Have a diabetic traveling with us this year..need help with getting carb counts

[OutlawJosey]

Hi all,

 

My nephew was diagnosed with T1D just a little over a year ago. This will be his first vacation since that time. We are so very proud of him and his adjustment.

 

My question is this, how can I easily get access to carb counts for food served on board? I have read that most just approximate counts, but we need to be a little more precise than that.

 

Any an all suggestions are welcome.

 

PS I did look on carnival.com but the information was limited and whatever I can do to help my sister and nephew have a stress free trip is well worth the ask here.

 

Thank you!

[rob6465]

Wife and I are diabetics but wife has a pump and i know she enters her carb info so she can get right amount of insulin.

[Rena921]

You should contact the special needs department to get specific information: specialneeds@carnival.com

[OutlawJosey]

I did but maybe I needed to be more specific in my request, they thought he had dietary limitations. I think I will send the request again and explain that there are no limitation, he just needs to know exact carb counts on all the foods he chooses to eat so the pump can calculate his insulin.

 

I'll try again, thanks.

[Elaine5715]

I did but maybe I needed to be more specific in my request, they thought he had dietary limitations. I think I will send the request again and explain that there are no limitation, he just needs to know exact carb counts on all the foods he chooses to eat so the pump can calculate his insulin.

 

I'll try again, thanks.

 

Do you expect them to provide a carb count now of all the foods he could eat on board?

Edited January 7, 2014 by Elaine5715
misspelling

[lcp9984]

Hi all,

 

My nephew was diagnosed with T1D just a little over a year ago. This will be his first vacation since that time. We are so very proud of him and his adjustment.

 

My question is this, how can I easily get access to carb counts for food served on board? I have read that most just approximate counts, but we need to be a little more precise than that.

 

Any an all suggestions are welcome.

 

PS I did look on carnival.com but the information was limited and whatever I can do to help my sister and nephew have a stress free trip is well worth the ask here.

 

 

How does he keep track at home? Restaurants, etc.?

[OutlawJosey]

Do you expect them to provide a carb count now of all the foods he could eat on board?

 

Most restaurants have nutritional information posted about the food they serve, the thought process should be no different here. I'm not asking for everything they have on board, there are plenty of places to find out commonly consumed items such as how many carb's a small apple, two slices of regular wheat bread, 1/4 or 1/2 cup of carrots have. But if their dinning menu's are fairly consistent and their chained restaurants serve the same things, it should be a simple request. If they do not have them, then it means that we will need to bring more resources with us to do the math. It helps knowing either case to be better prepared when we travel this summer. IE keeping juice handy in case of lows and other things in case of highs. This is a fairly recent diagnosis and he just started the pump so we want to be as prepared as possible.

[OutlawJosey]

Hi all,

 

My nephew was diagnosed with T1D just a little over a year ago. This will be his first vacation since that time. We are so very proud of him and his adjustment.

 

My question is this, how can I easily get access to carb counts for food served on board? I have read that most just approximate counts, but we need to be a little more precise than that.

 

Any an all suggestions are welcome.

 

PS I did look on carnival.com but the information was limited and whatever I can do to help my sister and nephew have a stress free trip is well worth the ask here.

 

 

How does he keep track at home? Restaurants, etc.?

 

We pull up their nutritional information online. We manage his meals down to the ingredient level, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can tell him exactly how many carb's are in a slice of homemade chicken pot pie because I know what I put in it per serving. Some with a slice of pizza for the local pizza place, they have their nutritional information available so I can see carbs, calories and fat.

[rufflesmom]

Has your nephew had any individual diabetic education classes with a certified diabetic educator? If not, it may be helpful if he did. I work in a doctors office that treats diabetics, been there 12 yrs. We have a nurse practitioner who is a certified diabetic educator. She does individual classes with patients. Perhaps your nephew and his mom/dad could try to do that. If so, letting the educator know about the cruise might get them some very beneficial tips on carbs. Just a thought. Don't know when the cruise is or if there is time, but it is just a suggestion.

 

Hope you all have a great time and that he does well with his diabetes.

[willandjonsmom]

I can't help with carb count as my husband isn't in need of a pump as he is well under control with 2 daily shots, but please know that insulin is not something they stock in the ships infirmary so make sure you take extra if an emergency should arise. And have a wonderful cruise.

[OutlawJosey]

Has your nephew had any individual diabetic education classes with a certified diabetic educator? If not, it may be helpful if he did. I work in a doctors office that treats diabetics, been there 12 yrs. We have a nurse practitioner who is a certified diabetic educator. She does individual classes with patients. Perhaps your nephew and his mom/dad could try to do that. If so, letting the educator know about the cruise might get them some very beneficial tips on carbs. Just a thought. Don't know when the cruise is or if there is time, but it is just a suggestion.

 

Hope you all have a great time and that he does well with his diabetes.

 

 

He has been through two such classes already, once at initial diagnosis and a second specifically to integrate his pump. But I do like the suggestion about highlighting the cruise and maybe they can help with pitfalls. I think my sisters biggest concern is that they have food available basically 24x7 so that will require more monitoring to make sure he inputs the correct carb counts into the PDM as well as the number of doses he takes in a day. If he wants a cup of the soft serve on board he'll have to dose. We may need to look at bringing more supplies along because it wont be like home or going to a restaurant for dinner.

 

I thank you for the suggestion, this is still new to us and we are still learning. This is his first cruise and I want him to have fun and be a kid. So again any prep work we can do will only help that.

[OutlawJosey]

I can't help with carb count as my husband isn't in need of a pump as he is well under control with 2 daily shots, but please know that insulin is not something they stock in the ships infirmary so make sure you take extra if an emergency should arise. And have a wonderful cruise.

 

Thank you. And yes, at this point it appears we will need to prepare for that. I do know that they can and will store the insulin, extra pods and back up PDM for us and have that set up. They will even provide a different fridge unit in the stateroom for him to keep his supplies and extras like juice and snacks. His blood sugar levels require constant monitoring even with the pump, the pump just makes the need for the needle injections obsolete.

[Mysticks1]

I use an application on my cell phone called My Fitness Pal. I am sure there are others out there like it. It give you information on the foods that you eat. Enter small apple and it gives you the carbs, calories and other information. You can get pretty good numbers for most things. It will even scan bar codes of packaged foods and gives you the correct info.

 

Edited January 7, 2014 by Mysticks1

[cruisinfanatic]

He has been through two such classes already, once at initial diagnosis and a second specifically to integrate his pump. But I do like the suggestion about highlighting the cruise and maybe they can help with pitfalls. I think my sisters biggest concern is that they have food available basically 24x7 so that will require more monitoring to make sure he inputs the correct carb counts into the PDM as well as the number of doses he takes in a day. If he wants a cup of the soft serve on board he'll have to dose. We may need to look at bringing more supplies along because it wont be like home or going to a restaurant for dinner.

 

I thank you for the suggestion, this is still new to us and we are still learning. This is his first cruise and I want him to have fun and be a kid. So again any prep work we can do will only help that.

The 2 classes that he attended are only the tip of the iceberg. True diabetes education is a series of sessions with a CDE as well as sessions with a nutritionist.

[Heartfruit]

I know when my husband talked to Carnival they assured him that calories for the meals were available aboard. It isn't as critical for my husband to have nutritional information as it would be for a insulin dependent diabetic, he just really likes to know what he's eating as he's worked hard to get down to a healthy weight and wants to stay there. That said, I've read on these boards that if you call Carnival 5 times you will get five different answers. So I have no idea if the answer he got was correct or not.

[Cruising Rules]

Hi all,

 

My nephew was diagnosed with T1D just a little over a year ago. This will be his first vacation since that time. We are so very proud of him and his adjustment.

 

My question is this, how can I easily get access to carb counts for food served on board? I have read that most just approximate counts, but we need to be a little more precise than that.

 

Any an all suggestions are welcome.

 

PS I did look on carnival.com but the information was limited and whatever I can do to help my sister and nephew have a stress free trip is well worth the ask here.

 

Thank you!

 

The cruise line will just estimate. Suggest you print out some low carbs lists from the internet and carry them with you. Other then that eat lots of lean protein and keep bread, Potatoes, deserts and rice products to a minimum. As a diabetic I can tell you it's relatively easy to eat on a cruise ship and keep your carbs in check.

[sshelly0525]

Sorry this doesn't answer your question about carb counts, just thought I'd give you a suggestion in regard to juice. I'm not sure if you're flying to the port, but if you are, we bring dry kool-aid mix in our carry-on, and pick up a package of bottled water before stopping at the port. Then when we go on excursions we can bring a couple bottles of kool-aid and not have to worry about bringing a ton of juice on the ship.

Happy Cruising!

[RuthlessBoss]

How old is the nephew?

I know diabetes is tricky, but it sounds like your vacation will be monopolized by you planning his food intake. No carb count can guarantee how the body is going to handle the sugars at any given time. The body reacts different with stress, illness, changes in activity etc, the best you can do is keep it in an acceptable range.

[sailingwithfriends]

My daughter also has Type I diabetes. She is not on a pump, but does count carbs to give herself insulin shots. One of the things that you might want to take into account is the food serving sizes. In the main dining room, they are about normal. However, my concern would be the size of the pizza slices, the soft serve ice cream and other foods that are available. The pizza is actually sliced into 4 slices. That's about twice the size of a normal slice. The heat can also affect your nephew's levels. You are smart to always have juice or glucose tablets with you when you leave the ship. My suggestion for counting carbs would be to take a good book that list carbs. We have one that has prepared foods and restaurant prepared foods. It would be helpful. Your nephew may need to check his glucose level more often than normal. My daughter seems to get so much physical activity on a cruise that she doesn't need as much insulin as she would at home. My daughter has been on 3 cruises since she was diagnosed and has had very little problems. We just ask her to not drink her carbs. We also tell her to have a protein when she eats a carb. That helps her maintain her glucose levels. During our cruise, we work on trying to have a great time and not stress too much about being within exact normal range. We just don't want her to get too low or too high. I hope you have a wonderful time.

[irishnyc]

He has been through two such classes already, once at initial diagnosis and a second specifically to integrate his pump. But I do like the suggestion about highlighting the cruise and maybe they can help with pitfalls. I think my sisters biggest concern is that they have food available basically 24x7 so that will require more monitoring to make sure he inputs the correct carb counts into the PDM as well as the number of doses he takes in a day. If he wants a cup of the soft serve on board he'll have to dose. We may need to look at bringing more supplies along because it wont be like home or going to a restaurant for dinner.

 

I thank you for the suggestion, this is still new to us and we are still learning. This is his first cruise and I want him to have fun and be a kid. So again any prep work we can do will only help that.

 

He's going to need to learn to approximate carbs based on common knowledge and common prep. A slice of packaged, commercial sandwich bread is always going to be about 20g of carbs. A medium apple is going to be about 22g. If he wants to serve himself a cup of ice cream on board, he better know what a cup of soft serve looks like, because one ounce over, or once ounce under and that makes a big difference in carb count.

 

There are plenty of resources out there to figure out carb counts without depending on a restaurant (in this case, Carnival) to provide nutrition information. A potato is a potato, whether Carnival prepares it, or you prepare it. It doesn't change the carb content.

[OutlawJosey]

The cruise line will just estimate. Suggest you print out some low carbs lists from the internet and carry them with you. Other then that eat lots of lean protein and keep bread, Potatoes, deserts and rice products to a minimum. As a diabetic I can tell you it's relatively easy to eat on a cruise ship and keep your carbs in check.

 

great suggestion. We have a few lists that we are going to laminate and bring with us....I'll look for other online resources as well

[radlad68]

My son has been T1 for more than 10 years and uses a pump. Look for the "Calorie King" books. They are small and are a great tool for general food info. There will be a lot of guesstimating, there's no way around that unfortunately! Have fun cruising!

[OutlawJosey]

My son has been T1 for more than 10 years and uses a pump. Look for the "Calorie King" books. They are small and are a great tool for general food info. There will be a lot of guesstimating, there's no way around that unfortunately! Have fun cruising!

 

Thank you I will look that up maybe they have an e-version of it we can download to our tablets since we all have them :).

 

My nephew Easton still goes thru highes and lowes and that is our concern. We just want him to have a good time being a kid.

 

Easton and the rest of the family are still learning.

 

Thank you for the suggestions they are appreciated.

[Boof80]

Thank you I will look that up maybe they have an e-version of it we can download to our tablets since we all have them :).

 

My nephew Easton still goes thru highes and lowes and that is our concern. We just want him to have a good time being a kid.

 

Easton and the rest of the family are still learning.

 

Thank you for the suggestions they are appreciated.

 

My wife has had T1 for 34 years and whne I asked her to read this thread and offer suggestions she said that if he is newly diagnosed and still coming to grips with food and diabetes and having lows then you should look at getting a glucagen injection kit to take with you.

She did an NCL cruise a few years ago and unfortunately had a hypo due to a very active day just as the ship was leaving port. The seas were extremely rough and having a hypo at that exact time caused her to get motion sickness which interferred with bringing her BSL up the usual way. If it wasn't for the glucagen injection it would have ended in either the ship going back to port or a medi-rescue.

 

Also as other have mentioned do not forget to factor in things like time changes, heat and humidity, increased activity, late nights. All these things can affect BSL's.

 

She also suggests that your nephew and his parents mess around with different foods so they can visually get to recognise what a portion of that food looks like (1 cup of cooked peas, 1 cup of cooked carrot, 1 cup of rice etc). This will really help when eating out and on the cruise.

Unfortunately I think the cruiseline wont be much help with the carb counts because items are not a uniformed sized and some dishes are mass prepared and served so it would be hard to be exact about what is in the actual scoop of food that your nephew recieves.

 

She also encouraged me to tell you to chill out a bit. Vacations should be fun and I am sure that your nephew has had a rough year coming to terms with this new way of life and being different. He will feel the stress that this is causing the whole family (parents, aunt) and it will be affecting him and his BSL's. Maybe it would also be a good time to let him have more control over his disease. Let him judge how many carbs is in something and only guide him if he is off base.

[christmas]

See the Maitre D at embarkation and he can assist. But as others have sail chill out a little bit you are doing a good job by watching his carbs but don't panic the whole cruise about it.