What if my kids get sick on the ship

[w888]

We are going on 3 day Wonder Nov 03. I am soooo worried that my kids may be sick during the trip. My DD will be 7 and DS will be 22 month old, what if they get sick? (stomach flu, ear infection, cold, fever, etc), anyone has any prior experience visting the onboard doctor? what kind of facility, do they have a pharmacy? I will pack all the OTC meds including Pedialyte but what else can I prepare? we are flying from California.

Please calm me down, the worry has over-shading my joy of planning for the trip(our 1st DCL trip), I almost want to cancel the reservation now, should we wait until DS is older? But we really want to go and also want to take advantage of the free airfare and cruise fare for the baby.(he only pays for the port charge)

thanks!

W888

 

[TnRobin]

Matthew (then 5) got sick on one of our cruises. The medical staff was wonderful. They had the medicine we needed (antibotic) on board. After 24 hours of rest and plenty of fluids he was back and going at full steam.

 

[AnnMorin]

The medical staff was great, gave us the perscriptions, we did have to charge it to our room (the bill came to a tad over $200.00 for the two of us combined) they gave me all the paperwork to send into our insurance company. About three weeks later we got a check from our ins. co for all but 20.00 of it, they charged us a ten dollar per person copay. The med center staff even called to check on us the next day and did a free follow up visit to check our son's ears again.

 

[magiroux]

I don't know about your 22 month old (you Dr. can advise you)but there are some things you can do before you leave to help prevent what I call "travel" or "Airplane" sickness.

As soon as you are at your gate waiting to board your plane give a 1/2 dose of benedryl. This helps dry out any fluid in the children's ears so that bacteria(which the plane is loaded with in the air) does not settle in the fluid and cause an ear infection. This is why children often get ear infections after being in a plane.

For fear of stomach flu(or Norwalk Virus)have your child eat lots of yogart or at GNC you can pick up chewable "Acidolphilis" which is the the live bateria found in the yogart that fights the bad bacteria. If you or your children have recently been on antibiotics I would HIGHLY recommend this since antibiotics deteriorate this healthy bacteria in your tummy and also makes you susceptiable to yeast infections and stomach viruses.

Also, get the travel size bottles of Purel and use this everywhere. In the restrooms, plane, ship. I gave my DD who is also 7 her own little bottle for her fanny pack and I just drilled into to her always use it. She got to the point where she never had to be reminded and enjoyed carrying her own bottle.

This is all advise I have rec'd from various Dr's thru the years and you may want to check with your own to see if this advice fits for your family. Most of all, just relax and enjoy your trip...everybody will be just fine.

 

[ReadyForDisney2003]

My DD (2) got an ear infection while onboard. It really was no big deal. They diagnosed and prescribed just as if I was at home.

Be careful about *how* they fill out your paperwork. I had to fight with my insurance company because the visit was coded as an emergency room ($50 charge to me) instead of a Dr. visit ($5 charge to me). After the insurance person saw it was a cruise ship, there was no problem.

 

[tlgoblue]

OK W888,

Settle down. You will have a great cruise. On a 3 day trip, anything your babies MAY come down with is likely to be brought on board with them from school. So thinking ahead to November, we're really only looking at cold type illnesses, maybe a NLV, which are all very treatable on the ship. Anything they may pick up while on the ship, in all likelyhood, will not show up until you return, at which point your Family physician can take over.

From personal experience, the medical facilities are perfectly adequate, and the personnel are top notch. (They need good personnel on the ship that are capable of dealing with all sorts of conditions, and they do a fantastic job.) My DD developed acute scarlett fever, with possible rheumatic fever, while on our Sept 2001 cruise. Talk abour scarry! She couldn't even walk to the facilities, she was in so much pain. They had the equipment to do all sorts of lab work, and made the correct diagnosis. We were given all the precautionary measures and were in constant contact with the medical personnel. We took DD to the Sand Lake ER as soon as we disembarked, and I'm happy to report she made a full recovery.

Nothing will happen that they can't handle. Stop worrying and enjoy all that goes into preparing for your trip. Oh! Start saving your money, because after your November cruise, you'll want to book a 7 day!!!!


Tracy

 

[peg2001]

Would your regular pediatrician consider giving you a script for antibiotics and perhaps Phenergan before you go?

I'm not too worried about ear infections as my young children don't seem susceptable to them but I did get some Phenergan to take with us, just in case. It is used to treat or prevent nausea and vomiting. It really does the trick in cases of continuous vomiting.

Peggy

 

[w888]

thanks for all the tips! You guys are so wonderful, I love this board. Some of the tips are helpful even when we are home! I am glad to hear that the on board med falicity are top quality. Now I CAN'T wait until November!

thanks again!

 

[inkkognito]

On one of our Magic cruises, I had the unfortunate experience of becoming VERY familiar with the onboard medical facilities. While dancing, my kneecap popped off and they had to do a "closed reduction" (think LOTS of pain). They had a velcro-closing cast and crutches of the correct size, and when I went to my ortho doc, he said they had done a very good job getting the knee cap back in place. Just be aware that the charges can be quite pricey if your medical emergency is a major one. It was $700 for my little experience...happily, the ins. co. reimbursed us, but we did have to pay up front so make sure you bring a credit card with enough available credit for emergencies.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[dmadman43]

We are going on 3 day Wonder Nov 03. I am soooo worried that my kids may be sick during the trip. My DD will be 7 and DS will be 22 month old, what if they get sick? (stomach flu, ear infection, cold, fever, etc), anyone has any prior experience visting the onboard doctor? what kind of facility, do they have a pharmacy? I will pack all the OTC meds including Pedialyte but what else can I prepare? we are flying from California.

Hmm...well not so fast. Based on my experience if your DD has bout of vomiting while on the ship, she will be sent immediately to the Medical Office. They will want here quarantined for a minimum of 24 hours. Their preference will be to have her quarantined for 72 hours unless you can prove that her stomach flu/bout with vomitting was not Norwalk Virus related. We were able to convince the medical staff that our son simply was overexcited and got him released after 12 hours of quarantine.

Again, this was my experience.