Need help with my mothers cruise

Long story short....My 83 year old mother with dementia and my 30 year old daughter are going on a short Carnival cruise mid March booked last minute and I'm freaking out about some details. Both have been on cruises but never with my mother in this condition. Among other concerns is the embarkation/debarkation thing. She will need help. How does one make arrangements for assistance with that? Is there any other issues that they need to get out ahead of with Carnival?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Request a wheelchair for embark and debarkation. Can be done ahead of time.

For muster you can go to GS to see where the special needs muster is or wait til muster is called and ask one of the crew. Also can ask for a kids wristband.

Some will decorate the cabin door to make it more recognizable.

What kind of help will she need? As others said, you can request a wheelchair in advance and a crew person will get her on and off the boat. BUT ... that is only available for embarkation/disembarkation. What assistance will she need to get off and back on at ports? What about to get around the ship? If she cannot walk long distances and/or you don't want to have to fight with her to keep her moving, you may want to look into renting or buying her own wheelchair. (Ordinarily I would suggest a scooter, but that can be a very bad idea for a person with dementia. My late MIL was lethal with hers.)

You are really going to have to think through every aspect of cruising. Does she always, ALWAYS recognize you and/or your daughter as family? Are you absolutely sure she will still recognize you even when the stress of being in a new situation hits her? How does she sleep? How will you handle it when (not if) she wakes up in the middle of the night in a strange place and starts screaming? For that matter, how will you handle her anxiety every morning (and after every nap) at waking up in a place she doesn't recognize? Does she sundown? Is she used to certain foods for certain meals, and will you be able to get them onboard, prepared the way she is used to? What will you do if the ship personnel demand that she leave the ship at the first port (for disturbing other passengers)?

I totally get that you want her to have a special treat, and maybe even make memories you can all remember later. But unless she is in very early dementia (and possibly even then), the new-situation stress will far outweigh any enjoyment that she might have experienced from cruises in the past. She won't remember the cruise, and it's all too likely that you and your daughter will wind up with more miserable than happy memories.

My Uncle has dementia...and he gets VERY confused when out of his "home" environment....and I think that's true of MANY dementia patients. You don't say how advanced her dementia is, but you may want to re-think this a bit.