Diabetic

Just wondering if anyone else has had to deal with this situation, I have a 7 yr old grandaughter (who by the way is BEAUTIFUL) that is on an insulin pump and we have to know the carbs in everything she eats so we can input that in the pump, my daughter uses her IPhone app to find out this information, but on the ship out at sea that wont work, does carnival offer a nutritional information in this case? We will be cruising spring break 2012 and as a grandmother I am just a little worried.

I would call Carnival and ask to speak with the Guests with Special Needs Dept. They are usually very helpful...

From the FAQs

Dietary Needs

Carnival Cruise Lines can provide our guests with the following special dietary needs: Vegetarian, Low-Cholesterol, Low-Fat, Low-Carbohydrates, Low-Sugar, Gluten Free, Indian Vegetarian and Kosher. If you have food allergies, please advise your dining staff once onboard.

Diabetes/ Medicine Storage
If you are traveling with injectable medication(s) and need a container for disposal, please contact the Medical Center or Housekeeping onboard. Staterooms are equipped with mini-bars which are designed to maintain the temperature of beverages. Please do not use them to store medications that have specific temperature requirements. Should you need to store medicine that needs proper refrigeration, please visit Guest Services where access to a refrigerator is available 24 hours a day. Ships equipped with mini-bars are:

Thanks, but I allready called Carnival and they were not any help. The way the insulin pump works is we have to put in how many carbs are in the serving that she is eating and the pump knows how much insulin to give her, so its very important that we know specifically how many carbs (not sugar free) is in her food. Thanks for the info about the fridge, I would never have thought of that.

Dr.  Robert Atkins used to have a carb book,  it small and pocket size,  and had pretty much any food you will encounter on a Carnival ship,  broken down by ounces of the portions.  If you put Atkins carb counter in your search window,  they have a site you can download a PDF that covers just about any food.  If you can't find it,  send me an e-mail hhoffman2@cfl.rr.com and I will forward you a copy.  I was a personal patient of his for many years,  it was a shame we lost him,  he knew more about hypoglycemia and diabetis than most of the others put together.  When we were last on the Destiny,  they served sugar free Cheesecake and sugar free vanilla icecream to "DIE FOR!!!"  I HAD IT EVERY NIGHT!!!

Cruisin, 

Contact Alumni Cruises (they do autism on the seas program).  They can help get you through to the right people on the ship and can coordinate with the ship re meal restictions and getting the info you need for each dish.  Their number is 1-800-516-5247

I have a daughter who is Diabetic, she is 11 and cruising with us in December. 

We use a "Calorie King" book and get it as close as we possibly can to what she is being served. This book is hundreds of pages with serving sizes and carbs for restaurant foods and home cooked foods. I usually use my smartphone as well, but I keep a copy of this book in my van at ALL times for those moments when I don't have my phone or I don't have a good signal.

It can fit in a purse with no problems. I have a second copy of the same book that I keep in Haley's diabetes bag and a 3rd copy is at her school. It has literally been a life saver for us.

I wanted to add that she is also on an insulin pump. While we are cruising we will check her sugar at least every 2 hours and let the pump do its job if we underestimate. We also will be using the temp basal feature after swimming and other activity to prevent lows. 

We have spoken with her peds endo and diabetes nurse educator about our upcoming trip and will be following their suggestions. (Bringing the carb book and getting as close as we can with the count and checking every 2-3 hours to make sure her blood sugar is in target range).

As a fellow cruiser who is on an insulin pump (though a bit older--I'm 24)  I can say that cruises definitely throw a bit of a wrench in to the works (fortunately your granddaughter doesn't have to add in the extra fun of trying to count alcohol too!!!) but once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad--this is my 2nd cruise with diabetes (well technically third, but the first one I didn't know I had it yet--I just kept running to the bathroom every 10 minutes, but I digress)

The first thing is that Carnival has at-sea cell service and it does do data.  The only hitch is that you have to pay the international roaming rate which IS NOT CHEAP but it works great in a pinch.  Check with your provider and see if there is some arrangement you can make to save some $$$ because this is how the $20,000 bill horror stories come about if you aren't paying attention.  I've been a user of the Calorie King book since I got diabetes (which was admittedly late--two weeks before my 21st birthday--kinda wrecked my plans, but that's another story) and it has been very helpful.  

The other thing you can do is learn how to eyeball it.  I know things need to be a bit more precise for a younger kids (in addition to having diabetes myself, I'm taking my upcoming cruise to celebrate my graduation from pharmacy school) but if you can get to within about 10 grams and her ratio isn't much tighter than 10:1 she should be fine given the amount that you guys will be checking.  Is she normally pretty stable?  Try and practice before the cruise with regular meals throughout the day: have someone who is unaware of the carbs going into the meal preparation try to guess the amount of carbs based on portion size keeping in mind general rules of thumb for carbs/serving.  You can check out the Joslin Clinic's website as they have some very useful information.  If you happen to be near Boston, consider going to one of their dietary classes they offer on estimating portion size (their DO-IT program might be a perfect thing for you guys to all go to as a group--but it will require a weeklong stay in Boston).  Full disclosure:  I am currently a patient at Joslin and have also worked their as part of my clinical rotations so I may be a bit biased :)

Feel free to email me!!!

I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 7 weeks ago, and well this cruise is going to be a bit difficult as we are trying to get it under control with Meds...If I requested Low Carb meals, would I have a seperate Menu?

Im new to all of this so it can be a bit overwhelming.....

thank you

Is that the name of the book "Calorie King"?? Id like to Purchase it...