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7 sea days with an autistic 2 year old...


Cloudyrain
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Are we mad?

 

we haven’t booked it yet: looking to go on a transatlantic on the P&O Britannia in October.

 

we have cruised quite a few times pre-child, and once with him last year (with 2 non-consecutive sea days). I’m just worried there won’t be enough to keep him happy: although granted with his autism he doesn’t need much, opening and closing the gate at the park is his currently favourite activity!

 

on the positive side there would be 4 (maybe 6) adults travelling with him so we could each do a day in the kids club with him if necessary.

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I found my special needs daughter loved sea days the most because we stayed on a schedule.  You know your child best of course, but we spent one entire morning after breakfast just climbing on lounge chairs in a quiet corner; playing with a blow up ball on an empty dance floor; dancing anywhere there was music in the afternoon - it's nice not to have anywhere you have to be, so you can stop and let them enjoy whatever strikes their fancy.  At 4 years old we did a 15 day cruise that had 4 ports and it was blissful - we kept a daily routine but found different places to play away from the crowds or walked the promenade, etc.  We also brought a blow up bathtub we used for splashing in an empty area on deck.  

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The only worry that I would have (and this was my same worry with my NT kid at age two) is that a lot of the railings on cruise ships are shockingly far apart when you're looking at it from the perspective of a mom of an escape artist/two year old. We spent a lot more time indoors than I'd anticipated because I was terrified my littlest would end up tumbling through a railing. 

 

Otherwise, I think it could be a lovely vacation and hope you enjoy it!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't have any tips particularly, but I do know that friends of mine have a son who has autism. They reported to me that they felt the sea days were the best days too because they did stay on a schedule and it felt a little more routine and less overwhelming.

 

I think it's so great that there are programs like Autism At Sea that address these needs.  With special needs come special services and wonderful people who have the experience and expertise to address them.  My hat is off to whoever put together a business to meet this need.  I admire people whose business model is truly set up to help their fellow human beings make the world a bit easier to navigate.

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