HAL and Autistic Children

[kaiiak]

Hi everyone! I posted a similar thread on the disabled cruising board, but thought I would post here as well. Does anyone have experience cruising on HAL with an autistic child? My son will be 3 and 3 months when we cruise on the Eurodam next April. I am concerned because I doubt he will be potty-trained by then - he is about a year delayed in most areas. I can bring a little blow up pool for him to splash in on deck, but was wondering if the kids club will allow him to attend because the potty-training issue is in some way due to his disability. We could always come get him to change him, etc.

 

Other than this issue, I think he will be fine on a cruise. He enjoys travel and is pretty mellow. He is use to eating out at restaurants and big crowds or loud noises do not seem to bother him. He has few tantrums. He just is extremely delayed and unable to communicate yet.

 

I'm considering canceling this cruise in favor of a trip to Maui (which we did last summer) because I want him to be able to enjoy all aspects of the trip, but my older son and husband really want to cruise. I'm kind of taking a wait and see approach to potty-training, but as of now (2 1/2 years) he is not ready at all.

 

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated!!

[cb at sea]

I don't know what HAL's policy on potty-training might be...he will be old enough for the kid's activities. The blow up pool sounds like a good idea, and of course, he'll be able to make full use of the beaches you might visit!

Have you called HAL to see what their kid's club policy is?

[boulders]

Children in pullups or diapers cannot be in Club Hal.

 

NCL and Carnival will accept children in diapers in their kids clubs. Carnival will even change the diapers.

 

I took my ds aged 2.75 years on a cruise (too young to go in the RCCL kids clubs). He was very bored. It was not much fun for me to see how bored he was. I'd recommend a different cruise line or Hawaii instead.

 

Have you checked out Autism on the Seas?

[Kerry's Girls]

I would just check with the special needs department directly with HAL. We did not sail on RCCL with my special needs daughter because she wasn't potty trained at 3, and it wan't until after that I read that RCCL will make allowances for special needs children who aren't potty trained. It's worth checking out if that's the cruise you want to do.

 

Best,

Mia

[jac1976]

I second checking with the cruise line. I have heard of children that have been allowed to use the clubs even though they aren't potty trained because of a medical disability (although the parents did have to do any changing that was needed). If you have to, get a doctors note stating the reason for the delay. Legally, I'm pretty sure they aren't allowed to deny access due to a disability, so you can always toss that out there if they give you any problems.

[6rugrats]

Legally, I'm pretty sure they aren't allowed to deny access due to a disability, so you can always toss that out there if they give you any problems.

But, they would be denying access because the child wasn't potty trained, not specifically because the child was autistic. I would be interested in hearing what HAL has to say if you contact them. Good luck!

 

I found this:

 

Holland America: Travelers with a disability are required to contact the Access & Compliance Department to submit a Special Requirements Information (SRI) Form well in advance of the departure of their cruise. A program called Club HAL accomodates kids with a disability where feasible.

[kaiiak]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I'm planning on calling the Access Dept at HAL as well, just wanted to hear any firsthand experiences on HAL. We have traveled on HAL in the past and really enjoyed the cruise line. They also have incredible discounts for 3rd/4th pass rates that we couldn't pass up. I know the HAL Board seems like alot of people who don't enjoy cruising w/ kids, but we really didn't encounter any of that when we cruised with them. However, now we have the little one and the issues are different with his autism.

[harryfat1]

My older son is autistic and we sailed on HAL when he was 6 years old (his third cruise). Obviously at that age, there is no diaper issue and overall he enjoyed his experience at Club HAL.

Obviously, you need to speak to the counselors on day 1 when you register him for the camp regarding his condition. Get a pager so you can take him out when necessary.

[6rugrats]

Does Club Hal have pagers?

[kaiiak]

Spoke to the ACCESS Dept who claimed they had no information on Club HAL, then got forwarded to Ships Services who tried to help me, but still didn't have a definitive answer. Read me the policy that I already read online, but said they do make exceptions to the rules, so he gave me an email address for someone else who may be able to get me more information. In any case, when I revisited our itinerary I realized we only have 2 sea days, so maybe we can just hang by the pool with the baby blow up pool if worse comes to worse. As soon as he gets a new ABA supervisor (next month) I am going to discuss potty-training with her to see what she thinks...

[cherishrwil]

We have never sailed on HAL but we did go on a RCCL cruise with my son who has autism when he just turned 3 as well. He was not potty trained yet either but the kids club did allow him to participate in the program. They just gave me a pager when they needed to contact me. We have also used Autism On The Seas and they will take care of everything for you. So, HAL may have a different policy then RCCL but you should definitely contact the special needs dept.

[sherryf]

My older son is autistic and we sailed on HAL when he was 6 years old (his third cruise). Obviously at that age, there is no diaper issue and overall he enjoyed his experience at Club HAL.

 

Perhaps diapers were not an issue for your son at 6 years, but it's not necessarily true for all disabled children. I would hope that most cruise lines would make some exceptions due to disabilities.

 

My step-son is severely developmentally disabled and autistic, and was not toilet trained until well after 6 years. Even at 19 years, he's not 100% and we often put him in Depends when we go out, just in case. Not that we've ever taken him on or cruise, or would even consider it, for a variety of other reasons. Just saying that there are kids who train very late and that exceptions for the kids clubs should be considered in those cases.

[crusinmama06]

Perhaps diapers were not an issue for your son at 6 years, but it's not necessarily true for all disabled children.

 

That's what I was thinking. My friend's son is autistic and he was still in pull ups until well over age 6.

 

kaiiak - I am sorry that they "don't know" and are shuffling you around from department to department. They should not be doing that. I would be more than a little miffed right now. :(

 

The access department should know EXACTLY what they do for special needs kids in their kids club. I am actually angry for you right now. :mad:

 

So basically you don't know if they will let him in the club? Or you do and they will give you a pager like they do in the other cruise lines?

[MardiGras316]

One thing to consider with HAL is the cruise you are on many not have many kids on it at all. We went on the Christmas cruise with our then 6 1/2 year old daughter. Christmas and Easter are "filled" (by HAL standards) with kids. Some cruises only have a handful of kids under 18 on them.

 

So if their programming is not full they may cancel or change things due to lack of children on the ship. I know even with "lots" of kids on the ship for Christmas they didn't follow their daily program and stuck the kids in front of the TV alot instead of doing what was on the program. We were not impressed and let HAL know about it.

 

Good luck,

Tricia

[kerrytens]

Children in pullups or diapers cannot be in Club Hal.

 

NCL and Carnival will accept children in diapers in their kids clubs. Carnival will even change the diapers.

 

I took my ds aged 2.75 years on a cruise (too young to go in the RCCL kids clubs). He was very bored. It was not much fun for me to see how bored he was. I'd recommend a different cruise line or Hawaii instead.

 

Have you checked out Autism on the Seas?

Kaiiak, the above is wonderful advise actually. I have used them a few times now. They offer a service whereby they will do all of the behind the scenes leg work for you. I was asked what types of things I was hoping to have allowed with the cruiseline and he made it happen. They offer a great, much needed service for the parents of children with autism. We have enough on our plates sometimes to have that extra worry added in when taking a vacation;)

 

Here's the website in case you are interested. www.autismontheseas.com

[PoppyMac]

My brother took his special needs daughter last year at 2 on a HOL cruise. She wasnt allowed in the pool because she wasnt potty trained. She is mentally disabled, is deaf in one ear, and has some other disabilities. But she wasnt allowed in pool. I know that they are going on HOL in Jan to carribbean and they are furiously trying to get her potty trained (she will be just shy of 4) but she is behind other kids due to her disabilty. So they are just hoping.

 

I dont think they could make exceptions on the pool because we are talking about fecal matter being the problem, not an access issue due to disability. Fecal from disabled kids will make everyone sick too. Just my thinking and what I would feel about my own kids.

 

I know that they love HOL due to lack of kids..he says that is why they cruise on HOL. Their kids get extra special attention because only a handful might be on crusie, he says. So not sure if your son will be able to swim..but these kids (the older child will be 8 on this cruise and it will be her 3rd) love the cruises even when they didnt swim.

I dont see why would be different in kids club except for needing to page you if needed a changed diaper or was out of control. But I have a little boy who could easily get me called in for being out of control who is just shy of 3 1/2 and also..he isnt potty trained yet. He will use toilet for 1 but not 2.

 

Not sure that helps, lol. :o