Best Insulated Lunch Bag/Insulin/Stateroom Mini Fridge

[srobinet63]

We are sailing on Mardia Gras 9/10/23 for six nights. We booked an excursion to Ocean World/Dolphin Experience. I need to keep my son's insulin cold so we can take it with us.  I read that there are lockers available and am planning on storing the cooler in the locker.  I want to make sure the insulin stays cool enough so I would like recommendations.  

 

Does the stateroom mini-fridge stay as cold as a regular refrigerator?

[klfrodo]

If you call Special Needs, they will provide a medical fridge in your stateroom.

my wife gets one every cruise

[srobinet63]

Thanks I did call the Carnival and made them aware. Are you talking about Carnival or a specialty rental company? I do need to get a really good insulated lunch tote so I can take his insulin on the excursion. 

[Bound4Bermuda]

Hi! We’ll also be going on our first cruise since my daughter’s Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis. I got a lot of great info from a Facebook group “Parents of Type 1 Diabetics” and searching “cruise” within the group. (Hopefully it’s okay to mention this other group since it’s about diabetes, not travel.) 

 

Lots of people recommended the Frio Cooling Wallet. I don’t have it, but apparently you just run it under water and somehow it stays cold for 48 hours (until you need to wet it again) with no need to freeze or refrigerate. There were other people recommending the stateroom fridge or requesting a medical cooler from the cruiseline. But then there were also a large portion of people saying that you don’t need to refrigerate insulin pens after opening for 28 days (and some posters think as long as it takes to use it up), so no need to try to refrigerate at all. We do that at home, leaving the opened or just about to be opened pens out, so we’ll do the same on the cruise and not worry about it.

 

If your child uses a Dexcom, you can also ask special needs to provide free internet for your child and you to use the Follow app. You’ll need to provide a medical letter from the doctor, and they give you back a letter that you can take to guest services to provide the internet.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Bound4Bermuda

[wrightkj]

Carnival can provide a small medical fridge for your room that will keep meds at a cold enough temp. You cannot rely on the room cooler (fridge) to do this. Check in with customer service once you are on the ship to arrange for one. I don't believe these can be taken off ship, so a well insulated tote would be needed.

Hope that helps!

[kdr69]

My ex wife has been taking insulin for years on our excursions and never carried it anywhere but in her insulin case.  Also the coolers in the room were more than sufficient to store her isulin in.  

[kdr69]

Here is a site you can check out

https://4allfamily.com/

[srobinet63]

Thank you 

[klfrodo]

9 hours ago, srobinet63 said:

Thanks I did call the Carnival and made them aware. Are you talking about Carnival or a specialty rental company? I do need to get a really good insulated lunch tote so I can take his insulin on the excursion. 

Have you contacted the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drug?

I take Enbrel for RA. On their website, they offer a tote bag to keep my medication cool while on vacation/holiday.

(With further research, I discovered that, even though they indicate my injectors need to be refrigerated at all times, Enbrel says it's good for 30 days without refrigeration)

[nwcruiselover]

FYI, for those of you going on the Venezia, the mini-fridge we had in our cabin was VERY COLD.  Our cabin steward recommended against storing insulin in there because it was probably too cold and the insulin could freeze.  My husband took his extra insulin pens to Medical where they stored it at the proper temperatore.  Sure enough, the first morning of the cruise, the water we had in the mini-fridge was frozen.  Glad the insulin wasn't in there.

[Haljo1935]

What about other drugs that require refrigeration (not insulin)? I guess just better to visit medical and be safe. My sister (who will be my cabin mate) has always just put her meds in the mini fridge even though we both comment on how not-cold they are.

She does get a sharps container and nobody has ever mentioned to her a medical fridge.

Is a medical fridge an actual mini-fridge or more like a cooler?

Edited July 3, 2023 by Haljo1935
Additional comment

[SummerRoze]

Yeti sells insulated lunch bags that my husband loves. He does add an ice pack when he uses it, but I imagine you could use a ziploc of ice instead. He’ll take it when fishing and it keeps everything cold, even with being in the sun all day. I would recommend keeping it in the mini fridge the night before to chill it.