Princess Cruise to Hawaii

[Whamo]

Does anyone have any experience cruising with a Baxter machine for dialysis?  I'm thinking about a two-week cruise, but the logistics concern me.  That would be a lot of yellow and green bags, as I use 3 a day.  I do 10 hours and a daytime drain and fill.   I promised my wife a trip to Hawaii when I married her, and I haven't delivered it yet.   

[Rerun]

Does anyone have any experience cruising with a Baxter machine for dialysis?  I'm thinking about a two-week cruise, but the logistics concern me.  That would be a lot of yellow and green bags, as I use 3 a day.  I do 10 hours and a daytime drain and fill.   I promised my wife a trip to Hawaii when I married her, and I haven't delivered it yet.   

Maybe go through a travel agent.  They can make things happen.

[noahvale]

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[iolaire]

This post is from a next stage person but it explains things for do it your self people.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1826963

[Simon Dog]

Are you set on taking a Princess Cruise?  Don't know where you live, but if in the San Diego area, check out Dialysis at Sea cruises to Hawaii.  No need to worry about supplies.

http://www.dialysisatsea.com

A big problem is that in additional to the dialysis charges, you will have to pay full rack rate for the cruise so dialsys at sea makes money at both ends of the transaction.

Also, I assume from the reference to Baster machines, the OP is referring to PD.  Dialysis at sea specializes in HD.

[iolaire]

Also see Dialysis info at Princess's website which is mostly just warnings:
http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/prepare.jsp

And story, which should be a warning re carrying on your own machine, and making sure that your supplies make it on board:
http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2012/05/carnival-destiny-missing-dialysis-machine/700715/1

It seems straightforward to do the cruise if you are on home dialysis.  You just need to be very careful to make sure that everything gets on board and you are prepared for emergencies.  To me the biggest (but unlikely) worry would be that everything gets onboard and then some sort of emergency happens and you have a loss of power.

[noahvale]

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[Simon Dog]

There was a story in the news a while ago about a cruise ship where 4,000 passengers and crew were trapped a bit offshore, eating sammiches, crapping in plastic bags, and generally living a sub-human existence.  The ship was not evacuated because the local area did not have the facilities to deal with that many stranded passengers, plus evacuation raises the issue of "who will pay for the hotel rooms?".

Except the dialysis patient and spouse, who were evacuated to shore.

[Whamo]

A dialysis buddy of mine, an older dude, I'm 62, he's probably 70's, had to be airlifted off his Alaska Cruise because he got an infection at sea.  The last time I saw him he had skin cancer on his face.  He was on immune suppressive drugs to get ready for his second transplant.  I haven't seen him at the center for over a year.  I just got the stitches removed off a skin cancer surgery off my hand,.  The scar looks gnarly, but it will improve with time.  My skin cancer surgery on the top of my head was the size of a half-dollar, and they when in to cut it out five times.  It took three months for the 20 stitches to heal.   Those surgeries ruined my summer.  I haven't had a good summer since I went on dialysis.    Lately I've been gagging on food.  My wife thinks its my hiatal hernia.  My wife is in a wheel chair too, carpal tunnel and an ankle problem.  I'm struggling to keep positive. 

[Simon Dog]

Does anyone have any experience cruising with a Baxter machine for dialysis?  I'm thinking about a two-week cruise, but the logistics concern me.  That would be a lot of yellow and green bags, as I use 3 a day.  I do 10 hours and a daytime drain and fill.   I promised my wife a trip to Hawaii when I married her, and I haven't delivered it yet.   

Are you set on taking a Princess Cruise?  Don't know where you live, but if in the San Diego area, check out Dialysis at Sea cruises to Hawaii.  No need to worry about supplies.

http://www.dialysisatsea.com

You'll not only pay CIA (cash in advance) for the dialysis, but you will also pay full rack rate for the cabin with no access to discounts or promotional fares.

As far as the PUBLISHED RATES, there is always room for negotiation, especially since actual treatment would be performed by the patient.

Good luck reaching someone high enough on the food chain to have the authority to negotiate.