HAL with young children?

[CDP Cruiser]

9 hours ago, kaiiak said:

My son has Autism as well and we are traveling on the NS in April. We have never cruised with him before and only have experience cruising with our older child (now an adult) with no disabilities.  Does HAL offer any accommodations for Autism? I filled out the online disability forms but have not heard anything back yet.  Looking for possible alternative boarding areas with less crowds/lines etc.  in case of sensory overload/meltdown.

Unfortunately we haven’t sailed on the NS yet as we are only set to sail on her next winter. However, we’ve done 7 cruises on the NA, although a bit smaller in terms of size of ship and passenger capacity, we found that we never had issues with crowds or lines.  Boarding time is always the hardest but we tend to come very early to board the ship to avoid the “peak times” when most people are trying to board. In my experience, the staff tends to be flexible when it comes to families with kids boarding and we have always been able to board in a short period of time.  The terminal where you wait is fairly large so there is plenty of space for him to “get away and find some quiet space” if necessary.  We bring my son’s noise blocking “headphones” with us to help keep the noise to a minimum for him in crowds. There have never been line ups at the Lido that caused my son to have a meltdown.  The hardest part was waiting to board the tenders at certain ports like Grand Cayman or Half Moon Cay. I always asked the night before these ports what the best time was to wait for the tenders so that the line wasn’t so long and they were able to give me a “window” on when we should go and it’s worked for us the last 7 years 🙂 We’ve always taken “open seating” for dinner as my son tends to have meltdowns when he feels rushed or overwhelmed so we like the flexibility of being able to dine when we want. My suggestion is to always call ahead and make sure there is a table available when you go so that you don’t have to wait.  When you board on the 1st day, try to see the Dinning room Manager and explain that your son cannot wait in crowded places nor in long lines.  You will be surprised how flexible they will be with your family.  I hope this helps! You and your son will have great cruise with HAL! Enjoy!

[kaiiak]

11 hours ago, CDP Cruiser said:

Unfortunately we haven’t sailed on the NS yet as we are only set to sail on her next winter. However, we’ve done 7 cruises on the NA, although a bit smaller in terms of size of ship and passenger capacity, we found that we never had issues with crowds or lines.  Boarding time is always the hardest but we tend to come very early to board the ship to avoid the “peak times” when most people are trying to board. In my experience, the staff tends to be flexible when it comes to families with kids boarding and we have always been able to board in a short period of time.  The terminal where you wait is fairly large so there is plenty of space for him to “get away and find some quiet space” if necessary.  We bring my son’s noise blocking “headphones” with us to help keep the noise to a minimum for him in crowds. There have never been line ups at the Lido that caused my son to have a meltdown.  The hardest part was waiting to board the tenders at certain ports like Grand Cayman or Half Moon Cay. I always asked the night before these ports what the best time was to wait for the tenders so that the line wasn’t so long and they were able to give me a “window” on when we should go and it’s worked for us the last 7 years 🙂 We’ve always taken “open seating” for dinner as my son tends to have meltdowns when he feels rushed or overwhelmed so we like the flexibility of being able to dine when we want. My suggestion is to always call ahead and make sure there is a table available when you go so that you don’t have to wait.  When you board on the 1st day, try to see the Dinning room Manager and explain that your son cannot wait in crowded places nor in long lines.  You will be surprised how flexible they will be with your family.  I hope this helps! You and your son will have great cruise with HAL! Enjoy!

OK thanks for the info. He is really good in restaurants etc bc he is a foodie so no concerns there. It is more waiting to board bc it is such a new experience if he gets anxiety his rigidity comes out.  He usually only needs headphones at shows. Once he had an epic meltdown in a Vegas show but nobody noticed bc it was so loud.  After that experience he always wears BOSE head phones to shows but not in the turned on function, so the sound is muted and he can still hear it all and enjoy the music. We will try to get there early board.