Make-A-Wish Cruise to the Med

[Spiiffy]

Hello! My son has a rare chromosomal mutation which has qualified him for a Wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation. He has asked for a Mediterranean cruise. Is there anyone here who has done a wish cruise to the Med? I have heard that in the med they use Norwegian Cruise Line. I would love to talk to someone who has done this with their family or even if any cruisers have met wish families on Med cruises and talked to them about their experiences.

 

Our family consists of myself, hubby, wish kid (9), and two little sisters ages 3 and 7. I am curious what type of room they will put us in. How they make the international arrangements, etc.

 

Thanks!

[FranknBeans]

Hello! My son has a rare chromosomal mutation which has qualified him for a Wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation. He has asked for a Mediterranean cruise. Is there anyone here who has done a wish cruise to the Med? I have heard that in the med they use Norwegian Cruise Line. I would love to talk to someone who has done this with their family or even if any cruisers have met wish families on Med cruises and talked to them about their experiences.

 

Our family consists of myself, hubby, wish kid (9), and two little sisters ages 3 and 7. I am curious what type of room they will put us in. How they make the international arrangements, etc.

 

Thanks!

 

 

I can't help but I would suggest you post your question the the Disabled board here is the link

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=190

[Megan_Strick]

I don't have any experience with that but my cousins son did a make a wish to Disney. I am only 3 hours from Disney and we joined them. Make a Wish does a fantastic job with the kids. They got behind the scene tours with the characters and was brought to the front of every line. Every employee made an extra effort to speak to him. He had a great time.

[smwg]

My daughter got a Make A Wish cruise to the Mediterranean in 2011. She was 18 at the time. We also took our 10-year-old daughter on this trip but elected to leave our 5-year-old at home. We felt the trip would be very historic/educational in nature and our 5-year-old would be bored (I was leery of leaving him on the ship while in port, it was a "mother" thing). All that being said, we had a FANTASTIC time. Our trip was actually done with Royal Carribean. We had two adjoining ocean view rooms. And both of our girls (and we) were treated like royalty. The kids were given onboard credits for arcade, priority seatings (at the ice show we got early admittance and a private picture session with the skaters afterwards, followed by a backstage tour of the ice skating area.) Backstage passes to the theater. A private bridge tour. shore excursions, I could go on and on. It was absolutely the best experience. MAW only gives 7-day cruises, which was fine, but just fyi. It's a memory we will not soon forget.

 

MAW was wonderful in the planning and executing of this trip. We are extremely thankful to them for the opportunity that they allowed for our daughter and our family to be able to take this trip.

 

I wish your child the best and a speedy recovery. My daughter still lives with her disease but is thriving well. She actually volunteered with the Alabama chapter of MAW and help grant a wish to another child.

[smwg]

My daughter got a Make A Wish cruise to the Mediterranean in 2011. She was 18 at the time. We also took our 10-year-old daughter on this trip but elected to leave our 5-year-old at home. We felt the trip would be very historic/educational in nature and our 5-year-old would be bored (I was leery of leaving him on the ship while in port, it was a "mother" thing). All that being said, we had a FANTASTIC time. Our trip was actually done with Royal Carribean. We had two adjoining ocean view rooms. And both of our girls (and we) were treated like royalty. The kids were given onboard credits for arcade, priority seatings (at the ice show we got early admittance and a private picture session with the skaters afterwards, followed by a backstage tour of the ice skating area.) Backstage passes to the theater. A private bridge tour. shore excursions, I could go on and on. It was absolutely the best experience. MAW only gives 7-day cruises, which was fine, but just fyi. It's a memory we will not soon forget.

 

MAW was wonderful in the planning and executing of this trip. We are extremely thankful to them for the opportunity that they allowed for our daughter and our family to be able to take this trip.

 

I wish your child the best and a speedy recovery. My daughter still lives with her disease but is thriving well. She actually volunteered with the Alabama chapter of MAW and help grant a wish to another child.

 

 

One other thing. They take care of all the expenses from Donations. Flights were all scheduled by MAW, as well as the cruise. We were allowed one excursion per port. And after all that, they gave us a small amount of cash to help with any other unexpected expenses that might arise. Truly a great worry-free experience.

[Spiiffy]

One other thing. They take care of all the expenses from Donations. Flights were all scheduled by MAW, as well as the cruise. We were allowed one excursion per port. And after all that, they gave us a small amount of cash to help with any other unexpected expenses that might arise. Truly a great worry-free experience.

 

Thank you for the reply!

 

What chapter of MAW did you go through? We are in southern Florida.

 

How did the flight work? Did they fly you there a day early? I am nervous about that part!

 

Did you extend your trip at all?

[smwg]

Thank you for the reply!

 

What chapter of MAW did you go through? We are in southern Florida.

 

How did the flight work? Did they fly you there a day early? I am nervous about that part!

 

Did you extend your trip at all?

 

 

We used the GA MAW. We flew in a day early and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at the Rome airport (we flew from Atlanta to NYC to Milan and finally, Rome). We used a private shuttle to the port (Civitavecchia) that was pre-arranged by MAW. The port was about an hour or so from the airport (I think). It's been so long and my memory is not good. Lol. After we got back to Civitavecchia from the cruise we spent the rest of the day in Rome. We had an overnight stay at the Hilton again and then flew home the next morning. Note: we had to make our own travel plans to visit the city of Rome. We took a taxi to the city and met with a tour guide we had pre-arranged on the recommendation of my sister-in-law who had used this same fella. He was great, but I felt like we were running through the city because there was so much to see. Ends up I was sick and had a fever at the end of the day and that explained why I was so exhausted. I'll try to see if my daughter can refresh my memory on some more of the details.

 

When will you be going? We went in October of that year.

 

I wish I knew how to add pictures, I could show you what RCCL had as gifts for us when we arrived. They gave her internet minutes, family bingo credit with a stuffed animal, arcade credit, all kinds of souvenir stuff like a towel, flip flops, money pouches, soda package with drink cups, 8x10 picture, dvd of the cruise in review, they even had a build a bear type thing onboard that both of my girls got to do. Plus lots of priority stuff like I mentioned in the previous posts.

[smwg]

We used the GA MAW. We flew in a day early and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at the Rome airport (we flew from Atlanta to NYC to Milan and finally, Rome). We used a private shuttle to the port (Civitavecchia) that was pre-arranged by MAW. The port was about an hour or so from the airport (I think). It's been so long and my memory is not good. Lol. After we got back to Civitavecchia from the cruise we spent the rest of the day in Rome. We had an overnight stay at the Hilton again and then flew home the next morning. Note: we had to make our own travel plans to visit the city of Rome. We took a taxi to the city and met with a tour guide we had pre-arranged on the recommendation of my sister-in-law who had used this same fella. He was great, but I felt like we were running through the city because there was so much to see. Ends up I was sick and had a fever at the end of the day and that explained why I was so exhausted. I'll try to see if my daughter can refresh my memory on some more of the details.

 

 

 

When will you be going? We went in October of that year.

 

I wish I knew how to add pictures, I could show you what RCCL had as gifts for us when we arrived. They gave her internet minutes, family bingo credit with a stuffed animal, arcade credit, all kinds of souvenir stuff like a towel, flip flops, money pouches, soda package with drink cups, 8x10 picture, dvd of the cruise in review, they even had a build a bear type thing onboard that both of my girls got to do. Plus lots of priority stuff like I mentioned in the previous posts.

 

 

Looks like I always think of more after I hit post. But I just wanted to mention that all the "free stuff was from RCCL. I'm not sure how NCL does things. RCCL also flew the MAW flag while we were in port to indicate there was a MAW child onboard. They also had the traditional fundraising walk for MAW. From what I understand, RCCL does not participate in the MAW grants anymore, so maybe NCL took that over.