CPAP Advice

[JTBCruiser]

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea so this will be my first cruise in March with a CPAP machine.  Looking for advice as the cabins have limited ac outlets.  What do I need to do in advance with RCI to ensure I can use my machine and still have outlets to use.  Thx in advance!

[1025cruise]

Alert special needs. They will provide an extension cord and a bottle of distilled water. Yes, the cord will utilize the plug at the desk. There should still be a second outlet. Unfortunately, RCI does not allow bringing of one's own extension cord or power strip. 

[Clarea]

9 minutes ago, JTBCruiser said:

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea so this will be my first cruise in March with a CPAP machine.  Looking for advice as the cabins have limited ac outlets.  What do I need to do in advance with RCI to ensure I can use my machine and still have outlets to use.  Thx in advance!

 

special_needs@rccl.com

[mjldvlks]

If for any reason special needs falls through the cracks, your cabin attendant can fix it quickly.  Get there with your machine and you're good to go.

[spookwife]

The cabin steward will provide distilled water and an extension cord.  Contacting special needs ahead of time is hit or miss.  

[JTBCruiser]

Thanks to you all for great advice. 

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, JTBCruiser said:

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea so this will be my first cruise in March with a CPAP machine.  Looking for advice as the cabins have limited ac outlets.  What do I need to do in advance with RCI to ensure I can use my machine and still have outlets to use.  Thx in advance!

Which ship.  I may be mistaken, but I believe the Oasis/Quantum class has outlets by the bed.  As others have mentioned, get in touch with special needs and they will be sure to have distilled water and needed extensions waiting in your cabin.

[HicksRA]

If in a suite, there’s usually a power strip or multi outlet in the cabinet under the tv. That’s what I normally use for the xcord to my cpap. 

[katiel53]

2 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Which ship.  I may be mistaken, but I believe the Oasis/Quantum class has outlets by the bed.  As others have mentioned, get in touch with special needs and they will be sure to have distilled water and needed extensions waiting in your cabin.

We have sailed on Harmony and Allure and there is an outlet next to one side of the beds.  On Allure, it is well hidden as it is behind the bed and near the floor.  I couldn't find it on one of our Allure cruises, so I left my BIPAP on the night stand and when we came back from dinner, the steward had plugged it in for me.

 

It is easier to locate on Harmony.

[JTBCruiser]

19 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Which ship.  I may be mistaken, but I believe the Oasis/Quantum class has outlets by the bed.  As others have mentioned, get in touch with special needs and they will be sure to have distilled water and needed extensions waiting in your cabin.

 

Rhapsody.

[Cruz Crazi]

3 hours ago, JTBCruiser said:

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea so this will be my first cruise in March with a CPAP machine.  Looking for advice as the cabins have limited ac outlets.  What do I need to do in advance with RCI to ensure I can use my machine and still have outlets to use.  Thx in advance!

I  use a CPAP and have sailed on the Symphony and the Navigator earlier this year.

Contact RCCL Special Needs, they supplied a gallon of Distilled water and an extension cord, very accommodating.

On the Symphony the plug was right by the bed, on the Navigator i needed to use the extension cord.

[durangokid]

Make sure to carry your CPAP on and not put in checked luggage.. Too expensive a piece of equipment to get damaged that way.  Enjoy your cruise.

[cured]

Completely off topic and completely unsolicited, but I can't help myself because it was such a game changer for me; if you have an end of year surplus in an HSA or looking for a good gift, you might consider purchasing a travel cpap.  I got tired of lugging around my big cpap and having to deal with water reservoirs and finding distilled water everywhere I went. Before we did our med cruise, I purchased the Resmed Air Mini mainly to have on the 12 hour plane flight. Best purchase I ever made.  It doesn't use a reservoir but a disk that connects to the hose.  It fits in the palm of my hand so it is easy to throw in my purse or carry on. I couldn't believe the difference it made in travel to not have to haul a big extra bag with my cpap and having to deal with all the questions all the time at TSA.  For a couple hundred extra I got the battery so now have 13 hours of battery backup if I am traveling somewhere without convenient plugs.

 

Just spent a week in the hospital nursing a PE that I got on that 12 hour flight (despite compression socks, moving around the cabin, and doing exercises constantly) and brought it with me to the hospital. The whole respiratory dept marveled at how great it worked.

 

Otherwise,  everyone here is correct.  I have previously contacted the special needs dept and they were great and have had everything in our room including a medical refrigerator (don't trust the coolers.)

 

 

[Tracey]

Thanks for your input. I really don’t consider my CPAP bag such a big bag. I have never been questioned by TSA. In fact you no longer even have to take it out of the bag. 

[vacationlover_mn]

We always forget to tell special needs in advance 😞. But, we tell our room steward, and distilled water is always there first night.  Also, DH packs an extension cord, and they have never taken it to the naught room (yet)

[shellunderwater]

I keep one of these in my CPAP bag.  Great for plug limited rooms.

 

3 Outlet Wall Adapter Tap (3 Pack), Fosmon 3-Prong Portable Travel Mini Plug Grounded Indoor AC Outlet, ETL Listed - White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073X1K1R6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KJd5Db7PP9D14

 

[rsuther223]

My advice is to take your own duct tape to put down the extension cord on the floor. It can be a tripping hazard in some cabins.

[mr walker]

On 12/1/2019 at 7:47 AM, cured said:

Before we did our med cruise, I purchased the Resmed Air Mini mainly to have on the 12 hour plane flight. Best purchase I ever made.  It doesn't use a reservoir but a disk that connects to the hose.  It fits in the palm of my hand so it is easy to throw in my purse or carry on

Here's another vote for the Resmed air-mini. I have for many years used a separate travel CPAP machine [most recently Transcend II] for my travels, business & pleasure, rather than carry my regular home machine. When I needed a replacement a few months back I switched to the air-mini & it is great.

[Doug S]

Don't have the mini, but did get a battery backup and use it with my standard resmed. Use it at the ranch which runs on generator power that shuts down about midnight. Works great,. Not sure if I'll take it cruising, but you could definitely charge it during the day and set it by your bed at night for use. Note that it will not last the night if you have humidification turned on, which I guess the minis don't offer. I have always been able to have a good quality 8' non-surge protected cord in with my CPAP cord, but as they get stricter, I expect someday they will stop me.

 

Also, traveling by plane with just a medium carry on bag, I threw my CPAP in the bag with my other stuff to be more convenient.  Got to TSA checkpoint and they flagged me at xray and made me take the unit out and run it through again in one of those gray trays. Turns out TSA doesn't require you to remove it only if the CPAP is in its original case.  Silly because they told me "you have to take your CPAP out of the bag". They knew it was a CPAP but I guess they have to have a clearer look. 

[davisrnr]

 

On 11/30/2019 at 1:47 PM, cured said:

Completely off topic and completely unsolicited, but I can't help myself because it was such a game changer for me; if you have an end of year surplus in an HSA or looking for a good gift, you might consider purchasing a travel cpap.  I got tired of lugging around my big cpap and having to deal with water reservoirs and finding distilled water everywhere I went. Before we did our med cruise, I purchased the Resmed Air Mini mainly to have on the 12 hour plane flight. Best purchase I ever made.  It doesn't use a reservoir but a disk that connects to the hose.  It fits in the palm of my hand so it is easy to throw in my purse or carry on. I couldn't believe the difference it made in travel to not have to haul a big extra bag with my cpap and having to deal with all the questions all the time at TSA.  

 

 

Been looking into this, but I need a full face mask, and the humidifier disk doesn't work with those masks. Anyone used an air mini without the humidification? Thoughts? 

 

The other option is the Dreamstation Go, which is supposedly very good, and does have a reservoir for an additional cost. Unfortunately this makes it significantly larger than the mini. The other advantage of the Dreamstation is that you can use any mask. 

 

We leave in about 10 days and I've been mulling over this decision for awhile, but I'm a bit gunshy and afraid of spending a big chunk of change on a machine that I won't use.  Any other thoughts on this? 

[BillHoo]

On 12/3/2019 at 12:11 AM, davisrnr said:

 

 

Been looking into this, but I need a full face mask, and the humidifier disk doesn't work with those masks. Anyone used an air mini without the humidification? Thoughts? 

 

The other option is the Dreamstation Go, which is supposedly very good, and does have a reservoir for an additional cost. Unfortunately this makes it significantly larger than the mini. The other advantage of the Dreamstation is that you can use any mask. 

 

We leave in about 10 days and I've been mulling over this decision for awhile, but I'm a bit gunshy and afraid of spending a big chunk of change on a machine that I won't use.  Any other thoughts on this? 

 

If you were going to use the CPAP on a long flight I would say it's useful to have a portable travel CPAP.  

 

For a cruise where your luggage is picked up at the curb and dropped off a few yards from the room.... I'd use my regular cpap and have the steward bring me a jug of distilled water and a power strip.  It's not like a plane where you are confined to a tiny sleeping or sitting area.  Got lots of room.

 

If I didn't want to take any chances, I'd also bring a backup travel battery.  Picked one up this summer when my home had a very rare power outage due to a storm.  I did not get any good sleep that night and found CPAP battery packs online.

 

 

[jakeil7]

3 hours ago, BillHoo said:

 

If you were going to use the CPAP on a long flight I would say it's useful to have a portable travel CPAP.  

 

For a cruise where your luggage is picked up at the curb and dropped off a few yards from the room.... I'd use my regular cpap and have the steward bring me a jug of distilled water and a power strip.  It's not like a plane where you are confined to a tiny sleeping or sitting area.  Got lots of room.

 

If I didn't want to take any chances, I'd also bring a backup travel battery.  Picked one up this summer when my home had a very rare power outage due to a storm.  I did not get any good sleep that night and found CPAP battery packs online.

 

 

Be careful with the batteries you find online. Two things: 

 

1.  Some are not properly protected with respect to the power they use which could lead to damage or, more likely, the inability to use it with the CPAP or at least the humidifier. 
2.  Some are too large (as measured by watt hours) to take on a plane.  The limit is 100 watt hours per the TSA website. 
 

also, many of the third party systems are somewhat complicated. 

[panoramaofthepast]

Instead of duct taping the extension cord to the floor, we just put one of the white towels over it. In the morning we just roll it up.

[Jeff13]

On 12/1/2019 at 11:53 PM, Doug S said:

Also, traveling by plane with just a medium carry on bag, I threw my CPAP in the bag with my other stuff to be more convenient.  Got to TSA checkpoint and they flagged me at xray and made me take the unit out and run it through again in one of those gray trays. Turns out TSA doesn't require you to remove it only if the CPAP is in its original case.  Silly because they told me "you have to take your CPAP out of the bag". They knew it was a CPAP but I guess they have to have a clearer look. 

That agent was a d***!  I always put mine in my regular duffel carry on bag.  Many years ago I had to do that but not for like 10 years now.  

[Jeff13]

This past spring was the first time I had any issues with my power cord.  They decided to start enforcing the policy all at once.  Because of that, they ran out of extension cords since they took them away from everyone!  I had to play that "medical need" card to get one because I was put on a waiting list to get a cord.  I try really hard to not do that.  I ended up with a very confused engineer at my cabin door with a huge heavy duty cord nicely tie wrapped and labeled for emergency use.  It worked.  It was over kill though!

 

I fully understand the issue.  They do not know why you have a long cord, nor what you intend to use it for.  Plus they do not know if it has been abused and will cause an electrical problem.

 

So ... this is my solution.  I will test it in Jan.  I bought a long power cord for my CPAP.  Not an "extension" cord, but the actual power cord is now 20 feet long.  

 

20 Foot Long NEMA power cord.  Only $7!

 

Your CPAP may have a different cord.  Do a search and see if you can't find one long enough.

 

I run the cord towards the balcony door and along the floor at the door so it is not in a trip location.  Then up to the desk.  There is usually a couch somewhere in there which is why 20 feet is needed.