Disney Cruise Line with our Autistic DS - Experiences please!!

[marcgiu]

We are looking to go on the 3 day Bahamas’ Cruise in Dec – Our youngest DS will be 5 by then and has ASD.
He is pretty flexible but there is certain things that we were hoping to get some advice on (like dining, kids clubs, any special events etc)

Has anyone been on the cruise line with an Autistic child – any shared experiences would be welcome.

 

[Aminniedala]

We took our 4 year-old ASD daughter on a 4 day cruise last March and I was so happy with our experience. I think the staff did a great job of accomodating us, and the kid's club counselors were wonderful. I was initially apprehensive about leaving her at the Oceaneers's Cub, even though she goes to preschool. I talked to the counselors on our first day there; they assured me that they had worked with outher autistic children and asked me what she liked to do, what calmed her down if she had problems and if she had any special needs, aversions to noise, crowds, etc. They let me hang around and watch her play for a while. They had a special activity going on-- Play time with Mickey, I think-- DD got distracted and wandered off somewhere she shouldn't, one of the counselors for the activity gently steered her away and back to the group. DD had a fabulous time at the club and probably could have stayed longer

As for dining, our servers were great, too. We explained that waiting for a long time for her food, so our server arranged for her salad to be ready at the table when we sat down. One night, DD melted down right before dinner; the servers arranged "take-out" plates to go back to the cabin for her and me.

We had a great time, and are planning to go back on a cruise next year. My biggest piece of advice is just to talk to the staff and let them know anything that concerns you. I found them all very helpful and kind. I wish I had known how good they were before we went on the cruise. Please let me know if there are any other questions I can answer for you!

 

[marcgiu]

We took our 4 year-old ASD daughter on a 4 day cruise last March and I was so happy with our experience. I think the staff did a great job of accomodating us, and the kid's club counselors were wonderful. I was initially apprehensive about leaving her at the Oceaneers's Cub, even though she goes to preschool. I talked to the counselors on our first day there; they assured me that they had worked with outher autistic children and asked me what she liked to do, what calmed her down if she had problems and if she had any special needs, aversions to noise, crowds, etc. They let me hang around and watch her play for a while. They had a special activity going on-- Play time with Mickey, I think-- DD got distracted and wandered off somewhere she shouldn't, one of the counselors for the activity gently steered her away and back to the group. DD had a fabulous time at the club and probably could have stayed longer

As for dining, our servers were great, too. We explained that waiting for a long time for her food, so our server arranged for her salad to be ready at the table when we sat down. One night, DD melted down right before dinner; the servers arranged "take-out" plates to go back to the cabin for her and me.

We had a great time, and are planning to go back on a cruise next year. My biggest piece of advice is just to talk to the staff and let them know anything that concerns you. I found them all very helpful and kind. I wish I had known how good they were before we went on the cruise. Please let me know if there are any other questions I can answer for you!

Many thanks for the advice - the Oceaneers club sounds promising , I think we would be travelling on the Disney Wonder so I would assume that the carers are pretty similar.
One thing I wanted to ask if that's ok - can you request your own table on the evening meal rotation? Tomas would potentially (as you know you can't predict anything) have issues with new people at our table - do you have to share?