Regent 7 Seas Mariner - 1st time

[zaby]

Hi, Everyone.

This will be my very first cruise - in Sept on Mariner to Alaska. I have lots of questions.

1. What do you do if you have motion sickness? (reason why I've waited so long to go on a cruise)
   
2. Where is the best place to get a cabin on the ship if you have problem #1.
   
3. We already booked with a TA with platinum but should we have gone through RSS.
   
4. Do we get a pick of cabins?
   
5. Any other information or directions will be greatly appreciated.
   

Thank you to all in advance.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Well, you are starting at the top! You will have a great time.

 

As for seasickness, take Bonine along. If you're really sure of feeling ill, take it before you board, and keep taking it. It's a once a day drug.

 

The best cabins to avoid this are midship, and low in the ship. Fortunately these are almost the cheapest cabins.

 

A TA is good, no reason to go through Regent. Your TA should present you with a choice of cabins, and hopefully they will know the ship, so be able to advise you. If they don't, you need a new TA. A luxury cruise specialist is best.

 

You should be able to choose any cabin that's available the day you book.

 

I'm sure others will give you tips about Mariner specifically.

[ImPeaches]

Zaby,

 

Regarding motion sickness, on our last cruise we took our daughter and we took Ginger root tablets (the chewable kind for her). They worked like a charm. None of us ever got seasick, and we were in an aft suite. Now, this was a bigger ship than the Mariner, but there was one night that was a bit rough, and it seemed the Ginger did the trick. As Wendy said above, I've heard good things about the Bonine as well, but haven't tried it.

 

For our upcoming Alaska trip on the Mariner, we booked through RSSC directly, so I can't speak to whether or not a TA would've gotten us a better deal. I did speak briefly with a Virtuoso agent who came highly recommended (not from this board) after we had a cabin on hold, but before we officially booked, but she didn't offer us the same perks and OnBoard Credits as RSSC directly. Others have told me I should have gone through a TA, but I suppose it depends upon your particular TA.

 

And YES---you should absolutely be able to pick your exact cabin if it is available.

 

We're really looking forward to cruising with RSSC. I think we'll all be spoiled once we experience it!

[DaveFr]

Hi, Everyone.

This will be my very first cruise - in Sept on Mariner to Alaska. I have lots of questions.

1. What do you do if you have motion sickness? (reason why I've waited so long to go on a cruise)
   
2. Where is the best place to get a cabin on the ship if you have problem #1.
   
3. We already booked with a TA with platinum but should we have gone through RSS.
   
4. Do we get a pick of cabins?
   
5. Any other information or directions will be greatly appreciated.
   

Thank you to all in advance.

Welcome to cruising. I'm sure you'll enjoy it immensely. Which September Mariner cruise are you on, the Seward to Vancouver cruise on Sept 2nd or the Vancouver to Seward cruise on Sept 9th? I'll try to answer some of your questions although it would be nice to have more information.

 

1. There are numerous remedies for seasickness. Just Google "seasickness remedies" and you'll find a large amount of information.

 

2. A cabin in the center of the ship and as low as you can go will have the least movement.

 

3. It's difficult to answer this question without knowing more about your arrangement with your TA and his or her expertise.

 

4. What have you booked? If you booked a guarantee cabin, then Regent will assign a cabin to you most likely after final payment date. You will not have a choice of cabins. Usually folks select a particular cabin at the time of booking. Apparently, you have a different arrangement with your TA. Did your TA book a number of cabins as a group with the TA assigning cabins to the members of the group? If so, you should contact your TA and request input into cabin selection.

 

My best advice is to relax and enjoy yourself. If you haven't done so yet, go to the "Already Booked" section on the Regent web site and consider reserving some or all of your excursions. Above all please don't dwell on worries about getting seasick. Doing so becomes a self-fulling prophecy.

 

Dave

[traveller333]

I would definitely go with a very knowledgeable agent who specializes in Regent/or luxury cruise lines not with Regent, they're more like order takers.

The best place to be if you're prone to motion sickness is mid ship and a low deck like deck 6 You feel less movement than when you're higher up and forward or aft.

 

Enjoy your first cruise, you will love the Mariner and Alaska is beautiful.

[RachelG]

All the above advice is correct. But I will add one thing. The generic name for Bonine is meclizine. You can get generic meclizine and it will work fine. If you get Bonine, make sure it is the original kind (meclizine).

[Travelcat2]

I also agree with all of the above. However, the electronic wrist bands work wonderfully! We are so concerned about seasickness that we wear the bands (look like a watch) and take 1/4 of a Bonine. We have not felt 1 minute of seasickness since beginning this routine.

[hvsteve1]

One thing nobody has mentioned is that, if you are concerned about seasickness, Alaska isn't a bad cruise as you are at sea only the first and last days. The inland passage is more calm than a sea cruise as you are not on the open water. Also, it's a very compact area and, if you check out the cruise map, you'll see the ship is kind of zig-zagging up and down the coast to log enough sea miles to make you feel you're on a cruise, as opposed to the local ferry. I do have to say, though. the first day of the Alaska cruise was the roughest sea day I've experienced. As for booking with a TA, our TA, who came from a list on the old Radisson web site, probably has more experience on Regent ships than most of the people in the cruise line's phone room. If I asked about a cabin location, he could tell me what was in the hall.

[cruiseej]

Another option for prevention of seasickness is a small patch, like a small round Band-Aid, which you put on behind your ear and wear for three days at a time. It's called Transderm Scop; the drug is scopolamine. Unlike the ones mentioned above, this requires a prescription from your doctor, but that's not a big deal -- and it's not a bad idea to talk with your doctor about options for preventing seasickness in advance, anyway. My wife is prone to sea sickness, and the patch has helped her immensely (and, happily, that keeps us cruising!). Here's the web site for more information:

 

Transderm Scop

 

-- Eric

[doc47]

Congratulations, Zaby, and welcome to the world of cruising! You have picked a great destination for a first cruise and you have chosen a wonderful vessel with arguably the best cruise company out there.

 

I can't add anything to what others have written about seasickness, cabin choice, etc. You will find that the Inside Passage is generally smooth as glass and that sea sickness there is a non-issue. The only real open water will be from north of Vancouver Island to the Inside Passage and then the Gulf of Alaska from Cape Spencer to to wherever you cut back in for the northern glaciers. We've done Alaska 6 times, and we've never had much in the way of rough seas. This is also because modern ships are designed to minimize "tip and sway". There will be times that you won't know you are moving unless you look out the window.

 

If you are interested in more about the Mariner, take a look at my multi-part review I wrote after our trip through the Panama Canal December 2008. You can find my comments under "Musings from the Mariner" posted in January 2009--about page 8 in this list.

[MtnDriver]

Ditto what everyone has said.

 

I have used Bonine in the past, and the reception desk will usually have freebies (you don't have to go to the ship's doctor for big $$) of some generic remedy. Works fine.

 

Last year when we were on the PG for the fifth time, but the first trip to the Marquesas, I went with a patch. I liked that because it was a stick it and forget it solution.