Wave heights

[cs]

Really folks, if you won't take the sea sick pills, or wear the patch, don't board a ship if you are prone to seasickness...

 

Its really that simple, book a land based vacation instead...

 

Huh? Where did that come from? We were talking about wave heights that make you sick - not if you should or shouldn't take something when you're prone to seasickness.

[SuiteRose]

Really folks, if you won't take the sea sick pills, or wear the patch, don't board a ship if you are prone to seasickness...

 

Its really that simple, book a land based vacation instead...

 

wow, that's really harsh! I have to disagree though, my DH got sick on many fishing charter ships, ferries and amusement park rides. In fact, that is why he didn't come with me on my first cruise. He was nervous about it on our frist cruise on the crown. But with some seasick pills he did fine. Now he says he only takes them "just in case".. you never know unless you try! If he had taken your advice, I'd still be cruising alone.. :(

[fin]

Took the Crown around the horn and the waves were over thirty meters high and breaking on the window of the gym, ten decks up, which they thereupon closed. The forward decks were roped off awhile.

[Nacca]

Years ago I was on a New Year's Eve transatlantic cruise when all of a sudden a giant wave unexpectedly crashed into the side of the ship. The wave was so big it rolled the ship over. The next thing I know Shelley Winters was swimming underwater like a manatee while Ernest Borgnine and Gene Hackman were constantly yelling at each other and this little know-it-all dweeb wouldn't shut his pie-hole. It was the worst cruise I have ever had and I was not happy. Needless to say, I asked to have the daily service charge removed from my account but the purser gave me a hard time. True story.

[fin]

Thirty feet-ten meters. Unable to edit post above.

[blitheone]

Nacca, I hate it when i snort Diet Coke up my nose...:D:D:D but glad there was a morning after for you!

[jwoap]

What's the average wave height (on a cruise ship) that starts causing people to feel seasick? I'm asking for a guesstimate, I know there's no specific/real answer. What would your guess be?

 

Also, is there a specific wave height that causes a cruise ship to change course?

 

Hi there - I just got back from Alaska. We had one day that there were 1-4 foot waves. I get queasy really easy. I took Bonine the Wed before my departure daily. 25 mg once a day, that's all you need.

 

I also learned that eating a green apple helps. And it did. I was right as rain. Fresh air is great as well.

 

Have fun!

[melehundele]

The worst cruise day I had was on the Spirit on the last sea day of a W Caribbean RT New Orleans. It was the day the earthquake hit Chile and, as they said, the water is all connected. Even the crew was sickly. We hung out in the casino for a while, basically propping ourselves with one arm along the side of the slot machines. After a while I thought I should lay down, but in the cabin the motion felt worse. Sitting in the buffet on deck 12 we were commenting on how rough the water looked, with "big waves" with whitecaps, and it did not occur to us how big those waves REALLY were ince we were seeing them from so high up! I hope not to be in that rough a seas, but at least the ship didn't roll over ;)

[Lard Greystoke]

Years ago I was on a New Year's Eve transatlantic cruise when all of a sudden a giant wave unexpectedly crashed into the side of the ship. The wave was so big it rolled the ship over. The next thing I know Shelley Winters was swimming underwater like a manatee ...True story.

 

I saw the whole thing. But I think manatees are a little more graceful.

[navybankerteacher]

It's not just the wave height, but the wave frequency (distance between crests) as well as the angle relative to the ships course, that determines the motion the ship will experience. A very long frequency means that the ship is more likely to ride up each oncoming wave, while a short one will result in the ship just plowing through. On Noordam in the winter of 2007 we had steep, short frequency 30 foot waves - from dead ahead and we just plowed through - many times there was just green sea water outside my window - but there was little up/down or rolling motion. Later, when we had 15 foot seas from the quarter (coming up at an angle from the stern) with long frequency, there was a continual rolling and pitching combination which had a lot of people using the strategically placed barf bags.

[CrusinCyndi]

Just reading some of these posts make me want to take a cruise on one of the ships on "Deadliest Catch"..I would have to be up in the wheel house of course. Bring on the rolling seas...rock and roll !!

[Hlitner]

Loving the great questions on this forum. We have actually had this discussion with two very experienced cruise Captains (one who worked for RCI and another who is still a Captain on HA) and got the same answer. Wave height is not necessarily a very important factor (especially on the really huge mega-ships) but just one of several factors. Most of the large ships can be more adversely effected by what is known as "long swells" which can easily move any size ship. You could be in relatively small wavelets and have long swells that would bother lots of passengers. On the other hand, you can cruise into pretty high waves (lets say more then 20 feet) that have less of an effect if the ship is cruising into the waves (as opposed to across the waves). And then there is the wind, which might be one of the most important factors with many of the newer ships which have a relatively shallow draft and a huge superstructure. These ships are like huge weather vanes and a gusting cross-wind can make things pretty uncomfortable. We have personally cruised through a hurricane (Hurricane Bob) with seas that were around 45 feet and did fine. On the other hand, we have been in 8 foot seas that had lots of folks turning green.

 

Hank

[cruiserbryce]

that completly depends on the person...to begin with we have hardly ever had consistant wanes over 10 feet. My wife hardly ever gets motion sick...i do in planes and cars but still havent been on a ship...it really varies from person to person

[griffy116]

We had a really rough time on Enchantment several years ago. We went to the Windjammer and at the time, they were using real, breakable plates. We may have been why they went to the plastic ones. Plates were crashing everywhere from passengers to wait staff. We headed to the cabin and during the night, we were awakened by the drawers of the dresser rolling out, then slamming back into the dresser VERY loudly. We probably would have blissfully slept through the entre thing if not for the noise of the dresser drawers. The TV on the slider slid out, then slammed back into the hinged thing. We flipped on the TV and found out there were gale force winds. You could see the foam and the waves were quite large, but I have no idea now what the numbers were. When we got up for breakfast, things were calm and the staff were removing the barf bags they had placed out all over the ship. We had taken our Bonine and were fine.