Personal Care Attendants

[JasonTehGreat]

Is this someone already working for them (or perhaps a friend/acquaintance) or a professional hired just for this?

If the latter, how did they find her/him? Through a service?

 

We noticed mention of this type of thing a couple of years ago here, and it got us thinking.

Then on an international flight, we saw a couple where one of the pair was severely disabled, and they obviously had someone with them who was helping.

(The couple sat in Business class, and their helper sat in coach. I assume the helper would be allowed up front if there was a need, such as a trip to the lav.)

 

Anyway, it got us thinking... at some point, one of us will probably need a bit more help than the other can give, or perhaps it would only be that the other would like a bit of a break on a vacation...

So we realized that finding someone to go with us would probably be the way to go.

 

Having younger adults with young children to join us can provide some help (and does, even now ;) ), but that wouldn't work when/if more serious help is needed.

 

But how to find such a person, if one doesn't already know of someone?

 

Thanks.

There are websites where you can find care givers. Such as care . Com

 

They even have background checks. Also, if you use a travel agent (actual agent, not Web based or through the cruise line) they can arrange for a service that has care givers that only provide travel care. They're specially trained with providing travel related care (ie: what to do in an emergency on a ship, etc...).

 

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[tea4ular]

There have been a few other threads about bringing attendants along, but I didn't notice any recently.

You might do a search on the term "companion" for starters, even though this isn't quite exactly your need.

 

You are new to CruiseCritic. And Welcome!

Are you also new to cruising?

 

In general, if one person stays in a cabin instead of two, the charge is the same; that one person is charged "double" (except for a few things like port fees and perhaps taxes, but those aren't usually much).

Keep in mind that otherwise, a lot of people could "declare" that the second person is a caretaker, and try to benefit.

 

Others here may know of any appropriate specials that might be useful to you.

Do you have a preferred cruise line, or are you open to suggestions?

 

An inside cabin is by far the least expensive, so perhaps you could get that for your son and caretaker. Then if you had a room with a balcony (?), they could share that with you during parts of the day.

 

If you care to mention a few details about your son's condition/needs, then maybe (*maybe*) there will be others here who can comment on their experiences with similar family situations.

 

We've cruised with a PCA - we found it was less expensive to choose a guarantee cabin & had them invite a friend (the friend paid their own way) - it worked beautifully for us. The friend was great, we all had a wonderful time.