I'm part of a yahoogroup that provide free support to parents of children (all ages) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today, I got a post in my email inbox sharing a link to a group that organizes cruises for families and adults with autism. I got REALLY excited about this and wanted to share it with all of you. I'm sure there is someone else out there, like me, that will find this information exciting and beneficial.
The last 3 years, my husband and I have been on the Stampin' Up cruises. So many people ask us if we take our children with us. The answer has always been, "no." There's a few reasons for this. One of the biggest reasons is that it would cost a lot of money to take the kids with us on a 7 day cruise. These 3 cruises were something that we earned through my Stampin' Up business and were completely paid for by the company for each of us. What a blessing that was for us, since we would never have been able to justify the cost for us to go on these trips.
One of the other reasons that we didn't take our kids on something like this (if money was completely taken out of the deciding factor) was that it would be a difficult thing for us to take Zach on these kinds of trips. I think our daughter, Elise (AKA: Girly), would love a trip like this and would do very well on it. Zach is another story.
Zach is a curious little man. In some instances, he has NO FEAR whatsoever. But Zach is also a very dependent little man and we are fiercely protective of him.
One of the things about autism is that most of the time, when you look at an autistic child, there really isn't anything visible that would give away that there is a disorder. We've had many strangers try to interact with Zach in public places (in line at the grocery store, at the checkout desk at the library, building sandcastles at the beach, etc) and they're puzzled as to why he doesn't answer them right away, why he doesn't always acknowledge them or an answer the way they want him to and so much more. It's hard to leave Zach in the care of someone that is willing to be patient in communicating with him, that will take the time to understand him, or that is even willing to engage with him and connect with his world.
Because of this, we knew that taking Zach on a cruise would be a hard thing. The Stampin' UP cruises are wonderful and all, but there's a lot that goes on for demonstrators and their guests. There would be times that we would need to leave Zach in the care of someone else. While cruise lines have FANTASTIC programs for kids, we knew that the chances of them being able to meet Zach's needs would be close to none. The other thing that was made known to us as far as these programs on board go, is that the kids are not required to stay in the program. They have the freedom to leave at any time. The program workers can not hold these children in the programs against their will. That would be a major problem if Zach didn't want to be there and we weren't there to take care of him if he left in the middle of a program. There has also been times when Zach has needed light restraint in moments of frustration and communication breakdowns. We didn't want to leave Zach in the care of someone that might not be familiar with this kind of intervention.
So.......because of these limitations, we opted to go on these cruises as just a couple. I've often wished for a low cost cruise that wouldn't take up TOO much time, but would also cater to our needs as a family with an autistic child. WOW! It looks like they really DO exist!
After looking over this site, I am excited to start thinking about planning a family vacation like this!
Autism On the Seas offers cruises that meet just the needs we have! And for those of you with autistic children or adults in your family, I'm sure that they meet your needs, too! (We've cruised with Royal Caribbean before and they're AMAZING!)
Autism
Group
Cruises
For
families and adults with autism
Featuring
-
Professional Autism Staff for the Group
- Autism Awareness Cruise Staff
- Professional Medical Physicians and Nurses
- Special Dietary Accommodations
- Service Animals Permitted
- Private Group Family Party
- Sea Animal Bingo
- Flashlight Scavenger Hunt
- Adults with Autism Social Gatherings
- Teen Social Gatherings
- Sibling Celebrations
- Parent's Play Time
- Early Dinner Seating with group (Early Dining)
- Special Gifts
- Most "Special" Requests and Needs met
- All of the regular services and activities on board Royal Caribbean Cruises...and more
Wouldn't it be amazing to get a group together that could cruise with their families and not have to worry about needs being met, about who's taking care of the kids and if they're qualified for it, about the siblings of our autistic kids being left out of programs, etc?
I highly recommend checking out this site ------> Autism On the Seas. Let me know if this is something you're interested in! I'm all for putting a group together!
Cool, I'll check that out !
Posted by: Bee | May 18, 2007 at 01:36 AM
My son and I have been on 3 cruises with Autism on the Seas. We absolutely love them!! If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Also check out our site for pics and stories. The next cruise we are going on is August 2010 with service dogs.
Posted by: Heather | October 05, 2009 at 05:18 PM