Advice regarding Dramamine vs patches and foot wear for excursions

[TR1963]

I am going on an Antarctica cruise with silver seas in the beginning of February. I was wondering if anyone had any advice regarding which sea sickness medicine worked better? Also do I need to pack hiking boots  for any of the landings or does one always wear the waterproof rubber boots. The info provided by the cruise line is a bit ambiguous?  If anyone has any other tips regarding the cruise I would love to hear them. Thank you.

[ethan1171]

scopolamine patch works great - however many people have complained for side effects e..g vertigo after they remove it - so you may want to try it before the cruise. However if it does not have side effects - it works really great.

 

I always have extra mezicline OTC with me just in case.

 

Also i have found out for moderate sea conditions the wrist band works great.

 

SS should provide you with waterproof rubber boots that you will use on wet landings - no need to being hiking boots - save the space. good warm shoes with good grip for wearing on the ship would be great. My advise so you can maximize what you are packing is to bring shoes that can be used in other occasions, eg flights airport sightseeing in ushuaia santiago BA etc - if you do plan to do hiking in the region on your own then good idea to bring them

 

 

[TR1963]

Thank you for your help. Any other comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.  I’m obviously very nervous about this cruise. 

[Katosmama]

You will not need hiking boots on Antarctica, and in fact I'm not even sure the ship would let you wear them.  The will not let you off the ship unless you are wearing waterproof pants because you need to be able to stand in at least a foot of water so they will want - and maybe insist - that you wear knee high waterproof boots with waterproof pants on over top.  I don't think hiking boots will cut it.  

 

The only exception to wearing their boots that I've hear is that if you are an exceptional size (like maybe over mens' 15, or need extra wide calf), they suggest you bring your own but they want them to be the same Muck boot style.  As for footwear on the boat, I wore running shoes/sneakers the entire time and was just fine.  Not cold, they were non slip and easy to get around the boat.  

 

I get very seasick and dislike the patches so I took meclizine the entire time.  The ship provided both patches, meclizine and some other anti nausea drug free of charge to anyone at any time.  I had no issues with the meclizine. 

[gogo65]

13 hours ago, Katosmama said:

You will not need hiking boots on Antarctica, and in fact I'm not even sure the ship would let you wear them.  The will not let you off the ship unless you are wearing waterproof pants because you need to be able to stand in at least a foot of water so they will want - and maybe insist - that you wear knee high waterproof boots with waterproof pants on over top.  I don't think hiking boots will cut it.  

 

The only exception to wearing their boots that I've hear is that if you are an exceptional size (like maybe over mens' 15, or need extra wide calf), they suggest you bring your own but they want them to be the same Muck boot style.  As for footwear on the boat, I wore running shoes/sneakers the entire time and was just fine.  Not cold, they were non slip and easy to get around the boat.  

 

I get very seasick and dislike the patches so I took meclizine the entire time.  The ship provided both patches, meclizine and some other anti nausea drug free of charge to anyone at any time.  I had no issues with the meclizine. 

We didn’t wear SS boots, we took our own BOGS and had no issues at all

[kaisatsu]

On all my trips, the only place where hiking boots were even an option was the Shackleton hike from Fortuna Bay to Strømnes. We had the option to change into (disinfected) hiking books once we were on shore, but it would have required carrying our waterproof landing boots for the duration of the hike. Everyone in our group opted to hike in the landing boots instead of carrying them.

 

I spend a lot of time outside on deck, so for me it’s worth bringing a pair of warm insulated boots, which I typically wear on the plane. But I would skip the hiking boots unless you’re planning a significant hike pre- or post-cruise. I have done pre- and post- day hikes in Tierra del Fuego and New Zealand, but nothing so extreme that I couldn’t use lightweight GoreTex hiking shoes that I could tuck into my luggage.

 

My only advice for seasickness is to take your meds before you start to feel sick.

[butterfly4108]

My husband gets extremely seasick and the wristbands work wonders!!  It's the only way he can cruise and the nice thing is not having to take medications....he tested them the first time by taking them off for about half an hour and began to feel ill.  Once he put them on he was good to go in about 15 minutes so for us it's been tested and true 😄  Happy sailing!

[TR1963]

thanks so much everyone!