HELP daughter worried her son is going to get sick on the cruise

[mortypro]

we are planning to take our daughter and her 2 year old son on a the explorer 1/2/2005

now our daughter is having second thoughts

she said people are telling her that kids get sick more often on the cruisies because of confined areas and her room is an inside room

i have tried to tell her in a nice way she is "nuts" that our grandson can and does get sick through playgroups, traveling on the subway etc

does anyone have an suggestions of how i can calm her down?

she keeps quoting the norwalk virus

we went to florida on a plane a month ago and of course he got a cold by the time we got back.

he has playgroups 3-5 times a week so of course he gets sick

thanks i need help

iris

[CaptData]

OK. Tell her to ensure she washes her hands alot and her son's. Check with doctor before he goes especially the ears. Get recommendation for sea sick tab and use it before he goes. Find a child's decongestion and give before plane ride toensure he has no blocked passages to begin with. Tell her that she will enjoy the kid's zone with her son. Offer to give her a night out, if you are going too. Also tell her he has just as much chance of getting sick at play school this year.

 

Tell her if he is in diapers not to take him in the pools. Use lots of sunscreen on him and enjoy the trip. She sounds like my daughter with her first child. Now she is more relaxed.

[mommiemudd]

Our daughter is 3 and we have cruised twice with her. We take every medication known to man but we have never had a problem. We made it a practice that everytime we walked past a hand sanitiation "globe" we used it. I think that helped to keep her well. She went to Kid's Crew almost everytime they were open and she didn't pick up any germs. I was worried about that but it turned out fine. Tell her to relax and enjoy!

[mortypro]

thanks so much i am forwarding your emails to her and hopefully this will calm her down!!!

iris

[serene56]

This is no way intended to be mean. But we cant let our children live in a glass bubble because they may get sick. Cruising is a great family vacation. You will take precautions here as you would any other place...preschool- outside kid activites.

If your child is healthy and you follw carefulprocedures on the cruise and try to keep to a schedule--nap times, eating times...i trully believe your child will be fine.

[merela]

The kids didn't get sick from staying on ship or from the "norwalk virus" (or any virus). The 6M old did suffer heat stroke after a day on the beach. Both my sister and her husband are physicians, so they made sure the baby was hydrated and infant Tylenol helped.

 

We were on the Star Princess with my 20M old and none of the kids I saw were sick on the ship. If they were sick, they probably caught the bug before they got on the ship.

 

There is no way to prevent illness on the ship. I packed all sorts of children's medicine, including their favorite bandaids and topical antibiotics (for knee scrapes). My medicine bag includes Children's Chewable Tylenol, Triaminic chewables (for coughs and running nose), Children's chewable Benedryl (for allergies and seasickness), Electrolyte powders for diarrhea, and whatever stuff your children uses at home (like diaper cream, etc....). I've never had to use any of the medicine I packed.

 

I also got the children Sea Bands in case they have motion sickness, but they never needed them.

 

I do carry hand sanitizers everywhere I go. If I see my children touching any public space (like the elevator buttons), I wipe their hands with hand sanitizers.

 

Do make sure children don't eat food they pick up from the floor. Even though the carpets on the ship seem clean, they aren't...especially in the cabins. I don't think they shampoo their carpets after each turnover, so try not to let the kids play on the floor too much. My 20M did have diarrhea on the ship, but that's not a big thing, just make sure kids have plenty of liquids after a bout of diarrhea.

 

We have inside cabins on all our cruises. I think it's so much safer than a balcony room and it gives you an excuse to go outside and explore the ship with your small children.

 

Tell your daughter not to worry. I think the ship is so much cleaner than taking your kids to Denny's.

 

Explorer of the Sea is a large ship and it's very stable. My sister who was on the Explorer in between hurricane Francis and Ivan said they didn't really feel too much movements from the ship.

 

The only thing about EOS is that the 2YO wasn't able to go into the kids' club, even if the parents accompanied her. Kids who are not toilet-trained cannot use the pools. So parents of 2YOs need to entertain them on their own. Take advantages of all ports of call and go to a nice hotel pool and just hang out with the 2YO.

 

Tell your daughter that the best part of cruising is that she doesn't have to cook for her child. If the 2YO doesn't like something, there are always other choices! I really enjoyed that part of cruising...I don't have to be a short-order cook!!

 

Have fun with your 2YO!

[mortypro]

thanks everyone

i told her she has to decide by payment date of oct 24

she was shocked when i said we would go without her

[brillohead]

I second what everyone here has said.

 

My son turned 3yo the week before we took him on his first cruise. Even though he was old enough for the kiddie camp, he wasn't mentally ready for it, so we were on our own w/ him and everyone had a blast! He's now 4.75yo and we leave in a month for a 10-day cruise, b/c a 7-day just isn't long enough!

"The possibility of getting sick", in my opinion, is a cop out. Yes, the kid MAY get sick (either sick with a germie-bug or motion sickness), but you don't KNOW that the kid will be sick. I get the feeling that maybe she doesn't want to cruise, and she's using the kid as an excuse???

[Kelly43]

My son has gotten carsick since he was 2 years old. He learned to swallow a pill then as that was what worked best for him. If it is seasick you are worried about be sure he eats even if he doesn't want to and also there are patches that go behind the ear that are good for a couple of days that I hear works well. They are a script by the doc though. He will be fine as long as you are prepared as everybody else has mentioned...GO, HAVE FUN!

[mortypro]

thanks she still is not sure if she is going to take him

hopefully she will decide by next week as that is when our final payment is due

lol