We performed a show last night while the ship sailed through some very rough seas. This is the first time I’ve encountered rough seas out here in Hawaii.
Often times, and this is especially true of last night, the rocking of the ship has more to do with how fast the ship is going than the size of the swells. Last night, for instance, we had to sail from the island of Kauai to the island of Oahu – a short distance that should take about 2 hours. We had to do it in 13 hours, so you can imagine how slowly we were going.
When these big cruise ships get going, there are all kinds of automatic systems that keep their sailing smooth. There are automatic pilot systems, and underwater stabilizers that react to the movement of the ship to a tenth of a second. It’s a pretty amazing system, but the ship has to be moving to get it to work. Hence all the bobbing and moving last night.
I suffer from motion sickness now and then. When I read in a car, or going out on a small, bobbing dive boat – I get sick. I’ve never gotten sick on cruise ships. I find that after a few weeks I get used to the movement and I stop noticing it. As I said, these big ships are usually pretty solid.
There are several spots in the world that are notorious for bad seas, though. Every crew member seems to have a story about a night somewhere in open seas that nearly knocked the piano off the stage. The worst cruises in the world for rough seas are trans-atlantic re-positioning cruises, Alaska, the pacific in winter…and others – again, typically in open seas.
Although this isn’t always so. I did a trans-Atlantic cruise a few years back and it was smooth as a mirror. The Mediterranean in September had been much choppier.
The most common remedies I hear for seasickness are eating green apples, drinking ginger ale, motion-sickness pills and the behind-the-ear patch. (There’s a popular story on ships that once a passenger used the behind-the-ear patch and it caused hallucinations. Security found her stark naked at 3 am dancing in the chapel. Her husband and three kids were mortified. Who knows if that’s true.)
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
What a great site this is! Thanks so much for all the info. Quick question/comment about sea sickness; on an Alaskan cruise don’t they spend alot of time in the “Inside Passage” where there is virtually no ship movement? I know there is a night at open sea both ways but then you get to “recover” when your in the inside passage (I think). Guess it depends on the time of year. Since I’m considering working as a drummer on a cruise ship I was thinking that Alaska might be the best bet to avoid alot of ship motion. Am I on the right track here?
Thanks,
Rick
Hi Rick – I think you might be right about that, although if there’s anyone here that’s the done the Alaska run they can tell you for sure.
Truly, no matter how prone you are to seasickness, there are some passengers that are going to be worse than you. Cruise lines know that and plan accordingly. They don’t put their ships in rough water for long. You may work for years on ships and never have more than a handful of rough days.
As I mentioned, the worst situations seem to be when the ship is either a.) in open ocean, b.) moving too slowly for the stabilizers to work or c.) in a storm. Just watch out for that.
If you get seasick, the advice I’ve heard is to go to the middle of the ship, outside on the lowest promenade deck. The ship moves the least in the middle, lowest spot, and the fresh air will do you good.