FOPMan

For the ship to airport transfer, its probably easiest to book a transfer through the cruise line. They pretty much HAVE to offer a wheelchair transfer. It’s often a greyhound-style bus with a wheelchair lift, but could also be a wheelchair accessible van. If your flight is later in the day, the tours/drop off at airport trips will also have an accessible option.

The Brightline train runs from the Orlando airport (MCO) to close to PortMiami. Perfectly doable. e or driving are also options. By the time security snd baggage pickup is considered. flying isn’t going to be faster.

6 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

The bad news is that your Alaskan cruise will include entry into Canada, and what might have been adequate for a Caribbean cruise in the past really doesn't matter. The good news is that her official birth certificate plus government issued photo ID will suffice to allow entry to Canada. I'm not aware of any current requirement regarding a marriage certificate.

The OP’s concern is likely that the name on the driver license is not a perfect match to the name on the birth certificate. It may be a bit less of an issue if the driver license contains the full birth name as included in the birth certificate.

There may be still sufficient time to secure an emergency passport. A certified copy of the name change document (marriage certificate) or the original would be helpful.

You should allocate at least 30 minutes to drive to Avis, return the car, and shuttle back to the ship.

The answer is “it depends.” The Pinnacle class shopd have a number of singles cabins. A family member is sailing single on the Noordam later this summer. There wasn’t a surcharge from what I understand 

The Renaissance Marina is pretty much immediately across the street from the Eisenhower entrance to the port. The Hilton Marina is pretty much next door to the east, on the Intracoastal Waterway.

What port? Canaveral? Tampa? Port Everglades? PortMiami? Jacksonville? West Palm Beach?

19 hours ago, [Big Z] said:

When I was on the Koningsdam in December, near my stateroom, there were a couple of Verandah staterooms that had their scooters parked outside of their staterooms every night. 

 

I don't know if it was a case that they couldn't get it inside or felt they didn't need to get it inside. Hopefully your travel companion won't have any problems with it. 

Leaving equipment outside the cabin presents a significant fire hazard and a major obstacle for cree and other passengers. Don’t be surprised if your scooter gets relocated and/or you get a call to move it yourself at whatever hour of the night.

You need to keep it in your cabin at all times. Leaving it in a passageway or a lobby creates a fire and safety hazard.

One adapts. A much greater amount of planning is often required.

We had 11147 eons ago and found it yo be convenient and quiet. As I recall (it’s been years), there was plenty of space (I was 170 lbs, my spouse was 135 lbs).

Fort Lauderdale can be a busy airport if there are slot of ships in port. Often, ships’ passengers are not all that familiar with TSA procedures. Add on to that, TSAPre and Clear are not the advantage they once were.

There will be good availability of taxis and ride share vehicles at the port.

Can you make a 9:30 flight? Yes. Will you? Maybe. Have a good plan if there are bumps.

Walking into the port is not usually an issue at the Eisenhower Avenue entrance, from a security perspective.

The entrance is not exactly pedestrian friendly. There is ALOT of traffic, and drivers are not especially attentive.

Be very aware it can be a LONG walk from the port entrance to your ship, and Florida heat and humidity can come into play.

Safe travels!

Your TA should have booked your new hotel prior to releasing your Panpacific reservation. Unfortunately, from what you’ve said, they didn’t.

I would not expect them to find a room. Alaska cruises are sailing full or more than full, and hotel rooms in Vancouver on nights before cruises and near the terminal can be challenging to come by. And if it’s a Fire in the Sky night, almost impossible citywide.

I would grab something to have and then see if the situation can be improved. 

Best of luck!

Your service animal should remain with you at all times. 

Ship’s personnel can and may enter your stateroom for a variety of reasons, including verifying ship’s equipment and safety. Your dog could, of course, bark. There are lots of different noises aboard a ship, many of which may be unfamiliar to a service animal.

If you left your service animal in the cabin unattended while you were in port, you might very well come back to the pier and find your suitcases and dog on the dock, having been unceremoniously disembarked at the captain’s orders.

Of note, regardless of whether you go ashore or remain on the ship with the animal, you will need to comply with each country’s requirements for registering your animal.

It’s a one hour drive each way.

Assume ashore @ 1:30,

Out of rental car pickup @ 2:00

Arrive Disney Springs 3:00

Depart DS 5:45

Arrive Cape Canaveral 6:45

Shuttle to ship: 7:10

Doable, but not a bunch of wiggle room

The offerings have changed quite a bit. At a quick glance, I did not see the packages we used. There is an English option. I can read quite a bit of Italian.

Most facilities, at least years ago, would not pre-register/sell tickets for the disabled. The big issue is determining how the queue is managed. On a busy day (like the day we were at the Vatican), we did not want to risk waiting in the standby queue to buy tickets, plus we wanted early access to the Sistine Chapel, plus we could get a much earlier start on the day, making more time for touring. At the time we went, no discounted pricing was provided for individuals with disabilities for special event tours, only for general admission activities, and only when purchased in person.

At the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, we knew the standby line was going to be long, but we also knew to go to straight to a special check in desk that didn't require waiting in the standby queue and would sell immediate entry tickets to the disabled. I think regular tickets at the time were 10 Euro, with the companion free. The Ufizzi was similar, but a bit more difficult to find the right entrance. Again, we could bypass the ticketing entrance queue.

You'll be an in transit passenger. You will need to assemble with all other in transit passengers. likely in the theater and escorted off the ship for a quick check with immigration and to validate all passengers have been accounted for. Bring your ship ID and travel documents.  The check can take as few as 10 minutes.

Hope that your fellow passengers comply- it's all or nothing, and they won't proceed until everyone shows up.

Once done, you can return immediately to the ship or continue to go ashore. There is a Walgreen's at the port entrance and a Total Wine and Publix supermarket several blocks away. It is walkable if needed, but be very careful about cars. Many crewman will be walking the same path.

I am not sure about how clean the bathroom floors may actually be. I'm not suggesting they are not cleaned between passengers, but am unsure what products are being used at this point.

As a general perspective, if you have need of the room's modifications due to a disability, that should not be a barrier to reserving/occupying the space.

There are an extremely limited number of accessible cabins. Many of us cannot cruise without having an accessible cabin- it's all or nothing. I use a custom power wheelchair and cannot walk/stand/step without assistance. A shower- or any portal- with a step- is an insurmountable barrier.

My personal take is to try to make the smallest footprint possible and take only what is needed, leaving opportunities for others. You need to strike a balance that you can live with.

Avis snd Enterprise have separate, stand-alone locations focused on Port Everglades.

The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is adjacent to Port Everglades. It's rental car center, with all the usual and some other companies is about a 10 minute (or less, depending on terminal number) ride/drive to/from the cruise ships.

Free shuttles between Port Everglades and the airport are NOT provided.

Safe travels!

No. Ships' pools are generally too small to support ramped access. Margaritaville @ Grand Turk DOES have a lovely ramped pool entrance, excepting that it foes not have any handrails nor s water wheelchair or waterproof walker. 

Sharing where you are sailing would be helpful in members identifying potential alternatives for you.

5 hours ago, Crew News said:

Tunnel traffic exits Whittier for 15 minutes beginning at the top of the hour.  Entering Whittier traffic begins at the bottom of the hour for 15 minutes.  If you miss a tunnel window, your plans will be interrupted or delayed.

Thank you for being more eloquent than I was! 🙂

There is also the issue of the tunnrl and what direction traffic is flowing at the time.