I am the Queen of car sick, boat sick, carnival ride sick etc... I am so sensitive to motion that I cannot float on a raft in the pool or a very calm ocean for more than about 10 minutes before I feel queasy. Once I get full blown car sick, for example on an excursion in a van sitting in the 2nd row on St. Lucia, I remained under the weather for an additional 2 days. That said, we have been on many cruises from 700 foot ships to 1000 foot ships and I have only been sick once. Leaving Tampa we had 14 foot seas for a day and a half. I joked that my family was on a 7 night cruise, but I only went on a 5 night cruise. Most of the passengers were sick as well, the bags were out and many crew members were ill.
I only take the meds once sick, mine comes on likes it's a migraine headache (pain), with tremendous yawning and then the emesis starts. I also have that hangover feeling like post migraine. The ship will give you the meds at the medical office or the purser's desk. Lots of sleep and then I feel better, once the seas calm down.
I have tried the preventatives, and hate what I call the Jimi Hendrix Experience (for those that are old enough to remember him). You're still sick but now you're too stoned to pick your head up when you puke. The patch as a preventative, in my experience, has too many unpleasant side effects, extreme sedation and dryness. I don't want to feel like that especially if I'm going to get sick either way. My experience now tells me that I am only bothered if the seas are high enough to bother the majority. Most the time, the motion is pleasant or you don't feel anything at all.
The sea bands made my hands swell, I used the oral ginger tabs the first couple cruises but now I know I don't need any of that if the seas are 6 feet or thereabouts. Edited to add: I get urpy watching movies with too much movement, Captain Phillips, for example. I usually look away for much of those scenes. Would never, ever, watch something like Blair Witch. Also, if prolonged sitting on the freeway overpasses that vibrate up and down with the weight of the cars and trucks, my stomach will turn queasy.
There are a lot of water scenes.
