Multi-Generational Cruising with an Aspergian Kiddo

I’ll never forget the day my daughter, Angela, called me in tears because my grandson’s teachers thought he was autistic. Truman was three at the time, and it was devastating. Angela and Jim T – my son-in-law – immediately took him to his pediatrician who sent them to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. The psychologist who tested him didn’t see signs of autism, but did note “OCD” (obsessive compulsive disorder) tendencies. Truman was also given an IQ test and tested at 126…at three years old! There was no doubt that Truman was a smart kiddo.


However, Angela and Jim T noticed some other issues. Truman had never slept all night – ever. He would get focused on something, and regardless of what they wanted him to do, they could not get deter his focus. He was reading at age four. Genius? Maybe.

The time came for Tru to start kindergarten. Angela and Jim T were so anxious because they didn’t know how Truman would react in the classroom. He was beginning to show some ADD (attention deficit disorder) tendencies along with his other quirks. He was not making close friends like his butterfly sister, Maeve, who walked into a room and knew everyone instantly. However, Truman excelled in reading and math, yet his fine-motor skills were lacking and his handwriting was not up to par. He could spell, but writing so his teacher could read his ideas was a challenge.

Finally this spring, during Truman’s second grade year, Vanderbilt asked to do a genetic test on the entire family to determine is Truman had Asperger’s Syndrome. As it turned out, he is definitely an Aspergian, but there is no genetic link to either Angela or Jim T, and Maeve tested just fine. At last, a diagnosis.

Asperger’s is on the autism spectrum, but is at the extremely high-functioning end.

We’ve all done so much reading about this disorder in the past months, and found out that Bill Gates, Albert Einstein and Mozart were Aspergians. At the end of second grade, Truman was reading and comprehending on an eighth grade level. He excels in math and science and loves the chess club at his school. His handwriting is still lacking, but his theory is “Well, I can read it.” It doesn’t matter if anyone else can, including his teacher.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Because we just took Angela, Jim T, Maeve and Truman on an NCL cruise. This was the first cruise the grandchildren had ever taken. We knew Maeve would have a wonderful time and would meet and make new friends immediately. However, our concern was for Tru. Would he adapt to ship life? Would he want to participate in the kid’s program? We quickly found out that freestyle cruising is the best way to cruise with a kiddo who is Aspergian.

Jim T’s mom was with us, so the kids had all of their grandparents onboard. We had lunch the first day in Cagney’s, and just watching Truman order a steak for his first meal onboard was wonderful. He kept asking over and over “Is this FREE???” We explained that he could eat at Raffles, the Blue Lagoon, Windows, The Garden Room and numerous places on the ship at no charge. The Blue Lagoon became his restaurant of choice because they served chicken strips and French fries, his all-time favorite.

By the end of the first day, Truman had visited places on the ship that none of us knew existed. He knew immediately that the elevators forward of the ship had red carpet, those in the middle had blue carpet, and those aft had green carpet – details that none of us had noticed. He told his mom after the first day “In his cruise ship elevator riding experience that you can only push all of the elevator buttons at once if ALL of the passengers are ok with it, and he had not found that particular passenger group yet.” As Charlie – my husband – was getting off the elevator on Day 2, Truman pushed past him and was announcing “Come on, I’ll show you.” and was immediately followed by a posse of his new friends. Where he was going and what he was showing them has yet to be determined.

Freestyle cruising allowed the freedom that Truman needed in a controlled environment. He begged to go to the Kid’s Club every afternoon. Tru would miss dinner with us and eat after he had his Kid’s Club fix. This was a perfect scenario for an Aspergian. On the last day of the cruise, we were treated to a private bridge tour. Of course, Mr. Technical Truman was in heaven. All of the computer screens and the joystick that, according to him, was used to “drive the ship” were fascinating to him because they reminded him of his video games.

Cruising is such an incredible way for multi-generations to enjoy the vacation of their lives.  What's stopping you from taking a family cruise?

It's Showtime!!!



Charlotte Lawson, our NCL rep

Well, it's that time of year again.  We are definitely in Wave Season, as the cruise lines call it, when the wave of bookings for vacations for the year, picks up steam and culminates in a tsunami as we had last Sunday.  On January 30th, we held our 24th Annual Cruise & Vacation Supermarket at the Cool Springs Marriott in Franklin, TN.  After a very, very snowy week, we didn't know what to expect.  But on that day, the weather was perfect - 50 degrees and overcast.  

Sabrina Hampton, one of our agents





  

We set up our show the night prior and all of our reps from our travel providers were in town getting ready for our show.  We had done all the right things.  Our advertising had been effective and people were calling our office and the hotel daily to get more details.  The unknown in this equation was how many people would show up and how much business we would book.  As it turned out, everything gelled perfectly.  We opened the doors at 10:00 am and about 100 people swarmed in.  By 10:30, our reservations area was full.  By 11:30, we had a line waiting to see an agent to make a reservation.   What an incredible day!!! 

By the end of the day over 3000 had come through our doors.  They attended our seminars on Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean.  They visited the Holland America Alaska motorcoach parked outside the hotel.  The won hundreds of door prizes from our travel providers.  And, they booked vacations - lots and lots of vacations and cruises!!!  We are still booking vacations as hard and fast as we can.  If you were unable to attend, you can still take advantage of our show specials and super sail deals by clicking here.  

We could not pull this show off without the support of our travel providers - Sandals, Island Routes, Travel Impressions, Regent Seven Seas, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Apple Vacations & AM Resorts, Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Cunard, Globus Family (Avalon Waterways, Globus, Cosmos, & Monograms), Azamara Club Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Celebrity Cruises.

The room at 10:30 am

Here's some more pictures from our show.  Don't you deserve a vacation this year?

Royal Caribbean's booth was very busy all day

Celeste Pevahouse with Princess and Cunard



Erin Miller with Apple Vacations and Carlos Gonzalez with AM Resorts

Dawn Bolte and Kyle Brock with Sandals



Steve Smith from Oceania Cruises



Tracie Mosley with Carnival







This One's Going in our Book

As travel agents, we get asked some of the strangest questions - some so incredible that we're going to write a book. 

There was one when a lady called our office in a panic at 7:00 am one morning. My husband, Charlie, was there alone, but answered the call, and she told him she was so glad someone was there early.  She explained that she was leaving on Saturday, and just realized that her passport had expired, and it was just three days before departure.  She said she was a teacher and it was the end of the school year, and she had just forgotten to get one because she had been busy with exams and grades.  Charlie pulled up her record to find out she was going to Hawaii.  He said, "Ma'am, you're going to Hawaii."  She said, "I know, and my passport has expired!"  Charlie assured her that she didn't need one because Hawaii was a state, not a different country.  The irony was, she teaches our children!

Or the couple going to Europe who, when their documents arrived, realized that they needed an extra day to fly to Europe overnight.  They thought their flight would be like one going to Miami. 

Our favorite occured about eight years ago.  It was a Friday afternoon.  We could hear one of our agents laughing hysterically.  She had a lady on-hold.  Seemed the lady wanted to take an Alaskan cruise, but would not give our agent money to hold the cabin unless we could guarantee that the "glaciers would still be out in September."  Charlie told our agent to take the credit card because if the glaciers aren't there, we had a much bigger problem than a charge-back.

There are some client concerns that are easier to answer than others.