Please advise on cabin choice/best deck for motion sickness

[yls]

Hi, We are looking to cruise on HAL Nieuw Amsterdam Eastern Carribean itinerary.  Several years ago we did RCL and were on the main deck midship with connecting rooms (as we have 5 in our family, 3 kids).  RCL deck plans were nice in that it was nice and quiet, there were passenger cabins above us (no noisy casinos, bars,etc).  We are going to cruise with HAL with my parents now and I was going to book an outside on the main deck midship, category C.  The HAL ships are laid out differently and decks 2 and 3 seem to be noisy decks. The BB Blues Club is above some of the category C cabins and the HAL rep steered us a bit further away (not under them but not sure how far sound carries?? All of category C cabins are in the vicinity of the club) Ones they recmmended were farther down, but they were close to the elevators and men's bathroom as the flip side.

 

The issue is we want the most stable cabin as I have a kid who gets very easily motion sick.  I also want us all to sleep well so want to avoid noise.  Main deck category D is farther down the ship (so maybe more a bit more motion) but I think by the kitchens (therefore noisy at times...they start cooking early in the morning,etc). 

 

So I was researching more and some say the quiet decks are between 2 passenger decks. So looking at the deck plans, deck 5, The Veradah deck, seems to fit this description.  I could do category V midship there.  But it's 4 decks higher.  My question is do you think that there will be a difference in motion??  Or is the most important part being midship?  (I was looking at deck 4, categories G and H....well they seem to have the lifeboats there and probably be obstructed view. But the issue is there seem to be no connecting cabin options at all.  It's above the shops so I would think it shouldn't be too noisy but who knows).

 

So what would you recommend: main deck midship or deck 5/verandah deck midship?

 

Thank you!!

 

[mrgabriel]

You might want to ask this question on the HAL board for more HAL specific responses.

 

I get terribly motion sickness. For our first few cruises, we stayed on a low deck (like porthole deck), midship were there was much less motion. I couldn't look out the window, however, because that made me sick. I also avoided sitting in the theatre because it was at the front of the ship where there was a lot of rocking & rolling. 

 

Could your child wear seabands or take ginger? I now get acupuncture and that helps so much but seabands do something similar, you just need to press quite hard on them to make them work. 

[yls]

I'm new to this site, didn't realize to post there, thanks for that tip.

 

I will look into the seabands.  She hates dramamine.....I had given her some herbal patches for behind the ears that I think worked a bit (very well reviewed on Amazon....she wasn't age 12 when we first cruised so she couldn't do the prescription patch...may look into the Transderm scop....maybe it will be a moot point then! I hope so as seasick is terrible. i am sensitive to it but with the patch I'm fine).

[BklynBoy8]

Midship - Middle Deck of Ship

 

Avoid Bow and Aft

 

IMHO

[Essiesmom]

How long is this cruise to be?  I spent 32 days in and OV cabin somewhat aft on Oosterdam, then two weeks in a main deck inside on Westerdam.  It was so much larger than the OV that when I took my sister on Nieuw Amsterdam for 24 days, I booked that same inside cabin.  There are connecting insides on main deck on Nieuw Amsterdam.  EM

[yls]

a week. I really think no windows won't be a good option. It just looks like most of the main deck is under a noisy part above it (as want to avoid the front and back ends).  I'm thinking of midship but going up several decks.  The agent was saying that midship is what is most important so hopefully being up more decks won't be that big of a difference?? If we have a verandah the fresh air might be nice too.  I've been doing a lot of reading and some say being too close to the water level isn't great either. I have never gone off main deck, hopefully a few up won't be noticeable.

 

[AKJonesy]

NA is a nice ship.  Deck 4, 5, or 6 midship or thereabouts.  If deck 4, look at the Holland America Line Nieuw Amsterdam staterooms pdf and get staterooms above the Photo Shop.  There ARE noisy areas on deck 3 so you want to be above the quiet areas like the shops or Photo Shop where there is no evening noise, like the bars.  Decks 5 and 6 have staterooms above and below them so those.  I have stayed on decks 4 and 5 a number of times in an outside room and have always been happy.  I also get the motion sickness from time to time.  

[Markanddonna]

Look at a website called cruisedeckplans.com

 Go to the public view and then hal. You can slide the decks to see what is above and below your cabin. Like others said, go lower and toward the center of the ship for minimum movement. Most newer ships have great stabilizers which are effective 99% of the time. Don't book the bow. 

[2wheelin]

Book the quiet cabins. Agree bow has the most motion but beyond that, center actually has second most. The ship rarely pivots from the center with the aft dipping the identical amount the bow rises so the aft is most stable. 

The lower decks rise and fall the same amount as the upper decks. They remain the same distance apart all the time and don't compress for less movement. 🙂  Study physics. 

Distractions are key. If you focus on the movement of the ship, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.....you will get sick. Especially true when lying down and you start to rock with the motion.

[yls]

2 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Book the quiet cabins. Agree bow has the most motion but beyond that, center actually has second most. The ship rarely pivots from the center with the aft dipping the identical amount the bow rises so the aft is most stable. 

The lower decks rise and fall the same amount as the upper decks. They remain the same distance apart all the time and don't compress for less movement. 🙂  Study physics. 

 

So interesting, thanks!  I was debating that (just all these articles keep saying midship and lower down has less sway....but i guess all decks must have the rise and fall the same like you say).  I am thinking will do the nicer and quiet cabins:)

[yls]

Thank you all for your responses and tips! Appreciate it:)

 

[fruitmachine]

12 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

The lower decks rise and fall the same amount as the upper decks. They remain the same distance apart all the time and don't compress for less movement. 🙂  Study physics. 

 

Wouldn't physics also say that higher decks move more than lower decks when the ship rolls side-to-side - just as the higher end of a metronome moves more than the lower end?  The angle will be the same, but the movement isn't.

[2wheelin]

5 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

Wouldn't physics also say that higher decks move more than lower decks when the ship rolls side-to-side - just as the higher end of a metronome moves more than the lower end?  The angle will be the same, but the movement isn't.

Good point about rolling. With the stabilizers now used on most ships, that becomes less of a problem