Ocean Motion

I've mentioned sea sickness. I wasn't spectacularly miserable (as long as I didn't read), but it was still the single worst aspect of the experience--and the one most likely to discourage me from doing a cruise again. A few lessons that I learned:

1. Don't even think of reading.

2. If you try to read (including reading on a computer screen), it helps to have a cold brisk wind and a view.

3. Motion sickness medications such as Bonine are chemically similar to antihistamines, and have similar effects, such as drowsiness. Even though Bonine is purportedly not drowsiness inducing, I find that it does that to me.

4. If I took an antihistamine just before going to bed (so that the rocking of the ship didn't keep me up), I slept well, and I had no motion sickness the next day, as long as I didn't try to read. If I took motion sickness medicine in the daytime, it made me drowsy, and taking another antihistamine at night made me drowsy the next day.

5. It seemed (and an intuitive analysis of the forces suggests) that being near the center of the ship reduced the severity of aft/stern motion.

6. I suspect that having beds aligned with the direction of travel might help. Some cabins have the beds aligned that way; ours was perpendicular to the motion of travel.