Recommendation needed for autistic child 7 year old - need ship with LOTS of pools

[Bonnie J.]

Check out the water parks most Carnival ships have. We have only seen the one on Carnival's Fantasy but, WOW! They have the LONG slide but two otherslides that are open and not long. They also have a tall water dropper. Balls are filled with water then when they are full they drop over spilling the water on the kids waiting under them for this. They also have other water things.

There are also hot tubs kids can use and a shallow toddler pool. However there s usually a pool & hot tub for adults only.

Carnival also has Camp Carnival for kids 2-17. This can be all day or whenever you want to use it. Carnival also has babysitting for kid 11 and under until 3AM! This is actually a slumber party and there is a charge for this.

I sub at our high school and middle school in their severly profound class and have worked with Autistic kids. Is your son toilet trained? If not he would not be allowed in the pools or hot tubs.

[ckhappy]

Hi,

I read your post and found it to be very helpful. We will be taking our first family cruise on Feb. 2, 2013 out of New Orleans on RCCL. My oldest daughter has special needs age 11 and is very excited about going. We will too be attending the swimming with the dolphins in cozumel. I was wondering if you contacted the cruise lines and asked about the boarding and any other things to help ease the process. This is something that will be new and a different routine and while she is excited I do think it will bring anexity.

 

Thank you

[travelplus]

I am familiar with Special-needs children and adults.

 

What I know is that what works for one child or adult on the spectrum may not work for another. We need to treat them as individuals . Some like music and dancing, some may like to swim and others are more prone to meltdowns.

 

A cruise is great because there is so much to do and if you sense a sensory overload its time to go to the cabin and de-stress. Try to make the experience as normal as possible.

 

Cruising is an individualistic vacation even for those not on the spectrum some enjoy the loud music while others enjoy the jazz clubs or bars. We are not forced to join an activity that we don't want to.

 

When I took my first cruise last year I loved the theme parties, Schooner Bar Beatles Sing -Along as well as the dancing in the nightclub and sail away parties. The pool was fun as well. I tried the rock climbing and while I did not do too well I am looking forward to trying it again on my next cruise.

 

The 14 night cruise was fun for me with all the sea days and the next cruise will be 15 nights. As you can see some would love the longer cruises and others would be bored.

 

I see cruising as a good way to bond and try new things . Reward your child for his accomplishments. If he really wants that special ice cream or specialty mocktail buy it for him. If you see he is not comfortable in the main show room listen to why he doesn't want to attend the show and don't force him to go.

 

Its all about listening and not sheltering your child at the same time. I hope you enjoy your cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You might consider a cold weather cruise (eg. alaska in May, Norway, Mediterranean in winter) during school term on a ship with heated pools. Adults tend not to use the pools very much when the air temperature's low, so there should be more room in the water.

 

I was thinking this, too. We were on the Golden Princess in December (to Hawaii) and even on sea days, the pools weren't teeming with people. One of the pools is under a retractable roof (as are the other Princess ships that go to Alaska) so even if the weather is iffy, you can still go swimming. Probably some of the other ships that go to Alaska may have this feature. And during the glacier viewing that the ships do on one morning during the week, there are usually some awesome waterfalls as well as sometimes animal life (we saw a bear cavorting on a "beach").

[DmnDva]

And even if there are pools, there is no guarantee they will be open. One stupid parent puts a kid in a diaper in the main pool and it is shut down, drained and cleaned! This takes hours. Of course, in ports, you can look for quiet beaches for him.

I agree, we waited all day for the kids pool area to be cleaned on the Allure. Thankfully the kids thought the wave pool was enough fun.

 

I'm not sure that the Allure would be appropriate anyway as the kids pool are had water cannons which might be overwhelming for your son, I know they could reach a fair distance, my kids soaked me once or twice and I was in the deck chairs away from the pool.

[Karysa]

How about a 3 day cruise and 4 days at a nice resort in Florida? If that is a success then try a longer cruise the next time. What would happen if he got quarantined for Noro Virus? Would he be able to handle spending 2 or more days in the cabin? Sometimes people are still quarantined when they feel well enough to go out but are still contagious. You would know how and if he could handle something like this, I am just brainstorming potential issues that may arise from a longer cruise compared to a shorter one.

[nothriver]

How about HAL's Eurodam? The family pool is the indoor pool they open the roof in good weather but the kids can swim when the weather is bad, too, and you can rent a cabana right next to the pool. The cabana's have curtains to pull closed for privacy.

[iheartbda]

I would recomend checking out http://www.autismontheseas.com/ for more information.

 

As a high functioning autistic I disagree that it is a bad vacation for a child. As long as you have an adequate room to go back to for de-stressing and avoiding sensory overload it can be a lot of fun. As the parent I assume you know what triggers them and what makes them happy and by working with a group that specializes in cruises for Autistic people you'll get some great advice. To me, the room is always more important than any other feature when on a vacation so that I have a private place to escape to when everything starts to get to me.

What is better than advice from an autistic person?:)

We were on Royal Caribbean' Explorer of the Seas with a group from Autism on the Seas. There seemed to be only glowing reports about the program.

[Bonnie J.]

Check out Carniavl. A lot of their ships have a water park with lots of water but no actual pools but LOTS of water activites. They do have a long slide but also have short open slides ones for smaller kids. Try googling 'pictures of Carnival's water parks'. We don't have little kids anymore but kids love these water parks.

[bus man]

if you want a small(er) ship on a shorter cruise, I would recommend RCI's Enchantment of the Seas. She has 2 outdoor, general-use pools (the other ships in that class only have one), and starting in May, she'll be doing the 3 and 4 night cruises to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral.

 

My experience with pools has been that from about dinner time on into the evening, they are virtually empty. It seems that most people prefer indoor activities once it gets dark out. So if you're concerned about crowds, maybe you could do your swimming during those hours.