Cruising while pregnant!

[Lerin]

Thanks all for your input! We're having a singleton and the heartbeat was 110!

 

Congrats to you!

If the Old Wives tales are to be believed, it's a boy :)

 

I've cruised 3 times pregnant and have no regrets, they were some of our best cruises. I was more tired and couldn't be as active, but still had relaxing times. Spent a lot of time at the pool and doing low key activities such as afternoon tea.

 

Never did IVF though so I can understand why you may be concerned. I'd suggest you speak to your doctor to get advice more specific to your situation.

 

edit because I just remembered: for every glass of water you think you need-drink one more. Pregnancy dehydrates you in general and the temperatures and walking on a ship can make it even more pronounced. This is especially true if you are flying to port. Speak to your doctor on reducing swelling while in the air.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Lerin

[Joel&Hall]

First, congratulations! ! We did a baltic cruise with Celebrity when I was 15 weeks pregnant, it was great! I had to get a letter from my midwife which was emailed to the cruise company by my travel agent just stating how far along I would be during the cruise & that I was fit to travel. Im from Australia so our trip also included a 24hr flight each way with stop overs in Singapore & Thailand which I was cleared for & had no problems. My midwife said to just exercise the same caution you would at home, eat/drink appropriately, rest, obviously dont do any crazy activities lol, we mostly just strolled around taking in all the amazing sites on our cruise. The cruise staff were really great & our room attendant even brought me cookies every arvo because I couldn't eat the canapes lol. I would go to your Dr & sort out any sea sickness meds that r safe to take while pregnant and make sure you bring them with you so if you do get sick you know what you are taking is safe. Have an awesome trip!

[DkswartzFamily]

Now you guys really have me thinking, we already had a cruise booked and i'll be 22 weeks at sail date. I really want to go for one last trip with just the 3 of us and the ob didn't have any issue with it, I do think I need to find insurance that will cover pregnancy, any suggestions?

 

 

Our basic travel medical insurance covered it that we bought through the travel agent, I will try to contact them tomorrow and see if I can figure out who they use. My friend traveled pregnant towards the end of the allowed time and we had some pretty bad medical emergencies on board and she had to be taken into the Bahamas. I believe they paid out-of-pocket but the travel insurance ended up covering almost all of the expenses, including the hotel for the husband while the wife was at the hospital. We were definitely impressed with the coverage

[DkswartzFamily]

Hi all!

 

It was suggested to me by another to come here!

 

I just went through a 2nd round of IVF and finally success! However we already booked a cruise for early February (I should be 15 weeks by that time). Also, we find out Thursday if it's twins or not. We transferred 2 embryos so it's possible but it could complicate things.

 

Can anyone share their experience / tips for cruising pregnant?

 

Thanks!!!

 

 

Congrats on your pregnancy! It's up to you and your doctor if you feel comfortable doing this, but Make sure you consider where you were going in the medical care that you would be able to receive there. We went through rounds of fertility mess as well, and we canceled cruises before my son was born as well as for this pregnancy. It wasn't worth the risk for me or if something happened for me to wonder 'what if I hadn't'. However I also had a best friend lose a baby pretty far into the second trimester on a cruise ship. With that being said tons of people Cruise pregnant and enjoy a long relaxing wonderful 'babymoons'. It is totally up to you and what you're comfortable with, and of course what your doctors will approve : ). You will still probably not be showing too much at that point, but I would bring a doctors note just in case

[flcruiser08]

Thank you for getting back to me!!

Oh no, what types of problems did she have? I talked to someone at insure my trip and they said pretty much no one would cover me :( My medical insurance does have some worldwide coverage but no emergency flight or anything.

 

Our basic travel medical insurance covered it that we bought through the travel agent, I will try to contact them tomorrow and see if I can figure out who they use. My friend traveled pregnant towards the end of the allowed time and we had some pretty bad medical emergencies on board and she had to be taken into the Bahamas. I believe they paid out-of-pocket but the travel insurance ended up covering almost all of the expenses, including the hotel for the husband while the wife was at the hospital. We were definitely impressed with the coverage

[flhokie]

Congrats on your pregnancy! It's up to you and your doctor if you feel comfortable doing this, but Make sure you consider where you were going in the medical care that you would be able to receive there. We went through rounds of fertility mess as well, and we canceled cruises before my son was born as well as for this pregnancy. It wasn't worth the risk for me or if something happened for me to wonder 'what if I hadn't'. However I also had a best friend lose a baby pretty far into the second trimester on a cruise ship. With that being said tons of people Cruise pregnant and enjoy a long relaxing wonderful 'babymoons'. It is totally up to you and what you're comfortable with, and of course what your doctors will approve : ). You will still probably not be showing too much at that point, but I would bring a doctors note just in case

 

Good point about considering where you are sailing! My OB was comfortable with our cruise because we would be in the UK and Northern Europe where, as he said we'd have as good or better medical care as the U.S. He did say that he might not have given the approval for a Caribbean Cruise or another destination due to available medical care.

[DkswartzFamily]

Thank you for getting back to me!!

 

Oh no, what types of problems did she have? I talked to someone at insure my trip and they said pretty much no one would cover me :( My medical insurance does have some worldwide coverage but no emergency flight or anything.

 

 

Honestly she went into early labor one of the first few nights (at 20something weeks). They had to re-route our boat to a tiny hospital in the bahamas with a dirt floor- no joke. With that said she said the medical staff was amazing and more attentive than even here in the us. Obviously they didnt have great medical equipment though and the baby didn't make it. However I am sure problems like that are SUpER rare- they were just the unlucky odds. I definitely would feel a lot more comfortable with European medical care and the odds of something happening have to be super slim :-) either way the insurance covered it all (that ship cost ended up being more then the actual hospital cost in the Bahamas for everything lol) and I will say that the ship stuff was super nice but definitely not equipped for that high of a medical emergency. They couldn't even figure out how to get the stretcher into the elevator or get her onto the backboard appropriately, and def had a ton of trouble running the iv. However they tried their best, i'm sure it is just not something that they have to deal with every day. And the actual ship was AMAZING. They allowed us to have unlimited phone calls to her family to keep everyone updated and were truly concerned and checked in to see how she was doing often. Again- im sure issues are super rare. If you aren't high risk and ur dr isn't cpncerned it could be an amazing and relaxing vacation

[DkswartzFamily]

Looks like it was travel insured international : ) (the insurance)

[092306]

Agree with the poster who said to drink an extra glass of water for every glass you drink. I was fine on the ship luckily cruising at 22 weeks, but actually went into pre-term labor at 31 weeks due to dehydration. Salty foods, very hot day and travel. I was at home so was able to go to the hospital and my doctor was able to stop the contractions. So while cruising where you will be eating salty foods and be in hot climate, can't stress keeping hydrated enough. Whatever you decide, hope your pregnancy is happy and healthy.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was about 18 weeks along for my preggers cruise. I checked with my OB-Gyn before we booked and he gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. I had a couple of miscarriages before this pregnancy so I was nervous about this one, but had no problems -- other than a temporary crown that wouldn't stay so I had to be careful when eating on the cruise -- at all. My amino was normal. Didn't have morning sickness (please don't hate me). I took off only two days from work the whole time (came down with a cold right off the bat and decided to rest one day as I couldn't take some meds and the day following my amino, of course, but went back the day after that). I even did double duty at work to fill in for our accountant who had a major trip already scheduled, so she taught me some of her job and I put in extra hours.

 

I didn't eat soft cheese and tried to drink a lot of water. As I don't eat fish, I didn't have to worry about eating fish that may have a lot of mercury. I tried to do a lot of walking on board. It was just a three-day cruise (had to fit it in with my hubby's work schedule).

 

Probably one end result is that my girl didn't have problems with sea sickness -- not one case in eight cruises.

[annarack]

I have cruised twice whilst pregnant - Celebrity @ 15 weeks and Thomson @ 9 weeks - both successful and enjoyable trips, thankfully with no issues. We are off again this weekend - Cunard @ 15 weeks - and I can't wait. The cruise ship was a comfortable and safe environment for me, everything only a short distance apart and whatever food I fancied available on tap at all hours! I didn't suffer any morning sickness but did get sea sick once on each trip. I drank plenty of water, especially when on trips ashore, and did some gentle walking each day and had a nap in the afternoons. I enjoyed the mocktails, avoided the hot tubs and went to bed early. We had just as much fun as usual on these cruises, but did adapt our activities slightly to have particularly relaxing breaks. I hope you can go and enjoy...

[cruisecouple88]

First congrats. I was 8 weeks pregnant with an IVF baby on one of our cruises. Everything was fine except the heat really got to me a few times. So stay cool and stay hydrated.

 

Secondly, I also went on a cruise when I was 22 weeks pregnant (24 weeks is the cut off) with my second child (not IVF). I had to get my ob's permission with a signed consent and all. The cruise line required it. It states that you are not a "high risk" pregnancy. So if my second was an IVF baby I couldn't have gone on that cruise. IVF is considered high risk. I would discuss with your doctor.

 

If you don't go on a cruise, at least go on vacation somewhere and relax. You deserve it.

[Jacs]

Congrats on your pregnancy! I was 12 weeks when we did our 2 week cruise last month, also an IVF baby, our 6th cycle! We had booked the cruise before we fell, and I was a little nervous. We are Australians and the cruise was only to New Zealand, so we had 2 sea days to contend with but the rest of the cruise was never far from shore should something have happened, plus we are covered for health care there. If we were doing an Asia or Pacific cruise I probably would have cancelled.

 

My morning sickness didn't kick in until 12 weeks, so with a bit of added sea sickness I felt pretty ill most mornings. Having some food on hand to eat in he cabin before heading to breakfast helped. I could always find plenty to eat in the MDR, but struggled a bit in the buffet as I couldn't eat any of the salads, fruit, and didn't trust a lot of the hot stuff either as I had no idea how long it had been there for. I found all I ate from the buffet was cheese pizza, bread rolls, fries and pasta lol.

 

I was seriously missing fresh fruit but the end so ended up asking the waiter at breakfast if he could bring me an unpeeled banana and whole apple that I could then wash myself, as you can't trust the cut fruits. At dinner I would ask for a large plate of steamed veges to replace any salad that usually came with the meal. Everyone was really accomodating, except for one instance when I ordered a mocktail and got given an alcoholic drink instead. Took 2 sips and thought, this doesn't taste right and asked the waiter and yep, they had out alcohol in it because my package allowed it, even though I didn't ask for it :rolleyes: So after that I took to telling them I was pregnant when ordering a mocktail so they understood I didn't want alcohol for a reason!