Do you get Post Cruise Depression Syndrome (PCDS)?

Mebert · March 24, 2005

Hi everybody,

Cruisechic2005 came up with a great name for something that I suffered after every cruise: Post Cruise Depression or PCD. DaCruzNut further diagnosed it as a syndrome, making it PCDS, Post Cruise Depression Syndrome.

It would be interesting to see how many of us share this dreadful disease. :smiley:

Please answer as truthfully as possible.

KeithnRita · March 24, 2005

Post Cruise Depression Syndrome is something we get while sitting in a lounge waiting to disembark on our last morning aboard ship. We get temporary relief when we book our next cruise, but the full relief is only felt when we embark our next cruise. Right now we have nothing booked and that is depressing. We are, however, close to booking another New Year cruise!

Suzila · March 25, 2005

How funny! Anyone who hates the cruise experience so much that they wouldn't experience PCDS wouldn't actually be on this website, would they? LOL!

There is a person on one of the other websites I frequent (not a cruise site), that said she had a terrible experience on her first and only cruise and would never recommend it to anyone. Almost everyone on that website jumped on her about her post...I can't imagine. A BAD day on a ship? Nahhhh!

Our last cruise was in February and we have nothing on the horizon at the moment. I'm so depressed. Both our sons are getting married this year and finances are tight, so we can't plan another cruise until 2006. The wait is gonna kill us!

Sue<]

sailingrose · March 25, 2005

Always searching, reading and talking about cruising helps but the only cure for us is to always have a cruise booked. :grin:

Jenn · March 25, 2005

I would laugh at this if it weren't so true. I've been back only four or five days and I can't think about anything but booking my next cruise. I want to sleep all the time and it's all I can talk about when I'm awake! It's truly an illness!! I NEED ANOTHER CRUISE!!!

hazelson · March 26, 2005

Yep - but taking the cure as we speak - looking into the Carnival Conquest for next spring!!!!! The only way to get over the doldrums post-cruise. TTFN Jennifer

sailinglisa · March 26, 2005

Oh, I suffer from PCDS, but the only way to minimize the syndrome is to have another cruise booked BEFORE you disembark from your current cruise - you immediately start gearing up for the next cruise after slogging through all your laundry, etc.

Shari2 · March 26, 2005

I'm not sure if it's cruise depression, because I'm glad to get back to my home and family, but it's hard to adjust after having been out to sea and being waited on hand and foot for a week or two. You keep thinking about having an afternoon pina colada and having your waiter serve you dinner. lol

sjduskin · March 27, 2005

You do NOT get PCDS on the last day of the cruise - this is a fallacy. The current medical thinking is that the germ of the disease is planted in the cruise docs, it is acquired during the handling of tickets during embarkation, and it incubates upon exposure to sea air and the imbibing of various frozen concoctions, only fulminating and presenting when these agents are about to be withdrawn. (There is a theory that it may be implanted during the wearing of life vests, but there is not as yet any empirical evidence to this effect.)

In any case, it is endemic to the cruise experience and cannot be avoided. Attempts to avoid the condition by continuous additional administration of frozen concoctions only result in delayed expression of the symptoms, with additional complications frequently presented.

For further information, see the Physician's Deck Reference, 2004 Ed.

sailinglisa · March 27, 2005

sjduskin - I love it!!!! And welcome to the board!

Shari - I know what you mean - I am glad to be home and see my family and my furbaby and sometimes I am so ready for regular food it is not funny, but I do miss the clean bathrooms and made up bed and all the other special touches.