Twenty years of striding across a moving, pitching ship's deck leave a permanent roll in a professional seafarer's walk and the seafarer's complaint about the ground not "moving right " will abate as post-voyage vertigo diminishes. Vacationing aboard a cruise ship might affect you the same way, but both maladies will likely disappear before "front" and "back" replace the newly learned terms "bow" and "stern" in your vocabulary. Planning ahead will hasten vertigo's departure, leaving your days at sea behind as if they were a dream.

Step 1

Visit your doctor before you board the ship. Your physician might prescribe a medication for use upon your return to land. Heed the warnings on the medications regarding driving and operating machinery: some can cause drowsiness and their use might result in an accident.

Step 2

Go to the gym or health club aboard your cruise ship the day before you return. For years, professional mariners have sworn that vigorous exercise undertaken before leaving the ship will alleviate "land sickness."

Step 3

Plan your cruise so that you have some time before resuming your normal schedule. It's natural to want to get the most "vacation" out of your vacation, but like any other activity, you need some recovery time. Go slowly when you return to shore and give yourself time to adjust to the change in your setting. As hackneyed as it might sound, time is usually the most reliable cure for post-cruise vertigo.

Step 4

Visit your doctor if vertigo persists, since it could be a symptom of another illness or other physical condition. The National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders calls post-cruise vertigo "mal de debarquement syndrome," noting that usually "the symptoms will go away in a matter of hours or days after you reach land."


  • Eating ginger has long been used as a cure for seasickness. It works for land sickness as well, old seamen say.
  • Move slowly and deliberately, staying aware of things you can grasp to retain your balance. You are afflicted with vertigo; should the need arise, be ready to compensate for it by reaching for a handhold.


  • If your physician prescribes a medication for your land sickness, follow the instructions exactly and heed all warnings.

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