Recommendation needed for autistic child 7 year old - need ship with LOTS of pools

[joomlarocks]

We are first time cruisers with our 7 year old non-verbal autistic son. We've gone on a ton of vacations with him and the one thing that appeals to him more then anything else is water, I am hoping to find a great ship with many pools so t hat we are not overwhelmed with crowded water areas, any suggestions?

[CruiserBruce]

If you look at the Disney and Carnival ships, they have lots of water features. Royal Caribbean is probably right behind them.

[johneeo]

We are first time cruisers with our 7 year old non-verbal autistic son. We've gone on a ton of vacations with him and the one thing that appeals to him more then anything else is water, I am hoping to find a great ship with many pools so t hat we are not overwhelmed with crowded water areas, any suggestions?

 

Take a look at Oasis or Allure.

[spookwife]

the family pools will be crowded, period. he cannot go into the quieter adult only pools unless the weather is very bad and they allow it during a couple of hours on sea days since these tend to be the covered pools.

 

 

how is he on water slides? a few lines/ships have those, if he meets the height and age restrictions. every ship should have a splash zone if the pools are too crowded. but again, those can get filled with the diaper set as that is the only pace they are allowed.

 

on port days the ship will be much more empty and the pools far less crowded.

[wnycruisefam66]

I cruised the Disney Dream last year w/my family & in our opinion the pool was very small for the amount of people on the ship. We didn't even try to get in it most days as almost every bit of it was full with people. We've cruised Royal Carib. 3 times (Freedom 2x & Oasis 1x) & they have several pools. While we've never found them as crowded as the Disney pool, they are not empty. Port days will find them much less crowded though. Hope this helps a little.:)

[sail7seas]

When thinking of pools and pool areas on ships, remember space is a premium. You won't find giant pools like at resorts. You'll find most are crowded most sea days as many people on a Caribbean cruise are there for 'sun and fun'.

 

On port days, the pools are far less crowded.

 

[Hlitner]

I had a discussion with DW about the OPs post since she spent over thirty years as a teacher and has plenty of training when it comes to autism. We are also pretty experienced cruisers having spent nearly 3 years cruising on 14 cruise lines (over 60 ships). We think a cruise may not be a good idea for this child for several reasons. Ship's pools are relatively small on most ships and they are almost always crowded during sea days. And DW also had a concern about an autistic child who might be infatuated with water being on a cruise ship. Such a child may confuse fantasy with reality and think its a good idea to jump overboard. She wonders if such a child might be better served at a large resort with plenty of pools and a beach....such as a decent All Inclusive resort.

 

Hank

[sherilyn70]

I would recomend checking out http://www.autismontheseas.com/ for more information.

 

As a high functioning autistic I disagree that it is a bad vacation for a child. As long as you have an adequate room to go back to for de-stressing and avoiding sensory overload it can be a lot of fun. As the parent I assume you know what triggers them and what makes them happy and by working with a group that specializes in cruises for Autistic people you'll get some great advice. To me, the room is always more important than any other feature when on a vacation so that I have a private place to escape to when everything starts to get to me.

[Taxguy77]

I had a discussion with DW about the OPs post since she spent over thirty years as a teacher and has plenty of training when it comes to autism. We are also pretty experienced cruisers having spent nearly 3 years cruising on 14 cruise lines (over 60 ships). We think a cruise may not be a good idea for this child for several reasons. Ship's pools are relatively small on most ships and they are almost always crowded during sea days. And DW also had a concern about an autistic child who might be infatuated with water being on a cruise ship. Such a child may confuse fantasy with reality and think its a good idea to jump overboard. She wonders if such a child might be better served at a large resort with plenty of pools and a beach....such as a decent All Inclusive resort.

 

Hank

 

Agree!

[MilliesMom]

Here's a website that you might find helpful: http://www.autisticglobetrotting.com/

[kitty9]

There's no such thing as a ship with LOTS of pools. Most ships have two pools, and if there's one more,it's almost always for adults. Even the pools on deck 15 on Oasis are small, noisy and crowded. If your son is easily bothered by lots of noise, loud music and lots of yelling kids, I'm not sure a cruise is for you. Like others have pointed out, cruise ship pools are small when compared to pools at resorts.

[maureencruiser]

And even if there are pools, there is no guarantee they will be open. One stupid parent puts a kid in a diaper in the main pool and it is shut down, drained and cleaned! This takes hours. Of course, in ports, you can look for quiet beaches for him.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Most ships have only 2 pools -- some with 3 but one is for adults only. The pools are not large and you will encounter many children in them at times.

And we have watched some children playing pretty rough with each other. Not sure how your child would react to this.

On sea days the pool areas are always crowded -- can your child handle that?

Good luck with your decision.

[meggie711]

You may want to go to Youtube and do a search for cruise ship pools, sea days, etc. It would give you a pretty good idea of the size of the pools and the number of people utilizing them. As some have mentioned, the pools can get pretty packed, but you may also find times when they are hardly in use (depending on the ship). I hope you find the information you are looking for, and even more so, I hope you are able to find the right vacation for your family! :)

[PennyAgain]

Some cruise ships (Crystal Cruise lines) have actually removed some pools to give more useable deck space.

 

The pools on ships also have a different sort of arrangement to getting in and out of the pools. Sometimes a splash area or an area where people can be wet and sun bathe at the same time.

 

You Tube videos are a very good idea.

 

Only you know your child.

[wantocruisemore]

My DD has autistic tendencies (never formally diagnosed, likely because she's now 23 and back then the guideline were different) and she LOVES to cruise. She had rather go on a ship than vacation at a resort. She also LOVES the water. I think she had the most fun on the Carnival Triumph because of the open water slide. We went in Nov. off season and it was not crowded. On our July Med cruise she didn't get as much water time because that ship only had the small pool.

 

Go to the sites they mention. I personally think cruises are great because there's so much to see and do on the ship. My DD loved the shows and the parade on RCCL.

 

Although we've never cruised Disney due to the price, I can say that Disney World is VERY accommodating and autism-friendly. I would expect the same on a cruise, it's just now my DD is older so we cannot justify the addit. expense for Disney.

 

Carnival and RCCL always bend over backwards for my DD. We ask and get priority boarding so she does not have a meltdown waiting in a long, loud line to check in. She loves sitting on the balcony looking at the water, I think it is calming. She is also on a gluten-free diet and they have always handled that well with her. Even with all her very picky food tendencies, they do well.

 

And as for swimming, for her 21 birthday we did a cruise to Cozumel where we swam with dolphins, manatees and sea lions. Dolphin Discovery did great with her.

[misty57]

Our 4 yo autistic grand daughter is a water baby too! She absolutely loves anything to do with water,including splash pads and swimming pools. The water features on RCCL freedom class ships is great. The crowding depends on the time of year.. and there is really a lot of room for lots of kids. I would recommend looking on the web site for pictures etc.,. If it's a matter of crowds then it might not be great, but if it's a matter of room for everyone I doubt it would be a problem. Maybe post the question on different cruise line boards here on CC for specific experiences people have had on their cruises during the time of year you are planning to travel. I would not think that a cruise would be a bad vacation for all children with autism. It's not you will not supervise him closely like you would anywhere else. Our little one is a runner and a climber, and we can't take our eyes off of her for a second!

[reallyitsmema]

Our 4 yo autistic grand daughter is a water baby too! She absolutely loves anything to do with water,including splash pads and swimming pools. The water features on RCCL freedom class ships is great. The crowding depends on the time of year.. and there is really a lot of room for lots of kids. I would recommend looking on the web site for pictures etc.,. If it's a matter of crowds then it might not be great, but if it's a matter of room for everyone I doubt it would be a problem. Maybe post the question on different cruise line boards here on CC for specific experiences people have had on their cruises during the time of year you are planning to travel. I would not think that a cruise would be a bad vacation for all children with autism. It's not you will not supervise him closely like you would anywhere else. Our little one is a runner and a climber, and we can't take our eyes off of her for a second!

Freedom class would be my suggestion also. The H20 Zone has lots of different water features like water cannons, geysers and a pool that is called the lazy donut that has a small current.

[jdvmd]

Does your child like slide or water park features? Most ships will only have a couple of pools, maybe three? Anything else that she/he likes?

[dsrdsrdsr]

You might consider a cold weather cruise (eg. alaska in May, Norway, Mediterranean in winter) during school term on a ship with heated pools. Adults tend not to use the pools very much when the air temperature's low, so there should be more room in the water.

[lady_cruiser]

Try this website - https://alumnicruises.org//Autism/home.htm . We were on a cruise with this group onboard (last November) and they seem to do a wonderful job with their group of children, teens and adults with Autism.

[Grumpy100]

We have been on many cruises and the best pool/play area with various water activities was on Royal Caribbean, Allure of the Seas.

Happy Sailing.

[blueblock]

You might consider a cold weather cruise (eg. alaska in May, Norway, Mediterranean in winter) during school term on a ship with heated pools. Adults tend not to use the pools very much when the air temperature's low, so there should be more room in the water.

 

I was going to say the same thing. On the Mediterranean cruises I've been on, the pools have rarely been crowded.

[sherryf]

I was going to say the same thing. On the Mediterranean cruises I've been on, the pools have rarely been crowded.

 

Same for Alaska. While there always seem to be some people in the pools, they have not been terribly crowded. The Princess ships we've been on have 2 big pools, one covered and one uncovered, and they both get used. Sometimes if the weather is particularly nice they will get more crowded, but probably still not anything like on Caribbean cruises.

 

One other thing to note, and I hope you are not offended that I mention it, but your son does need to be fully toilet trained to go in the pools. While this is not usually a problem for most children by the age of 7, it can be for kids with special needs. My step-son is non-verbal autistic and (although I didn't know him back then) I know he was not fully toilet trained at age 7.

[2specialkidsforme]

Our son has Cerebral Palsy and has cognitive and developmental delays. We took him and our DD on our first cruise last year - Liberty of the Seas by Royal Caribbean. He loved it. We found that the H20 zone was never crowded, plenty to do and the kids club staff were wonderful with him. We actually are going again this year -this time the sister ship - Independence of the Seas. We did Liberty first because it was 5 days so not too long. Good luck picking a ship - I hope you have a wonderful time!!!

 

PS Ask the cruise line if they have a special needs form - Royal Caribbean does so we could list what we needed ahead of time - including our son going to the younger groups' kids club.