Disembarking in Galveston with an autistic child help

We leave Sunday and I just realized that special needs didn’t mention disembarkation and neither did the packet of information they sent me. Because we’ll have to wake our son up earlier than he’s used to disembark plus the general being upset above leaving the ship, we suspect my husband will have to carry him off with possible meltdowns. I won’t be able to handle the luggage alone so self disembarkation with our luggage is out, plus the more sleep he can get the better for everyone’s sanity, us and everyone around us. We’re midship on deck 2 and I don’t know what that means for zones. To reduce the likelihood of standing in line for an hour+ with a tantruming 4 year old should we go with our zone or try to go at the end? Is there a key to making this run smoother? Are any of the lines for customs better for passports? We’ve never cruised with our child and in the past we took our luggage off ourselves bright and early and had no lines. Can we get a porter or a cart to assist with luggage if my son is busy with our son?

Talk to guest services on the ship and I am sure they can help you make the necessary arrangements. Good luck!

I agree to talk to them once on the ship.

We have an autistic child too, though we are not cruising with him until Oct 2019. But, we did just sail out of Galveston on the Valor in Nov. We were deck 2 midship. I don't know if they keep it the same, but for self assist we were the last or second to last group to get called for disembark.

They may be able to let you get off the ship first. I would talk to guest services onboard. Or even try talking to the special needs department if you have time before you board.

It can be a long wait with little to do before you'e called. Especially if you have an incident like we did...delay due to people getting arrested.

If they won't let you get off first, I would not do the self assist, that way you have your hands free.

Best of luck and have fun!

Forgot to add...once they called our zone it went really fast. The lines for customs was fairly quick...not too bad. They did, I'm pretty sure, have lines for passports only.

There are porters with carts in the luggage claim area. Because my DH needs wheelchair assistance I always use a porter and happily tip them for the pleasure:D They will take ya'll and your luggage thru customs and out to the curb

I agree to talk to them once on the ship.

We have an autistic child too, though we are not cruising with him until Oct 2019. But, we did just sail out of Galveston on the Valor in Nov. We were deck 2 midship. I don't know if they keep it the same, but for self assist we were the last or second to last group to get called for disembark.

They may be able to let you get off the ship first. I would talk to guest services onboard. Or even try talking to the special needs department if you have time before you board.

It can be a long wait with little to do before you'e called. Especially if you have an incident like we did...delay due to people getting arrested.

If they won't let you get off first, I would not do the self assist, that way you have your hands free.

Best of luck and have fun!

You took your own luggage off and were one of the last zones? I haven’t cruised in 6+ years so that’s new to me. When we cruised we were always one of the first ones off. One year we already took a taxi back to our hotel, got loaded in our car, and we were on the highway before our friends got off the ship :')

There are porters with carts in the luggage claim area. Because my DH needs wheelchair assistance I always use a porter and happily tip them for the pleasure:D They will take ya'll and your luggage thru customs and out to the curb

Are porters typically easy to come by or hard to get? We also have some other travelers in our group who would greatly benefit from the assistance.

You took your own luggage off and were one of the last zones? I haven’t cruised in 6+ years so that’s new to me. When we cruised we were always one of the first ones off. One year we already took a taxi back to our hotel, got loaded in our car, and we were on the highway before our friends got off the ship :')

They normally call self assist by zones, then start over on the zone numbers for non self assist. So it’s possible to be the “last” of the self assist and still be off before most of the ship.

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Are porters typically easy to come by or hard to get? We also have some other travelers in our group who would greatly benefit from the assistance.

The porters are very easy to find as soon as you get off the ship. Using a porter will also help you by pass a long line before you get into the lines for customs.

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The porters are very easy to find as soon as you get off the ship. Using a porter will also help you by pass a long line before you get into the lines for customs.

 

 

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That sounds like the answer to both of our issues, not enough hands for the luggage if my husband has to carry our son off and for him to not have to hold our nearly 70 lb kid for a long time waiting in line.

They normally call self assist by zones, then start over on the zone numbers for non self assist. So it’s possible to be the “last” of the self assist and still be off before most of the ship.

 

 

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Yes, that's how it went.:)

Are porters typically easy to come by or hard to get? We also have some other travelers in our group who would greatly benefit from the assistance.

We've never had a problem finding a porter in Baltimore, Charleston, Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Ft Lauderdale or Tampa :) We always use one.

I second the idea of going to Guest Services about 2 things

1. Muster Drill - go as soon as you board to GServices - they may have a place you can go with your son that may be easier than out on deck

2. Disembarking - again see GServices and explain your problem. They'll know what will work best for ya'll. They deal with this sort of thing regularly.