We LIKE to be adventurous … ok, ok … pointing out the key word – like! We traveled to the Philippines in 2017 and it was the longest flight we have on the books for Matthew. While hubby and I were very much apprehensive, Matthew, 5 years old at that time enjoyed the whole experience. Then in 2018, we traveled to Europe {France, London, Italy}, while it was great to see so many historic landscapes and embroiled ourselves to a flashback of how civilization was way back in Rome, we can’t help but to be in tuned to the current state of flight we have with Matthew. We will always try to adventure with a caveat that struggles will always be a present reality to adhere to.
Two years prior to pandemic, Matt was granted a “Make-A-Wish” and we set our eyes on cruising. We have all are checklist done and we were to sail aboard Royal Caribbean in 2020. Unknowingst to our grand entry to the world of “traveling by sea”, COVID made its grand entrance … so grand that it basically stopped everyone from traveling. Just as it stopped, our Make-A-Wish started afresh.
While our plans for a cruise ship were halted for couple of years, we still wanted to fill our travel bucket list, so hubby was in full swing on planning the excursion. Way back in 2019, we reached out to Royal Caribbean about helping us in maximizing our cabin experience due to Matthew’s mobility, balance and sensory issues. At that time, they have upgraded us to a suite near the aqua theater — a location as far back as everyone and we can see show from the balcony area without having to compete with the crowd. Like my hubby’s motto: “you’ll never know unless you ask” … so he wrote Royal Caribbean! We were surprised they still honored their previous commitment.
As we are preparing for the cruise, which was a 3 month waiting, we are always on guard with our health. A little sneezing here and there keeps us on edge because we were afraid of Covid consequences. We finally breathe easy when our plane finally landed in Florida. We’ve read so many cautionary tale-tell on cruising but unless you really experience it yourself, you can’t make the story until you made the story.
Our experience with Royal Caribbean sailing with Harmony of the Sea is not about seeing the exotic places it brought us, or the touristy spots we can take pictures … well …these places become such, when your experience while getting there is something to write about. We didn’t know what to expect. As we were in the embarkation line, the “elephant in the room is already peeking through the window and ready to unleash its challenging behavior”, Matthew’s sensory is overloading. Every time people are passing by, he starts waving his hands and motioned people to stay in their lane. While it is ideal to think people can stay in their lane, there were thousands of people moving in different directions. As they walked close by, Matthew is unleashing his tentacles of screams. Half an hour into the embarkation process, Mom and Dad were so worn out. While Matthew is screaming on top of his lungs, an embarkation crew dashed to the rescue and motioned us to get out of the line and walked us out of the crowd, onto the immigration process and all the way to the ship. We should have gotten his name, but our stress levels were off the chart, that the whole process of embarkation was such a blur. If they didn’t helped speed up our embarkation, there is no doubt in our minds that we would have ruined half of the cruisers’ first day experience with Matthew’s voice still ringing in their ears — Mariah Carey’s 5 octave has been matched!!!
We finally sigh a relief when we finally made it to our suite. As we opened our 500+ square ft cabin for a week, a different behavior has surfaced … every step we take, we can hear Matthew saying “wow” and as we toured every square inch of the cabin’s space, we would see Matthew’s eyes expanding bigger and bigger. When we got to the balcony, an almost wrapped around deck, Matthew squealed so high out of excitement that we were sure the entire 17 decks would have heard it.
A family of 5 onboard Harmony of the Seas were curious Georges. While Dad and Matthew are resting and waiting for dinner time, Mom, the 1st born child and his friend were checking out the 17 decker ship. If you are 21+ years old … the ship and its array of booze will be one of the most anticipated highlight of your excursion while onboard the ship. I mean, why not? If you get wasted, you don’t have to drive — you just have to watch for similar minded drinkers, lounging in the ship and or in route to your cabin — the ship’s buoyancy will mess with your balance. At least, that is what my adult kids kept saying!!! As we were checking the ship, I’ve noticed that most of the crew are my “kababayan” {my people} — each floor of the ship’s crew, you’ll see a name tag from the Philippines. At least for me, it made me feel at home already. Some of them spoke Tagalog while some of them spoke Bisaya. During our 1st dinner time, our dinner crew where hailed from Philippines and Indonesia, a female and male tandem. We were seated almost at the end of the aisle, but not quite away from the crowd. Of course, Matthew wasn’t so thrilled about it — new environment, new people and new experience. He is screaming and hitting our dinner crews. We apologized profusely and requested to be seated at the end where we have minimal exposure to strangers. The table at the end of the aisle was already occupied, it would have been ideal but every passengers are assigned to a dinner table. The 1st night was a challenge but the 2nd night, the people from the end table that we were eyeing, were so gracious that they’ve exchanged their table for ours. We talked to them and explained our situation. Fortunately for us, the father is aware and he is a teacher with special needs awareness and he understood our journey. For every dinner night, and as we have gotten to know our dinner crew, Jhenifer and Aventus, Matthew is also warming up to them. He favored Jhenifer because she is female … let me reiterate, she is female, pretty and she spoiled him. Our crew paid attention to our family dynamic. Every night, they will leave Matthew alone until he starts the conversation. Jhenifer is a quick study, by the time we are seated, Matthew’s pasta/spaghetti is already prepared and his ice cream is stashed on the side. Matthew was consistent … pasta/ice cream combo was his thing, while the adults on the table explored different cuisine that’s on the menu each night. Aventus is quick witted! He knew that if the boys love what’s on the menu, there is possibilities that the boys will have seconds and or even thirds. The adults are that consistent and predictable. As we have gotten to know them, they’ve gotten to know us. They were paying attention.
What touched us the most about our Royal Caribbean cruise was … the people that we met onboard the ship. Our dinner crew were phenomenal. I am sure, all of them are expected to show hospitality, but ours went above and beyond. We were celebrating 2 birthdays {mine and the 1st born} and a 10th year wedding anniversary. One evening during our dinner, our crew surprised us with a meal that is a staple in my kitchen — adobo and sinigang — these are the favorites in my household and my boys can eat 3rd/4th servings if allowed. Jhenifer and Aventus went the extra mile to coax the chef to serve these foods to enhanced our celebration and elevated our experience with a “little touch of home”. The gesture might seemed small, but it was so huge to us. They paid attention to what is important to us!!! And yes, my family cleaned our plates. It was a tummy prescription!!!
Our cabin cleaning crew were as much as hospitable as our dining crew. They made sure to surprise Matthew with animated towels laid in the bed for him to see, and if we left for excursion, they were the 1st ones we see on the hallway greeting the family.
We even met a couple from Florida, Lori and Chuck, who has an adult child with Angelman Syndrome. While we were enjoying the splash pad area on the ship, they can’t help but asked us if Matthew has AS — since Matthew was showing them signs of AS!
What we struggled the most while on the ship was Matthew’s constant screaming. There are some of passengers giving us ugly looks because they think Matthew is such a spoiled brat and Mom/Dad didn’t care how he behaved. It was actually the opposite, we cared so much about opinion of others that sometimes, we have food service to our suite during breakfast and or lunch … being in line with everyone put so much stress in us because we do not want to inconvenience people, and or them glaring at us. There was even one situation where we were in the elevator and as people coming in, Matthew unleashed a loud scream that the guy next to him uttered “what the hell is wrong with you?” and glared at Matthew. During our land excursion, Matthew would have meltdown and his behavior is getting increasingly difficult that there are few who looked at us with excruciating glares while some strangers who showed us compassion and empathy.
It is not easy raising a child with special needs and although we have realized that there are some that are probably struggling more than we do, we always strived to be the best parents we can be for Matthew. We expose him to as many adventures because part of us don’t ever want him to be deprived of experience … it is bad enough that on the daily basis, Angelman Syndrome has deprived him of his voice and limited quality of life. During this excursions, we’ve seen the best and worst of people, we’ve seen exotic places we only dreamed to see in the movies, adventure along with people that we’ve met by chance, and which some left footprints in our experience.
As our cruise ship is sailing back to its original port, the whole family anchored our beliefs that God is ever faithful and we thank God for showing us His continued favors every step of our Journey. His provisions … from Royal Caribbean’s generosity, to its crew members who made impactful participation in our story, the few people who showed kindness and empathy — our hearts are filled with so much gratitude! Royal Caribbean did not disappoint us — and as I am writing this, Mike and I are ready for our next cruise adventure — only this time, we are experienced and more knowledgeable in navigating the cruising-ship-journey with Matthew.
Until next time we will leave you with a few more video’s and pictures…
