Cruising Quest

It’s not the motion of the ocean, it’s a conflict in the brain :p

When discussing the topic of cruising someone will always bring up motion sickness (or sea sickness), and often there is a colorful story to go along with their reasons for behind being worried about boats. The concern about motion sickness is completely with merit as once motion sickness starts it is hard to get it to go away.

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because I suffer from motion sickness under certain circumstances, one of those circumstances being in a boat on the water. However, for me, it’s not a straight equation “me + boat = green gills and groaning”. It seems like my motion sickness starts inside, where there are no windows; or it starts when there is a lot of movement. But I digress.

What I want to discuss in this post is how to deal with motion sickness, because the last thing you want to do is get on a cruise ship and find out that there will be no fun because you can’t muster the energy to get out of your bed because of motion sickness.

So first, what is motion sickness? It helps to know what we are dealing with. According to WebMD, and in simplest terms, motion sickness is basically a disconnect between what you are sensing and what you are seeing. So, you are on a cruise ship in your cabin that as no windows. You can feel or “sense” the ship moving (maybe you have hit some choppy water or something like that) so your body sends your brain a signal that says “we have movement here we need some balance”. But since you are in your windowless cabin everything looks steady and grounded so you do not “see” the motion and your eyes are sending a signal saying “every thing is a-okay, sure and steady no need for extra support”. So, your body and brain are all confused because how can this be “I can FEEL the movement but I don’t SEE it!!”; your brain is getting conflicting signals and Thus, your stomach goes all funky, you might get a headache and feel the need liberate your lunch. Not a fun day at sea.

So now that I have freaked you out with a little science let me assure you of a couple of things. First, not everyone gets motion sickness. Second, motion sickness comes in degrees so even if you have a tendency to get a little motion sick it might not be as bad as you think on the cruise ship.

Also, it bears mentioning that these cruise ships are very large and made of sturdy stuff, it take some pretty big waves to create even moderate movement on them. It is very likely that for the majority of your trip you will not notice much movement at all and thus will not have to worry much about motion sickness.

However, motion sickness does happen, so what do you do if you should develop some green around the gills?

Well, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (always wanted to say that ) The nature of motion sickness is that it is a lot easier to deal with before you get green and grumpy. So here are a few ideas (and please talk to your your doctor to decide which is right for you) :

• Ginger Pills (capsules filled with powdered ginger): I swear by ginger. I get seriously motion sick during pregnancy, I used to keep ginger suckers around and they helped a lot. I also caught an episode of the popular science show Mythbusters (episode 43) in which they tested some motion sickness remedies and they found that ginger worked even better than the popular Dramamine.
• Antihistimines: For example, Dramamine (dimenhydrinate), Benadryl (diphenhydramine), and Antivert (meclizine). These are some over the counter medications.
• Promethazine hydrochloride (Anergan, Phenergan). These are prescription medications.
• Scopolamine patch (Transderm Scop) or pills (Scopace). This medication is also prescription.
• Acupressure bands. These work by applying pressure to key pressure points that are supposed to alleviate the symptoms of motion sickness. I have heard mixed reviews regarding this method.

One thing to keep in mind regarding any of these methods is to start using them BEFORE you start feeling the symptoms of motion sickness. So, if you know you get motion sick take your pills, stick your patch, or put on your band before setting foot on the ship. It is way easier to keep your self from getting the symptoms than getting rid of them once you have them.

So what happens if you do get motion sick, is all hope lost? Nope. Just find the most still place you can and stay there until the symptoms go away. For me going outside helps; I think there is a mental aspect to motion sickness and just being outside where I see, feel, and know there is movement seems to help. Also, you will make plenty of stops along the way, so if you get motion sick take advantage of that. Get off the boat, setting your feet on land for a few hours will go a long way to make you feel better, and while you are on land pop your pills and have a good time for the rest of the trip. And don’t forget there is a ship infirmary, if you need some help do not hesitate to go ask for it, the folks that work there want to help you.

Don’t be afraid of a little motion sickness, you can get around it and have a great time. One of my favorite book series (called Outlander by Diana Gabaldon) has a main character who gets terribly and completely motion sick just standing on a docked boat found a cure in acupuncture, apparently some people actually do this; the thought of walking around with little needles sticking out of my ears always made me laugh. Just goes to show that where there is a will there is a way!

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Although cruising is typically has all-inclusive pricing, at the end of your vacation on many liners you will be expected to leave tips for the various staff members that have served you during your stay.

The subject of gratuities can be and interesting topic of conversation. Many people like to debate whether gratuities should be left if the service was not up to your expectations. In my opinion, on a cruise, tipping has less to do with gratuity and is, more to the point, payment for adequate services rendered. So it is our position here that minimum tipping should be done in any circumstance, over-tipping is appropriate when the staff you are tipping has surpassed your expectations.

If you do run into a circumstance where the service is poor, rather than eliminating a tip, talk to management to get the problem corrected; this will make your stay more pleasant in the long run as well as eliminating a situation where you may question weather a tip is deserved. Of course if the service is extremely poor your judgment is going to be a better guide to follow as to how to proceed.

Having said that let’s get down to the business of how much to tip! The first important point to make is that not all cruise lines require or even expect tipping. It seems that some of the very posh and expensive luxury cruise lines don’t expect gratuities for their staff; however since I have no experience with those lines (money being a definite object) I will focus my guide on four of the cruise lines that I can afford frolicking on and this should give you a good idea of how gratuities are figured. I have taken this tipping information directly from the website of each cruise line so this information should be good for a while at least.

Carnival

On Carnival Cruise Lines they will automatically charge gratuities from dining and stateroom staff of your onboard account in the amount of $10 per guest per day which is their recommended guideline (you can adjust these gratuities at any time). The official breakdown is as follows:

• $3.50 per day for stateroom services

• $5.50 per day for dining room services

• $1.00 per day for alternative services (this will be divided between other kitchen and hotel service staff)

If you book a “Cruise-To-Nowhere” your $10 per guest per day gratuity must be prepaid.
If you order a beverage that is not covered in the all-inclusive pricing a 15% gratuity will automatically be added to the bill. Also, you may tip your maitre’d at your discretion.

*Something you may not know! If you participate in any tours while vacationing on a cruise, no matter where you are visiting, it is customary to tip the tour guide $1 per person for a half day tour. Double that if it’s a full day tour. This tip does seem to be more of the gratuity type so if you enjoyed yourself tip away, if not than don’t stress about it, no tip is necessary.

Disney Cruise Line

Disney’s gratuities change based on how many nights you are cruising. I am just going to paste in the guidelines I found on their website.

• Per Guest per cruise 3-Night 4-Night 7-Night

• Dining Room Server $11.00 $14.75 $25.75

• Dining Room Asst. Server $8.00 $10.75 $18.75

• Dining Room Head Server $2.75 $3.75 $6.50

• Stateroom Host/Hostess $10.75 $14.50 $25.25

• Dining Manager Your Discretion

• Room Service Your Discretion

• Palo Gratuity included

• Vista Spa & Salon Your Discretion

• Babysitting Gratuity not expected

• Shore Excursions Optional; not included in shore excursion price.

For your convenience, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine and deck service tabs. All gratuities can be charged to your room charge.

Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean is pretty straightforward with their tipping guidelines, and they are as follows:

• Suite attendant: $5.75 USD a day per guest

• Stateroom attendant: $3.50 USD a day per guest

• Dining Room Waiter: $3.50 USD a day per guest

• Assistant Waiter: $2.00 USD a day per guest

• Headwaiter: $.75 USD a day per guest

A 15% gratuity will automatically be added to your bar bill or wine check when you are served.

Celebrity Cruise Lines

Celebrity Cruise Lines is also very straight forward. This is the cruise line that my husband and I sailed for our honeymoon and their service is fantastic!

• Waiter: $3.50 p/day

• Assistant Waiter: $2.00 p/day

• Butler (suites only): $3.50 p/day

• Assistant Maitre’d: $0.75 p/day

• Stateroom Service: $3.50 p/day

• Stateroom Service (ConciergeClass): $4.00

• Assistant Chief Housekeeper: .75 p/day

As you can see, the gratuities will vary from company to company. Some companies offer special auto-programs, some do not. Others will just give you envelopes to put cash in, or allow you to credit the gratuities to your account. The best way to get the exact information you need is to contact the cruise line directly to see what kind of programs they offer and what their guidelines are.

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