Kids club for children with medical problems

I searched the forums but couldn't find information on this. We are sailing on the Allure in a couple of months and this will only be our second time on RCI. Our first RCI cruise was 8 years ago on the Freedom. Anyways, our son has medical problems but is an active, stable 9 year old. On NCL, we were told that someone has to stay on the ship at all times while he is in the kids club due to his medical problems. I am wondering if anyone knows whether royal carribean has the same policy or not? I would not be interested in taking an excursion away from the ship but maybe walking around the port area. And I have international service on my phone so I could be contacted in case of an emergency. Thank you in advance for any information you can provide regarding this.

have you contacted Special Needs at Royal and discussed this with them?

Definitely contact Special Needs. I have a child with multiple disabilities and they were very reasonable with accommodating her. You just need to tell then what the medical issues are so they can give you good information regarding what they can accommodate.

I am looking for someone who has first hand experience with this. I think we all know that you can get different answers from people on the other end of the phone. I don't need special accommodations for my son. I just need to know if the fact that he has medical problems means we always stay on the ship if he's on there. There is nothing that he needs that is different from people without medical problems. I just get the feeling that the other cruise line felt it was too much of a liability to keep him on the ship without us there.

Although I agree you should check with special needs, and not knowing your son's medical problems, I can't imagine if he were my son that I'd take off on an excursion and leave him on the ship. Most excursions are away from the ship and if something did happen to your son, you couldn't get back in a few minutes.

Talking to the ship by phone in an emergency isn't the answer. I can't tell you how to run your life, but heaven forbid, something happened and you were away, I would think you would be guilt ridden the rest of your life.

Is there someone who can travel with you that can stay on the ship while you go off and enjoy yourself? The peace of mind having someone on the ship would be worth the expense of the cruise fare. Please re-think what you wish to do.

Although I agree you should check with special needs, and not knowing your son's medical problems, I can't imagine if he were my son that I'd take off on an excursion and leave him on the ship. Most excursions are away from the ship and if something did happen to your son, you couldn't get back in a few minutes.

 

Talking to the ship by phone in an emergency isn't the answer. I can't tell you how to run your life, but heaven forbid, something happened and you were away, I would think you would be guilt ridden the rest of your life.

 

Is there someone who can travel with you that can stay on the ship while you go off and enjoy yourself? The peace of mind having someone on the ship would be worth the expense of the cruise fare. Please re-think what you wish to do.

I am sorry that you feel the need to tell me how to take care of my child. Emergencies happen to everyone and I don't feel like they are anymore likely to happen to us. I was not asking what you think is the best for my family and my child. I use cruise critic a lot to get information about the cruises we go on but it seems like there is too much judgement out there to actual get good information. We will just wait until we get on the ship to find out what their policy is.

I am sorry that you feel the need to tell me how to take care of my child. Emergencies happen to everyone and I don't feel like they are anymore likely to happen to us. I was not asking what you think is the best for my family and my child. I use cruise critic a lot to get information about the cruises we go on but it seems like there is too much judgement out there to actual get good information. We will just wait until we get on the ship to find out what their policy is.

Why on earth would you ever leave a child with a medical condition on the ship so that you can frolic about in a foreign port?

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Why on earth would you ever leave a child with a medical condition on the ship so that you can frolic about in a foreign port?

 

 

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Apparently no one read the whole post where she said she was not interested in taking an excursion.

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I had a child that was in the middle of Chemo and the ship advised us that we could leave our son on the ship if we wanted to as long as they had a way to get a hold of us-he was 11 at the time. We elected to take him with us, only because he wanted to do what we were doing. Don't let others tell you what you should or shouldn't do. The ship is very accommodating-have a great trip.

My son has special needs and we were not advised of such a requirement, but tbh we never actually left him on board without us.

Without any information about the actual medical condition, I don't think anyone can give you any helpful information for you exactly.

When you register let them know everything, they may get you to fill out an accommodations form just so they are aware of all the what/where/when/how etc...

This does not mean you have to stay onboard however.

They only time I've heard of parents being asked too stay onboard is if kids are in diapers for a medical condition as the staff are not allowed to change them even if there was somewhere to change them.

You may find it difficult to get good information here. Even calling the Special Needs department may not be able to give you the best answer, because it may very well depend on the actual staff on the specific ship you are sailing on.

Special Needs may be able to give you general information, but if the staff on board the ship at the time you sail is not comfortable with whatever medical needs your son has, they may tell you someone must stay behind.

the staff on board has final say. and it may even be dependent on how many other kids are utilizing the program on port days.

I have two kids, and have never walked off a ship in a foreign port, without them with me. I always thought family vacations was to do things together. Just my opinion.