remember to keep an open mind when reading the posts in cruise critic and even this forum. There are some people, like Percy (and myself), who seems to look at the positive, but there are those who seem to dwell on negative things only. I've been on Carnival, NCL and Princess; while Carnival is great for some people, I didn't care for it. I've read horrible things about NCL, but my daughter and I enjoyed the Hawaiian cruise we took. There were a few negative things, but they were minor, and the positives greatly outweighed the negative.

Thanks tenthumbs. Good points for sure. I am afraid I may be chickening out on the entire idea... not so much about specific cruiselines or itineraries, but having tendencies to both motion sickness and claustrophobia... I'm just not sure I can pull this one off.

Regardless of the final decision, I appreciate everyone's assistance more than I can say.

Suze! DO NOT let motion sickness keep you away from cruising! I feel so stupid for not listening to others when they told me it's not bad on large ships!

I am the type who gets sick just by looking at the boats. Planes, buses, cars - you name it, got sick on those before discovering ginger. You can buy ginger pills (capsules to swallow) in any pharmacy these days.

I also had Bonine with me, just in case... didn't take any!

Something I've learned on Fodor's: if taking ginger, start a day or 2 before the cruise, and continue taking 1 or 2 days after the cruise not to get "sea legs" while on land.

Not very familiar with claustrophobia, the feeling on the ship is like being in a building with elevators, or you can take stairs, and get a window or balcony cabin if you can afford it.

I tried a shorter cruise first time, out of LA to Ensenada 5 days Mon-Fri. My next cruise is 10 days to Alaska. Ginger and Bonine, here I come :)

FainaAgain, Thank you very much for posting your details and attempting to reassure me about the motion sickness not being a problem on the large cruiseships. That IS what people are telling me, I'm just having trouble believing them, ha-ha.
:-)

A short cruise for the first time would be a good idea.

I returned yesterday from an 8 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera~still dealing with the trauma of the return to making my own meals, my own bed, my own coffee.... ;)
This is the second time I've done the Mexican Riviera in Feb and the second time we've experienced rough seas between LA and the tip of Baja. There were 17 of us, only one of whom felt queasy. She wore the patch behind her ear and had little problems with the motion sickness. As far as claustrophobia~after having been trapped in an elevator, mine is bad! However, my daughter and I shared an inside cabin on a cruise to Hawaii, and I had no problems, although I did like the more open feeling of an oceanview room. Besides, unless you are a newlywed, you most likely won't spend a lot of time in your cabin anyway!

Hello Suze: We head to the Mexican Riviera and Sea of Cortez later next month for 10 days aboard HAL, so I'll have something to report back to you then. However, I did want to mention something re 'sea-sickness.'

We've done three other cruises (on small ships) and there were instances of 'motion of the ocean' on all of them. I enjoy it; spouse did not and was very under the weather at one point. If it gets bad for you (despite your efforts with the patch or bonine) --- get thee to the infirmary and Get THE SHOT! It works like a charm, will set you right within hours. Spouse was up and at 'em after a couple hours snooze and - best part - stayed fine despite the next few days of rough weather...could even stand and watch the rough seas!

Good luck with your planning (and as noted, cruise critic will be a tremendous resource for you).

We just booked a 7day Mexican cruise through Vacationstogo.com and they were fantastic. Gave a great price and lots of very pertinent advice. Like: book the starboard side of the ship so you can see the land on the way back since on the way down you are too far out to sea to have the view. We are on HAL Osterdaam and have heard only great things about it.

I am the type who is also claustrophobic and gets sea sick very easily. But I love crusing and keep going back (even after a force 10 day in the Mediterranean) Take the patches with you, they are usually enough to make any little movement neglible for you and if you still feel queasy then take the Bonine pills. The Osterdaam has glass elevators so you can see out and the rooms have big doors to the balcony or the suites have both the big doors and a window, and very large bathrooms, so you should be ok. Hope you and your parents have lots of fun.