Cruise

[Alyson]

Hey, everyone! I am leaving in two weeks for a cruise with three of my girlfriends! We're all stay-at-home moms and began a get-away tradition last year. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has any good "insider" cruise advice for me? What about something for sea sickness? Do toilets on those ships flush just like regular ones? Ok, leave it to an icer to wonder about that one!
Hugs,
Alyson cool.gif

[ICNDonna]

Yup, cruise ships have really truly flush toilets! I'm jealous --- wish I could go along with you. I don't get seasick except on a small boat, but I would suggest you ask your doctor about something to take "just in case."

Warm hugs,
Donna

[jaime15]

definitely ask for a seasick patch or something. I even got sick flying. So with the patchs everything goes smoother. I so enjoyed every cruise I've been on. They treat you like a queen!
And ohhhhhhh the food!!
HAVE FUN!!!!!
Jaime <img src="graemlins/jester.gif" border="0" alt="[jester]" />

[darlene]

The seasick patch is great. You must get a prescription from your doctor to get it. If you explain your dining restrictions to your steward, he/she will work with you to get it right. The toughest part of a cruise, is the land excursions. Sometimes, it may be a few hours between potty breaks, and I have been to beaches with NO restrooms. I tried asking, at the tour desk, about the restroom situation, but none of the tour operators knew anything about it. I guess only those with medical needs, worry about such problems.

[Teri]

We have cruised 4 times and I'm all done crusin' wink.gif I want to see the rest of the world in a motorized wheel chair biggrin.gif

The best piece of advise I can give you is BE KIND TO YOURSELF!!!!!!!! It's OKAY to say no.....it's okay to take a nap. it's okay to not be okay! The rest of the time, have a ball! Most of your meals you will be able to pick IC friendly foods. And, do the excursisions as they come. I found that if it had to be booked ahead of time, I wouldn't book because we did loose money once because there was no way I could do it. Hubby had to learn how to do alot of things on his own and I got to get some much needed rest.

Have a great time biggrin.gif

[liz2]

I had a wonderful cruise to Alaska late July and early August. My travel agent faxed my food list to the cruise line--Royal Caribben--two weeks ahead of time. Also I hand-carried the list (which had been countersigned by my doctor) and handed it to the head waiter in the formal dining area. My list was broken down in columns by the headings: NO-NEVER, SOMETIMES IN SMALL AMOUNTS, YES. I am also a diabetic and that was carefully monitored even by the assistant waiters. I tried always to use the formal dinning room; they had the master list from the cruise line headquarters and worked hard with it. At the end of the cruise, I tipped well for the excellent treatment.

The evening before, I looked at the next day's menu, and the headwaiter and I went through it deciding which items could be used as they were and which had to be modified for me. My meals pulled from different dishes that were on the menu. For example, if there was a disk using beans, the beans themselves could be cooked separately for me. If a shrimp xyz dish was on the menu, the shrimp could be grilled with olive oil or butter for me. Also, I ate a lot of green salads with olive oil only as a dressing. I also found you could get an unaged version of mozzarella cheese that we could add to my salads. I used fresh fruit for dessert. Melon, blueberrries, pears, and sometimes a few slices of banana or apple,which I can occasionally tolerate.

I only drank bottled Evian water. The stateroom attendent put out X number of bottles. If I ran out I got more from room service and/or the formal dining room. Yes, the bottled water did cost, but that was better than having drinking water put me in a flare.

No problem with bathrooms. Something else we did that helped conserve engery was to spend the money for a room with a balcony. That was very helpful when the IC had me extra tired, and I missed seeing very little. I was very careful to conserve energy whenever possible, and I chose the tamer trips in the ports of call.

Good luck!

[liz2]

You asked about nausea. I went prepared with prescription medication from my doctor. In fact, I carried just about every possible medication with me. I even had a doctor's permission letter for the bathroom. I used it four times, two of which were on the plane. And I cann't emphasize enough that you need to pick those port excursions with care. Also keep your shopping to a minimum.

Many port trips indicate what type of walking, etc. is required. I completely eliminated anything that called for incline walking. I handled some standing okay and limited walking all right. The worst time I had was walking from the dock down a gang plank to the water's level to get inside a float plane for a trip over the Juneau ice fields to a remote lodge for a salmon bake. The tide was out, so that the gang plank went down sharply.

[dentalchic2002]

last october we went for a disney world cruise /land trip. this was a month before i was diagnosed with ic. the ship was great!!! when i memorized where all the potties were, i t was good!!!!! i only got seasick on the last nite and it was bad!! teh ship had a store and i got seasick pills there..teh thing is there was hardly any waves!!! ilove the boat but i don'tknow if i coud do it again..otherwise it was a blast!!! have a good time

[Alyson]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! We are back from our cruise and I absolutely loved it! I learned where all the potties were on every floor! I took everyone's advice and took it easy when I felt like I needed to! I watched my diet very closely and had didn't have any flares!!! I am looking forward to cruising again in the future!
cool.gif Alyson

[lainie]

Alyson, so glad you had a great trip! I have been trying to plan a trip and get discouraged because of the IC..but it's so nice to hear from others that it is possible...
We were thiinking of Europe ..does anybody know about their public bathrooms-any info at all would be helpful-like do they have many, are they sanitary? I was thinking of going on a coach tour because if they don't have a toilet on the bus, they stop every 2 hours for a break!
Also thinking about the Caribbean, but worried about swimming in the ocean and wondering if that would make me flare up??
But it is encouraging to hear that your cruise went well and I am glad you had a good time!! Lainie cool.gif

[lainie]

that cool.gif symbol was meant to be put beside the Caribbean! Sorry, did not mean that I was cool! But I guess you all figured that out!! <img src="graemlins/lmao.gif" border="0" alt="[lmao]" /> <img src="graemlins/lmao.gif" border="0" alt="[lmao]" /> Lainie

[Alyson]

Lainie: I use that symbol too! I meant the same thing--the cruise was cool--definitely not me!haha! As far as the ocean causing a flare, it didn't for me and I was in it a lot! Good luck!
Alyson

[lainie]

<img src="graemlins/hi.gif" border="0" alt="[hi]" /> Thanks Alyson, now I can start some planning, I bet hubby will be excited to hear that! Thanks for getting back to me..Lainie

[Claudia]

Hi Alyson,

The trip sounds wonderful.

A word of warning about the seasick patches and medications. They totally paralize my bladder. I look carefully in the PDR for side effects saying "difficult urination" because I then know that it will mean "no urination" for me. I can't even look at those kinds of things or any antihistimines. (All are in the same family of medications.)

Just to be safe, why don't you get whatever you plan to use, and try it out at home first. (You probably won't even need it on your trip anyway.)

Hope you have a wonderfl time!

[Hope]

About sea sick and swimming in oceans. Instead of medication, try the wrist bands. You can get them at a pharmacy or a place that sells boating equipment. You wear them on your wrists. They have little buttons that rest on particular points on your wrists. They work wonderfully. I wore them throughout my two pre-IC pregnancies. Also, I live near the ocean and have never been flared from the salt water.

Hope

[Amanda]

My mom and I went to the caribbean for ten-days last Summer. I had a wonderful time and had no problems with foods, time for rest, ect.

I think you will have a wonderful time.

Amanda