You might see if your doctor will prescribe a transdermal scopolamine patch for you to use if you need it.

I have used the reliefband with success, and so have some fellow shipmates. I thought they were discontinued. I recommend carrying spare batteries.

I have reservations about the patch, (side effects,) but hope the reliefband will help. Thanks for your thoughts, and thanks for the tip, Jim.

If you're not drug averse, I've heard good things about Bonine. It's OTC. Some sailing friends were telling us about it last weekend. It works better than Dramamine. It doesn't make you sleepy, and it works quickly, even after you start feeling woozy. So you can have it with you but not take it unless you need it. They keep a supply on their boat, just in case.

Enjoy the cruise! We did it the other way, from Seward to Vancouver. Great trip!

I get seasick and it's miserable. I've used the Scopolamine patches and they do work but the last time I used one I had a skin reaction and had to remove it. I use Bonine. Plus I've used something called Motion-ease. I first bought it at a boat show a few years ago and it does work. It's a liquid and you put it behind your ear(s) in the same place you'd put the patch. It has no side effects, except for a slight odor, and has the advantage that it can be used when you start to feel sick as opposed to some others that have to be taken ahead of time. It can be reapplied as often as needed. You can buy it online at sometimes very steep prices but I got mine at WalMart for a few $. Enjoy Alaska

I agree with watchme concerning the unproven placebo, non-regulated items. I'd avoid them. Family members have told me that the prescription patch works well.. I don't use anything or think about it, I'm not prone to seasickness.

I used to do a fair amount of sailing. The secret for me was to not go on an empty stomach and to nibble along the way. Beer often was present too. Ginger ale/carbonated water/Pepsi, etc, probably can help a queasy feeling as well.

I've taken and enjoyed a cruise from Seward to Vancouver. A look at a map reminded me that Juneau and much of the southern half of the cruise route are NOT in open water. Unless it's windy, the water along the route to Mendenhall should be very calm.

Catamarans have less motion than a single hulled boat or ship, other than the fore and aft pitching that any boat will do when heading into swells or waves. Don't read or look down for too long, limit your time down below and keep your eyes on the horizon (to see the motion and not just sense it), and do stay away from the exhaust stream. You should be fine.

Edit for PS -

Large cruise ships have computer controlled "stabilizers" that extend laterally underwater from the hull, resembling small airplane wings. If the ship starts to heel to the side from vertical, the stabilizers activate and push the ship back to vertical. I've sensed the action in heavy weather and it's kind of cool. The ship will start to lean to the left or right and you suddenly feel a force gently returning it up to vertical.

Transderm patch has worked flawlessly for me on two cruises. I got with a doc's prescript.

I use Sea Bands when I go on cruises or on friends boats. They work with the pressure point on your wrists. The first cruise I ever took I tried the patches. They dilated my pupils so much that I was unable to read anything or even look at a menu while on the cruise, took 2 weeks after the cruise for my eyes to go back to normal, then when I went on another cruise they had to air lift a woman off the ship because she had an adverse reaction to the patches while out at sea. One of my friends just got back from an Alaskan cruise and she posted some wonderful pictures on FB. They went on many of the off ship excursions. That is a cruise I hope someday to go on

We took the same route last year (Vancouver to Seward). The inland passage was very calm, but when we hit the open water, the seas were a bit rough, even though the weather was fairly mild. DH got a bit queasy, but I didn't. Felt a bit light-headed once when I was trying to walk around but that was it. Both times, he took Bonine, which helped but made him drowsy. His symptoms only lasted about a half day and he was fine. Several people were nibbling on raw ginger and said that helped.

The catamaran ride was not bad at all. No one suffered any sea sickness. It was windy but most of us took turns sitting outside even when underway.

If we do another cruise, I will get the patch for both of us and insist DH use it.

I shrimped a lot with Jody when he was in the Army and stationed near Ft Worth, so he was able to come home some, and we would take his boat and try to make enough to make the payments, so he could keep it. I never got sick. Then after we got married, he went to Louisiana to shrimp and I went with him. We were quite a ways from the town where he sold his shrimp, so we had a long run up a bayou. He only came in about every four days....so he anchored along the Gulf beach. The swells at night....really made me sick and ever after that, I was prone to sea sickness.

It is the sickest I have ever felt. I shrimped with him quite a bit after that, but never where he had to depend on me to be the deck hand...except maybe once or twice.

People always ask to go shrimping. I say, yeah...go but don't expect me to go with you.

Hope you find something that really works and you enjoy your trip very much.

I have a prescription for Zofran which is a miracle drug for stopping nausea and vomiting in its tracks. I keep it on hand because some of my medications can cause me to have those problems. There's one version of it that melts under the tongue so that it doesn't come right back up.

Thanks for all your suggestions, everyone, and for the happy trip wish, Marilyn! I'll let you know what worked (or not,) or even whether I needed anything. I'm looking forward to the trip and do appreciate all your thoughts.

Have a GREAT trip Sjerin!!! Years ago, I earned a Hawaiian cruise and I took my cousin. She was sea-sick for 3 days straight. She wasn't alone, a lot of people on the ship were. She was miserable and didn't leave her bed.

Thanks, Jasdip. My friend and her husband took a cruise to Hawaii to celebrate an anniversary and she was sick the whole time. What a waste. :(

I just returned from my 14th Alaskan cruise. I also get seasick and won't leave home without my ReliefBand, as Bonine and ginger do nothing for me. I've taken the Mendenhall Whale Watch combo several times and thought it was great.

The Allen Marine Company's catamaran that the cruise lines use in Juneau and Sitka is very stable and comfortable, and I would be surprised if you had problems with seasickness, They have complimentary coffee and hot chocolate, snacks, tables, binoculars, and a restroom.

I've been on three of the smaller boats, and it's ok while they are moving, but the small boats that hold six or so people will bob like corks as soon they stop to watch the whales. And obviously they are not as comfy.

I think you made the right decision going with the catamaran. You are going to have a wonderful time. Bon Voyage!

I have over 500 dives, yeah....I still get seasick on yachts, boats and skiffs! Sooooooooooo.......I take Bonine, it's OTC. You have to take it 30 minutes before boading the boat. No side effects, except I sleep really good. Which could also be the 5 hours of swimming I'm doing...:0)

Hi. I have tried Bonine several times, as well as Dramamine. I even started taking it the night before and the morning of the Kenai Fjords Wildlife cruises in Seward. No dice. I only started using the ReliefBand as a last resort because it was so expensive and I refused to give up cruising.

Believe me, if it works crossing the Tasman Sea, ( and it did, with 30 foot waves ), it will work for any cruise to Alaska.

Thanks for the endorsement, Suzanne. As a kid I went deep sea fishing and was sicker than a dog, even though I took Dramamine. I was then sick and sleepy. I'm hoping the band might help me in flight as well.

Nicole, do you ever sleep?? You remind me of my neighbor who accomplishes at least three times as much a day as I! And now we add diving and swimming to your list of activities. :)

I don't think any one treatment is right for everybody, and I know a lot of people swear by Dramamine or the patch or ginger pills or sea bands or whatever. I just know what works for me, so I hope it works for you as well.

If you are going from Vancouver to Seward, you are taking the route that spends the least time out in the Gulf of Alaska where the water can be rough; although I've taken round trip Seattle cruises that were very smooth. A lot of time it's just plain luck. Some weeks are dry, sunny, and in the 70s. Other weeks in the same month are rainy and in the 50's. The whales don't seem to care. ( LOL)

For Nicole - On every Alaskan trip I'm surprised to see people snorkeling in Ketchikan. They say it's wonderful. Brrrrr.

Why take the same cruise so many times? As you seem to like taking cruises, I hope you've gone to many other places too.

35 river and ocean cruises. We've done the Caribbean many times, but also Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Bermuda, and Panama Canal on the big ships and the Seine, Rhine and Saone on the river boats. Even though we've been to Alaska many times, I've only repeated one or two excursions. (Always do a whale watch, however.) There is just so much to see and do in Alaska, and we like to add on a few days on land when possible. I would go back to Homer and Girdwood in a heartbeat.