Cruising on Peritoneal Dialysis

[cali-croozer]

1 hour ago, CruiseNYC said:

We are just back from a 7 day cruise from NJ to Bermuda. DH did manual - but we could have brought machine with us. I’m less afraid of issues (in case of power or internet outages) when he does manual. We brought the dialysate cartons with us and put large, white stickers with our names and cabin # on all 4 sides. When we arrived at port to drop luggage, they added one of their stickers and they transported them, along with our suitcases, to the cabin. Very, very easy.  Celebrity provides plastic waste bags and a sharps container (in case he needs heparin).
We are on a 14-day Princess cruise in November and he’ll probably do manual again. We’ll bring the cartons with us to Brooklyn, label them on all sides and drop them with luggage. The boxes are too heavy to carry on board!
We have already filled out all the special access forms for Princess so we should be good to go!

We really hope you will go. It has really been wonderful for both of us to be able to cruise again. Celebrity makes it very easy; we hope the same is true of Princess. 

Please share your experience with all of us after your trip. Thank you in advance!
 

I have an email in to medical services....but what are the access forms?

[CruiseNYC]

7 hours ago, cali-croozer said:

I have an email in to medical services....but what are the access forms?

If you go to Princess.com, scroll to the bottom of the main screen and find “Accessible Cruising”.   All info should be there. 
Email should be sent to both 

accessofficeprincess@princesscruises.com 

guestmedical@hagroup.com

After sending back forms - and a letter from nephrologist stating that passenger is in good health to travel - we received clearance from both of those offices. It did take them quite a while to respond btw.  (I should mention that my husband has mobility issues so he rents a scooter, too, and we need to send a form for that.)

I believe that since you’re bringing the dialysate with you, it’s pretty straightforward. 

[cali-croozer]

On 8/6/2022 at 3:06 AM, CruiseNYC said:

If you go to Princess.com, scroll to the bottom of the main screen and find “Accessible Cruising”.   All info should be there. 
Email should be sent to both 

accessofficeprincess@princesscruises.com 

guestmedical@hagroup.com

After sending back forms - and a letter from nephrologist stating that passenger is in good health to travel - we received clearance from both of those offices. It did take them quite a while to respond btw.  (I should mention that my husband has mobility issues so he rents a scooter, too, and we need to send a form for that.)

I believe that since you’re bringing the dialysate with you, it’s pretty straightforward. 

Thanks. I couldn't find any forms for dialysis on the website but medical sent me the risk assessment form and told me about the letter from nephrologist. I guess I'm on my own at the port, hoping my boxes get to the cabin.

[CruiseNYC]

1 hour ago, cali-croozer said:

Thanks. I couldn't find any forms for dialysis on the website but medical sent me the risk assessment form and told me about the letter from nephrologist. I guess I'm on my own at the port, hoping my boxes get to the cabin.

We filled out the PASSENGER MEDICAL SUPPLY VENDOR INFO sheet - even though we are bringing the supplies on board ourselves. 
As for getting the supplies to the cabin, as mentioned, for our recent Celebrity cruise, we affixed large labels to all 4 sides of the boxes. They put one of their labels on the cartons and I took a photo. They were already in our cabin with our luggage by the time we got to the cabin. 
I’m sure it will be fine - or at least I hope so. We sail on Princess in November. 

[gosport11]

Hi i am starting PD next week,i will be cruising in October ,leaving southampton on Celebrity silhouette,my supplier will be Baxter  ,i have been asked to supply them with a delivery address at docks ,reading above posts i feel it would be better to take solution our selves as we only live 45 min away and will be using a taxi to get to port,i eill be doing 2 changes a day and have no idea how solution is packed ie 1 in a box or 4    hope you can help     Graham 

 

[CruiseNYC]

12 hours ago, gosport11 said:

Hi i am starting PD next week,i will be cruising in October ,leaving southampton on Celebrity silhouette,my supplier will be Baxter  ,i have been asked to supply them with a delivery address at docks ,reading above posts i feel it would be better to take solution our selves as we only live 45 min away and will be using a taxi to get to port,i eill be doing 2 changes a day and have no idea how solution is packed ie 1 in a box or 4    hope you can help     Graham 

 

Oh that’s fantastic!  So happy to hear that more folks are transitioning from HD to PD. It’s freedom!  
We use Baxter, too, here in NYC.   For manual PD, our solution comes 6 bags per box. DH does 3 exchanges per day so we need quite a few cartons for longer cruises.   We have also found a great - and lightweight - portable IV pole that we use to hang the bags. It easily fits into a suitcase. We throw clamps and caps into a ziploc bag and throw those in our luggage, too.  We always try to take a couple of extra solution bags, just in case.  (We recently had a carton with a couple of damaged/leaky bags.)

Wishing you safe and happy cruising. Please post your cruise experience when you return. It’s great to hear about how others are managing. 

[gosport11]

we have just returned from our Celebrity cruise ex Southampton,labled all boxes on 3 sides and used a marker pen as well ,dropped them at dock side with luggage,they were in the cabin on arrival all open and marked checked by hounds, but resealed,had a coppy of email from special services but not needed a bin was in Cabin,also took a hot water bottle to pre heat bags only carried out a nightly change so not too much hassel , would not hesitate to go again 

 

[CruiseNYC]

On 10/24/2022 at 4:58 PM, gosport11 said:

we have just returned from our Celebrity cruise ex Southampton,labled all boxes on 3 sides and used a marker pen as well ,dropped them at dock side with luggage,they were in the cabin on arrival all open and marked checked by hounds, but resealed,had a coppy of email from special services but not needed a bin was in Cabin,also took a hot water bottle to pre heat bags only carried out a nightly change so not too much hassel , would not hesitate to go again 

 

Gosport11 - Thank you so much for sharing!  I forgot to mention that we also bring the heating pad to warm up the dialysate bags. 
Very glad to hear you had a good experience. 
We are leaving for a 14 day cruise out of NYC next week, bringing all supplies with us, clearly labeled. We have not had any boxes opened on previous sailings but it’s not a problem if they want to have a look see.

[rtfnl]

Hi there. Years ago there was a mishap with my dad's solutions from Baxter and he had to debark the ship. I went with him. We caught back up with the ship about 3 days later in Panama. While he was still living we started bringing his solutions with us instead of relying on them to be in the cabin. It was probably something out of the ordinary but it was stressful. The plus we always cruised out of FL since we are Floridians. 

[bklynangel]

After canceling the cruise several months ago, we decided to book another cruise, out of New York City which is closer to us. Still worried about his PD solutions , so we have decided for him to do manuals and since its only a four nighter, we are hoping we can bring the solutions on board in a collapsable wagon. I don't want his solutions out of sight. We have booked Disney dream for October . Now I'm worried after six years of waiting to cruise again, i bet this will be the year he will get called for the kidney transplant and then we would have to cancel again because after that, you have to wait a year to cruise . Its so hard to plan lately , but praying this works out. Its not until October , so we have time. Thanks for all your responses , any info is helpful . 

[bklynangel]

This will be our first time sailing since my husband started dialysis in 2017. He is on peritoneal dialysis and I just had his manuals ordered for four days on Disney cruise out of nyc.  I’m very nervous about it , but we have held off long enough, is there anything I should be aware of? Baxter is supposed to be delivering to the ship, but I had to pay $300 shipping fee and it is nonrefundable if for some reason we cannot go. It is only a four day cruise to start and we are taking three extra boxes of manuals, do you think that will be enough?

Edited July 7, 2023 by bklynangel

[ginnynj]

Wishing you well with your PD at sea. For determining how much manual supplies you might need, have you reached out to customer support for Baxter? Hoping all goes well and you can enjoy cruising again.

[ceteach]

I am so glad to have found this thread. We are avid cruisers and have just found out my hubby will be starting PD dialysis in a few weeks. I have been searching to find information about cruising on PD. Has anyone flown to the departure port? If so how did you carry the supplies?

[jeriram]

Hi, just got back from two cruises using a cycler.  One was out of San Francisco to the Mexican riviera for 10 days in January.  The other was out of Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean.  Both were on princess.  I wanted to let you all know that it is possible to do it!  We had a wonderful time and have now booked a cruise for the fall out of Montréal.   My husband loves to travel and having these trips to look forward to is life changing.  In both instances Baxter delivered the solutions to the port and we brought the other supplies.   It takes planning, but is so worth it.  It looks like Montréal will be more challenging, but we are going to make it work.  If anyone has any questions, let me know.

[Mopree]

Thank you for this post. It is wonderful to hear of your successful cruises. I think I understand having Baxter deliver supplies to the ship. A great service!  It does sound like once on board crew members are very helpful. My concerns are getting to the port city. We would need to fly and probably spend a night or two pre cruise. Did you fly with the cycler and boxes of solution?? If so, any information would be greatly appreciated.  Thankyou!