Cruising with special kids? Safety concerns?

[riu girl]

Considering a cruise (not DCL) and was wondering about safety issues for special kids. DDs diagnoses change a lot and right now she is classed as mild ADHD with very high anxiety, sensory issues.

She is very clumsy and has attention difficulties. Also, I feel her sense of reality is sometimes not quite accurate. She wishes more then anything that she could fly.
We own a 15 ft. boat and when in it she understands/follows all of the safety rules. She is very bright for her age and we even allow her to drive the boat a lot. But a ship is obviously totally different then the family boat.

Would it not be a good idea to take a kid like this on a cruise? She is not medicated and most of the time acts like any other kid except when she gets hyper/anxious. Then you can tell that she is different.

I am worried that she might try to "jump ship" or some other dangerous/weird behaviour? I have never been on a cruise ship and just wonder how safe the railings around the decks are? Also, are there any other safety issues I am not considering?

Sorry if post seems totally out of line. I just have no first hand experience with cruise ships.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

How old is she? The reason why I ask is that if she's young enough that she'll be supervised all the time (e.g. either with you or in a kid's club) I wouldn't worry at all. The railings are high enough that it would take her a while to scale them. If she's a teenager who would want to explore the ship alone, then I think you might have a possible concern.

 

[riu girl]

She will be 10 by time of possible cruise. As I said before she is very bright academically (an A student in fact) but in other ways she is VERY immature (behaviourally/socially).

 

[tmli]

As you know I have a son very similar to your daughter. He has ASD and is bi polar with adhd and the anxiety/sensory issues you talk about with your daughter.

I took him on a cruise last September, just the two of us as always. It was incredible...he did amazing. It is such a relaxing atmosphere that his anxiety level was way down. He did participate in the kids club but I got special permission to put him in the younger age group as they stayed in the playroom supervised. The ages of our children they were more around the ship and unsupervised at times. We sat at a table for dinner with just another single mom and her daughter so it wasn't overkill for him. You can also choose more relaxing dining options like the informal buffet restaurants. Ds loved dressing up every night for his fancy dinner.

I purposely chose a tme when school was in and off season so that there would be less kids. A cruise is the most amazing vacation you can go on...you can do as much or as little as you want. We spent a lot of quiet time on the ship when others were ashore...enjoying a card game overlooking the ocean with a beautiful island in the background. Took my son to the beach for the first time in his life...he loved the water, tranquility, loved the beauty of it all...HATED the sand after it was time to change!!

We also went swimming with dolphins and sealions...it was incredible to see him. We are doing it again this Sept.

 

[riu girl]

tmli,
thanks for the info. Regarding the kids club, I don't know if DD would want to go or not. But if she did, I would ask about the younger group so she wouldn't leave the kids club room.
Did you set that up beforehand or on the cruise?

She is pretty good as long as the rules are laid out for her. If I tell her she is not allowed to touch the railings on the ship and must stay an arms length away from them, hopefully she will remember to follow this instruction.

We have been on a ton of beach holidays and she does well with water and sand. She is also always up for new adventures at the drop of a hat. The last few years, we haven't had to script things out beforehand.

It sounds like you had an amazing time with your son. So happy to hear that.The swimming with the dolphins and sea lions sounds amazing.

About dining times if we have to wait a long time between courses I will have to have a book for her. She can't sit for long periods of time doing nothing. I always carry a couple of books in my purse for this reason.

Does anyone know if we can request a dinner table for just the 4 of us? I wouldn't want DD to ruin another families dinner. She is good but tends to get hyper/anxious around new people. She constantly talks, tries to impress people, and tries to be the centre of attention. We are used to it but I wouldn't want anyone else to have to experience that for a week.

If we can't request a table for just us, perhaps we could simply do only the dinner buffet most nights.

 

[tmli]

You certainly can request a table for four, butlike all requests it is not a guarantee. I found there was always something going in the dining room so ds was kept busy...we had his gameboy for the down times. If there are just 4 of you...you could also explain your situation to your server...they could make sure there is not alot of time in between your courses.

Everything about the cruise was perfect for ds...we could be as busy as we wanted o rdo nothing. There was always a quiet spot to be found.

The day of boarding there was a meeting about the kids club...i just spoke to the manager, explained our situation and she signed him up for the younger age group no questions asked. I didn't make a big deal out of it so ds didn't even realize. He actually liked being the oldest...the younger kids all wanted to be his friend...you know how amazing that must feel for our kids!! They also gave me a cell phone for when he was there (he only went 3 times total for short periods) normally they were for the younger kids only.

We will have to do wdw and cruise every year....for us no other vacation type fits as well.

 

[Michigan]

I cruise Princess all the time with 2 daughters in wheelchairs. Their kids programs are great and with Personal Choice dining you can request a table for 4 every night and are not locked into a set dining time.

Come over to www.cruisecritic.com go to the forums and then the disability forum and you will find other family with children that have needs like yours.

Cindy

 

[riu girl]

Thank you both so much for all the help/support on this issue. The more I think about it, the more I think that cruising could be a real possibility for us. I think I can really see us cruising.


I am a real fan of the Caribbean and have been so many times. I really want to share the Caribbean experience with our kids. Unfortunately I fell ill to a parasite infection (the strand I contracted is found almost always only in the Caribbean) in the Caribbean in 1996. I was in and out of hospital ( a lot) for 8 months and then had short hospital stays sporatically for the next 6 years. The whole experience was not nice. I now take cipro when I travel to help avoid getting this sort of illness again. Even now, my body can't tolerate certain foods (pork, ANY preservatives, too much dairy) but I feel 110% when I avoid those foods.

Due to my past illness, DH will not take the kids on a Caribbean holiday. He is rigid in his thinking (he has not been assessed for aspergers but if he was I think he might come out with a positive diagnose) and feels that possibly one of the kids could pick up the same illness and die from it. He is especially concerned about DS who is only 40 pounds. And in truth, this illness is potentially fatal. At the time of my illness I was down to 80+ pounds (I basically non-intentially vomited everything and anything I put in my mouth for a LONG time). I couldn't imagine what this illness could do to a 40 pound person.

I fully understand (as does DH) that a parasite infection similar to this could be contracted anywhere in the world but feel that by cruising, we could still visit my beloved Caribbean and at the same time be less at risk of contracting this parasite.

I looked into renting an apartment in Mexico for a few weeks and buying/preparing all of our own meals but DH thinks that the food in the grocery store could be an issue. He has read that the refrigeration in trucks in Mexico/Caribbean is not as reliable as Canada/US. In fact, my doctor told him this also and that was enough to squash that idea!!!!

So I think the only option is cruising for us right now. I hope DS has a huge growth spurt soon. As soon as he doubles his current weight we may consider taking them to a 5 star AI.

Sorry, I REALLY rambled on didn't I???

 

[Michigan]

Is it possible that you got your infection from something you ate on the island? On a cruise all the food is put on in the US and there is no need to eat anything on the islands.

 

[michelle9343]

I agree with Michigan .I could tell you first hand about a disney cruise , but each cruise line is different so I would go over to cruisecritic. It is a really wonderful site filled with tons of cruise info on all different cruiselines.

 

[riu girl]

Is it possible that you got your infection from something you ate on the island? On a cruise all the food is put on in the US and there is no need to eat anything on the islands.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I was in Cuba for two weeks when I picked up the infection in 1996. THAT is why DH is insistent on a cruise this time since the food will be American.

I spent some time on cruisecritic. WOW, what a site. If we cruise it won't be until 2007, so I have a lot of time to learn. It is exciting, this is all brand new to me!!!!

Thanks again for all the info.

I spent some time on vacationstogo.com also and the prices looked great.

Have a great weekend.