In December 2015 our family went on the trip of a lifetime. Caudwell Children's Destination Dreams trip allowed us to use Nate's Make a Wish at Give Kids The World in Orlando Florida. We had a team of doctors and volunteers to help us and 24 other families experience the parks of Florida and make precious memories. Our next door neighbours in Give Kids The World, a fellow Caudwell family, told us about their cruising experiences and how positive they had been. Cruising was an experience I hadn't ever considered as it was something I ( wrongly) associated with old people. Getting a complex child with a shit load of kit on a plane ( see previous post about Nate's room) with a huge team of helpers was at best described as tricky. Whether it was the passengers getting off the plane flinging themselves over oxygen tubing as they were in SUCH A HURRY, the passport control man who screamed at the doctor carrying Nate's concentrator to "GET BACK AWAY FROM THE LINE ONE PERSON AT A TIME", or the family in front of us on the way home who boarded late and immediately flung their seats far back into mine and Nate's laps ( we were at the back), well I knew I wouldn't be able to take Nate in a plane again. Didn't mute those low oxygen saturation alarms very quickly did i huh? 😉.
Although absolutely crapping myself at the idea we ( that is Michael) thought a cruise was worth a try.
Things that had to be sorted-
-Accessible room ( so that the wheelchair would fit through the door)
- Oxygen
- Water for feed and flushes
- Blending Nate's food
- Fridge for meds
- Appropriate voltage for Nate's electrical kit
- Lots of meds
- Packing feed, containers, syringes, pads, and the other stuff Nate can't go without
- The normal stuff you take on a holiday...
And so after a VERY long drive we arrived in Southampton, stayed over and made our way to the docks.
At the cruise terminal the Royal Caribbean staff took one look at us and shipped us off to priority boarding. Porters at the car park were unable to take much of our ( well Nate's) luggage for safety reasons and so we were still pretty heavily laden entering the terminal. The boarding staff arranged for some of their crew to get us and our excessive amounts of luggage and kit onto the ship. Not being able to get into our room until 1pm was a bit of a pain but having taken up a drinks package offer meant a constant supply of alcohol, which certainly helped.
Our "accessible panoramic stateroom" had amazing views. But I wouldn't describe it as big or flash. I took a peek at the other rooms on the deck and ours was huge comparatively, but once you added a wheelchair and all of Nate's kit in there wasn't much space to move around. Not that we planned on spending much time in the room. Most importantly however, Nate slept! 5 nights in a row. So all we need to do is go live on a boat...
The cruise had everything we needed as a family. Activities for Thea, and experiences for Nate. The food was great and the service outstanding, particularly in the main dining room.
We had a tube blockage issue mid trip due to the busy buffet restaurant not sieving the blend, luckily this was a partial blockage and we could still get meds down the tube. Eventually ( a day and a half later) the offending seed was dislodged and the tube unblocked much to our relief. Nate's gjet had only been replaced the week before and I didn't fancy having that particular conversation with gastro...
The cruise company provided coaches, including many which were wheelchair accessible, into the local towns once we had docked in our destination ports. We seemed to find some sort of celebration everywhere we wandered, and Nate had a truly multi sensory experience. To be honest we were just as happy on the ship. Even the choppy motion and sea air seemed to agree with Nate. The hustle and bustle of evenings on board was also a huge success.
It was such a pleasant change to be on a trip where I wasn't made to feel like having a disabled child was a huge inconvenience. With the exception of some very lovely and amazing places locally I've found in general there is a substantial lack of knowledge and understanding within customer services of disability, illness and additional needs. There's usually a look of panic or irritation when we ask for something different or "not the norm". Front of house waiters in restaurants are unable to even shift chairs out of the way of Nate's chair. There's the staring when Nate starts with his variety of noises, or just at him full stop. It was refreshing to not have that. I hadn't realised how much the actions of others weighed on me until it was very obviously absent.
If you are in customer service you need to learn about your customers, and that means all of them.
If we've learned anything it's that life's too short so we will take the "not shit" times and max the living shit out of them.
Yeah so Michael was right, it was a good idea.
ssssh don't tell him though
No comments:
Post a Comment