Fan Mail Friday: July 16th Edition

its been a while since I did a Fan Mail Friday but figured it was time that I started doing it again.  Here are a few questions that I recently received in the mail that I figured may of use to some of you.

I’m going on my first cruise in August but was worried about getting sea-sick.  I was planning on taking Dramamine but am wondering if I can drink with it?

Truthfully, sea-sickness isn’t nearly the concern that many first time cruisers think it will be.  These ships are so large that unless the seas are especially rough you probably won’t feel the rocking of the ship.  However, if you are someone who is susceptible to motion sickness taking precautions may not be such a bad idea.   As far as Dramamine and drinking goes I would probably go in a different direction.  Dramamine by itself may cause drowsiness and combining it with alcohol may be a bad idea.  If you want something that helps prevent motion sickness yet allows you to consume alcohol my recommendation would be to use seasickness wrist bands.

Sea-Bands work through the use of acupuncture.  It seems that by applying the right amount of pressure to a certain spot on your arms sea-bands are able to help alleviate signs of motion sickness.  Personally, I never get sea-sick but many people whose opinion I respect swear by these. If you want to read more about ways to prevent sea-sickness here is a post I wrote, about a year ago.

I hear phone calls made on board the ship can get really expensive.  If the call is kept to less than a minute will it still be charged?

Before I answer your question please allow me to make a suggestion, wait until you are on shore to make any phone calls to home.  It costs upwards of 7 dollars a minute to make a ship to shore call while cruising.  If you wait until you get to port you can make that very same call for like 5 cents a minute.  Do yourself a favor and wait to make that call if at all possible.

As for the question you asked, of course you will be charged.  Any time a call is made the total talk time is rounded up to the next minute.  In other words if you talk for 33 seconds you will be charged for a full minute. If you talk for 3 minutes and 2 seconds you will be charged for 4 minutes.  Not that it would be practical but I can see scenarios where people would make constant 59 second calls back to the U.S. if there were no charges for the first minute.

I was thinking about bringing my laptop on my cruise with me.  Do cruise ships have Wi-Fi?

Yes, most cruise ships do have Wi-Fi internet access for the use of passengers, but it is generally not free.  In fact, the cost of at sea internet connectivity can get pretty expensive.  You will need to purchase a package once you board the ship which will allocate a certain amount of minutes you will have access to the Wi-Fi.  These packages cost roughly 30-65 cents per minute.  For example a 2 hour block of internet time may cost you 60 bucks, not cheap.  You should also know that not all ships have in-cabin access but will require you to be at a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Have any cruise ships canceled their cruises due to the oil spill?  I will be cruising out of Miami later this month and I am worried about my cruise being canceled.

To my knowledge no cruise lines have canceled any sailings because of the oil spill.  I would think the only ones that would be affected by the oil spill are the ones going out of either New Orleans or Galveston.  So, even if sailings were being canceled you should be okay.

Related posts:

1. The Introduction of Fan Mail Friday
2. Fanmail Friday: January 16th Edition
3. Fanmail Friday: December 12th Edition
4. Fanmail Friday: April 3rd Edition
5. Fanmail Friday: November 21st Edition

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