Dietary Health question

[I need a vaca]

I don't know if any of you had family members go on a cruise who had to use a feeding tube?  If so, was wondering if anyone had any issues doing so that I could watch out for, I have been on multiple NCL cruises before but all prior to having this unfortunate restriction). 

I have already been able to get a liquid exemption added to my boarding pass so that I could bring my dietary formula (70-8oz bottles), however was told it had to be in carry on only, which leaves little to no room for any clothes, lol.

Was curious if there were any other unexpected needs to watch out for. 

FYI - if not able to eat or drink make sure that any free food or drink promos are canceled so that you don't get forced to pay any additional fees for something you cant do. 

(for back ground purposes only - I had throat cancer 3 yrs ago and am physically unable to swallow anything)

 

[GeezerCouple]

You might want to post this in the "disabled cruise travel" section of CC:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/

 

That won't be specific to NCL, obviously, but there may well be a variety of suggestions about how others have made this work better, etc.

 

GC

[brookie848]

Is there any way you can have your dietary formula delivered to the ship/cabin? When my husband did dialysis on a cruise, we had Baxter (the company who provided his dialysis solution) deliver it to the ship and then the porters/NCL workers delivered it to our cabin.

 

I'm assuming you're already in contact with the Special Needs Department, but you might want to see if this can be arranged.

[ColeThornton]

3 minutes ago, brookie848 said:

Is there any way you can have your dietary formula delivered to the ship/cabin? When my husband did dialysis on a cruise, we had Baxter (the company who provided his dialysis solution) deliver it to the ship and then the porters/NCL workers delivered it to our cabin.

 

I'm assuming you're already in contact with the Special Needs Department, but you might want to see if this can be arranged.

 

 

With all the supply chain/delivery issues these days that would seem risky.  What would the OP do if the food/medication didn't get there on time?

[brookie848]

1 hour ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

With all the supply chain/delivery issues these days that would seem risky.  What would the OP do if the food/medication didn't get there on time?

 

If you decide to go that route, you have to be willing to take the risk and have insurance. The first time we did dialysis on the ship we sailed out of Puerto Rico when things were still a bit of a mess after the hurricanes and we technically didn't have enough lead time for supplies being delivered (my husband was put on dialysis less than two months before our cruise and Baxter required a 90-day notice). We didn't rest easy until we were told that the delivery was waiting for us in the cabin. But it was a choice we made.

 

Even if OP doesn't want to go this route, they should still be able to work with Special Needs in order to make things easier for them. Not everything can be done, but it's possible they can work something out where OP won't have to carry everything on the ship.

[julig22]

I'm a little confused on the "carry on" part.  Why can't some of it go into your checked luggage?

[nextcruiseis]

I've taken liquid supplements for my mother on seven NCL cruises (pre pandemic & no flights involved) and received the same carry on instructions. However, each time we placed them in checked bags and included a copy of the boarding pass with the exemption approval highlighted. We did carry enough own to get us through the first day expecting that we would not receive the luggage in the cabin  in a timely manner and would have to visit the "naughty" room to collect it.   However, there were no issues and the luggage was delivered to the room as usual.