What kind of world power needs to show off?

The Chinese guided missile cruiser Qingdao recently completed a four month tour that highlights the growing power of china. But what is really interesting is a little comment that's hidden deep in the story:

Petty Officer Wei Ping said his favorite port stop was in Turkey.

"It was really a beautiful country, and we received a very warm welcome," Wei said. He said some crew members became seasick from never having been on the rolling open ocean.

Question: Assuming for such an important tour, that the ship was staffed with competant crew members, why did they get sea sick?

Answer: They are competant, but they've never been out on the ocean before, duh.

Here's another link with respective naval projection power. It's pretty old (1996) but it should suffice. I make the assumption that an aircraft carrier is a good example of projection power. Although it does say that Thailand has an aircraft carrier, it's also the smallest carrier on the list with a displacement of 11,500 tons, slightly larger than an Aegis Cruiser (9400 tons). We can see here, that not only does the U.S have more aircraft carriers than any other country, they also displace more, and carry more aircraft.