Cruising while on dialysis....

What a terrific resource Cruise Critic is. I just asked this question on the Celebrity boards and they pointed me over here. Great info all. I will be going on dialysis in the future( hopefully in the far future ) and I was so afraid my cruising days were over. I am leaning toward peritoneal and from what I am understanding from here, i can can bring the machine and I can have the bags and fluids delivered to the ship? How or where do u find the service to do this ?

 

Jeff

Who is providing your machine and bags? We did this several times when my wife was on PD - I can help.

Who is providing your machine and bags? We did this several times when my wife was on PD - I can help.

Hi Jimmy,

I just reached stage 4 failure but my Doc says it will be after my cruise in April. Hopefully a while after but I'm pretty sure I will be on it by the following cruise. So my provider will be able to help me find supplies out of state?

Jeff

Hi Jimmy,

I just reached stage 4 failure but my Doc says it will be after my cruise in April. Hopefully a while after but I'm pretty sure I will be on it by the following cruise. So my provider will be able to help me find supplies out of state?

 

Jeff

It is likely that your provider will be Baxter as they seem to handle most PD patients in this area. You will be provided training on how to use the machine which is about the size of one of the original VCR's. If you go on a cruise, Baxter will deliver the fluids directly to the ship and may also supply some of the ancillary stuff used in the process if the cruise is long enough to justify that. You will bring the machine with you (a suitcase for it is provided) and I recommend the purchase of a wheeled device to haul the suitcase around as it is quite heavy.

I realize that all of this can seem a bit overwhelming at first. IT CAN BE DONE AND IS DONE BY MANY PEOPLE. I do check this forum frequently so if I can explain or help further, just ask.

My husband is on in-center Hemodialysis and was thinking of changing to home hemodialysis. Does anyone know if the ships will allow him to bring the machine and do his own dialysis? The doctor at the center he goes to said he could travel more if he did the dialysis at home. Our trip would be in 2013 so he has time to learn how to do the treatments at home.

It depends on the cruise line. If you do a search, I think Royal is more resistant to this than NCL or Carnival. I would call the lines directly and book with the line you find t be most helpful.

Thanks, I will call the different cruise lines to see what customer service tells me. I was hoping that someone had actually done the home hemodialysis and could have given me more information about there experience

hey,

I cruised with dialysis of the seas a couple of years ago

The dialysis part of the cruise went fine, exactly like the treatment I get at my clinic

The staff and Nurses were wonderful and everything was taken care of, all supplies were on board, they even had supplies in case of an emergency

The bad part. While they tell you that the treatments might be covered by your health insurance company, I am going to tell you, expect to pay for that yourself. Those treatments run $575-$700

The worst thing that I encountered was that I was charged FULL fare for my room and so was my brother who shared my room. YOU MUST purchase your cabin from Dialysis of the seas and there are NO discounts!!! The stinker was when my family member not only got a $250 spending vouchure while on board but Royal Caribbean lowered their fares by 30% and I did NOT get either discount from Dialysis Of The Seas

So, to some things up, great service, no problems with getting treatment, but it is expensive and you are NOT going to get any of the discounts everyone gets!!

My husband is on in-center Hemodialysis and was thinking of changing to home hemodialysis. Does anyone know if the ships will allow him to bring the machine and do his own dialysis? The doctor at the center he goes to said he could travel more if he did the dialysis at home. Our trip would be in 2013 so he has time to learn how to do the treatments at home.

I have been on Princess and Royal Caribbean while doing home dialysis. They would not allow me to bring my machine on board. I had to do treatments manually 4 times a day. My dialysis company was great and sent all supplies to the ship. There is some paperwork you need to do with the cruise lines ahead of time and there are some forms you need to with your dialysis center so that they have clearance ahead of time to get through security and deliver your supplies. Each time I went I had no problems and I found my supplies waiting for me in my cabin already on board before I was. Happy Sailing!!

hey,

I cruised with dialysis of the seas a couple of years ago

The dialysis part of the cruise went fine, exactly like the treatment I get at my clinic

The staff and Nurses were wonderful and everything was taken care of, all supplies were on board, they even had supplies in case of an emergency

 

The bad part. While they tell you that the treatments might be covered by your health insurance company, I am going to tell you, expect to pay for that yourself. Those treatments run $575-$700

 

The worst thing that I encountered was that I was charged FULL fare for my room and so was my brother who shared my room. YOU MUST purchase your cabin from Dialysis of the seas and there are NO discounts!!! The stinker was when my family member not only got a $250 spending vouchure while on board but Royal Caribbean lowered their fares by 30% and I did NOT get either discount from Dialysis Of The Seas

 

So, to some things up, great service, no problems with getting treatment, but it is expensive and you are NOT going to get any of the discounts everyone gets!!

I will be sailing in the end of October on the RCCL Anthem of the Seas and the representative that sold me the cruise told me that we were saving more money than what the cruise line was offering. As far as reimbursement for the cruise my union insurance will cover my dialysis 100%! Now my question to you is do you get a confirmation of what time your treatments are so that you can make reservations for dinner?

Our experience with Dislysis At Sea was excellent. Yes, you do have to book room through them, but price was same as if I’d booked directly through RCCL.

After you make first payment and are booked on the cruise, you’ll be given choice of times for dialysis. It’s first come, first served for dialysis time slots. My DH preferred 10am time slot, so we booked as soon as we could choose the time he wanted. I believe they start at 6am and last time spot was around 2pm. Then you can make dinner plans. Dialysis time slot will stay the same throughout your cruise. Dialysis is done in Medical area. They had two 2-bed dialysis rooms. There is a maximum number patients that can be accommodated, usually 12-16 patients, so book as soon as you can. All staff were wonderful.

Dialysis was three times on a 7 day cruise, and every other day on a 14 day cruise.

Yes, you pay upfront for dialysis and DialysisAtSea doesn’t guarantee you’ll be reimbursed by your insurance. Once you’re home DAS will send you a final bill marked paid. We submitted that to insurance and had a check within two weeks. Insurance does not reimburse for the medical insurance charged by DAS, and that was around $250. Other than that, we got all dialysis costs reimbursed.

I would absolutely recommend cruising while on dialysis.

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Adding to my post above, you don’t get a discount with Dialysis AtSea. We basically paid the rack rate or slightly more. That’s because the nurses and nephrologist volunteer their time and do not get paid, but they do get an inside shared room. If your cruise costs a little more than rack rate, the extra cost pays for those cabins. The dialysis team not only comes as volunteers, but they pay their own way to get to and from the ship!

We found every person to be a very knowledgeable dialysis professional. They have strict guidelines for volunteering. I believe they must have at least five years current dialysis experience.

They give up their own vacation time each year to volunteer on the ships. We had the wonderful luck to have sailed with several before.

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