Nephite Beauty

Lucy is AMAZING!!!
I am looking forward to our ship arriving there next year, July 7th-9th for almost 3 full days and going on tours each day with Lucy and Pete.
They know ALL the very best places to go, see and do!
I am looking forward to the Luau and fire dancers on the 8th the most! 🙂
I HIGHLY recommend their awesome, professional, knowledgeable services!

On 6/10/2022 at 6:41 PM, atexsix said:

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so sorry to hear about you and your Dad's experience.
I had a similiar experience on a 21 day panama canal trip on the Norwegian Bliss in Nov 2019.
When we left for the ship that morning, my Mom was normal, vibrant and alert.
Because of negligence on the part of the Bliss, after she arrived, but before I got to the ship,,,,and then into that evening after we sailed.
My Mom deteriorated physically and mentally.
Morning of Nov 3rd, she was great, the morning of Nov 4th, she was like a 2 year old child in EVERY way...and for the next 3 weeks, she did little improvement.
She got off the ship once, in Aruba, but that was bad cause she fell.
The entire 3 weeks were literal hell.
Bliss knew they screwed up and the had "babysitters" some when we were in port to stay with my Mom cause she could not be left alone for any amount of time.
It took a few months for her to get back to sort of being herself.... never fully did. But, that did not stop her from cruising...this upcoming 50 day Tales of the South Pacific will probably be her best, and her last.

It is sad when the cruising chapter of our parents lives come to an end. Happily, we can carry those memories in our hearts and photos, even when the mind fades over time.
I am glad you made so many wonderful memories with your Dear Dad 🙂
 

On 4/7/2022 at 5:57 PM, atexsix said:

Dear Dad is going to have the terminal staff wheel him through security and check in and then ship staff will take over, that's the only time he'll need a chair, for the rest of the trip he can use a walker, I can carry it on myself, but wondering if it can be checked?

You can carry his walker on, or have it checked at the dock.
It is a personal preference.
Have FUN on your cruise! 🙂

13 hours ago, corgigrl said:

I am planning an Alaska cruise for next summer with Princess. Our travel party would be myself, DH, my sister and BIL. All in our 60s. I have advanced arthritis in both knees and normally use a cane for support. I ca handle short distances, but would possibly need a scooter or wheelchair for long hauls. My sister is worse off than me and will be bringing her own scooter onboard.  A couple questions. Is it possible to rent scooters or chairs for excursions, or would I be better off renting one for the entire trip? Would there be room in a typical balcony cabin to store said scooter? DH and I are experienced cruisers, though it’s been a while. My sister and BIL will be first timers, so I want to make sure things go as smoothly as possible. Any suggestions?

I used to go on Princess all the time, Elite status. 
But now I am a HAL gal, had it not been for covid, I am sure I would be a 5 star Mariner by now.
So I can share a few things I do know.
A regular stateroom door is not wide enough to store a scooter in.
You can not store it in the hall either.
There are smaller collapsible wheelchairs that was about 50 pounds and are powered on lithium batteries that might be able to get in the room....
But I am in a wheelchair full time, and there are many times that we have had Cruise Critic cabin show and shares and I have just had to peer in from the doorway.
Your best bet is to get a handicap accessible room, then there will be no question if you will be able to get in and out, and yes, there is enough room in most (not all cabins) to park 2 scooters for the night as they charge.
Have FUN on your cruise!! 🙂

My first Cruise was on the Statendam in the late '60s.
We left Los Angeles for the Orient and South Pacific. Along the way a sickness broke out and they would stop the ship in the middle of the night to have a brief ceremony and inter the body to a watery grave.
We were supposed to go on to New Zealand, but got off in Sydney early.
I was about 3 years old at the time.
Would really like to know what everyone was getting sick and dying from. All I know is after a while, it really started to freak my Grandmother out.