Refrigerated medications

[alli]

Off on the Caribbean Princess in 2 weeks and will need to take along a medication that needs to be kept cold ( I take it once a week). I know from past cruises that the fridges in the cabins really aren't cold enough. Does anyone have any experience with having the medical center 'hold' a medication for a passenger?

 

Is this going to be a huge hassle?

[paul929207]

Yes, my wife had a medication that she had to inject daily and keep cold. As the cabin frig would not keep it in the needed range, she spoke to the medical center. They stored it in their big refrigerator and we had no problem. She went down every afternoon during their hours (5 to 6pm maybe) and used the medicine. They were great about it.

[TracieABD]

You can also store your ice bucket (filled with ice) in the fridge. That keeps it a bit colder.

[greenie082756]

I've got medication that needs to stay in the refrigerator as well. I'm gonna try the ice bucket first then if that doesn't work I'll ask the to use the refrigerator in the medical center. I'm hoping the refrigerator that is in the cabin will suffice. :D

[Colo Cruiser]

Don't think I would trust the fridge or an ice bucket.

The medical center sounds like the best idea.

[79Smiles]

I read somewhere on these boards that if you keep the door to the cabinet (where the refrigerator is located) open, it allows the air to circulate better and may keep the refrigerator a bit cooler. May be worth a try :)

[Loonbeam]

I would NOT recommend the ice bucket. Temperatures may not be consistent as the ice melts and contact shifts with the medication. If the medicine has a large range of acceptable temps, that could be ok, but med center is a better choice.

[alli]

Thanks for all the replies. I will be visiting the medical center on day one to drop off my medication!

[Cruisin Oldies]

I've found that the refrigerator can keep the medication too cold if you have it near the freezer section. The ship's medical center can keep it for you. I take multiple injections all day long so the room refig works for me. The only time I ever had a problem was on a Disney cruise and they brought me a plug in unit. The ones on the Princess ships are electric -- at least on the ones we've been on. For shore excursions I use a Frio bag. You soak it in cold water and the little beads swell inside and keep the inside quite cool. You just put it in the cloth case (not plastic) so that air can circulate where ever you might have it. Hope that helps.

 

Cruisin Oldies

[caribill]

I read somewhere on these boards that if you keep the door to the cabinet (where the refrigerator is located) open, it allows the air to circulate better and may keep the refrigerator a bit cooler. May be worth a try :)

 

On some of the ships, opening the cabinet door also opens the refrigerator door which is attached to it.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was wondering about this, and almost asked this same question a few months ago, but my doctor switched me to a type of eye drops for my glaucoma that doesn't required refrigeration. I had even devised a plan for keeping the drops cooled between my house and the port (about an hour's drive plus the time to get on the ship) -- a mini lunch box type of cooler, with a bag full of ice or a "blue ice" inside.

 

I wonder if any one has brought a "freezer" thermometer to check the temp inside, just for curiosity's sake.

[paul929207]

I was wondering about this' date=' and almost asked this same question a few months ago, but my doctor switched me to a type of eye drops for my glaucoma that doesn't required refrigeration. I had even devised a plan for keeping the drops cooled between my house and the port (about an hour's drive plus the time to get on the ship) -- a mini lunch box type of cooler, with a bag full of ice or a "blue ice" inside.

 

I wonder if any one has brought a "freezer" thermometer to check the temp inside, just for curiosity's sake.[/quote']

We brought a small thermometer to check the temperature the first time we brought medication that needed refrigeration. We had checked it at home in our frig and it seemed to work fine. On the ship there was a wide range of temperature. Seems like it went to the high 20's F/-2C to the upper 60's F/20C. This was way outside the range for the meds.

[Alaskanb]

My suggestion is to contact Princess and get a specific answer instead of risking not being able to use the medical center fridge.

[Jim_in_uk]

I would have called Princess directly prior to proceeding with any booking. The medical centre may have limited space. Imagine if everyone on the cruise expected to store their medication in the centre's fridges?

Edited April 9, 2013 by Jim_in_uk

[alli]

My suggestion is to contact Princess and get a specific answer instead of risking not being able to use the medical center fridge.

 

 

BINGO!!! Correct answer.

 

Just called Princess and after waiting on hold ( I have now memorized the ports for the Japanese bookings) for quite some time, I was told that storing meds in the medical center is against their policy.

 

I wasn't given any other options...

 

Ummmm...

[skf]

I read somewhere on these boards that if you keep the door to the cabinet (where the refrigerator is located) open, it allows the air to circulate better and may keep the refrigerator a bit cooler. May be worth a try

This has worked for me in the past for insulin. Just got off Emerald & there are vents in the cabinet to let the heat out.

Steve

Edited April 9, 2013 by skf

[VibeGuy]

An ice bucket with ice and water in it, is going to be 0C/32F. It's one of those pesky physical constants that can be used reliably to calibrate thermometers. If you can reliably seal the container in a ziploc bag and press out most of the air, I'm willing to bet a bottle of your choice of libation that the contents, so long as there's still about 10% unmelted ice in the water will be 0-3C, +/- 1C, a tight enough range for anything used on an outpatient basis.

 

Talk to your pharmacist; many medications have three temperature standards: shipping/warehousing, storage for the month it's in use/after opening and "excursions".

[caribill]

An ice bucket with ice and water in it, is going to be 0C/32F.

 

Many medications that need refrigeration cannot be allowed to freeze.

[Colo Cruiser]

Bad idea for the fridge or ice bucket, IMO.

[VibeGuy]

Without getting too geeky about heat of enthalpy, you can't freeze a waterborne solution in a mixture of ice and water. You have to remove about 10X as much heat from something to take it from 32F and liquid to 32F and frozen as you do to take it from 33F to 32F, and melting ice does many things, but moving heat out of the solution isn't one of them. It would be awesome if adding ice cubes to warm Coke made Slurpees, but that isn't how it works. Science is a killjoy.

 

Which is why I suggested asking a professional with a multi-year course of study in the safe storage and dispensing of pharmaceuticals what the realistic requirements for a specific drug might be. I mostly wanted to counteract the notion that, submerged in an ice-water mixture, the resulting temperature can be appreciably different than a stable 0C/32F.

[Loonbeam]

That's odd, because I know of people who have done it.

 

Must be another one of those policy but issues...

BINGO!!! Correct answer.

 

Just called Princess and after waiting on hold ( I have now memorized the ports for the Japanese bookings) for quite some time, I was told that storing meds in the medical center is against their policy.

 

I wasn't given any other options...

 

Ummmm...

[alli]

Loonbeam,

 

This is actually my take on all of it. The actual 'official policy' is that they can't say yes to storing the medications due to rules of dispensing, etc.

 

I am pretty sure that once you board the medical center will take a medication and store it for you.

 

I'm not going to be the one who tests this theory out, LOL!! I discussed it with my doctor and I'm going to manipulate my weekly dosage so that I can take it 24 hours into the cruise and than again the day after I get home.

 

While this is not a problem for myself, for those who need a daily dose of a refridgerated medication...it definately needs more discussion/exploration.

[Babs02]

I have just returned from a cruise on Golden Princess. Had no problems with storing medication at medical centre. The only problem that may occur is that the centre is only open certain times, you will need to collect your medication at opening times. This wasn't a problem for me.

 

The refridgerator in the cabin was not even cold when we boarded the ship, I had stored my medication in a cooler bag, & ice pack. When medical centre opened took it straight to them and they placed in the refridgerator, they have more than one on board, so it wasn't a problem.

 

I sometimes find that Princess customer services aren't very helpful about what goes on on board ships.

 

I'm sure you won't have any problems on board.

[skf]

I have heard of small travel refrigerators that can be used in cars or hotel rooms. Dunno how big these are, nor how heavy in your luggage.

I do know that insulin does not have to be kept very cold; it just has to be kept from heating too much.

Steve

[Loonbeam]

To me the biggest issue is consistency. The medical center is on controlled and backup power, room storage not so much. In the event of something like the Splendor, by the time you got back to your cabin and got the meds to the center they might have been out of refrig too long and then you have critical issues.