Children sensitive to noisy areas..

Hello cruisers

I have a friend who is considering a cruisefor his family. He and his wife have 2 boys ages 6 and 8. He is a bit worriedabout his 8 year old as he sensitive to loud noisy areas. I’m wondering if any of you have anything youcould share, good or bad, and any suggestions and recommendations you may have.

It can be very noisy & overwhelming in such tight quarters. We use noise canceling headphones for our son who is 9. He’s been wearing them for years all over. Just basic construction ones, nothing fancy.

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The main public areas( pool deck, windjammer) will be noisy and chaotic. So will the kids club.

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Suggest you also post your question on the Family Cruise Forum.

My son has Sensory Processing Disorder. We do not use headphones but other OT strategies. He did fantastically with fidgets in his hands (carried them in his pockets). We made sure that we took plenty of breaks. We also always took advantage of the "quiet" times on the ship (early morning and when the ship is in port). One night we ordered room service and we had dinner in. We ate breakfast in the dining room every day and we ate dinner in the buffet (but very early-before the crowds). We talked to the special needs department and got a quiet table off to the side. We are now going on the Anthem in Sept and I am interested to see how we do this time around (it's only his second cruise).

My son has ASD so is sensitive to noise & in the beginning of any holiday (change to routine) even more sensitive due to anxiety.

What we do is request a quiet muster (Carnival)

We eat in MDR but are prepared to abandon the meal if there are any screaming kids nearby.

He has regular breaks throughout the day back in the cabin to help him settle back down.

He’s 13 now so doesn’t like to wear ear defenders, I’m in UK & we have specially moulded noise cancelling ear pieces from audiology, or he uses his iPod.

We do allow electronic devices or a book at the dinner table (obviously no sound on to disturb others).

He’s allowed to use them whilst waiting for food but then when foods out he puts it away.

He doesn’t go to kids club etc that’s his choice. He will try the different activities with us & the deal is have a go, if he doesn’t like something we stop straight away no bother.

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Avoid carnival. They love to blast loud music in inappropriate areas. The pool is always loud at all hours. We like royal, my oldest has autism and we've honestly found them to be the most quiet on their smaller ships. Can't speak to the mega ships. We are looking to relax, we don't like the big ships.

We cruised a few years ago on Liberty of the Seas.One father told me that he specifically picked this ship because of the Promenade. He could take his son down there in the middle of the night to look at things when it was quiet. His son had autism and was also sensitive to noise. He also said that he got two cabins one for him and his son and one for his wife and daughter so the son could have a quiet area all his own.

Carnival offer a quiet muster.

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Avoid carnival. They love to blast loud music in inappropriate areas. The pool is always loud at all hours. We like royal, my oldest has autism and we've honestly found them to be the most quiet on their smaller ships. Can't speak to the mega ships. We are looking to relax, we don't like the big ships.

We've sailed Carnival 11 times now and yeah...it can get pretty loud. We just try to avoid the areas (if at all possible) where it's the loudest, whenever we can. We don't go to the pool (it doesn't hold much attraction for my son anyway..our HOA has a pool we go to every day from May through September and we live 5 min from a lake that we can go to at any time of year to swim), he's not old enough to be in the clubs anyway (he's 14) and he's usually so engaged in the shows or comedy performance that the noise level doesn't seem to bother him (or at least he doesn't complain about it anyway) thankfully.

And if he does start feeling anxious because of the noise or whatever, we just go back to the room and he settles in to watch some cable TV (we don't have and haven't had cable since he was in 2nd grade because of the $$$).