Trying to talk my husband into taking a Mexican Riviera cruise. Our old travel agent told us one time that the water off the California coast was the roughest anywhere. That is the reason for the patch question.
Thanks to you all.

I get seasick just looking at pictures of a boat. We were told same about cruise thru North Atlantic Boston-Bermuda. I had all sorts of prescription stuff with me - but never needed any of it. I guess it really is true that with size of ships and stabilizers, seasickness is rarely an issue.

As an RN, I know that sometimes people have problems with various types of patches - but that is usually because they fail to peel off the plastic covering the medication part before they stick it to their skin!

When I worked in a hospital the M.D's would NOT prescribe the patch because of the side effects namely blurred vision.. I had tried everything incuding bracelets, but discovered something in Bermuda and also available in Europe called Sturgeron.. It is bought ovr the counter and yachtsmen use it.

I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise in May 2004 and it was very smooth, but I can't tell you it's always that way.

Getting back to your question. About 5 years ago I went on a Mediterranean cruise with a friend who has terrible problems with seasickness. She got the patches before the trip because someone told her it was a good idea. On the first day of the cruise she was so sick she wanted to go home, but then she got an idea. She took off the patches and took Dramamine. After that she was fine for the rest of the trip. Maybe the patches work for some people, but it made my friend a lot more sick.

For me personally, I get very sick on small boats. But on a cruise ship I barely feel the motion, and I never get sick.

My daughter tried the patch on a Caribbean cruise and had the problem with the blurred vision. It was scary for her when she could not read. The Dramamine made her sleepy. i love cruises and never have the problems she has,but then we are all different in the way things affect us.

I just take a half patch (do not cut the patch, but cover half of it) and have no problems with any of the side effects. I don't know that the water off the Mexican Riviera is the toughest, though. Any time you're sailing in the open sea it can get rough. I've heard stories about transatlantic crossings where all the supplies fall off shelves and such. The first time my spouse and I took the patch we were both terribly ill from the side effects for a week after. But, as mentioned above, the 1/2 patch did the trick for me and hubby just goes without.

If you do fall ill on the ship all you have to do is walk down to the ship's doctor and get a shot in the rear and you'll start to feel better in about 10 mins though you will be drowsy. This happened with FIL when we were sailing in the North Sea and the cost was about $70 for treatment (princess cruise line)

The roughest seas in the world is Drake's Passage between Antarctica and S America. My wife put on 1/2 patch, and I didn't. Going north, we hit a 'full gale". Guess which one got seasick. Since then we both put on 1/2 patch without a problem.

Took the Mexican Riviera cruise last October out of San Francisco, it was smooth as silk, very similar to the Caribbean. You can never tell with the sea, some weeks it's great, others it's not. Don't be concerned, get the patch or try Bonine, one pill a day generally does the trick.

My sister gets seasick and swears by the bands along with non drowsy dramamine. They say the patch is bad because it is like coming off drugs. Do not take those. Better to take the bands and my sister can get very sick. She was so good she was able to take off her bands on this last cruise to the Med.

The active ingredient in the patch is scopolamine and it is the most effective thing for motion sickness. The difficulty with the patch is that you cannot easily adjust the dose hence the trouble with side effects. I am a physician, a scuba diver, and terribly motion sick, and have found relief in a tablet called Scopace. It is scopolamine [same as the patch] but as a tablet you can more easily adjust the dose - if you don't need it on land days you don't take it. Because the dose is more easily adjusted, you have less trouble with blurred vision, dry mouth, etc. You can increase or decrease dose dependent on weight and age of potential user [kids, elderly, may need less]. It does require prescription, but is also less expensive that the Transderm Scop patch. You can read more about it at www.motionsickness.net

The dose of the patch can be easily adjusted with a scissor. We do it all the time.

I have had no experience with Scopace.

The patch is not supposed to be cut, it will effect the way the drug is absorbed in your system.

From transdermscop.com: http://www.transdermscop.com/information.htm

"For the prevention of motion sickness, plan to apply one Transderm Scop® patch at least 4 hours before you need it. If the patch is to be used in conjunction with scheduled surgery, it is applied the evening before surgery. For cesarean section, the patch is applied one hour prior to surgery to minimize exposure of the unborn child to the drug. Wear only one patch at any time. Do not cut the patch."

Yes - scopalomine doesn;t work for everyone. It is effective in 85-90% of patients - but has limited or no effectiveness in the others.

Unfortunately I found out the hard way it doesn;t work for me. I was hideously ill (the seas were VERY rough - but it was one of those 10/11 story Scandinavian "ferries&quot until I cound get if off - take a shower to wash it off my skin (you can imagine under what conditions) and manage to keep down some dramimine.

I wore a patch on a Western Car. cruise leaving out of NYC, and was terribly sick before we even got out on the ocean!

I bought the wrist bands, and felt better within 1/2 hour.

Unfortunately, I found that the only sure fire way for me not to get sick was not to drink - alcohol definitely made me feel worse. I only wore the bands when I needed them from that point on, but didn't drink the duration of the cruise. I kept the patches on, but didn't think they did anything for me.

My travel agent told us the roughest seas are north bound along the California coast. We did a 15 day Panama trip a few years ago and our last night before San Francisco the closet doors were swinging open and the drawers were sliding in and out. However, it was after 14 days at sea and we had no problem.

My travel agent swears by ginger. Her husband gets sea sick just standing on the dock, so a few years ago she heard about ginger and told him to try it.

You can do raw ginger root or health food stores sell ginger tablets. You have to start taking them a few days or week before you sail and keep taking them through out the cruise.

I inevitably get seasick on cruises unless I wear seabands. I simply wouldn't/couldn't cruise without them.
However, before leaving for my recent cruise to the Mediterranean, I mentioned my seasickness problem to my acupuncturist, and she put needles in the exact spots (on my wrists) that I would wear the seabands. On the 2nd day of our cruise, I realized that I'd forgotten to put on my seabands, but noted that I didn't feel queasy. The same went for every day afterward! I can't say that this would help for everyone that gets seasick, but heh, it might be worth a try.

If you don't get seasick riding in a car, airplane, or train then you are not prone to seasickness. I was told my a physician that if you wear the patch and do not really need it you will get sick because you are over-dosing yourself. My friend who had been sick the firsst 3 days took the patch off and was fine the remainder of the cruise. So I did not use mine. I've been on 6 cruises and have never been sick. If you feel queasy, take dramamine or a shot from the ship's doctor.

Hi marycang!

The Mexican Riviera was the first cruise I ever took! Ahhh, the wonderful memories!

I took the patch with me as preventative measure and was glad I did b/c I needed it.

I had slightly blurred vision and was very thirsty (side effects) but it beat the sea sickness, haha! The blurry vision wasnt super bad-just annoying, for me at least. Others may have a different experience, of course.

Ive taken several cruises since then and sometimes I need the patch and sometimes I dont. Again, I always bring it with just in case!

Have a great time and enjoy the ports!!