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View Full Version : Sea-Sick Test Cruise 8/23-26 First Time 1 Adult, 2 Teens



jray21
08-20-2007, 11:27 AM
Who: Myself 28/m, two nephews 12, 14
When: August 23-26 3-Day Bahamian Cruise

Ok so here I go. I am graduating this December (finally!) and my parents are giving me a monetary gift so decided to do a Disney cruise and vacation. My wife and I will be going to WDW for 6 days and then do the 7-day western Caribbean cruise. There is only one problem. I get seasick very easy. In Hawaii we went on a “guaranteed” no seasick cruise and I still got sick. In fact I got sick while tied up at the dock. So before I spend a ton of money on the cruise I needed to experience a “test” cruise. So I decided to do a three-day cruise to see if I would be ok. So those who also get motion sickness can follow along and see how it ends up.
Here is some background on my motion sickness in order of least to worst nauseating. I am usually ok on non-spinning roller coasters. I can feel it a little but as long as I spread the rides out and don’t do any spinning. I can usually last the day with a moderate headache and uneasiness. If I go on a spinning ride I will feel queasy :ill: and have a headache for at least three days. If I take Dramamine my effects are cut in half but I am virtually knocked out all day. Bonine hasn’t helped, sea bands don’t help, and even the sharper image electronic FDA approved thing doesn’t help. Ginger Ale just keeps me from throwing up. I’ve tried Trans derm scop (?) and it didn’t do much. So at WDW the teacups and Dumbo style rides are completely out. I have to be feeling good to do Winnie the Pooh (The rain area gets me). One strange thing is that Mission: Space doesn’t really bother me. I was able to ride it three times one day with only minimal discomfort. Weird huh? So what about carsickness? Being a passenger in a car is worse than rollercoaster’s, but less than boats. There are very few (maybe 3-4) people that I can be a passenger with that won’t get me sick. I usually get really sick within 15 minutes. I don’t bring up lunch but I feel horrible for at least 3 days. It doesn’t matter if it’s mountain roads or a straight freeway. Being a passenger is horrible for me. Now there is seasickness. This is by far the worst. I bring up lunch and feel miserable all the time.:ack: I can’t even stay in a lazy river for that long because I get sick! I also can’t snorkel for too long without the same affects. I’ve ridden on hydroplane boats (They are supposed to be better) and got sick both times. So yah it’s stupid for me to go on a cruise but we’ll see. That’s why it’s a test cruise.
So originally it was going to be my wife and I but she had to work and couldn’t get anything before February (Our 7-day cruise) and I start school and can’t go until the New Year, so I decided to bring my nephews. In our screwed up “what is socially acceptable” society I decided that going with my two nephews would be slightly more “acceptable” than going by myself. I could see the parents pointing and saying stay away from the 28 y/o male by himself on a “little kids” cruise (I would do the same with my kids). When I still lived at home they lived with us for a few years and they now live 4 houses down from the wife and I. They are really like my younger brothers. I have to test the waters so I feel bad leaving the wife but I can’t chance being sick for the seven day cruise. Could I have picked a cheaper cruise on another cruise line? Yah but oh well. I am a big time planner. Not for specific times to do things but for what’s available and how things work (This is my first cruise). Plus I want to be part of the castaway club so I can make reservations earlier and make the Feb. cruise even better.
Tonight or Tomorrow I will update this with our pre-planning information as I have already written so much. If you’ve read all this, Congratulations I hope you continue to follow along.:thumbsup:

ariel03
08-20-2007, 11:46 AM
I did the 3 night cruise with my mom. It was our first cruise ever and I of course got sick. I don't normaly get sick but I did really bad my first night. I couldn't even eat dinner. My mom came in later that night with the wristbands and chewable pills they sell in the store. After the pills and wearing the bands I felt better for the rest of the trip. I just took the pills every evening before dining and wore the wristbands while I was awake and took them off at night while I slept. DH and I are now planning on doing the 7 night cruise but I will be sure to pack the wristbands and pills before I go. Other then feeling sick the first night the cruise was good. They jam pack to much into those few days which makes it not as fun but I figured I'd give the 7 night cruise a chance and hope it'll be more fun. :thumbsup:

jray21
08-21-2007, 11:20 AM
Pre-Trip Planning

Ok. Here is my background planning information. I do not mean to brag but I am so excited about my “Year of Disney Dreams”. So this whole trip started with the fact that I was 50 pounds overweight this past May and needed to loose it. I had been to WDW January 06 and remembered the WDW Marathon and decided if I pre-paid my entire trip I would be “forced” to get in shape for it. I hate long distance running so why a marathon? That’s a different story I may write someday. Anyway, I had six months to get into shape. I then heard about the Disneyland Half-Marathon in September. How convenient! Three months to the half-marathon, and another three months to the full-marathon! So I had both trips paid for when I found out about the monetary gift from my parents. Since Disney is already getting so much money why not just give them some more! After all I do own a whole 4 stocks in Disney! So then I decided to do the Disney cruise and the test cruise (As mentioned in the short story before). Now to top it all off I get to go to Japan next year (I have family there) and what trip to Japan would be complete without a stop at Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea (My favorite of all the amusement parks). So my quest to loose weight will take me on 2 cruises, 1 trip to Disneyland, 2 trips to WDW, and 1 trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Hence the “Year of Disney Dreams”.
So back to the cruise that I leave for in less than 20 hours! I consider myself an expert for WDW because I worked for them for 7 months (College Program-Great Movie Ride, Advanced College Program -Marketing). But when it comes to the Disney Cruise I am a newbie. I spent countless hours online to find the best deal read every book cover to cover about the cruise. I can’t just get up and go on a vacation. I have to know EVERYTHING! (As I write this I am watching the Disney Cruise Travel Challenge special I Tivo’d for the umpteenth time) I have to know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. First was the cost. I found that SW Vacations had the best deal for both this cruise and the long one. (Thank you Tracy Desjardin!)
After having booked the cruise I chose a room in the middle due to my seasickness. Next was to start looking at the shore excursions. I read review after review after review for Nassau. Overall the experiences seemed ok. It seems that almost all the cruisers wish Disney would go somewhere else. A bit disappointing but oh well. I really wanted to go to the Atlantis water park but Disney didn’t offer it at the time. After reading around I found you could book a room at either the Atlantis or Comfort Suites and would get access to everything. So I booked a room for Comfort Suites for only $220 total. That comes to about $73 per person. Not bad at all considering the Disney Aquaventure tour would have been $465 Total!!! Granted my cost does not include the tour, lunch, and transportation but the extra $245 more than makes up for it. I will take a taxi when I arrive. So one day done, now just Castaway Cay (Still don’t understand how it becomes “key”) this was easy as you just have Disney to pick from. We like snorkeling, biking, swimming, and thought the stingrays would be neat so naturally we picked the extreme getaway package so we could do them all. I have read that you probably won’t have time to do them all so I will report on it and let you know. So that is our shore excursion schedule. Pretty short and easy. After reading around I found out that I may prefer the later dining but I was too slow and it was sold out. I am also skipping Palo because it would be just myself and I can’t just ditch the teenagers. So I am doing the normal dining and will let you know what I think of everything. Another thing I looked into was the spa. After reading all the services I couldn’t wait to book. Since I am a first time cruiser there wasn’t much left and I noticed all the packages where not available. After following up I found that I will have to make a mad dash to add the massage services not available online. I want to surprise the wife in February and I guess I can test them out for her. Boy I am such a nice guy!
So what about travel arrangements? I have had the worst luck with delays and cancellations of flights so I decided to arrive the day before. Since I am coming from the west coast I won’t arrive in Orlando until the evening so I can’t do a day at the parks. I got a room at Radisson Resort in Port Canaveral. This way I am close to the port and can arrive early as recommended by many people. I chose a town car from H. Limo to take us and pick us up.
So I can’t think of anything else and I am sure you need a break so that will be all for now. I will have my laptop with me so will be updating this regularly. (This is also so our family can follow along on our trip)