Benefits of Cruising For Travelers With Autism
At first, many parents to kids with autism tend to shy away from cruising; thinking that spending multiple days confined in a ‘swim box’ is just horrifying.
All they can imagine for their vacation days are endless stares and nasty comments from fellow passengers, dramatic meltdowns, and incessant whining from their family members.
As I see it, cruises are not only a great value for the budget conscience family but beneficial for travelers with autism as they provide the perfect learning platform in a relaxed and fun environment.
Exposure to an incredible variety of foods
Between the main dining room and the buffet, your kid with autism will be tempted to sample many dishes that he or she have never seen before. Since tastes change, you never know when you might return home with a kid who is absolutely in love with mushrooms and asparagus! In our case our son fell in love with escargot on his first cruise experience and still likes to order them every time he finds them offered on the menu.
Participation in group activities or games
At home, our son never waited for his turn and was always the sore loser in board games. So naturally I was reluctant to pay and have him participate in the ship’s bingo games.But he promised to be on his best behavior if I did take him, so I caved in. And I was surprised when he didn’t seem to mind waiting patiently and losing at Bingo or Trivial Pursuit to other passengers.
Collectors Paradise
Cruising is a golden opportunity to collect both ship and port memorabilia. Ship memorabilia includes anything with the vessel’s name or logo, including free daily newsletters. Port memorabilia can be anything from the corny t-shirts, pens or caps to maps, napkins, and public transportation tickets.
When we first started cruising with our kids, they were very young, so they collected all the free pamphlets and trinkets they could lay their hands on.
When they grew older, they learned to save their weekly allowance so they would have the money to buy more expensive souvenirs at the different ports we visited. In our son’s case, he has a designated corner in his room with everything he has amassed from years of travel and he likes to look at them to remind him of his various travels.
Introduction to thrill sports
Do you get to parasail the Caribbean, zip line a tropical forest, rock climb or ice-skate on-board, pet dolphins, manatees, or sea lions every day? That’s what you’ll be doing for an entire week when you go on a cruise!
When we first started traveling, we were the epidemy of couch potatoes.Yet, for the week, we are on board a ship we all become adventurous and try new sports at least once.
A cruise ship is akin to living in a small village where everyone is in a good mood for a week, so it is a terrific opportunity for your child to practice their social skills. The more your kids cruise and are exposed to other passengers, the better they will learn how to interact with different people. We were surprised on one of our cruises when our son hit it off with an older gentleman who turns out was a television producer and chatted for over two hours about the future of children’s programming.
Have you taken your child with Autism on a cruise? What did you find was the most beneficial experience for them?
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