The 2010 Freedom Cruise

[Bill Peckham]

Taking a cruise with the NxStage System One has an element of risk because should the machine break during the cruise you would be on your own to get dialysis - the company's tech support swap out strategy is for the contiguous United States, you'd have to get the broken cycler to somewhere in the US where it could then be swapped out and then the new one would be sent back for you to use. That might work if you were on land in Hawaii or somewhere abroad but it would be tough to do from a cruise ship.

There have been reports of people successfully cruising with the NxStage and the machines rarely break down so many dialyzors feel like it is worth the risk. However, if several dialyzors cruised together we could act as each others backup and thus an idea was born - the Freedom Cruise - Taking Dialysis to Sea. As a group we can  plan activities and events we're interested in, and we can take advantage of group discounts.

The 2010 Freedom Cruise will be from Miami with Carnival Lines on their ship the Valor, January 3 -10 with four stops in the Western Caribbean:

    * Grand Cayman
    * Isla Rotan
    * Belize
    * Cozumel

This is an independently organized group not affiliated with NxStage or any other company. It'll be organized through Google documents, Groups and the blog. The travel agent organizing the booking is a caregiver to her NxStage using spouse. It should be fun, warm and informative. A great way to network with your fellow dialyzors and to enjoy a tropical vacation, well dialyzed, with your friends and family.

[Dan.Larrabee]

Count me in!! My wife will be coming and she is a Cardiac Nurse. If we get a list of other resources that will be available, maybe more will feel comfortable an join us.

[Bill Peckham]

That's great Dan. I'm hoping NxStage will participate by sending someone or maybe a January cruise sounds good if your living in Lawrence and people will just go.