Our Guidance
We've
made cruising with autism our expertise and we're here to
help
you. Please feel free to
contact us with any
questions or concerns, especially as it relates to autism
and cruising.
Pre-Cruise Questionnaire
This questionnaire will be sent to our guests to
complete approximately
4-8 weeks prior to their cruise.
It is designed to
collect some general information on each person that
will be cruising that has autism. This
information will be used to help us
determine your child’s
ability and participation level for the children’s
program, and help prepare the children's program
counselors onboard the cruise.
Autism Awareness Cruise Staff
We will be providing you
with autism awareness cards that
will provide basic characteristics of autism, as well as
providing helpful hints in dealing with children and adults
with autism. You can use these cards to hand out to
cruise staff members.
Priority Boarding onto
Ship
We provide our group a separate
"Priority Check-In" line at the port,
for getting on the ship.
Priority
Disembarkation from Ship
We provide our group with separate luggage arrangements
and first group called for getting off the ship.
Private Muster Drill Area
We provide our group with an inside air conditioned
lounge, which replaces the traditional standing
side-by-side, outside on deck with hundreds of other
passengers.
Special Dietary Accommodations
We will do our best to work
with the Cruise Line in order to meet most if
not all of your dietary accommodations.
Special dietary requests can be made when booking your
reservation.
Professional Medical Physicians and Nurses
The cruise ship is staffed
with medical physicians and nurses, with whom you can
also provide the Autism Awareness Cards to. If
your child with autism has any specific medical issues, then
simply provide that information when booking your
cruise via our booking form. It is important to remember to bring all
medications and any other paperwork that the doctor on-board
would need to properly treat your child.
Special
Children's Program Child Grouping
Royal Caribbean's policy is to group children by age in
their children's program, Adventure Ocean. Our
children with autism are allowed to be grouped by their
ability, not their age. Beepers
are provided so parents can be contacted, when their
children with autism are in the Adventure Ocean program.
Special Dietary Accommodations
We will do our best to work with the Cruise
Line in order to meet most if not all the dietary
accommodations of all participants. Special
dietary requests must be made when booking your
reservation, some of which include:
Food allergies
Vegetarian (except vegan/macrobiotic)
Low-fat
Low-sodium
Lactose-free/soy milk
Indian-style vegetarian meals
Kosher
Requests MUST be received 45
days in advance in order to be accommodated.
Kosher
for Passover meals
Requests MUST be received 60
days in advance in order to be accommodated.
Gluten/Cassien Free Diet
Each cruise includes
the following basic GFCF items available at meals:
Bread
French Fries
Chicken Fingers
Pancakes
French Toast
Scrambled Eggs
Grilled Chicken Breast
Steak
Fish
(Cod, Salmon, Tilapia, Lobster, Shrimp, ect),
grilled or broiled
Vegetables
Fruit
Ice Cream
Other items may be
available as well, and special requests are welcome,
once onboard. You are welcome to bring your
own GFCF food and beverages, as long as they are in
an un-opened original packaging/container.
Some items, like pasta, can be brought onboard and
prepared by the ship chef's.
Special Gift
This may
include Autism Family
Cruise apparel and/or other cruise/autism related gifts.
Special Requests and Needs
If you have any other special
requests that would assist your child with autism in having
an extra special vacation, then please specify when booking
or contact us.
Special Potty Training Provisions
more info
Exemption for Dinner Dress Code
People with
Autism have been granted a complete
exemption
to these
guidelines, so they may wear whatever they are most
comfortable wearing, when attending Dinner in the Main
Dining Rooms.
Disability Access and Services
(including the ability to bring Service Animals)
Please visit our "Access
on the Seas" web pages for more information.
All of your needs and requests will be coordinated by us, see our Booking Form for how we gather your
information.
