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I also have the opportunity with select cruises to offer free flights!
In my opinion, cruising and most of the activities on it are safe enough for pregnancy. But let’s leave that up to the individual. Will they even let you aboard, if you’re pregnant?
They wouldn’t have let me on the cruise if I were 5 weeks further along.
After receiving the “free cruise” call, booking the trip, the week in Kissimmee, and the timeshare presentation, the three hour huried drive to the port, and having a family member take our car for the couple nights to save on parking, by a fluke, I mentioned to the passport checker that I was pregnant.
Booking your cruise: the fine print.
He quickly responded by asking how far along I was. My response was a good one, because he was relieved I wasn’t 5 weeks further along. He said because they don’t have the proper medical staff onboard, people further than 25 weeks along would not be allowed on board.
I wondered, what leads them to choose this cut-off time, specifically. Not wanting women in labor on board? Not having medical machines on board for guests so small? Whatever the reason, I’m glad it didn’t cost me my investment in that cruise. I got lucky.
No one told me I could be turned away for being pregnant, even after paying for the trip.
Of course, I understand not wanting to put the baby or yourself at risk for emergency situations, so I can imagine a woman with a high-risk pregnancy would likely already know not to cruise.
On the other hand, if the pregnancy had troubles earlier-on, would the cruise ship’s limited medical staff handle that? I’m not sure I want to think this one through.
Check with your cruise line to determine if you’ll be allowed on board, being pregnant.
From what I can tell, the rule is pretty unanimous with the 24th week of pregnancy being the cutoff recommended by the CDC. Click below to check out some of the major cruise line’s description of their policies, Disney has a detailed description and links to their sources.
Carnival
Disney Cruise
Royal Caribbean
The worst part is: it’s only smart to book your vacation in advance, what if you get pregnant after booking?
Some of the cruise lines make it clear in their terms that a person is agreeing not to become pregnant and can forfeit the money paid by being past the cut-off at the time of boarding. YIKES! Keep this in mind when you’re planning a cruise!
This is the #1 problem to avoid at the cruise port!
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