It feels more like rush then anything, to me. I don't get the pirate ship feeling because you're not always going straight up and down, sometimes the forces dont work like that when you're falling sideways.
Its really fun and as people have said its actually got more gentle recently, the only bad thing about it is the way the restraints slap down on your thighs. I always seem to get a numb right leg when I go on it XD