Help with bringing elderly parents with disabilities/medical needs

[maybesomeday]

Hi!  Not new to cruising, but first time bringing on-board elderly relatives that have some limitations and medical needs.  I want to make sure they are comfortable and that I can make it seemless for them.

 

Thanks in advance for all help!

 

We are sailing as a family of 5 with adjoining rooms.  2 of the 5 have walking limitations and 2 of the 5 are kids under 10.  The kids and I will be only ones able to carry and walk from garage in Port Canaveral.  Typically, I'd drop luggage off and park and hand carry carry ons through check in for embarkation and security but I think I will have too much for us to hand carry-CPAPs, medication, etc.  What options do I have to limit walking for 2 and any assistance with carryons?

 

I believe I can order distilled water for CPAPs and need power cord with adapter for more than 1 CPAP in stateroom.  Can someone confirm my understanding?

 

There is a mini fridge for insulin on Freedom, correct?  Any tips or tricks for insulin storage ideas for port days?

 

Considering a scooter rental on-board bc one of my passengers is worried they will slow the group down.  (Their worry not mine bc I'm planning a slow lazy vacation after a hectic few months of work.)  Where do those store in cabins?  Any feedback on experience of the scooter rental is helpful. 

 

Any assistance with disembarking?  We always hand carried everything off but that definitely isn't possible this time.  

 

Thanks again!  I'm excited to take new cruisers and complete a bucket list trip but need some help so I know how to orchestrate it!

[skrufy]

7 minutes ago, maybesomeday said:

Hi!  Not new to cruising, but first time bringing on-board elderly relatives that have some limitations and medical needs.  I want to make sure they are comfortable and that I can make it seemless for them.

 

Thanks in advance for all help!

 

We are sailing as a family of 5 with adjoining rooms.  2 of the 5 have walking limitations and 2 of the 5 are kids under 10.  The kids and I will be only ones able to carry and walk from garage in Port Canaveral.  Typically, I'd drop luggage off and park and hand carry carry ons through check in for embarkation and security but I think I will have too much for us to hand carry-CPAPs, medication, etc.  What options do I have to limit walking for 2 and any assistance with carryons?

 

I believe I can order distilled water for CPAPs and need power cord with adapter for more than 1 CPAP in stateroom.  Can someone confirm my understanding?

 

There is a mini fridge for insulin on Freedom, correct?  Any tips or tricks for insulin storage ideas for port days?

 

Considering a scooter rental on-board bc one of my passengers is worried they will slow the group down.  (Their worry not mine bc I'm planning a slow lazy vacation after a hectic few months of work.)  Where do those store in cabins?  Any feedback on experience of the scooter rental is helpful. 

 

Any assistance with disembarking?  We always hand carried everything off but that definitely isn't possible this time.  

 

Thanks again!  I'm excited to take new cruisers and complete a bucket list trip but need some help so I know how to orchestrate it!

Can't help with distilled water. Ask the cabin steward for two extensions. Store the insulin in the fridge or the medical staff will store it for you. My understanding the insulin will be just fine in a backpack or another type of bag during the port day. There are company's that rent scooters to cruisers and deliver to ship. Scooters must be kept in your cabin, right in the middle of the cabin, no storage space available on the ship. Put your luggage out the night before, when you reach the area where you pick up your luggage, find a porter ( they are all over ), to haul your luggage to your transportation home. Those slow lazy vacations are great. Got back in December from two lazy ones, no excursions, all beach days.

 

[May1cruiser]

second vote for the scooter rental. one parent had the other did not, the parent without regretted not renting one. We were also able to take scooter off ship. Had a private tour in Cozumel and van was able to hold scooter. 

 

Yes, it does take longer to get around ship, most notably waiting for elevators. Best advice was try to avoid the busy times for elevators. Example is to go for dinner early (at least get to the correct floor). Yes, parked scooter in room. 

 

Cruise staff was very, very accommodating. They will enjoy,

 

[maybesomeday]

20 minutes ago, skrufy said:

Can't help with distilled water. Ask the cabin steward for two extensions. Store the insulin in the fridge or the medical staff will store it for you. My understanding the insulin will be just fine in a backpack or another type of bag during the port day. There are company's that rent scooters to cruisers and deliver to ship. Scooters must be kept in your cabin, right in the middle of the cabin, no storage space available on the ship. Put your luggage out the night before, when you reach the area where you pick up your luggage, find a porter ( they are all over ), to haul your luggage to your transportation home. Those slow lazy vacations are great. Got back in December from two lazy ones, no excursions, all beach days.

 

We are staying on board for kids to do water slides in Nassau.  Beach day at Princess Cays.  Margaritaville pool at Grand Turk.  Don't have to be anywhere if we don't want to be, etc.  Can't wait!  We did a 4 port stop in 2019 and had an excursion every port and came home as tired as we left! 😄 

[May1cruiser]

I would checkin as much luggage as possible, then have carry ons with wheels to move CPAP. I believe they allowed wheelchair into terminal, then scooter was inside terminal from rental company. 

[Elaine5715]

You can get a porter to help bringing on luggage.  You will also need to request accessible cabins to be sure scooters will fit inside the rooms.  

You can pull up and drop off luggage to porters before parking and vice Versa

[tallnthensome]

I would read through the disabled cruisers forum as well. 

[maybesomeday]

59 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

I would read through the disabled cruisers forum as well. 

Thank you!  Found it under special interests and hadn't seen it prior to your suggestion!

[Essiesmom]

Minimize packing.  There are guest laundries onboard.  Backpacks.  Everyone should wear one, even the seniors.  I’m late 70s and I use one.  Get good ones with a trolley sleeve on the back so that you can stack it on top of the rolling carryons you will all have.  

[crewsweeper]

I would second trying to make at least one of those cabins a handicap cabin.  Otherwise, scooters may or may not fit through a regular cabin door.  and there is little room in a regular cabin for scooter storage, so many are left in the passageways.  Not ideal.

 

Unless CPAP is huge and heavy, many have straps on back that can fit over roller style carry-ons.

Distilled water can be requested via special needs prior to cruise. Same for extension cord. Both will be in cabin on arrival.

[birdie16]

When our parents were alive, we took both sets of parents on a cruise. Two needed a wheelchair, one a walker, and one was a diabetic. The insulin question has already been answered for you. I will say, do not expect the cruise line to provide a wheelchair for use on board. If you will need a wheelchair or scooter, make those arrangements before your cruise. I don't know what your elderly family members mental capacity is, but our elderly parents were very confused and got lost the first time we said, "meet us in the dining room". We learned quick, my husband went to his parents' cabin to get his parents, and I went to mine. They did not go anywhere without our escort. We also put door decorations on their door so they could find their cabin easily, not that it actually worked. 😉 We put decorations on their cabin windows, and they enjoyed seeing where their cabin was from the port. I made up little gift bags for them, including a night light for the bathroom, room spray, sugar free candy, (it was Halloween) post-it notes and pens, disposable cameras, etc., things I thought they might enjoy. 

 

It was the best cruise experience we have had to date, and I am so glad we took them on a cruise before they were gone. But, I'll be honest with you, we needed a vacation after that.

[iriecruising]

I recently sailed Carnival Sunrise with my Dad who is diabetic with mobility issues. I called Carnival ahead of time. Here is the contact info.  access@carnival.com, or call us at 1-800-438-6744, ext. 70025

According to Carnival the refrigerator in the room is not cold enough for insulin. My Dad uses a pen so we did not have to worry about that part. But they mentioned being able to provide a different fridge or storing the medicine for us if needed. There was a sharps container for used needles in the room when we arrived.

As for mobility the people we talked to told us once we arrived at the port to look for any police officer or carnival employee and request a wheelchair for boarding. I dropped my luggage with the porters, dropped my dad with our carry ons. (I had a small rolling suitcase and he had a duffle he kept in his lap in the wheelchair. Then I went and parked the car while he sat on a bench. When I returned I asked an employee for a wheelchair and they directed me to a disabled boarding area where we were provided a wheelchair and an escort to push. We went through security and were taken by elevator upstairs to the check in area where our pictures were taken etc. we were wheeled to a sitting area where the escort left us with the wheelchair and said he would return when boarding began. (We had an early check in time) Once boarding started escorts for all the wheelchair people returned and we were taken on an elevator to the boarding area. We boarded the ship in the atrium where my Dad moved from the wheelchair to a barstool! (LOL) He managed the rest of the trip with just his walker. When we went in port with a tender we were told to go to guest services when we were ready to depart the ship and they would escort us down when an accessible tender arrived. Once one of these tenders arrived we were escorted by elevator to the loading area for the accessible tender. These tenders were wheelchair and walker accessible and did not require you to walk up or down any stairs. In a port with a dock we were offered wheelchair assistance off the ship but not to the end of the dock. If we wanted a wheelchair to get to the end of the dock we needed to rent one and keep it with us at the beach or where ever we went. My dad opted to go it alone and we managed. Not easy but we managed. During dinner  the waiter was able to take the walker to a holding area and returned it when we were ready to leave. For disembarking we were told to meet in the dining room and a wheelchair was brought up and we were escorted to bagage claim where we went through customs, grabbed a porter who assisted with all our bags including what we were carrying and then escorted outside to the port pick up area. I left my dad with all the bags on a bench and went to get the car. waited my turn to pull up to the curb and then loaded my dad and all the bags.

As for insulin in port. They sell small medicine "cooler bags" at pharmacies that usually come with a small ice pack. If you kept that packed in a bucket of ice from your room stewart or asked carnival to keep it in a freezer for you that would probably get you by while in post. Worst case scenario if it melts too quickly is you bring a ziplock and ask for a glass of Ice at a restaurant or bar while in port.

 

Hope this info helps!!

 

[rjrice1]

Please make sure they can take the cpap with them.

As for insulin it does not have to be in the fridge,  (I'm a nurse with lots of diabetics and none in the fridge) they are good for one month once open (I do suggest to put insulin not open in the fridge, once open they are good for 30 days

My husband is a diabetic as well,  ask for a sharp container as well.

 

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, birdie16 said:

When our parents were alive, we took both sets of parents on a cruise. Two needed a wheelchair, one a walker, and one was a diabetic. The insulin question has already been answered for you. I will say, do not expect the cruise line to provide a wheelchair for use on board. If you will need a wheelchair or scooter, make those arrangements before your cruise. I don't know what your elderly family members mental capacity is, but our elderly parents were very confused and got lost the first time we said, "meet us in the dining room". We learned quick, my husband went to his parents' cabin to get his parents, and I went to mine. They did not go anywhere without our escort. We also put door decorations on their door so they could find their cabin easily, not that it actually worked. 😉 We put decorations on their cabin windows, and they enjoyed seeing where their cabin was from the port. I made up little gift bags for them, including a night light for the bathroom, room spray, sugar free candy, (it was Halloween) post-it notes and pens, disposable cameras, etc., things I thought they might enjoy. 

 

It was the best cruise experience we have had to date, and I am so glad we took them on a cruise before they were gone. But, I'll be honest with you, we needed a vacation after that.

My dad always wanted to see a picture of my stateroom from port, wasn't so interested in photos of the inside...

[siestakeys04]

We have to ask for a wheel chair for my mom this July. She didn’t want one at first but now she thinks it will be a good idea. I told her if you need help don’t worry about it that’s why they are available. So thanks for this thread!!!

[Elaine5715]

36 minutes ago, siestakeys04 said:

We have to ask for a wheel chair for my mom this July. She didn’t want one at first but now she thinks it will be a good idea. I told her if you need help don’t worry about it that’s why they are available. So thanks for this thread!!!

You will need to rent one for your mom unless she just needs for embark and debark.  The crew also just wheels you into the lobby.  There are none available to use around the ship or to use in ports,

[Angua]

For the CPAP 2 things.  

 

When you get on board call room service and request the distilled water and they will bring it.  I think it is $3.00.

 

Call Guest services or go to the desk ASAP and ask for an extension cord.  They ran out on the MG for the first week of our B2B.  We asked the steward and he said it had to go through guest services.  It may be worth trying to bring one yourself as long as it doesn't have a surge protector.

 

Or you may be able to request the extension cord prior to boarding through one of the special services email addresses.

[Schoifmom]

Here is the low down on mobility issuses.

1. Use scootaround.com to pre-order the scooter rental.  It will be waiting at the port for you at check-in (not in the room like they used to be).
2. Scooters must be stored and charged in the room.  This is not a Carnival "rule," it is a SOLAS regulation that Carnival must follow.  If they do not have a handicapped room, be sure to note that in the reservation with scootaround and they will make sure that they get one of the smaller scooters that will fit through the doorway.  If you are getting 2 scooters, you MUST have a handicapped accessible room.
3. Wheelchair assistance is available at embarkation and debarkation only.  Ask any Carnival employee and they will direct you where to go.  
4. DO NOT CHECK LUGGAGE WITH CPAPS AND MEDICATIONS!!  Please, please, please, by all that is holy, carry these on.  What would happen if they were lost??
5. Contact Carnival special needs services by phone rather than email.  That way it is easier to have a conversation, rather than make a simple request.
   1. Pre-order distilled water for the Cpaps
   2. Pre-request extension cords or be prepared to bring your own.
   3. Both of these items were unavailable on our last cruise, but we were well able to deal with that.
   4. Request a sharps container, if necessasry.
6. Put luggage out the night before for debarkation.  You will still have some items that you have to carry off, though.  When you go to pick up luggage, find a porter and they will help you out.

[klfrodo]

Hire a medically trained attendant to assist and care for these folks and to travel with you.

Just an idea.

[siestakeys04]

On 4/25/2022 at 9:44 PM, Elaine5715 said:

You will need to rent one for your mom unless she just needs for embark and debark.  The crew also just wheels you into the lobby.  There are none available to use around the ship or to use in ports,

Right she just needs one for embarking and disembark 

[siestakeys04]

My mom is happy staying on the ship While in port.