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Smoothness of Ferry vs. Hydrofoil (for Capri while pregnant, not prone to seasickness)

Posted by on

Hi All,

I'm looking to visit Capri while pregnant and want to make sure I can get to the island without too much shaking on the boat there.

I remember taking the ferry from Sorrento to Capri back in 2005. It was small and very bumpy. I though we might flip over a few times! I've been researching how it is now and it seems it's much better now. But I would like some more info.

What I've read for the boat to Capri (we would be leaving from Naples), the ferries are big now and one feels almost no motion on them. I've also seen a few posts here and there saying that the hydrofoils are actually smoother than the ferries. I don't care about money or time so much as not shacking up my baby too badly.

I'm not particularly prone to seasickness (knock on wood). It's my second trimester and I've had almost no nausea for the pregnancy in general. Again, I'm not asking about seasickness. There are a lot of posts on seasickness, but they don't tell me if either/both boats are bounce-you-off-your-seat choppy (like I remember from 10 years ago). That's what I'm worried about. If they are like that, I'll have to cancel my plans. But I'm getting the impression they are actually quite smooth, if sometimes seasick inducing (again, not my concern).

So, any insight on choppiness of the boats, which is a smoother ride (ferry or hydrofoil), or how to get on a big/smooth boat if there is variation among the options?

Thanks in advance for any info!

Posted by
32456 posts

kaitlyn,

Although modern boats have stabilizers and other things to smooth out the ride, I suspect how rough the ride is will be determined by the sea conditions at the time. You could conceivably have smooth seas on the trip over and rough seas on the trip back (or vice versa).

The Hydrofoils (Aliscafi) are generally quite smooth, once the "wing" lifts the front end out of the water, but they can be slightly "bumpy" at times. Catamarans are also quite smooth, although not quite like a Hydrofoil.

Of course, if price is no object there are Helicopter charters across to Capri.

Posted by
16597 posts

As Ken says, it depends on the sea conditions on that day. If you travel in summer there is a higher chance of calm waters. When seas are calm, the Med is like a big bowl full of olive oil, very smooth.

Posted by
3 posts

As a follow up, I did go to Capri.

I took the SNAV Ferry there and back. Both boats were huge with almost no motion to be felt at all. We were laughing about being worried about it since I live in Rome where just being in a car is 1000x more bumpy. Living in Rome, I was ready to cancel last minute, but the weather looked calm and clear. On the Ferry back we actually did hit some rain. It slowed us down and we arrived in Napes 15 minutes late. I was in line for the bathroom at the time and didn't even realize we had hit rain. I was told when I got back to our seats. I can't imagine conditions so bad where they would still run the ferries and you would feel motion strong enough for the little one inside to feel anything.

We also took the boat tour around the island with the stop at the Blue Grotto with Laser Capri (as recommended in my old 2011 Rick Steve's Italy, not sure if there is a better company now). I called them ahead and asked about how bumpy it is, they assured me it's not bumpy at all (and it wasn't). I also asked about if we needed to wear bathing suits and if we would get wet, they said we could come in evening wear if we liked :)

Laser Capri seemed to have all new boats, with what looked like 20 seats inside, 20 seats lower deck outside, and 8 upper deck outside. We just missed the previous boat so we got the nice up top seats. I could see someone getting sea sick on this boat, especially as we were waiting to leave the marina and rocking side to side. But the movement was never anything more than rocking. No bumping!

The little row boat into the Blue Grotto is just what you would expect. Of course you feel movement, but it's just not moving fast enough to feel any bumps.

As I had read before, one of the biggest reasons a pregnant woman should avoid boats is the risk of falling. I was super careful to always have an iron grip on something. Especially getting in and out of the little row boats.

I think a lot of the bumping that people talk about on boats might be in the ocean, opposed to the calmer Mediterranean. Like others said, it will depend on conditions. But I think if you take the bigger boats one would have nothing to fear from the movement on the boats to and around Capri. At least for my visit the boats were never even a fraction of the movement one feels in a car and we were laughing about all the stressing I did before hand.

Ciao!

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