Cruise questions

[YangYang]

My family is considering a cruise in the future. I have a 20 yo sister who is both mentally and physically handicapped. Her mental age is about 2 yo. She is not confined to a wheelchair but we do use one when we go to Disney (we push it). Has anyone had any experiences on the cruise that might be similar to ours? I'm not sure that there would be anything for her to do.

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't have an answer for you. Just bumping this up to hopefully get more answers for you.
If you have not checked on the Cruise Board, you might want to. I have seen quite a few threads on there about cruising with wheelchairs and a few about cruising with a child with autism.

 

[cupcake]

Since you haven't gotten any other comments, I will give this a try. I'm not sure what your sister might like, but the children's clubs have scheduled family time. There are no programs then, but you can go into the clubs and use the facilities. I bet the cruise board could describe what's there better than I can! Might your sister enjoy shows with singing and colorful costumes? There is a show every day. At least once, they also have an afternoon show with characters that has singing and bright colors. The seven day cruise has lots more going on that she might enjoy, such as character breakfasts. If you look at http://allearsnet.com/cruise/cruise.shtml it has info and a link to the magical disney cruise guide, which is excellent. I would also search on google for DCL navigators (the daily what to do guides). There's one for adults, teens, and children of different ages. Here are a couple: http://www.passporter.com/dcl/dclnotebooknavigators.htm and http://members.fortunecity.com/panduitest/navigate.htm. I am not sure what their guidelines are for out of age range people but I recall seeing somewhere that you could use the clubs with an assistant. They have a lot of live music by the pool areas. What does your sister respond to and enjoy? If you provide this information, I (and other DCL veterans) might be able to provide better information. Please do! We loved the DCL and have had great experiences. They have always been super helpful about special requests and accessibility.

Cupcake

 

[dclfun]

It's kind of hard to say what your sister might enjoy since I'm not sure what she enjoys in general. The clubs are for children and although guests do bring in disabled children who are unable to attend independently during family time, I'm not sure if a 20 year old would be able to use the facilities or would feel comfortable there if she could. There are lots of activities all day and night to choose from though otherwise. ---Kathy

 

[cupcake]

My dh and I do not have children but nevertheless have been to the childrens' areas during family time a few times. We went down to check out them out once just to see them. We went back a subsequent time or so to play a board game. We consistently travel during non-peak times and the areas have always been empty or virtually empty. They were very welcoming to us, and we are clearly well over the age limit! So I was just going off my experience (which is definitely limited) and assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that it was generally pretty empty during family time. Now that I am thinking about it, I believe we may have gone during the early dining seating, which would perhaps explain why hardly anyone else was there.

Anyway, I hope I did not offend anyone! It's hard to think of good suggestions for things to without info about what a person enjoys so I was just trying to put a few ideas out there for what they are worth.

Cupcake

 

[Nasi]

The thing I like about the DCL is that they have something for everyone - adults, teens, children, and families. We have been on 4 DCL cruises with our DS who had Down Syndrome. We had plenty of family things to do together. I checked into the kids clubs (DS was 13 for our first cruise) and they were very accomodating. I was able to register him in the 10-12 group with his sister. I didn't end up using the clubs because we were busy with other things. I didn't even sign him up for our other cruises. DS loves to swim, watch movies and the shows. He even liked the Tea with Wendy on the Magic. I took him to the clubs sometimes during family time. Nasi