By Dr Dr T Huynh, Grange Road Medical Services
We tried for the first time a cruise holiday, partly because friends of ours had booked and asked if we wanted to come along. It was 7 day cruise with two stops at Mystery Island, and Port Vila, both in Vanuata, aboard one of the largest ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, Quantum of the Seas (QOS). At 2095 staterooms, with a maximum capacity of 4950 guests, and 1500 international staff, and lots of activities, I was excited to test it out.
It was uni exams so the kids stayed at home, and we got to have an adults only short holiday (relatively cheaper than our usual). There was some apprehension from my wife as she was always terrified of sea sickness.
Our past experience with sea travel includes our honeymoon in 2001 – a Fraser Island whale watching day trip – which was terrible once the ship stopped to watch whales and basically bobbed up and down.
A family holiday to Cairns with our young kids which involved a day trip to the reef for snorkelling, with some mild nausea but no vomiting thankfully; and finally a Hawaii dinner cruise in which we took some dramamine (bought in Hawaii), so we had no dramas (but in saying this the boat did not stop).
Given our history, I had come on this trip prepared with the following medication:
- Scopolamine patches (bought on Amazon)
- Kwells
- Phenergan
- and Ginger lollies - bought at local asian grocery store (my wife bought these).
Others on the same trip had been recommended scopolamine gel (sounds like it was compounded somewhere in Australia).
My wife had already taken kwells before actually even getting on the boat. And once on board, whilst having our lunch, my wife had insisted on getting her first patch on.
While there is nothing you can do about the movement of the ship which you can definitely feel, especially in the first 24 hours, once we hit open ocean it was definitely rougher seas than normal.
I had no problems with motion sickness and my wife also had no major issues, only some minor nausea. But she stuck to her ginger lollies, her scopolamine patches and her kwells.
The patches worked so well, that we were handing out patches to others. Of our group two others got sick with motion sickness, because their scopolamine gel didn't work at all.
I managed to speak to one of the cruise staff while on board, and she was telling us of their trip from Alaska back to Australian waters. Our trip was the first for this season, so the QOS had come from Alaska, via Hawaii.
The cost of the move was somewhere near $USD 2million and had lasted 19 days, with some last minute changes due to cyclone in Vanuatu. I'm very glad we weren't on that trip!
If you're planning to travel, whether domestically or abroad, we can assist with your preparation here at Grange Road Medical.
We provide detailed advice surrounding everything from vaccinations, to medication to take with you. Book your appointment here.