Question about rough seas in Alaska

[CruiserBruce]

43 minutes ago, rick160158 said:

The pills of choice for cruisers is Bonine

 

You know this how? 

[pbenjamin]

Be aware that Bonine and "All Day Less Drowsy Dramamine" are both the same ingredient and dosage, 25mg of Meclizine.  Regular Dramamine is a different product, arguably less effective.

[Katwoman007]

6 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

 

You know this how? 

 

The other makes you super drowsy and the transdermal patches are very hard to get right now. Meclizine is less likely for drowsiness and you can always cut the dose or increase as needed. 

[bluecakes]

We sailed Alaska from Seattle to Vancouver in September and had very calm waters pretty much the entire time. We also won the lottery with a rain free trip except for a brief sprinkle in Juneau. Just throwing this out there to say it is possible you would get lucky and have calm seas.

[kennicott]

You say: "toward the end you will be in the Gulf of Alaska". So I'm assuming you are voyaging on up to South Central Alaska arriving in either Seward or Whittier and flying home out of Anchorage. If so, you stand a bit of a chance of some rough water after leaving Southeast Alaska, Cape Spencer, until you arrive in Yakutat Bay, Hubbard Glacier, then a chance of some more until you enter Prince William Sound. If you don't do Hubbard, then you will go direct across the Gulf, but regardless, that doesn't involve much more than a day of sailing total in the Gulf.

 

Perhaps though you are only doing Southeast Alaska, 65% of all cruises only do that portion. My personal preference for these round robins is to get on a voyage that cruises through the "Canadian Inside Passage" as well as the "Alaska Inside Passage" both north and south. Meaning, they travel to the east of Vancouver Island as opposed to the west of the island, west of the island places the vessel out into the North Pacific where scenic voyaging is rather mundane and rougher water a possibility, particularly in the fall. Vancouver is the most likely port for Canadian Inside Passage voyaging. There might be a little open ocean swell after you enter Helcate Strait, which is the body of water to the west of British Columbia and north of Vancouver Island. Doesn't take very long to cross that strait though.  

Beware when the line or your agent simply says you are going to be in the "Inside Passage".

 

We are working toward 700 days sailing on the high seas, for the most part, the cruises we have been on have avoided difficult weather, missed many a port due to such though. So can't say we have seen "rough" at all. One time on the North Atlantic, back in 1997, we had two or three days of heavy swell, but that was about it. Coincidentally, in late September and October last year, we were on a cruise where giant hurricanes were all around us, but the Captain circumvented them all, so the end result was just trying to avoid sun stroke.

[cabland]

As an aside, if you have never taken regular Dramamine or Bonine/All Day Non-Drowsy Dramamine/Meclizine I suggest trying each out a couple of weeks BEFORE your trip.  I had taken regular Dramamine over the years, but had never tried the all-day/Bonine/Meclizine.  I tried it a week or two before and realized that at anything over a half pill dosage, I was getting some whopper headaches from it.  it definitely didn't turn you into a Zombie like regular Dramamine can though.

Anyway, given all the "prep" folks do for a cruise, I think it would be well-worth it to try before you come to rely on it!

 

Oh, and as an aside, I mostly stuck to regular Dramamine and did the sea-bands...no issues...hooray!

[Hollyann]

Just got off the Joy yesterday. When we left Seattle on the 18th the ship did rock a fair amount the first night. i was very glad that I had may transderm scop patch - I could feel it moving, but did not feel it in my stomach 😉.  My sister said she woke up 5 times that night from the rocking. But no one got sick. Seas were about 10'.  The next day when we were on the inside passage, it was was vert smooth. On the last day to Victoria, it was a little rocky, not as much. I think it just depends on the seas as to how bad the first and last days will be.

A side note is that I am glad I left the patch in because my flight home to Arizona had a LOT of turbulence. I had not felt that much in years.

[DougK]

On 4/3/2019 at 1:55 PM, consmarci said:

I've never seen meclizine free on a ship in our 20 + cruises, but if they have it, take advantage of it!

 

I think it depends what line you cruise on. In my first 15+ cruises, meclizine was *always* free--on Celebrity, Windstar, HAL, and Azamara. So I was shocked to be charged for it on a Princess cruise a couple of weeks ago. Admittedly, other than Azamara, my experiences on other lines were quite a while ago, so they may have changed and now charge.

[musik07]

I always bring and take Meclizine (Bonine) from the morning we leave for the airport through driving home from the airport. The older I am getting the more I am getting car sick. I need it on any drive where I may fall asleep, take my focus off looking directly out the front or will be on windy roads. I will need it for our ISP and Skagway ports since we are taking excursions in mini-busses or vans. I will also need it on my way home since we are taking a shuttle provided by the airline from one airport to another! I always make sure to have a water bottle because it makes my mouth very dry!

 

[tetleytea]

I won the talent show on one sailing I did.   I think it helped that the seas were rough and I was the only one to show up.