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delicate question-no bidet in bath-ever try a travel one?


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My friend will be traveling on the QM2 on a crossing. He has ALS and uses a bidet at home. He has a care giver joining him but I think would prefer to take care of certain hygiene issues himself if possible. Until I started helping plan this trip I was very ignorant to the hurdles disabled travelers face, very dissapointing to learn of the limited availability of accessible hotels and cabins etc.

Anyhow there is no bidet in the cabin which surprises me as I would have assumed someone designing such bathrooms would have considered there could be a need for one. I have been doing various searches and have come across some travel bidets but most appear that he would have to be able to squeeze it to work which might be difficult. I did see some battery opperated ones and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them? I am wondering if as there is a raised toliet seat if it could fit between the gap and he could just press the button taking care of that situation himself.

 

Please excuse the delicate nature of the question. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

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My elderly mother is quite accustomed to her bidet at home. When cruising, she always insists on getting a cabin with a handheld shower head (like one of those hansgrohe things on a slider). She uses the handheld shower head to perform the function of the bidet.

 

Would that work for your friend?

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My elderly mother is quite accustomed to her bidet at home. When cruising, she always insists on getting a cabin with a handheld shower head (like one of those hansgrohe things on a slider). She uses the handheld shower head to perform the function of the bidet.

 

Would that work for your friend?

 

I had thought of that as there is one in the bathroom but was wondering (please excuse the graphic image) about how sanitary it would be, I mean is there a drain directly under the shower stool? Sorry to be so direct about it I just am trying to think of options for him. It amazes me that they don't have handicap cabins equiped with bidets. I have learned an awful lot in the past week of how challanging travel can be for people with disabilities.

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On RCI, some of the bigger suites have bidets....but not any standard cabin. It's about the same in hotels...the higher priced suites will have them. Regular rooms won't.

 

I would opt for the showerhead thing....

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Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen a hotel with a bidet....

 

I've had them in upper end hotels in larger cities like Chicago, New York, LA, and Vegas. They are more popular in most European hotels.

 

Only the largest suites on ships have bidets. It's a space factor as ship bathrooms are tiny and have no room for both a commode and bidet.

Edited by kitty9
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I had thought of that as there is one in the bathroom but was wondering (please excuse the graphic image) about how sanitary it would be, I mean is there a drain directly under the shower stool? Sorry to be so direct about it I just am trying to think of options for him. It amazes me that they don't have handicap cabins equiped with bidets. I have learned an awful lot in the past week of how challanging travel can be for people with disabilities.

 

 

As a nurse I think you will find that the hand held shower and drain in the shower will suffice...is the person capable of cleaning off some of his stool while on the toilet ? If so, then he should manage fine cleaning himself with the hand held shower . I fully appreciate what you are saying.

The other option may be a portable sitz bath that he can place on the toilet and then sit inside of this.... I supect this may be what you are talking about..it would help to cleanse off some of the stool and then he could transfer to the shower to complete.

No need for embarassment..these are the realities of the life for a disabled person and yes, travelling means +++ challenges. I wish you all the best.

 

Not sure if this will work...here is a picture of a sitz bath...you do not have to use the bag and hose ...can just fill with warm water.

 

sitz-bath.jpg

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I first read this thread before taking off on our cruise, and my response may not help in the least, but I have been thinking about it each day as I shower. We are in an Owner's Suite on the Norwegian Jewel. Many of the suite showers have a shower head with a hand held and two nozzles that spray at an appropriate height for personal cleaning. It wouldn't necessarily work if someone was unable to stand, but I must say, if nothing else, this thread has given me more compassion for those who have to face this type of disability.

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As a nurse I think you will find that the hand held shower and drain in the shower will suffice...is the person capable of cleaning off some of his stool while on the toilet ? If so, then he should manage fine cleaning himself with the hand held shower . I fully appreciate what you are saying.

The other option may be a portable sitz bath that he can place on the toilet and then sit inside of this.... I supect this may be what you are talking about..it would help to cleanse off some of the stool and then he could transfer to the shower to complete.

No need for embarassment..these are the realities of the life for a disabled person and yes, travelling means +++ challenges. I wish you all the best.

 

Not sure if this will work...here is a picture of a sitz bath...you do not have to use the bag and hose ...can just fill with warm water.

 

sitz-bath.jpg

Thank you for the suggestion I think the sitsz bath and then shower stool would work perfectly together. I don't know his exact abilities for personal issues except that he uses a bidet built into hIs toilet at home. I found a handicap room for him in Berlin and they also suggested the shower stool for cleanliness. It is a delicate matter and I am trying to show him as much compassion and respect as possible. I think I have most things figured out for him even found a wheelchair accessible tour guide. Certainly has been an eye opening experience seeing first hand the challenges he (and many others) face daily !

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  • 4 months later...

I may need to use a commode on my next cruise as I may not be able to get on and off the regular toilet (even a raised one) with out something to pull (or push) myself up. Do the room stewards clean out the commodes? I'll be traveling by myself and am just trying to figure out all of this.

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We take a travel shower/commode chair that has wheels, and rolls over the toilet. I set it up so there is a space between the toilet bowel and the seat to make assistant cleaning easier. Otherwise, we can roll it right into the accessible shower stall after using the toilet and shower in that same chair, including perineal cleaning.

 

The room steward does not clean the commode chair though. That is our responsibility. We also bring our own baby wipes for bowel/bladder clean up.

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I may need to use a commode on my next cruise as I may not be able to get on and off the regular toilet (even a raised one) with out something to pull (or push) myself up. Do the room stewards clean out the commodes? I'll be traveling by myself and am just trying to figure out all of this.

 

 

Have been told by a friend of mine who uses a commode chair on cruise that :

  • some cruise lines will provide the commode chair free of charge.
  • that the cabin attendant DOES NOT clean it nor do dispose of the contents. That's the passengers responsibility, If uable to do that than the passenger is required to travel with a personal care assistant who can.

My friend also reminded me of the person who was disabled and traveling solo that booked a fancy suite on HAL thinking the Butler would take care of all just personal needs. Unfortunately HAL removed the passenger at the next port for failure to traveling with a personal assistant. This story was posted on CC about two years ago.

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  • 5 years later...
My friend will be traveling on the QM2 on a crossing. He has ALS and uses a bidet at home. He has a care giver joining him but I think would prefer to take care of certain hygiene issues himself if possible. Until I started helping plan this trip I was very ignorant to the hurdles disabled travelers face, very dissapointing to learn of the limited availability of accessible hotels and cabins etc.

Anyhow there is no bidet in the cabin which surprises me as I would have assumed someone designing such bathrooms would have considered there could be a need for one. I have been doing various searches and have come across some travel bidets but most appear that he would have to be able to squeeze it to work which might be difficult. I did see some battery opperated ones and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them? I am wondering if as there is a raised toliet seat if it could fit between the gap and he could just press the button taking care of that situation himself.

 

Please excuse the delicate nature of the question. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

No apology needed: many of us have issues like this. My husband and I both have hemorrhoids, and have bidets attached to all our toilets at home, and use the toilet's water supply. We just bought a condo near our youngest son, and I ordered another one last week. (We get them on Amazon, they cost $30, and attach to any toilet in about 15 minutes. We will never live anywhere without one.)

 

While purchasing the last one, I researched travel bidets, and ordered two TOPINCN rechargeable ones:

 

51aaS9RPkAL._SX425_.jpg

We've used them for about 3 days, and I must say I'm impressed. On a scale of 1-10 our attached bidets are a 10: super fast and easy to use. These travel bidets are around a 6. They come with a USB charger cable, so if you have any USB wall charger, you just plug them in to recharge. There's no battery to install.

 

They have 2 water pressure settings, and I use the strongest, which is just right. I use warm water in the travel bidet's cannister, and it can be used to clean from the front or the back. My husband uses it from the back. The "wand" angle is adjustable, too.

 

It can be easily refilled for a second round, and washes / rinses up easily. I store the two parts detached so it can air dry in between uses. It's actually very sanitary to use. The soft button to operate the water flow is easy to push, too.

 

There's more finishing mop up with the travel bidet, but it's a perfect solution for us. With our attached bidets at home I'm done rinsing and finishing in less than a minute; the travel bidet is about 3 minutes if I have to refill it.

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No apology needed: many of us have issues like this. My husband and I both have hemorrhoids, and have bidets attached to all our toilets at home, and use the toilet's water supply. We just bought a condo near our youngest son, and I ordered another one last week. (We get them on Amazon, they cost $30, and attach to any toilet in about 15 minutes. We will never live anywhere without one.)

 

While purchasing the last one, I researched travel bidets, and ordered two TOPINCN rechargeable ones:

 

51aaS9RPkAL._SX425_.jpg

We've used them for about 3 days, and I must say I'm impressed. On a scale of 1-10 our attached bidets are a 10: super fast and easy to use. These travel bidets are around a 6. They come with a USB charger cable, so if you have any USB wall charger, you just plug them in to recharge. There's no battery to install.

 

They have 2 water pressure settings, and I use the strongest, which is just right. I use warm water in the travel bidet's cannister, and it can be used to clean from the front or the back. My husband uses it from the back. The "wand" angle is adjustable, too.

 

It can be easily refilled for a second round, and washes / rinses up easily. I store the two parts detached so it can air dry in between uses. It's actually very sanitary to use. The soft button to operate the water flow is easy to push, too.

 

There's more finishing mop up with the travel bidet, but it's a perfect solution for us. With our attached bidets at home I'm done rinsing and finishing in less than a minute; the travel bidet is about 3 minutes if I have to refill it.

 

 

Though the information you posted is helpful the post your responded to is 5 1/2 years old.

It was posted on April 27th, 2012, 02:45 PM

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