Smoothness Comparison- Caribbean vs Northern Europe

[ajgardner]

We have been on 5 Caribbean cruises with Disney, all Fantasy and DreaM ships. We have been fine with seasickness with use of Bonine on all of them (my daughter and I are prone to motion sickness). We are looking at a cruise on the Magic of Northern Europe (Denmark/ Russia/ Sweden/ England). I was wondering how the seas compare in term of rockiness and if the smaller ship is of concern for motion sickness? We are looking at a VGT veranda room so choosing a stateroom wouldn’t be an option either. It’s a big trip and would hate for it to be ruined by seasickness.

 

[Geomom]

I haven't been on the Dream class ships or on a Caribbean cruise, but we did the 'Baltic' cruise (roundtrip from Copenhagen) on the Magic last summer. (Our first cruise was on the Wonder in Alaska.) If you normally take Bonine, you would be fine on the 'Baltic' cruise. DD19 is prone to motion sickness, took Bonine daily and had no issues. The seas weren't too bad, a little choppy, some whitecaps out of Helsinki.

Here are some photos of the seas on our August 2018 'Baltic' Cruise:

Day 2: at Sea

Day 3: after leaving Tallinn


Day 5: after leaving Helsinki


Day 6: Stockholm Archipelago--like glass!

 

[okamy]

My daughters and I all suffer motion sickness, though it hasn't kept us from enjoying 9 Disney cruises. On most cruises, there has been a day or night when the motion was a problem (though never a big one). We have sailed all 4 ships and don't notice a difference between the motion on bigger and smaller ships. None of us experienced even a moment of discomfort on our Northern Europe cruise on the Magic in July 2016. It was like sailing in a bathtub. It is still our favorite cruise. You will love it!

 

[mab2012]

The English Channel and the North Sea are both known for being rough, but no one can predict what they'll be like on your particular cruise.

We've sailed from Dover on Magic twice. The first time was a repo around the Iberian Peninsula to Barcelona. The first full sea day was rough. Many did not make it to dinner that night. I am not especially prone to seasickness, but I felt a bit queasy off and on that day myself. Once we were out of The Channel and around the point in Western France, it improved.

Our second trip was up the North Sea to Copenhagen and Southern Norway, and then back to Dover. Nothing but smooth sailing the whole week!

I've also been in rough seas in the Caribbean comparable to that one day in the English Channel. Not often, but it can happen there too.

My guess is that if Bonine has worked for you in the past, it'll probably do the trick in Europe too. And even if you run into some roughness, it probably won't last the whole week. Good luck!

 

[ajgardner]

Thank you for the replies. That helps! I know there’s no way to predict what the seas will be doing during our particular sailing, but just had no idea what the typical comparison was.

 

[CruiseTraveler7]

For us the Baltic cruise was in June so we had good sailing. I find the Caribbean to be more rough sometimes, depending what month it is.

 

[mmmears]

We took the "other" cruise in Northern Europe and the only evening that was rough was sailing North to Alesund in Norway. I was really worried about the trip to Iceland and that was very smooth, as was the North Sea between Scotland and Dover. The Baltic looks nice and sheltered compared to that one, and the waters around Copenhagen and Dover were smooth. I've also felt "off" leaving Florida that first night, but not quite as bad. And I wear a patch and I'm still sensitive. I wouldn't worry too much about the Baltic, but realize that the ocean can get rough at any time.

 

[NickE]

I can't answer your specific question, but I can offer this: having been on a few different cruise lines, Disney ships have awesome stabilizers, which I suspect may be because they are more children-friendly than other cruise lines.

The Bahamas are almost always smooth sailing, but they're generally calmer than the Mediterranean. We were on the transatlantic repositioning cruise from Dover to NY last year, and for every one of the mid-Atlantic days/nights we couldn't feel the ship move at all -- and that was while a hurricane (I forget which one) was moving west through the Atlantic just north of us.

 

[julesthecircusfreak]

After reading previous posters, I think it depends on the year for this. We were on the first Northern European Capitals Cruise back in 2010 and that first night on the North Sea was incredibly rough for us. I am usually fine with the boat rocking back and forth- it soothes me to sleep. But I was on the sleeper couch in an inside stateroom and the furniture was making so much creaking noise, I thought the wardrobe was going to fall on me. The nights we were sailing on the North Sea, they kept the swimming pools closed - water was coming out of them the sea was so rough. It was not pleasant being up on deck at that point. But given what others have said, I think it can totally vary. That being said, this was one of the most amazing cruises we have ever taken! Highly recommend it!

 

[DahliaRW]

When they did Norway in June (the first year they ever did Norway, so 2015 I think) the seas were very rocky on that cruise. One night my dd (who is prone to motion sickness) actually got sick. This past summer on the Northern European cruise we had another night where she got sick and we discovered her meds were not helping and we switched them. That's the only night I remember it being rough on that 11 night cruise. We did one Caribbean cruise back in 2014 and she never got sick and we didn't give her any meds (this was before we realized she suffered from motion sickness). So while I recall Northern Europe being a bit more rocky, it was not a significant difference. One rocky day at most.

 

[smmco]

I don't think anyone can predict what the seas are going to be like on any given day at any one location.