Motion of The Ocean

*January, 2018*

I decided that the most relevant topic to share with you right now is about dealing with rough seas. The past 2-3 weeks have not been the smoothest of sailings for us in the Caribbean. Yesterday was a sea day and we were rocking so bad that I honestly had no appetite at all and preferred to just lay in my bed and sleep on any breaks that I had. I also took 2 Benadryl’s before I went to bed which would explain why I slept till noon today-- but I slept great and couldn’t even feel the rocking once I closed my eyes.

The worst part about rough seas though, is struggling to walk from one end of the ship to the other or even on the ladder from my top bunk to the floor. When you are traveling in the crew areas on the first deck the hallways are long, quite narrow, no portholes, and painted all white-- which definitely does not make the situation any better. You can’t help but to bounce from one wall to the other and probably bump into things along the way. I would probably be better at walking in a straight line after having some drinks rather than during rough seas to be honest.

As far as sea sickness, I don’t get sea sick too often but it has surprisingly happened a few times. I had been on 2 cruises before working for DCL and I had never been sea sick before, even the first month or two of being onboard I never felt sea sick. There was one time, I remember we were leaving Port Canaveral on a Saturday and we had our welcome aboard show that night and during the shows I had never felt worse. The show involves dancing, lifts and even jump roping (which did not go smoothly) not to mention the theater is located in the very front of the ship which is the worst place to be when it’s rocky. I could not take any motion sickness pills because they make you drowsy and I really felt helpless. Let’s just say that was one of the worst nights onboard. I don’t believe I’ve ever felt as bad as I did that night again but I do get a little sea sick from time to time (last night).

Although this ship does seem to get pretty rocky, I am never actually scared that we are going to tip or anything, except there was one night. It was about 2 weeks ago, and I had gone to a midnight showing of the movie “Coco” (which by the way was amazing, I cried) and as the movie was over a couple friends and I were walking back to our cabins and I literally defied gravity and lifted off the floor when the ship aggressively listed one way. I was shook. Luckily I was with friends who felt it too so it was actually funny and we had a laughing fit in the hallway at 2 AM. The story isn’t over though because then I got into bed and continued feeling the ship lean one way and then the other and once again defied gravity and lifted off of my bed as the ship went one way. That was probably the most the ship has ever listed, I was honestly terrified that one of those times it was going to lean one way and not come back and my life would be over. It’s a miracle that my roommate did not wake up during any of this because the waves crashing and the anchor hitting the side of the ship was incredibly loud too.

That pretty much sums up all I’ve been through as far as rough seas. Getting sea sick isn’t fun, defying gravity is kind of fun I gotta admit but it is terrifying. Hopefully the seas will calm down and I’ll have no more sea sick stories to share for the remainder of my contract, that would be nice.

Rachel xx