How does your autistic child do with the crowds?

[ohboy2011]

Hi,

 

We have never cruised before, & are considering booking our first with Autism on the Seas to make it easier for our 4 year old son with autism.

 

Our main concern is how autistic children do with the crowds & noise. Our son recently started preschool, & says it's "too busy" & hard work to be there. I am wondering if there are enough quiet areas to retreat to on a ship, or will we end up spending most of our time in our room? I see all the positive reviews of AotS & hope it would be the same for us, but am hesitant.

 

Andrea

[Essiesmom]

If I had a child that had a problem with crowds, I would be looking to book the smallest ship available. Yes, it will have a lot of people, but not as many...the newest, largest ships have many more, and all those fancy venues will draw the crowds, so using them might be a trial....long lines. As to places to retreat, there are always lounges that are empty or underutilized. Perhaps there might be a trivia session in one part, but the rest is quiet.

There are always going to be crowds around the pool area, so if that is an important part of your vacation, you might have to rethink it. EM

[sherilyn70]

As an aspie, with enough planning you'll be fine. How do you handle the zoo or other large venues? Make sure you have a room you can comfortably escape to if things get bad. I always have an exit strategy. You can also work on teaching him coping mechanisms (like headphones to block out nose, closing your eyes and just counting to 50). I've been on oasis and it's really not that crazy or crowded with a few exceptions. If you can go with the autism group them go for it, but I think you'll be just fine without them.

[maryharford1976]

Autism on the seas is absolutely amazing. My family has cruised 3 times with them. Your question about crowds is a valid one. First off...try to avoI'd Disney. I just feel that Disney has too many children on board. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean and with Carnival. I would recommend Royal Caribbean the most. The ships we went on were the Navigator and Voyager of the Seas respectively. These are not the largest ships in the RC line, but not the smallest either. Another tip to avoid crowds of noisy children is to book a time when school is in session instead of going on a school holiday or summer time. The Carnival ship we went on was the Elation. It's a smaller ship in their line. It wasn't too loud or overcrowded. My only issues were that the ship was constantly rocking and the food was not as high quality as RC.

 

Now to the actual services AOTS offers...first let me say again that they are absolutely amazing. From the moment you first book until years later, you will become the member of an extended family. I still talk to almost all of the families and staff that we met on our first cruise in 2012. I have many of the staff from the office in Connecticut as friends on Facebook. The first thing you will see when you get to the terminal are the orange shirts. They are there from moment number one to assist you through check in. The staff will become very close to you during the cruise. AOTS offers nightly respite for all of your children...not just the cruiser with autism. My younger son was undiagnosed on our first two trips but spent time with the staff. They welcomed him. He was diagnosed before our last trip. Respite was very nice. AOTS also offers at least one group excursion for each cruise. The staff is on hand to assist during this excursion. It is also very much cheaper than any excursions you can get through the cruise lines. We went to Club Cozumel Caribe on our last trip. It was $25 per person.

 

The AOTS staff will also coordinate special disembarkation for the group. You shouldn't have to fight a crowd to get on or off the ship. They also do staff sponsored events such as pool time during the cruise on at sea days. My younger son had so much fun with the AOTS staff that he never set foot in the regular children's program for the whole trip.

 

My advice...go ahead and book it...you won't regret it.

[jagshaw]

Andrea,

 

We have cruised 4 times with Autism on the Seas, and many other times on our own. My 12 yo with autism also prefers the quiet at times, and we have retreated to the cabin when things have been too much for him (good option to have compared to other vacation options). As noted by the other repliers, there will be "quiet" areas on all ships. For example, all ships that we have cruised on have a library, which is usually quiet. Many have a game room that also seems to attract a quiet group. Many of the lounges are virtually empty during the day. And usually during port calls, many of the passengers disembark to go on excursions, which could provide a good opportunity for you to visit parts of the ship you may have avoided earlier, such as the pool.

There are benefits to cruising with Autism on the Seas' staff. They seem to recruit staff that generally like to work with our kids, giving parents a few hours to do their own thing without worry. They are able to expedite you through the embarkation and disembarkation process at the beginning and end of the cruise. They are able to arrange private sessions at some of the ship's most popular features (on our most recent cruise with them, they arranged private sessions at the ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, zip line and flow rider just for the AotS families; no other ship passengers). Sometimes they are able to secure a separate part of the children's activity center for a few hours just for our kids.

I encourage you to go to the AotS website. They recently started a program called Parent Connect, which allows you to contact other parents who have gone on AotS cruises who can help answer any questions you may have. I hope you find something that works for you and your son. John

[NCFlyersFan]

Andrea,

 

Having cruised twice with AotS, I have not yet seen a family that did not thoroughly enjoy themselves. The AotS experience is created with "crowd control" in mind. We were met at the cruise port by "Team Orange" and whisked through the priority check in line. Once checked in, there was a private area to wait to board that was separate form the masses. The muster drill is in a private conference room. Meals are in a relatively secluded area of the dining room with only the AotS group. Private time at all the Ship's venues. Reserved seating at all shows to allow last minute arrival and not have to wait in line. The staff are hand selected, attentive, well trained, and loving special education teachers and others in the field that love working with our children. They assist at all meals and AotS activities, provide transition assistance between activities if you need it, and are on call 24/7 on board the ship if you have a problem. About 3 to 4 hours per day of respite for the kids, staff assistance at the pool every morning, and staff assisted beach excursions. "Team Orange" is there every step of the way to make sure you, and more importantly your son, have the time of your lives. And, I have not yet seen a behavior they could not deal with.

 

Like you, I read all of the reviews and thought it had to be too good to be true. I was also deathly afraid my entire vacation was going to be spent a stressed out mess, dealing with autistic behaviors in a sea of 3500 people, stuck in my stateroom, and miserable. Today, I can tell you I will NEVER vacation again without AotS. You really have to experience it to understand, but the life long friendships - yes, interactive friendships - my autistic son has made, the incredible parents we met and socialized with who understand the challenges in our daily lives, and the fact my wife and I relaxed on a vacation without having to worry about my son has been a life changing experience for my family.

 

I HIGHLY recommend you go to the AotS web sit and fill out a parent connect request. A parent - not AotS employees or staff - will give you a call to chat about any concerns you may have and answer any questions.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Jim

[denas]

I've cruised by ourselves and with AOTS. Here is my review from our last cruise that can tell you some of the differences between cruising alone and with AOTS. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2243446

 

There are a lot of services that cruiselines may provide without using any special organization to get them. However, it in my experience it is hit-or-miss. Also, because autism is a spectrum disorder, sometimes people comment about the fact that their child was fine in the kids clubs, but that may not be relevant to your child. My little guy is non-verbal, has severe seizures, a g-tube, and has severe autistic behaviors including elopement, self-injury, fecal smearing. He is not in a regular classroom at school and at home he has a night nurse. No way he could be alone in a kids club and in general it requires lots of additional paperwork/requests to provide that support for him in the clubs ourselves or with our own caregiver (if it is even allowed - it is allowed on Carnival and RCCL with pre-approval, allowed on Princess with no special requests, not allowed on Disney AT ALL).

 

But it is our family philosophy that we are not going to be handicapped by his disabilities so we still do things as a family - including vacations!! My little guy is 5 and we have done four cruises and Club Med (as well as trying other options including basic beach stays and Disney). Of all the options, cruising is the most autism friendly and the easiest for us to have a vacation that we can all enjoy.

 

We found the AOTS services to be the most helpful and most cost-effective way to enjoy a cruise as an entire family. We have tried cruising alone, cruising with family to "help", bringing our own nanny. However, AOTS provided way more support than simply relying on the cruiseline special needs department (it only sometimes works to give you what you were promised in our experiences on both Carnival and Disney) and was much more cost effective and much less stressful than hiring your own nanny.

 

Hope that helps.

[bean24]

We also cruised four times alone with my son. The last cruise we couldn't leave him at the kids club, it was to loud & busy. We just went on our first AOTS cruise and will never go without them again. The entire family loved the trip. My cabin was down the hall from the respite room and every time we walked by my son tried to pull us in. My husband and I got to enjoy each other knowing Scotty was happy and well taken care of. As matter of fact I booked our next AOTS cruise for next summer yesterday.

[cruise_family]

Another who has cruised AotS and alone. Our first cruise with with AotS on Disney - I'll never do a Disney cruise again. Evwr. There were far too many little kids, queues for everything and noise. Even the slide queue was topping 45/minutes, and character meets, photographs, not a chance - we would not have coped without AotS on DCL. (As an aside note: whether the fact it costs so much money that people get some form of superiority against others, I do not know, but my 10 year old daughter was elbowed in the face by a grown man as she had a space against the railings when the show was on and wanted more room at the front).

 

Next we cruised with NCL, because of the knowledge that I had gained from saibg with AotS I managed to secure private muster drill and priority embarking/disembarking. we was on the NCL Epic so not a small ship, there were few people in the pool and on the slides, it was perfect for us - the only time it was busy was when the ship was in port and waiting to disembark. He did not manage the kids clubs for long but when he was there we was supplied with a phone so he could contact us at all times, it was noisy, he did not cope, but that's a moot point and we was not bothered. We are due to sail NCL Epic in February again, alone, as we live in the UK so its harder to get to the US because of timing - but we are sailing on the Breakaway in August with AotS as I've picked up some bargain cruises and the kids are nagging me to sail with them again!!

[denas]

Another who has cruised AotS and alone. Our first cruise with with AotS on Disney - I'll never do a Disney cruise again. Evwr. There were far too many little kids, queues for everything and noise. Even the slide queue was topping 45/minutes, and character meets, photographs, not a chance - we would not have coped without AotS on DCL. (As an aside note: whether the fact it costs so much money that people get some form of superiority against others, I do not know, but my 10 year old daughter was elbowed in the face by a grown man as she had a space against the railings when the show was on and wanted more room at the front).

 

Next we cruised with NCL, because of the knowledge that I had gained from saibg with AotS I managed to secure private muster drill and priority embarking/disembarking. we was on the NCL Epic so not a small ship, there were few people in the pool and on the slides, it was perfect for us - the only time it was busy was when the ship was in port and waiting to disembark. He did not manage the kids clubs for long but when he was there we was supplied with a phone so he could contact us at all times, it was noisy, he did not cope, but that's a moot point and we was not bothered. We are due to sail NCL Epic in February again, alone, as we live in the UK so its harder to get to the US because of timing - but we are sailing on the Breakaway in August with AotS as I've picked up some bargain cruises and the kids are nagging me to sail with them again!!

 

I would second the problems with Disney. It is not my first choice with a child with neurological disabilities.

[Texas4808]

Hi,

 

We have never cruised before, & are considering booking our first with Autism on the Seas to make it easier for our 4 year old son with autism.

 

Our main concern is how autistic children do with the crowds & noise. Our son recently started preschool, & says it's "too busy" & hard work to be there. I am wondering if there are enough quiet areas to retreat to on a ship, or will we end up spending most of our time in our room? I see all the positive reviews of AotS & hope it would be the same for us, but am hesitant.

 

Andrea

 

I have a 19 year old severely Autistic child that on occasion has trouble with crowds. I also run a group that raises money to take Autism families on cruises. I think we are the largest group of Autism Families going as a group on these cruises. Most of the other cruises are individual Autism families traveling with others booking with the agency.

 

My own family has been on 14 cruises.

 

7 have been without a special needs travel agency onboard. Those are the cruises without our group coming with us.

 

5 were with Autism on the Seas

 

2 were with Autism Adventure Travel, which in my opinion is the best agency out there.

 

On our 6 group cruises, 4 with AotS and 2 with AAT, we have had as few as 4 families in our group up to the 33 families we will have in April 2016. As the leader of our group, before every cruise I get asked the same question that you are asking.

 

Our group runs the entire spectrum of Autism and it seems there’s always enough to do to keep the kids busy and happy. Going solo just means you will be the one keeping your kid busy. Our group’s best experiences have been with AAT and it’s generally because of the mature seasoned staff they always have onboard.

 

The really good thing about being on a ship with an Autistic individual is that room is close by and if the individual gets overloaded, you can retreat to the room. Once the individual calms down, you can return to many activities. For your first cruise try one of the bigger Royal Caribbean ships, they have a lot of activities to choose from and that will increase the odds that something appeals to your child.

 

The best part of our group cruises is when our entire group visits Autism Schools in one port of the cruise. We meet with other families in these countries for a fun day. Autism Adventure Travel excels at helping make our cruises fun and memorable.

 

Here a couple of videos from past cruises

 

 

 

I think your son and your family will enjoy the experience. My son always has a good time.

Edited November 21, 2015 by Texas4808

[bean24]

Another who has cruised AotS and alone. Our first cruise with with AotS on Disney - I'll never do a Disney cruise again. Evwr. There were far too many little kids, queues for everything and noise. Even the slide queue was topping 45/minutes, and character meets, photographs, not a chance - we would not have coped without AotS on DCL. (As an aside note: whether the fact it costs so much money that people get some form of superiority against others, I do not know, but my 10 year old daughter was elbowed in the face by a grown man as she had a space against the railings when the show was on and wanted more room at the front).

 

 

 

Next we cruised with NCL, because of the knowledge that I had gained from saibg with AotS I managed to secure private muster drill and priority embarking/disembarking. we was on the NCL Epic so not a small ship, there were few people in the pool and on the slides, it was perfect for us - the only time it was busy was when the ship was in port and waiting to disembark. He did not manage the kids clubs for long but when he was there we was supplied with a phone so he could contact us at all times, it was noisy, he did not cope, but that's a moot point and we was not bothered. We are due to sail NCL Epic in February again, alone, as we live in the UK so its harder to get to the US because of timing - but we are sailing on the Breakaway in August with AotS as I've picked up some bargain cruises and the kids are nagging me to sail with them again!!

 

 

I think we are cruising with you. Can't wait for it.

[hunterjackson]

I've cruised by ourselves and with AOTS. Here is my review from our last cruise that can tell you some of the differences between cruising alone and with AOTS. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2243446

 

There are a lot of services that cruiselines may provide without using any special organization to get them. However, it in my experience it is hit-or-miss. Also, because autism is a spectrum disorder, sometimes people comment about the fact that their child was fine in the kids clubs, but that may not be relevant to your child. My little guy is non-verbal, has severe seizures, a g-tube, and has severe autistic behaviors including elopement, self-injury, fecal smearing. He is not in a regular classroom at school and at home he has a night nurse. No way he could be alone in a kids club and in general it requires lots of additional paperwork/requests to provide that support for him in the clubs ourselves or with our own caregiver (if it is even allowed - it is allowed on Carnival and RCCL with pre-approval, allowed on Princess with no special requests, not allowed on Disney AT ALL).

 

But it is our family philosophy that we are not going to be handicapped by his disabilities so we still do things as a family - including vacations!! My little guy is 5 and we have done four cruises and Club Med (as well as trying other options including basic beach stays and Disney). Of all the options, cruising is the most autism friendly and the easiest for us to have a vacation that we can all enjoy.

 

We found the AOTS services to be the most helpful and most cost-effective way to enjoy a cruise as an entire family. We have tried cruising alone, cruising with family to "help", bringing our own nanny. However, AOTS provided way more support than simply relying on the cruiseline special needs department (it only sometimes works to give you what you were promised in our experiences on both Carnival and Disney) and was much more cost effective and much less stressful than hiring your own nanny.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Denas,

Sorry for the OT post.

 

Wondering if you had seen the "little sleeper keeper" PJ's. They saved us a ton of cleaning and headaches with our DS.

[cruise_family]

I think we are cruising with you. Can't wait for it.

 

Oooh, which one are you on? Breakaway or Epic? Exciting times. xx

[bean24]

Oooh, which one are you on? Breakaway or Epic? Exciting times. xx

 

 

We are on the Breakaway

[cruise_family]

We are on the Breakaway

 

Brilliant, we have a cruise in February to get out of the way first. My mind is still not made up as to whether we go, we got a great price but there is a lot going on in Europe at the moment..... I am nervous..... But what will be, will be. I am on the AotS page too, a few others of us are there.

[IPlayWithString]

It depends, to be honest. Some days, when he's having a really good day, it's not too terrible. Other days, he gets overwhelmed. But he loves being able to participate in the games, trivia, etc. He loves the waterslides/splash zone area and is perfectly fine eating the same thing for dinner every night (which we do allow, since he's on vacation and it's not allowed any other time of year).

 

We started cruising a few years ago, when my son was about 9 years old and the first trip was really just to get our feet wet (so to speak) to see if he could handle it. He gets really excited knowing that we're going on another cruise, that he'll get to tell the same stories he's told us 84,000 times to all new people and that he gets to eat hotdogs for dinner every night for a week. LOL We recently told him about the cruise we're going on in January (we typically don't tell him till everything is nailed down and we are for sure going) and he's SO freaking excited. He can't wait to go because he knows it means he's getting out of school for a week and we're going to stop at Buc-ee's on the way down, which is one of his favorite things. He knows we're probably going to spend the night at this one hotel in Houston he calls the Nasa Hotel (that's not the name, but that's what he associates it with since NASA is in Houston and the hotel has a bit of an upscale outerspace theme to it).

 

I think because we've travelled with my son since he was 6 mos old, he's become used to travelling by this point (he's 11) and while he's not always the best traveller, he does try his hardest to deal with the situations that are thrown at him, as do we. I'm a gypsy by nature and I don't do well sitting in one place for too long. I love to get out and do stuff and try things I've never done before, which I've tried to pass along to my son.

 

But it is our family philosophy that we are not going to be handicapped by his disabilities

 

We feel the same way. I grew up with an uncle who was disabled (wheelchair, Vietnam Vet) who taught me that just because you are disabled, it shouldn't get in the way of you doing what you really want to do. Because if you have a strong desire to do something, no matter what it is,you'll figure out a way of getting it done.

Edited December 13, 2015 by IPlayWithString