Avoid Seasickness on Your Next Cruise: 7 Tips that Really Work

Afraid to cruise? Here are 7 great ways to avoid seasickness that really work. Some links in this post are affiliate links that earn me a commission if you purchase through them.

I love to cruise, and when my friends see my photos, they often say they would love to cruise, as well. Some, however don’t book a cruise because they’re afraid of being seasick.

Here’s a little secret for you: my husband gets desperately seasick even when he’s just on the river.

That doesn’t stop us from cruising, nor should it stop you. There are many effective ways to avoid getting seasick or to fix yourself if you feel like you start to get seasick.

We run the gamut in my family. I’m lucky, and I’ve never gotten seasick. We discovered the hard way that my son gets seasick on cruises, while my daughter never got seasick until our last cruise that had incredibly rough seas.

How bad were the waves in the Strait of Gibraltar that day? The ship put out puke bags just in case – and they regularly got taken. We also had to skip a port because it wasn’t safe, which tells you how unusual that weather really was.

Thankfully, with the remedies I had in place for her, we quickly got her back into shape, and she was fine thereafter. Don’t let your fear of seasickness stop you from cruising!

7 Ways to Avoid Seasickness that Really Work

Get the patch

If you’re truly concerned about being seasick, or you know that you get seasick, go with the patch. This is what my husband uses on every cruise, and it works.

How do we know it works? A couple cruises ago, he accidentally folded over just a corner of the patch when he reapplied mid cruise. He was incredibly seasick for hours, until he finally realized what the problem was.

As soon as he reapplied a new patch and made sure it was folded over that prevented distribution of the full dose of medicine, he was a okay once again. It took minutes once he reapplied the patch correctly.

The patch is prescription only and must be fulfilled by a doctor’s visit. The official name is Scopolamine, so make sure you ask for that.

You apply the round patch just behind your ear, and it lasts for three days. After that, it has no medicine left, and you need to apply a new patch.

If you want the patch, my advice is to make an appointment and request it sooner rather than later. On our last cruise, that medication happened to be in short supply, so we had to search around for a pharmacy that had it in stock.

You don’t want to be panicking at the last minute trying to figure out where to get the patch that you so desperately need.

Use Sea Bands to avoid seasickness

If you think you might get seasick, but you don’t need the patch, be like my son and use Sea Bands. These are great for those who prefer a natural seasickness cure over medicine.

Sea Bands truly work. On our first cruise, we thought my son was fine until we were 10 minutes from port. Thankfully, we got him right quickly, and he wears Sea Bands now and has never had an issue since.

Read my full review on Sea Bands for even more info.

The bands are based on acupressure points, and they ensure you never get seasick rather than helping once you are seasick. You must put the Sea Bands on before you leave port.

Place your first two fingers on the underside of your wrist. The bands go where your second finger covers, with the button over the center of the inside of your wrist.

You need to wear both Sea Band, not just one, for them to work fully. If you have just mild seasickness, you can sometimes get away with only one.

If you wait until you get seasick, you will likely have to go with another remedy to remove the sea sickness first, then these will ensure you don’t get seasick any further. This depends on how seasick you are or how prone to seasickness you are, as my daughter can put on Sea Bands and feel fine.

Sea Bands come in a variety of colors and designs. You can get the in adult sizes, as well as child sizes to ensure they fit properly.

Ginger Gum saves you when you are seasick

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to avoid seasickness, and that’s when you need to know how to help yourself. If you feel seasick, the easiest and fastest remedy is ginger gum.

This is my magic trick if my son starts to feel seasick because he forgot to put his Sea Bands on before we leave port. Simply chew the gum, and within 5 minutes, you generally feel just right once more.

Ginger gum won’t help avoid seasickness in the future, however. If you think you may suffer from seasickness, make sure you have either the Sea Bands or a patch, depending on your preference.

You can also find ginger lollipops and ginger candies. I find, however, that the ginger gum seems to work the best. I’m not sure if it’s because of the chewing motion or if there’s another reason, but ginger gum is always our first choice.

Don’t forget your instant relief nausea medication

While ginger always works for us, I know some people who prefer anti-nausea medication. Bonine is the best one when it’s too late to avoid seasickness and you want to feel better, though you can also take it as a preventative.

I prefer other preventatives for a cruise though, since you know this will be an issue for days on end if you are prone to seasickness. While I’m ok with my son or husband taking Bonine in an acute situation, I don’t want either of them taking it day after day!

That said, when you don’t feel well, Bonine works really well. That said, Bonine is approved only for those 12 and older, so make sure you read the package insert before you take it.

Why Bonine over Dramamine? We find that Dramamine tends to put my husband to sleep, while he can stay awake to enjoy his cruise with Bonine!

Change your position on the ship

If you just feel mildly seasick, there are other things that you can do. Even better, most solutions won’t cost you a dime.

First, go to a lower deck. If you think about the way a ship works, when waves rock the ship the part of the ship that is closest to the water moves the least. The highest part of the ship moves the most.

The more you move, the more you might feel seasick. You tend to feel better on Deck 2 than Deck 11, so head down a few flights.

This may also impact the cabin that you might want to request on a ship. If you know that you’re prone to seasickness, ask for a cabin on a lower deck of the ship.

Related to this, the middle of the ship has less motion compared to the front or the back of the ship. Again, think about how motion works. The middle of the ship simply moves less than the front or the back.

Booking a cabin on a low deck near the center of the ship is an easy fix that doesn’t cost you any money. In fact, it may save you money, because many ships charge for rooms that are on higher decks because they’re “more special.”

Once aboard, if you start to feel seasick, go to that lower deck and hang out. If possible, look over the railing and focus on a point off on the horizon.

You don’t want to watch the ship movement, other people, or just look down. You can readjust your equilibrium simply by looking out to the horizon line and focusing on that spot can help alleviate mild seasickness as well.

Use the right foods to help mild seasickness

Another trick is eating certain foods when you feel a little seasick. Just like you have comfort foods that often make you feel better when you have a cold or the flu, there are foods that can help when you’re seasick.

A completely empty stomach often aggravates seasickness. But when you’re not feeling well, you don’t necessarily want to eat.

When my daughter started to feel seasick on our Spanish cruise, I brought her a few foods that at first she didn’t want to eat, but once she did she told me that I was right – no surprise there – and she felt much better.

Look for plain bread like a baguette or other crusty, plain white bread. I’m not talking Wonder Bread here, I mean the fancy bakery bread.

Many ships have soup that they serve on a regular basis. If they are broth-based, that’s perfect. Simply get some plain broth from the servers or grab some from the buffet. Just a bit of chicken broth works wonders.

My daughter’s other savior is jello. Many cruise ships serve jello, and slowly eating a few squares of jello seems to help.

If you can get peppermint tea, this also tends to sooth your stomach. Most ships have just “plain” tea, so I pack a few sachets of peppermint tea in my carry-on whenever I travel.

If you don’t see what you need, don’t fret. I’ve learned that if you politely ask the servers at the restaurant, they are generally more than happy to provide you what you need. More than once when my daughter didn’t feel well, they were able to get jello for me when it wasn’t yet on the buffet. It’s definitely worth asking if you don’t see it when you look.

And what about when you feel the ship moving once you’re back home?

Sometimes when you get off the cruise ship, that’s when you start to feel seasick. It seems odd, but that’s the way it is.

This feeling of motion even after you’ve left the boat can often stay with you for days. Did you know that there’s a quick and easy fix for that?

Eat a tart apple like a Granny Smith. I’m not sure what the scientific is for this, but it really works. Sometimes you have to eat two or three Granny Smith apples, but it’s amazing how suddenly you no longer feel like a ship is still moving.

What are your best tips to avoid seasickness?

Looking for more Cruise tips? Check out some of my must have packing tips as well as other general cruise ships.

I can tell you my favorite excursions as well as other tips to make your cruise the best vacation of your life!

7 Great Ways To Avoid Seasickness That Really Work