Getting to Isle of Wight - travel sickness

[justintimberlakerivertears]

I'm not kidding when I say that I have really horrendous travel sickness which has progressively got worse over the course of my life. It can take seconds in a car for me to start feeling ill these days. Boats are the worst. Even with dramamine, seabands and my travel sickness app through headphones (the songs that balance your ears.)

I will have to go to the isle of wight several times this year for work and I wanted to ask the hive mind what the best most non-travel sick inducing way is to get there. As I have learnt from past (awful) experiences it is not always the fastest way. It is usually the biggest ferry at the best time of day. After googling I see there are several routes and options. A fast boat that takes 22mins, a passenger ferry and a car ferry which take longer. Which is the best option for travel sickness?

How about the hovercraft from Southsea?

Hovercraft. Really quick journey.

The ferry takes longer but I find it smoother than the red jet and hovercraft.

I get seasick quite easily but never had a problem on the car ferry - Portsmouth to Ryde.

Do not take the hovercraft - it bounces along the waves and no windows. I get incredibly sea sick but at least on the ferry can stand outside in the fresh air.

I’ve seen my mum feel sea sick standing on a pontoon and then she lived in the Isle of Wight for 10 years… If she can do it, anyone can.

The lymington ferry is usually the first to stop running in bad weather (prevailing westerly winds). The Southampton route has very little time in rough water, with most of the route in Southampton water which is very protected from bad weather.

my parents usually got the Portsmouth ferry for ease of location.

On a calm day I prefer the hovercraft as it's so quick (10 mins). If it's less calm then it's the fast cat (22 mins) or red jet (25 mins), depending on if you're coming from Portsmouth or Southampton. Rough days are the big car ferries which take between 45 mins to an hour but are less rocky. Also bear in mind there are no toilets on the hovercraft if you need to be sick, but the rest of the faster options and the slow ferries all have toilets. I wear my seabands and don't look out the windows. I find it if I have a sick bag ready in my handbag then this helps ease my anxiety and makes my sickness lessen. Either way, I feel your pain.

Get the hover. 10 mins from Southsea. If that's not running due to weather, then the FastCat from Portsmouth Harbour is 20 mins. Very smooth, just whooshes over.

Wightlink car ferry from Portsmouth is 40 minutes. I've been on it when the sea has been white because of the waves in bad weather, but the stabilisers are great and, if you sit in the middle of the boat, you hardly notice it.

I've been on a calm crossing with Red Funnel to Southampton when the stabilisers have been broken. That wasn't funny! The staff were running around locking everything away shouting to each other that they thought the problem had been repaired 😆

Red Funnel (car ferry) does have a private lounge you can book into with unlimited refreshments. That is a nice distraction! It's not expensive, about £12-15 ish, but is a longer trip than Wightlink from Pompey.

Either way, rest assured the crossing will cost you stupid amounts of money!

The largest ferry is fairly new called the Victoria and sails from Portsmouth to Fishbourne. It’s really smooth. Takes 45 mins. Large and airy with a Costa and huge decks so you can sit outside.

Meant to add I have done the crossing many times and there’s only one time I felt like the boat was rolling (this was one of the smaller car ferries) and only as we approached Portsmouth on the return trip.

Portsmouth to Ryde on the fast jet, it's so fast sometimes it's 15 mins, by the time you've sat yourself down it's time to get off and over and done with

Think it's called the Fast Cat, anyway ,it's a catamaran and fast !

I don't get seasick but I hate boats - imo the Wightlink ferries are much nicer than the Red funnels (and easier to get to by car) and slightly quicker (45 mins rather than an hour) good luck! It's the only way to go to the isle of shite tbf (being paid, that is)!

Have you tried hyoscine rather than Dramamine? It's really effective, and I'm a champion puker! I can go on/in anything after hyoscine, but without it I've been sick on a pedalo. Good luck.