Cruising with Oxygen

[Swells1]

Hi, all! Please pardon me for my complete ignorance on this topic. 

 

Our travel companion recently fell ill and was in a coma for several weeks. She's now on the mend and at home, but is dependent on supplemental oxygen. At this point, I don't even know what I don't know if that makes any sense. I do know that she has a portable machine that will be allowed on the plane and that we should contact NCL for cruise-specific requirements. 

I guess I'm more curious about personal experience. For those of you in the know, please tell me the good, bad and ugly about cruising with oxygen. 

[marden1970]

Hi - My husband is also on supplemental oxygen.  He has a personal concentrator (Inogen) for when he leaves the house.  At home he has the larger concentrator.  We rent a room concentrator for the ship from Special Needs at Sea.  The concentrator is in the room with all the accesories when we board and he uses that in the room and at night to give the Inogen a rest.  They will come pick it up after you disembark.  We rented for 20 days for our cruise in August to Alaska from San Francisco and the cost will be $381.00  We did  use them on our last cruise (pre-covid) and every thing went smoothly.  She will need to get a letter from her doctor showing what levels of oxygen she uses.  (My husband is 3 during the day and 5 at night).  Does she have more than one battery for her portable?  Might be needed for longer excursions.  I do hope everything goes well for her.  Our experience was pretty much the same as before he started on the oxygen.

[Swells1]

15 minutes ago, marden1970 said:

Hi - My husband is also on supplemental oxygen.  He has a personal concentrator (Inogen) for when he leaves the house.  At home he has the larger concentrator.  We rent a room concentrator for the ship from Special Needs at Sea.  The concentrator is in the room with all the accesories when we board and he uses that in the room and at night to give the Inogen a rest.  They will come pick it up after you disembark.  We rented for 20 days for our cruise in August to Alaska from San Francisco and the cost will be $381.00  We did  use them on our last cruise (pre-covid) and every thing went smoothly.  She will need to get a letter from her doctor showing what levels of oxygen she uses.  (My husband is 3 during the day and 5 at night).  Does she have more than one battery for her portable?  Might be needed for longer excursions.  I do hope everything goes well for her.  Our experience was pretty much the same as before he started on the oxygen.

Thank you for this. I'll look into getting a rental. 

[kokopelli-az]

In case you haven't found it, here is NCL's oxygen information:

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising#oxygen

 

And here's information from the Travel with Oxygen website:

https://travelwithoxygen.com/cruise-can-travel-oxygen/

 

Also, for other information, do a search in this forum for oxygen.    

[bermuda triangle]

You can also rent oxygen tanks. Our family member is on 24/7 02 and will be traveling with portable concentrator and tanks to be able to go swimming.  Special needs at sea is one company, there are others.

[kokopelli-az]

Regarding renting from Special Needs at Sea, this is direct from NCL's website:

 

 For security and safety reasons, we have selected Scootaround as the only outside vendors that we will permit to deliver oxygen supplies to the ship. 

 

Oxygen supplies need to be requested from Scootaround.

[GeezerCouple]

On 5/27/2022 at 3:04 PM, kokopelli-az said:

In case you haven't found it, here is NCL's oxygen information:

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising#oxygen

 

And here's information from the Travel with Oxygen website:

https://travelwithoxygen.com/cruise-can-travel-oxygen/

 

Also, for other information, do a search in this forum for oxygen.    

 

An important place to start is with the NCL Special Needs/accessibility group, their "Access Desk".

 

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising

 

They will guide you.

 

I'm sure this is all overwhelming, and it sounds like all of you - and especially your travel companion! - have been through a lot.  However, this will not be the first time someone has asked NCL about this or similar help needed.  We've found their Access Desk to be extremely helpful.

 

They will send you a form to complete.  If some of the questions don't apply, leave them blank, or put "n/a" for "not applicable".

And WRITE IN anything special that is needed but not actually asked about on the form.

 

And then... ALSO follow up by email and make sure you get an appropriate response (not just a form letter).  CALL them if needed.

Again, we found them to be *very* helpful about a variety of "issues"

 

You just have to make clear in advance what is needed, let them work with you, but make sure in advance (before any cancellation penalty would apply) that your situation is one that they can indeed handle.  Most things are.  They have all sorts of requests, from rental of hospital beds in the cabins to help cutting up food 😉 

 

You should also ask on the NCL sub-forum about experiences/suggestions with the NCL Access Desk, but also keep asking here about more general helpful hints about the oxygen or any other special needs your friend may have.

Just try to keep in mind any unusual situations that might crop up.   That's where others here may be able to help you plan.

 

One final issue:  I hope you already have travel insurance, because it is probably too late to get a new policy that would cover your friend's situation.  That would be in case something goes wrong during the trip, be it medical costs or need to return home sooner, or such.  Is any of that possibly an issue to consider?  

It's the medical costs overseas (or on the ship) that can be jawdropping and impossible to predict.  "Getting home" if you need to leave the ship early might be expensive, but is unlikely to to involve catastrophic expenses.

 

I hope it works out that you can all take and enjoy the cruise!

 

GC

 

[darstamp]

On 5/27/2022 at 7:38 AM, marden1970 said:

Hi - My husband is also on supplemental oxygen.  He has a personal concentrator (Inogen) for when he leaves the house.  At home he has the larger concentrator.  We rent a room concentrator for the ship from Special Needs at Sea.  The concentrator is in the room with all the accesories when we board and he uses that in the room and at night to give the Inogen a rest.  They will come pick it up after you disembark.  We rented for 20 days for our cruise in August to Alaska from San Francisco and the cost will be $381.00  We did  use them on our last cruise (pre-covid) and every thing went smoothly.  She will need to get a letter from her doctor showing what levels of oxygen she uses.  (My husband is 3 during the day and 5 at night).  Does she have more than one battery for her portable?  Might be needed for longer excursions.  I do hope everything goes well for her.  Our experience was pretty much the same as before he started on the oxygen.

 

On 5/27/2022 at 5:59 AM, Swells1 said:

Hi, all! Please pardon me for my complete ignorance on this topic. 

 

Our travel companion recently fell ill and was in a coma for several weeks. She's now on the mend and at home, but is dependent on supplemental oxygen. At this point, I don't even know what I don't know if that makes any sense. I do know that she has a portable machine that will be allowed on the plane and that we should contact NCL for cruise-specific requirements. 

I guess I'm more curious about personal experience. For those of you in the know, please tell me the good, bad and ugly about cruising with oxygen. 

The important issue for flying with oxygen is the airlines require you to have enough battery power not just for the flight but for time before and after so be sure to check with the airline to determine how many battery hours they will require you to have.  As for the cruise, again the issue for your portable machine is that you have battery power.  I cruised on the Nieuw Amsterdam with oxygen and found that the ship had plug ins in the buffet, and most of the bars and entertainment areas.  As I don't require oxygen when I am just sitting, I was able to plug my machine in to charge it most places I went and, of course, I charged it at night when I was in my room.  If you are going on excursions it is important to know whether your machine has to be kept dry.  I have a Simply Go which rides along on a little cart like carry-on luggage and must be kept dry, but I rented an Inogen last time I travelled because it is smaller and can be worn as a cross body bag.  If you hit rain, it would be much easier to tuck the Intogen into your coat.  I just don't use my Simply Go in the rain.  I hope you find this helpful. 

[latebloomer56]

Now I'm nervous. We sailed on a 15 day lap Hawaii cruise last Oct. We did need the letter from my Doctor and we went through the airlines POC group to fly out and back. However I never even gave a thought to notify Princess. I have a large battery for my Inogen for off the ship and while that is charging I used my smaller one. We sail in three weeks on NCL, am I suppose to notify them I use my Inogen 24/7? I don't expect special treatment I get around on my own (thankfully) for now. Short of them having a complete 8 + hour power outage on board I will not have any issues, just am a little slower these days.

Thanks for this post folks.

[kokopelli-az]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:45 AM, latebloomer56 said:

Now I'm nervous. We sailed on a 15 day lap Hawaii cruise last Oct. We did need the letter from my Doctor and we went through the airlines POC group to fly out and back. However I never even gave a thought to notify Princess. I have a large battery for my Inogen for off the ship and while that is charging I used my smaller one. We sail in three weeks on NCL, am I suppose to notify them I use my Inogen 24/7? I don't expect special treatment I get around on my own (thankfully) for now. Short of them having a complete 8 + hour power outage on board I will not have any issues, just am a little slower these days.

Thanks for this post folks.

Notify NCL you are bringing medical equipment.   Here's a form:   https://ncl.secure.force.com/AccessDeskForm/   

 

and their email address:  accessdesk@ncl.com

[latebloomer56]

7 minutes ago, kokopelli-az said:

Notify NCL you are bringing medical equipment.   Here's a form:   https://ncl.secure.force.com/AccessDeskForm/   

 

and their email address:  accessdesk@ncl.com

Thanks