Carnival brings home autistic boy stranded in Aruba

[jerseyfresh72]

Found this article interesting that Carnival helped get an autistic boy home that was stranded in Aruba because the airline wouldn't let him fly back to the US.

 

Good job Carnival!

 

https://www.nj.com/news/2022/06/stranded-nj-family-finally-reunited-after-son-with-autism-was-kicked-off-vacation-flight.html?fbclid=IwAR3LJmxPfFVE3z3hKmZAx0FtgfO0RDny_D-o3bY8mvALJNXaCrCTxT9YqPY

[ashkir]

Wow! That is beyond amazing! I wonder how far the diverting of the cruise ship took them, and how late they were to a port. If I were a passenger on that ship I would be 100% understanding if they told us why. 

[SRQbeachgirl]

Well done, Carnival, well done. 👏

[ultrafighter]

Way to go, Carnival!

[ninjacat123]

I'm curious if the Carnival ship had passengers or just crew.  Being "diverted" to Aruba sounds like the itinerary was changed.

[cruisingguy007]

Great story! That is very generous and kind of Carnival. Kudos! 

[ashkir]

3 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I'm curious if the Carnival ship had passengers or just crew.  Being "diverted" to Aruba sounds like the itinerary was changed.

Same. Aruba is an unusual destination, but there is a ship that does southern Carribean that does Aruba (Horizon). I wonder if they just went to the Aruba port early or went back to port. I feel like someone here would've reported an itinerary change. Wonder if it wasn't diverted, but, they picked up a kid on their way back to the states from ARuba. 

Edit: But then again, Carnival is a BIG cruise company, it could've been one of the other lines they own. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by ashkir

[TomCruise48]

1 hour ago, ashkir said:

 But then again, Carnival is a BIG cruise company, it could've been one of the other lines they own. 

The article says that Vicky Rey was involved.  She is an amazing person who works for the Carnival Cruise Line brand, not corporate, so it was likely a Whale Tail ship.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Shore-side staff learns about Carnival's commitment to their autistic passengers and their partnership with KulturCity in the yearly training classes. 

Pier staff is informed if an autistic passenger is expected on the cruise, and that travel group has an expedited check-in process.

Carnival provides special grab-n-go bags with coping items for passengers with sensory and invisible disabilities.  Items include cards with faces showing a range of emotional feelings from happy to sad to angry - this enables a non-speaking individual to be able to express their emotional feelings without words.  Also available are noise cancelling headphones.  It is a very cool program.

 

Wonderful job Carnival.   

Edited June 8, 2022 by Ferry_Watcher

[ultrafighter]

11 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Shore-side staff learns about Carnival's commitment to their autistic passengers and their partnership with KulturCity in the yearly training classes. 

Pier staff is informed if an autistic passenger is expected on the cruise, and that travel group has an expedited check-in process.

Carnival provides special grab-n-go bags with coping items for passengers with sensory and invisible disabilities.  Items include cards with faces showing a range of emotional feelings from happy to sad to angry - this enables a non-speaking individual to be able to express their emotional feelings without words.  Also available are noise cancelling headphones.  It is a very cool program.

 

Wonderful job Carnival.   

That's AWESOME!!!

[Joe817]

1 minute ago, ultrafighter said:

That's AWESOME!!!

Yes it was! It was a very compassionate, humanitarian thing Carnival Cruise Line did. Good job Carnival Cruise Line! 👍

[FloridaGram]

This is so wonderful that any corporation helped this family and I especially love that it was Carnival.

One are 2nd to the last cruise, on Carnival, there was a Mom who literally had to tether herself to her son, he seemed about 12.  I was in the elevator with them the last day and I asked if he had fun but then I realized he was non verbal.  So I asked the Mom and she shrugged so I think she was exhausted. I never saw anyone with her but him so I wonder if the rest of the family was having fun. I wish Carnival had someone trained to provide her some respite. 

 

Our last cruise we went on another brand and they advertise all over the ship about autism inclusion and have some trained workers on there to help with those kids. I think they keep them for periods of time and there is a special area cordoned off in The buffet for these families. I hope other corporations will have more understanding and compassion for these people. They didn't ask to be that way....

[ButterflyGirly]

Way to go Carnival!

[MrMarc]

Great job on Carnival's part.  But I am not sure what they expected the airline to do.  It sounds like they could not take him on another flight, not that the air line would not let them.

[vwrestler171]

If I remember correctly, it was the Horizon that picked them up on its normal So Caribbean itinerary.  it was posted on social media a few days ago.

[TrinaLC]

Great job indeed!  
 

 

[sparks1093]

Outstanding, Carnival! Way to step up to the plate for this family in need. As the dad of a kid on the spectrum I fully appreciate the lengths companies go to in order to help those afflicted with this disorder. We were fortunate and our son was high functioning but until a proper diagnosis was made and appropriate measures were put into place our lives were, well, not good. We took our son on several cruises and he loved the environment on the ship and the staff (NCL, in this case) were more than understanding and helpful. (And our son is now an adult, a supervisory security professional and volunteer firefighter. He is active in his community, owns his own home and is in a committed relationship of many years. So for parents of these very special children don't give up hope!)

[pe4all]

14 hours ago, FloridaGram said:

This is so wonderful that any corporation helped this family and I especially love that it was Carnival.

One are 2nd to the last cruise, on Carnival, there was a Mom who literally had to tether herself to her son, he seemed about 12.  I was in the elevator with them the last day and I asked if he had fun but then I realized he was non verbal.  So I asked the Mom and she shrugged so I think she was exhausted. I never saw anyone with her but him so I wonder if the rest of the family was having fun. I wish Carnival had someone trained to provide her some respite. 

 

Our last cruise we went on another brand and they advertise all over the ship about autism inclusion and have some trained workers on there to help with those kids. I think they keep them for periods of time and there is a special area cordoned off in The buffet for these families. I hope other corporations will have more understanding and compassion for these people. They didn't ask to be that way....

Kudos to Carnival!  While my dd33 does not have autism, she has other "invisible" special needs (seizure disorder, learning disability) and is with me 24/7.  I know how exhausting this can be - especially since covid closed her day program 2 years ago.  Each January we take a mother/daughter CCL cruise, and by the end I am exhausted - and she is "easy" to handle!  We are about to go on our Diamond cruise in 2 weeks, and at least dh will be with us to give me a bit of a break.  

Edited June 9, 2022 by pe4all

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, vwrestler171 said:

If I remember correctly, it was the Horizon that picked them up on its normal So Caribbean itinerary.  it was posted on social media a few days ago.

That sounds more likely than they actually diverted a cruise ship. Thank you for that information.

[K&RCurt]

I could be wrong but I think there is an itinerary that does just Bonaire and Curacao skipping Aruba, it would have been a very slight diversion to pull into Aruba for the pick-up if this was the case.  Makes me wonder if the Port in Aruba charged Carnival the docking fees.

 

[Pellaz]

I wonder which cruise line it was that "refused to help."  That's pretty cold.  

 

[ashkir]

14 hours ago, K&RCurt said:

I could be wrong but I think there is an itinerary that does just Bonaire and Curacao skipping Aruba, it would have been a very slight diversion to pull into Aruba for the pick-up if this was the case.  Makes me wonder if the Port in Aruba charged Carnival the docking fees.

 

They could've easily used a tender to get the kid too. Really wanting details of how this went down. Major props to Carnival. 

[ontheweb]

While it is proper to give our appreciation for what Carnival did, I do think we should withhold any criticism of the airline. I don't know what else they could have done. You cannot have someone out of control in the plane. Unlike a cruise ship, there is nowhere to be able to safely place tah person JMHO.

[IrritatedEllipses]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

While it is proper to give our appreciation for what Carnival did, I do think we should withhold any criticism of the airline. I don't know what else they could have done.

 

My partner works in behavioral field and this is pretty much spot on, there's not much the airline could have done.

 

The family wasn't denied flights out, they just made the hard decision to not put any more stress on Elijah or passengers / crew on other flights. Unfortunately, that's sometimes the choices that have to be made here. It makes the story so much more heartwarming because it looks like a whole bunch of people just trying to do what's right to keep everyone safe and happy. 

[tidecat]

14 hours ago, Pellaz said:

I wonder which cruise line it was that "refused to help."  That's pretty cold.  

 

Could it be that they didn't have room? If you have an open passenger cabin, then it's pretty easy to accommodate, but if a ship is full, a ship is full.