My first cruise was a 7-day disappointment. Even worse, it left me feeling sick long after touching dry land.

• I took my first-ever cruise in February and realized cruising isn't for me.
• I had horrible weather and rough seas that left me feeling sick after the cruise.

I took my first-ever cruise in February and spent a week sailing around the Eastern Caribbean on the Royal Caribbean Wonder of the Seas.

Although I was hesitant to dive headfirst into a weeklong cruise, I figured a few days of sunshine in the middle of Minnesota winter would do me good.

Plus, cruises are as popular as ever — and I was curious to see if they actually lived up to the hype.

Well, my vacation wasn't so sunny after all, and I have zero desire to book another cruise.

The weather was awful — and we had to evacuate our first port

It rained on five of the seven days of my cruise, including all three port days.

So, we scrapped our plans to visit beautiful beaches on St. Thomas and St. Maarten and instead slogged through puddles to check out local shops.

We also had to evacuate early on our first port day at Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas due to an incoming storm.

My friend and I got in a couple of hours of cloudy beach time that day, but we headed back to the ship when it started sprinkling.

On our way back, Royal Caribbean announced we were leaving the island early. I appreciate the cruise putting our safety first, but I was still bummed.

We had unusually rough seas throughout the entire cruise

Having never been on a cruise, I had no idea what to expect in terms of motion and whether I'd get sea sick.

My doctor prescribed a scopolamine patch as a precaution to prevent sea sickness, but I had a negative reaction to it and had to remove it. Still, I figured I'd be fine since Wonder of the Seas is a large ship, and I'd heard you don't feel as much movement on larger ships.

Well, I felt a lot of movement. And I wasn't alone.

Because we experienced some rougher seas, we felt more motion on the ship than is typical, according to conversations with seasoned fellow cruisers on board and comments from the captain.

One night it was so bad that many of us had trouble walking in a straight line down the hallway. Thankfully, other than a couple of hours of nausea I attribute to too much wine and not enough food, I didn't get sick to my stomach.

But that weird sensation of swaying and rocking got to me.

Motion sickness followed me home

Unfortunately, I could still feel some rocking and swaying after we disembarked. Even after returning home, the feeling didn't go away.

My brain knew I was on solid ground, but I felt like I was still on the cruise ship battling rough waves.

As it turns out, I'd developed "land sickness," also known as mal de débarquement syndrome, where you feel as though you're still swaying on the ship once you get off.

Although it's somewhat rare, it's a form of reverse motion sickness that can last for months or even years after a cruise (or other triggering event).

So far, anti-nausea medication and ginger ale haven't helped much.

As I sit and write this over two weeks later, I'm still rocking, swaying, and bobbing. Although I'm slowly getting better, it's definitely not fun.

I'm avoiding cruises from now on

I had some great laughs with friends on board despite the rough seas and lack of sunshine. A lot of what I experienced probably isn't the norm and maybe I was just unlucky.

But considering I wasn't even sailing during hurricane season in the Caribbean, I don't want to roll the dice again and try another sailing.

One bad experience culminating with motion sickness on dry land is enough to make me want to avoid any cruises in the future.

This story was originally published on March 22, 2024, and most recently updated on July 2, 2024.