What about cruising post transplant?

@contentandwell

Yay to winter vacations! I'm excited for your adventure.

In my opinion 7 mile beach is amazing. There are many beaches in Grand Cayman but none with as easy of access and as well maintained (that I found).

I have not been to Eleuthera but if you go please tell us all about it. In St Maarten I would recommend staying on the Dutch side rather than the French side the whole island is beautiful but I think the Dutch side is cleaner and the beaches don't have as much sea grass. We rented a house on Great Bay Beach just outside of Philipsburg so I was able to cook all of my own food, drink only bottled water etc. I love to travel and take my new kidney on adventures 🙂 . We all got better so we could live and there is no better living than on a beach in the Caribbean. If you do choose St. Maarten you should consider taking a ferry to Anguilla (it's about 20mins by boat). Anguilla has some of the best beached I ever been on in the world.

Good luck and please tell me everything when you get back.

Jolinda

@chugly11, I hope that you have lots of great memories of that cruise!
Have you done other cruises? Or other travel?
At 10 months post my liver/kidney transplant, my husband and I were able to do our annual trek to the Great Smokey Mountains to do some day hiking. We walked slower and a shorter distance than we had done in the past, but it was emotional for me to just be able to do it😎. My family and friends were shocked that my doctors gave me the okay.

@jolinda I hadn't actually looked favoring either side but the places that are aligned with our requirements turned out to be all on the French side! We do not want a huge hotel. I love the place in Eleuthera but there doesn't seem to be a lot of shade and shade is a requirement. Right now I am strongly considering Hotel L'Esplanade. It has beautiful grounds and is on a hill overlooking the ocean. I would prefer to be closer to the beach so I do have to give it some consideration.
Thanks for the tip about Anguilla. I looked into going to Anguilla too but the time traveling there is quite lengthy due to having to make a couple of transfers. St. Kitts looks great but it has one of the highest crime rates in the Caribbean! Ease of access is a priority for me, just in case something did happen that I needed to get back to the mainland. We would love to return to the all-inclusive in Antigua that we went to before but they cannot/will not customize food for low-sodium. Three meals a day for a week with high sodium would have me looking like a giant water balloon.
JK

Hi Transplant Family!
I want to get your thoughts on this. My extended family is discussing the possibility of having a family reunion trip on a cruise ship. Would you ever consider going on a cruise? I am very concerned about the possibility of infection (covid, norovirus, flu, etc) and the food safety (since so much of the food is buffet style and mass produced in a large kitchen). What are your thoughts regarding going on a family cruise?

I received my kidney transplant 20 yrs ago at Miami Transplant center, My personal opinion is that I would forgo a cruise, too many unknown and a perfectly healthy person can get a virus much easier on a cruise ship, so while being immunosuppressed why risk the chance,
Mu daughter just had the first robotically PKD kidney removal and transplant 2 weeks ago at Miami and is doing fantastic, such a gift, don't want to play roulette with it

Hi @peggykatz 😊
Thanks so much for jumping into this "cruise" discussion. Congrats on your wonderfully successful 20th kidney transplant anniversary.... That's AMAZING! Also, Congratulations to your daughter!! Very exciting!
I am approaching my 3 year kidney transplant anniversary in July. Do you have any tips or habits that you can share that may have helped to create your 20 years of success? (It sounds like NO cruises is one of your tips!). 😊
What type of family reunion would you feel comfortable attending? Would you meet them at a hotel in St Thomas or is that pretty risky too? My cousins are now asking me to provide some trip ideas that I would feel comfortable attending. What would you say?
Thank you again for joining in and helping me figure out what's best!

@hello1234 - a cruise might be kind of risky, but I don’t want to live under a rock either. I am 18 months LT and my best friend and I took a trip to Steamboat Springs just a couple of weeks ago. She flew into Denver where I live and we drove to Steamboat Springs. We stayed in a condo, ate out, soaked in the Springs and it was perfect. It felt so good to take a trip. I got COVID from the office I work in 2021. I am careful, but I refuse to become a hermit. I think a healthy balance is good and your idea of St Thomas is a great balance. I would do it! That’s just my opinion. Live, but with some precautions. If I were to fly, I would probably were a mask. I am definitely going to start traveling more. I can get sick traveling and I can get sick going to work. Hope that helps.

My family is considering the same thing and my husband I have already opted out. First and foremost it's a food safety issue. Nothing on a cruise ship is truly fresh! Also there are just way too many negative variables. It sounds like fun and I would love to go, but I'm not willing to take that chance.

Hi @hello1234, I merged your great question about cruises post transplant to this existing discussion where you can read tips and thoughts shared by many members as well as the new replies you've received.

- What about cruising post transplant? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-about-cruising-post-liver-transplant/

@colleenyoung @footballmum @ssapp1 @gingerw @jennifer0726 @peggykatz @contentandwell @silverwoman @jolinda @gaylea1 @rosemarya and all, Thank you so much for jumping into this "What do think of a cruise?" discussion!
You all confirmed exactly what I was thinking, so this was helpful to me. As much as a family reunion on a cruise ship sounds fun, it's a high risk choice.
As we all know, weighing low risk and high risk is an important component to staying well as an immune suppressed transplant. Thanks again everyone for your excellent thoughts!