Dialysis on RCCL ships

Hey...here is something a coworker of mine want's to know....her fiancee needs 3x per week dialysis.....anybody know if this is available?????

They want to cruise, but don't know the answer.....maybe one of you does. I know, they could call....but y'all are more fun!

Or maybe one of the other lines...they know they'd have to pay, they could always fight that out with their medical coverage later.......

thanks tons

Try this web site, it might be a good start. I personally don't know anything about it and am not endorsing it, I just mention it for informational purposes.. - http://www.dialysisatsea.com/

I met a nice older gentleman and his middle aged daughter on one of my cruises (on the Radiance, I think) and they were cruising for the first time, because the daughter required daily dialysis, and RCI was able to meet her needs aboard the ship.

So they not only provide emergency medical services in their facilities, but also ongoing treatment options such as dialysis.

The father and daughter couldn't speak highly enough about the service, and how it had changed their ability to travel.

My husband is a dialysis patient and has not cruised but I have looked into dialysis at sea. They are an outside company that places equipment, nurses and doctors on certain ships (Royal Caribbean being one) and they handle the dialysis - they only take a few patients on each cruise. It can be expensive as they of course charge for each treatment and most insurance does not cover the treatments at sea as it's considered out of the country when on a ship. From the information I gathered they are a good company. The dialysis center should be able to help her get any information needed.

Thanks..that's good helpful news. I will tell my coworker that she & her fiancee can at least THINK about it....and to know they'd need extra money in the budget.

My wife has been on hemodialysis for 8 years now and during that time we have been on 5 cruises where she received hemodialysis on ships (7 days to 12 days) all via Dialysis at sea. They all worked out fine and we had a wonderful time on each- to Mediterranean twice, Alaska, Caribbean, Panama Canal, and another planned for Alaska by way of the railroad from Banff to Vancouver and the Radiance next July. Two of our dialysis cruises were on Holland America and three on Royal Caribbean, all very satisfactory. They generally have 6 to 12 dialysis patients on just certain cruises, as described in their calender. The cost per dialysis is about $450 and not covered by insurance, but they do get a group cruise rate which is a bit cheaper. They have a nephrologist on the cruise, a nurse, and a tech. They know what they are doing and use state of the art equipment. My wife was able to participate in all the ship activities and excursioins. You have to watch your diet and avoid salt, Potassium, and Phosphorus as much as possible and bring your own meds inclulding EPO which they can store in their ( or your) refrigerator mini-bar. I suggest to bring your own BP monitoring device and adjust your BP meds as needed, as it is hard to keep under 2000 mgm of sodium per day. If your overall health is pretty good and you tolerate dialysis OK and can afford it,then this is a wonderful oportunity to travel to interesting places and also enjoy a wonderful ship. Peritoneal dialysis is also arrangeable. We have enjoyed all our cruises. Jim