atexsix

It's a long shot at this point, but we're considering a cruise to Hawaii next fall and assuming there's accessible rooms available, do any cruise lines have bars on the beds? If not or if we have to use a regular stateroom, can we bring such an attachment? This is necessary because our last cruise was a disaster when it came to the beds, all my Dad did was slide around on them, it was very difficult to keep him positioned during the night, then the bedsores started (which is always an ongoing problem). TIA

I remember seeing them on old deck plans. It was invented at the time verandahs were still a new thing on many ships. They were often only in suites. Therefore it was a perk worth highlighting within the name....it'd be redundant now.

So have we. So do ours. 🤣🤣🤣

Exactly! I forgot to throw that in for my response to Aquahound, we won't be cruising for awhile and it's unlikely the app will be using the same version, I'd have to start all over again anyway.

Not offending at all. Because I did think about it. Someone on the Princess forum mentioned deleting the ship apps off your phone in between trips as well, the Princess one in particular is huge, it eats up over a gig of memory and they monitor things supposedly that they don't need to know.

We were provided a similar letter the night before we arrived in Vancouver and it'd have been nice if the terminal and customs had the same information. The biggest issue was we required wheelchair assistance and ship services told us we'd need to arrange it in the terminal, course in the terminal they were clueless...finally someone took pity and brought over a chair for my Dad to use. you're not kidding about being dragged from one end to the other, presumably to keep us separate from the hundreds of passengers arriving. CSA for HAL mentioned none of this, I specifically asked if we'd need to leave the ship and she said no. If I had known I would have brought our own wheelchair. bottom line, HAL, the ship, the terminal, and customs will all be on a different page...if OP is lucky that won't be the case where they're going.

That's funny because one of our B2B's involved Canada Place and it was a cluster as well (best I don't get started)...our other was Smith Cove and that was no better. The ships at least were consistently unhelpful, the terminals however, UGH....we'd get told something and 5 minutes later another employee would come wandering by and tell us the opposite, LOL!

We've done a couple and my best advice is to be prepared for the ship and/or terminal to do the polar opposite of what the cruise lines told you over the phone, especially if someone in your party is mobility challenged as we were.

I've wondered a couple times if I should delete the ArriveCan app from my devices, does anybody think Canada will continue to utilize this in order to streamline the non-covid part of the process? These apps take up a lot of storage on a couple of my devices limited to 64 GBS of space. Edited for clarity.

Thanks for your kind words. I don't get a lot of respite are at the moment, but it can be arranged on an as needed basis, the V.A. covers a certain number of them, but due to ongoing staffing shortages their resources are stretched pretty thin, so I don't want to utilize it until it's vitally needed. Always nice to see pictures from my family's country, albeit mostly southern Italy. It can be hard I know. But it's pretty common around these boards for people to step away for long stretches and then return to the cruising world. One good thing to come from this break in the action is that I feel many lines/ships are still transitioning and adapting to the new post-covid normal and I'm not sure it's complete, we have squeezed in a couple of cruises including I think the 6th or 7th official HAL return about a year ago and then our most recent on Princess and it's clear there are ongoing changes and refinement to the brand from the restaurants and dining rooms to ports to onboarding. With that being said, the biggest downside for us has been the elimination of a lot of smaller ships, I'm hoping my return to cruising (probably alone) will not be on a 10,000 passenger vessel (I'm exaggerating a little, but that's the direction their headed-RCI seems to have made it their business model to build the biggest baddest ship afloat. So it's coming. Thanks Maryell! So happy you're going on a trip, and on the NA! Let's hope your friends don't try to pull one over on you again. Thanks for the toast, such a kind thought! I'll be sailing again in the future without a doubt, when/where remains to be seen. But unlikely DD will, even if he did his PT routines religiously (he doesn't) and even if he managed to regain his ability to walk (probably not), a trip at this point would be a rather large undertaking. Just getting him in/out of vehicles is difficult. I'm just not up to it, I'm not in the best shape either anymore, 53 is on the younger side for a lot of HAL ships, but I'm no spring chicken either 🙂

You raise a very valid point. I took a trip out of San Diego to Mexico years ago and the passenger base was definitely SoCal to a tee, not a bad thing at all, but wanted to point out that a lot of cruises heavily reflect the port/region you're sailing from, so I'll be interested in hearing about your experience. I will say I've heard a mix of good and bad about Galveston, New Orleans, and Jacksonville; those 3 in particular. I wouldn't hesitate to book a 14+ day itinerary out of these places, but I know those are never offered at those ports. The edgier crowds tend to favor 7 days or less. In fact the only time I've ever felt unsafe on a ship was during a 2 day booze cruise that was attached to our 3 week itinerary; in other words, we would not have booked it by choice even if it were free. Thank God for 24 hour room service, one meal in the MDR and that was it for us.

There was a group on our recent sailing (they did not charter the entire ship) that I won't name, because I don't want to be like that. But when we first learned they'd be on our trip we looked forward to interacting with them even though we were not part of their organization. And nothing! We took every opportunity to greet them, say hello, ask about their group and rarely got any responses, just polite stares, even a few "how dare you speak to us" looks. I was really disappointed. So I don't know if maybe they were just in the habit of discretion, on the DL, or what. But I was thanking the stars I never signed up for one of their trips, and certainly not the way to attract interested parties. Maybe the full ship charters would be a different experience. We're not club/circuit/scene folk by any stretch of the imagination and maybe it showed 🙂

Good Morning, Thought I'd pop in, just to feel a little more normal from the weekly cacophony of nurses and therapists coming by. Dad is doing fine, he sleeps a lot and the only real pain he's been in lately is in his lower legs. We finally got a hospital bed, the kind with the air mattress that rotates the pressure. An RN drops by twice a week and a PT as well, although the benefit of the latter is questionable because Dad refuses to do the assignments in between visits. My entire dining room has been transformed into a makeshift supply room, which doesn't really matter because we're not having people over outside of brief periodic visits just to say hello. We've had a couple chilly mornings and there's a hint of fall in the air. It's hard to believe how fast the time is going, in another couple weeks I'll be putting out the pumpkins and fall decorations. Cruising feels like a million miles away, but once in a while I think about it and I know I'll return to it someday in the future, whether that's in a couple of years or ten; I wonder how many changes there'll be by that time? I wonder how large the ships will be? Hopefully the world cruises will be returning this winter, it's so enjoyable to read about them. I hope everybody is doing well and having fantastic trips abroad. And my apologies to our British friends about the Queen, you're in my thoughts. Take care! ~Bruno

Hello, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your sailings, which I can no longer be a part of, because there's no time to keep up with the posts, but just know I'm wishing you the best. I want to thank everybody for the kind thoughts, and wanted to provide an update. We finally got Home Health set up via the VA and Medicare, it took over a dozen phone calls and in the end, I don't know whose paying for it, I just know it's being handled. So this week we've had a parade of professionals come through: an RN, Physical Therapist, and Occupational Therapist. A hospital bed is being delivered next week, in the interim I moved down my bed which is a twin so Dad can be more comfortable. I moved into his bedroom that he had to abandon for the living room. While I did my best to project optimism in front of Dad and the various therapists in terms of what we hope to achieve: ability to get up and walk, tackle the stairs, possibly even a future cruise, deep down I am not getting too carried away, privately I just want to avoid placement, we're not ready for that, and we're not ready for our family savings to be wiped out either. The summer days seem to be passing me by, I don't really feel like I've had a summer, if it weren't for the hot and humid weather I probably wouldn't know what season it was, but thank the land we had the AC units put in last year. Actually I take that back, our local big box store was putting the Halloween stuff out when I went shopping this morning, a sure sign that autumn is just around the corner. So, now you're all caught up. The good thing is we've had no additional hospital visits. I will try and get caught up on the care list, until then, sending warm thoughts and bon voyages! ~Bruno

I know its been awhile and I wanted to stop in and say hello, I had been thinking about the group for the last couple of weeks. I hope you are all having a great summer and enjoying your cruises. Dear Dad is almost 100% bedridden now. There's been a couple of hospital stays the last few months, mainly because of BP spikes caused by his kidney disease; but the heat of summer is not helping either, these little air conditioners can only do so much. There's a terrible nursing shortage going on and that's made receiving the at home care he needs to be a lengthy process, I'm trying to be patient. It's possible assisted living or a nursing facility is in his future, I have mixed feelings about it, so I don't know yet; in a lot of ways I'm providing him with assisted living already and the longer I can do it the more money we'll save. However, having a residence with so many stairs is a major issue, each time I have to call 911 it takes 4 to 6 medics to safely get him in/out of the house and into the aid car. I feel like there could be a real problem in an emergency requiring us to vacate the premises. I really wish I had better things to share, but so many things are on hold, caregiving takes time, and I always seem to be out of it by the end of each day. If I could buy time, I would! ~Bruno

RuthC, Here's the link as promised.

A few people expressed interest in a short cruise synopsis I posted in the disabled forum, so here's the link. I hope all are doing well. I'm about over Covid, but still taking precautions and we're not hosting any guests until after July 1st. ~Bruno

Greetings everyone, I hope you are all busy planning wonderful cruises! We arrived home from our Discovery Princess sailing a couple of weeks ago. Since I found out I had Covid afterward I haven't been able to report back until now. The last day of the cruise I felt like I had a sore throat, but I honestly didn't think much of it, allergies have been awful lately. I was masked throughout and I had 4 shots, and still, I got it; but I've heard breakthrough cases are quite common now in the Pacific Northwest. DD had a very slight sore throat earlier in the cruise, by afternoon he was fine he said, so we don't know if I caught it from him or if he was exposed to it from me and then never got it, but he's not immunocompromised like I am, my body goes crazy no matter what I'm exposed to, including every covid related shot. The sailing, the ship, and the crew were amazing, I couldn't believe how helpful and attentive they were for myself and DD in particular, from the shore excursion in Skagway to the ship to the Smith Cove terminal people, it couldn't have gone better, although embarkations are a bit smoother on Holland America. But with all that being said, it's now apparent that this was our final cruise together. There were several problems that we ran into. I'll get to that in a moment, but I do want to say beforehand that we had the full blessing of DD's doctors to go on this trip. We knew we'd have to deal with obvious stuff, mostly mobility related. But we had no idea Princess' beds would be so hard for him to get in/out of; he didn't have the strength to pull himself up to a sitting position and vice versa, he'd just slide around on the sheets. This aggravated his pressure sores in a major way. If we had known we could have brought a transfer sheet. Thank God for Princess firmness, this would have been much worse in one of HAL's famous pillow tops. We had twin beds and tried both. Initially I had him use the bed closest to the wall thinking he could use it to brace himself but we found it was easier to use the bed in the open part of the room so he could approach it from either side, and then use the other bed or the couch for leverage. Maybe an accessible room wouldn't of had this issue, we've never used them so we don't know if the beds have pull handles or bars on them or some difference about them from a regular bed. Another nightmare, but similar issue, were chairs, particularly in the dining rooms, they are heavier than heck, DD would sit down and it was next to impossible to pull him closer to the table. One night at dinner they seated us with a chair on one side and a booth on the other and this was a Godsend, we requested the booth for DD from that point on. The chairs in the Lido or various lounges were not an issue, it was only in the MDR's. I don't know how many were on our sailing but the ship wasn't full, however it was full enough to cause many elevator delays, I feel like that's all we did was wait for elevators, anything near the Piazza or the gangway while in port and forget it, we ended up walking down to elevators on another end of the ship instead. Thankfully the walker DD was using had one of those seats on it. Highly recommend if you're using a walker. One evening we decided to skip dinner, it was the 2nd formal night and neither of us were in the mood for the fuss so I went to the spa instead. I was gone a couple of hours, the spa was at the forward end and our cabin was overlooking the stern, so it was quite a hike. Upon arriving back DD was in tears, because he dropped the remote control and had no way to reach it. DD had had enough by this time, the remote set him off because he felt helpless, but the build up of helplessness throughout the trip was taking a toll on him and bottled over. I felt horrible for him but did my best to comfort him. Thankfully that was the only issue, the phone was across the room and don't know how he would have gotten to it in a real emergency, so I stretched the phone over as far as I could when I went someplace without him. A couple of times the steward came in while poor DD was in various states of undress. Nobody told us you have to go out the door and press the screen for DND which would light up as red, or that you were ready to have the room serviced which would light up as green. I read all the room particulars and don't recall seeing that information. By the time I figured it out it was the 5th day of the cruise I think. But DD was so embarrassed, I did my best to assure him that stewards no doubt have walked in to far worse than that, I suspect they've seen it all. I once came out of the shower stark naked to find myself face to face with the crew cleaning the balconies at 7:00 in the morning, yes it was turnaround day, but still. The Medallion app itself was useless which I won't get into too much about here, DD would never figure it out so I didn't bother loading it onto his phone, I had my phone and tablet and much of the time I either had spinning circles of death or a complete freeze of the app requiring a reboot of my device, by mid-cruise I was so tired of it that I dropped using it altogether and accessed room service via the TV instead. I think Medallion overall has potential but a long way to go before it's 100% reliable. The sudden change in routine aggravated DD's dementia something awful, and for the first few ports he repeatedly asked where we were. The 2nd half of the trip it improved as he got used to being away, but his constant refrain morphed from "where are we" to "this is my last trip" and that saddened me, but I agree at this point. It's possible a smaller ship would be better, but we'd still have the bed issue, he was so uncomfortable, not exactly a getaway if you can't even get a decent night's sleep. And for me, well from a caregiver's perspective it was an emotional rollercoaster, not just because of the above issues but due to the medical problem of the day/hour/moment: dizziness, motion sickness, nausea, headache, dry eyes, worsening edema, worsening pressure sores, constipation or the opposite of it....I'm not complaining or putting him down at all, it was just added pressure because as a caregiver I immediately want to jump in and help/rectify/comfort etc. And I was limited in what I could do for him on a ship. So the helplessness wore me down as well and I'm pretty strong. I don't want to discourage other disabled people from travel, that's not my objective at all, but I do want to be honest in what we encountered so other people can be prepared for it in the event you run into similar problems. Not everyone has almost total Kidney Failure like my Dad. He's 85 and not eligible for dialysis; at his age, there'd be little benefit is what I'm told and not worth the drudgery, so DD at this point is simply waiting for the end. But that's not going to be the case with most of the people reading this. I will eventually return to cruising alone, on much smaller ships, if I learned anything about my personal needs it's that I'd be much happier on something like HAL's Zaandam, sadly the trend of building smaller vessels is gone so I don't know what I'll do, maybe try river cruising. If anyone has any questions or needs anything clarified, feel free to ask. Thanks for reading, thanks for answering all my questions pre-cruise, and I wish all of you much happiness and good health and wonderful cruises ahead.

He's hangin in there, thanks for asking!

Good afternoon, It's day 10 with Covid, it's almost gone, I think that's what's most notable about it, is how long it takes to get rid of it, much slower than a regular cold. Yesterday I finally had the strength to finish the laundry and put the luggage away. Feel so much better now, I hate unfinished chores. Another cool showery day, but I'm really enjoying it after last summer. Hope everyone is doing well. ~Bruno

Oh Debbie. Since I've been sick I forgot all about your surgery, praying for your continued recovery!🙏🙏🙏

Hope you are having a great time! And don't come home with Covid like I did.

@Quartzsite Cruiser @dfish Thanks! It's interesting wearing a mask indoors and avoiding other family members in my own house. And having to put some things on hold, like our washing machine repair. However, I can leave the house beginning tomorrow, my 5 days of isolation are up, so at least I can go out and get coffee from the drive thru, but we'll be avoiding direct interaction with people until my symptoms are completely gone.

I know a couple of you were wondering, but I did in fact test positive for Covid. Not unexpected really. At this point I feel like I have a bad cold. Dear Dad amazingly is not having symptoms, however at one point on the cruise he complained about a sore throat a few days before me, then nothing, so we're not sure what that's about. In the meantime, we have to continue to isolate until my symptoms begin to decline.

Years ago on the Oosterdam, the Atrium Bar hosted the LGBQ and the Friends of Bill W at the same day/time; talk about confusion! Will definitely let you know. It's in the works, but I'm typing it out in Word first.