newbee (as to pitching being felt as up and down, I could figure out rolling), but your comment "rolling in one direction," was hilarious!!! :) Thanks.