kokopelli-az

Lots of people use oxygen while on a cruise and there are several threads regarding oxygen on this board. Do a search for oxygen in this Disabled Cruise forum. You can rent portable oxygen concentrators from the frequently mentioned special needs rental companies (scootaround.com, for example) if this is of interest. These can be delivered to your home (to take from home to your ship) or be delivered to your stateroom. Each cruise line has specific guidelines for passengers bringing oxygen. When you have an idea of what cruise line you want to book, take a look at its policies for oxygen. Provide more information or questions and people on this board can give you more specific responses.

Yes. You will get whatever perks Royal is offering when you book Royal while on Celebrity.

We always book with big box based in Washington State and have never not been able to take advantage of a lower fare if one came up. You have to compare the lower fare with what you have booked to be sure you aren't losing any perks (or if you lose perks, that the lower price makes up for it).

Not only an ID tag, but the airline personnel at the gate will tag it, too. Check in with them when you get to your gate and tell them you have a walker to be gate checked. They will put a tag on it. Definitely have your own ID tag on it, too.

We have a 4 wheel rollator and have never bagged it. Just left it at the plane door for the airline personnel to take it.

For the accessible balconies, 6107 and 6108 are available. You need to choose the "Accessible Stateroom Needed" on the page that says "Qualify for a Special Rate?"

No, not by the scooter rental companies (Scootaround and Special Needs). But you may need an accessible stateroom so the scooter can get through your doorway. Many cruise lines have their own rules for booking an accessible stateroom.

We are going to do this on an Alaska flight with a short connection time next month. But I am going to advise the airline representatives at the check-in counter, at the gate and when we get to the plane's door that we want to use the wheelchair closet for a collapsible wheelchair. There are specific federal rules regarding being able to stow a mobility aid in the wheelchair closet. This describes what kind of mobility aids may be brought inside the cabin of the plane: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-II/subchapter-D/part-382/subpart-I/section-382.121 John Morris does a good job of summarizing bringing a mobility device on an airplane: https://wheelchairtravel.org/air-travel/flying-with-manual-wheelchair/ And he also has a summary of the Air Carrier Access Act: https://wheelchairtravel.org/air-travel/air-carrier-access-act-summary/

Will your rollator stay folded up without coming unfolded? If not, you could try some velcro strips or ties to tie it together to keep it from keeping unfolded. When you go to the dining room, your waiter will take your rollator and park it up front by where you enter the dining room (there will be others there, plus scooters). This is done all the time. They will bring it back to you when you are ready to leave. If you have the right table away from others, you might be able to keep it by your table or in a corner. No charge. 🙂

If you're looking at rollators on Amazon, don't forget to check the Amazon Warehouse. There are lots to choose from in their Warehouse and you will save yourself some $$. https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Warehouse/b?ie=UTF8&node=10158976011

Rentals are based on supply and demand and your beginning and ending port. So they are all different and there is really no standard per day price; it will be based on your particular cruise and dates. You might just give them a call and have them give you a quote over the phone if you can't do a dummy booking on line. They will want to add insurance to your booking so decide if this is something you want ahead of time. Also, request discount code USCRUISE (from United Spinal members) for a discount (even if you book on line, you might have to actually talk to Scootaround to have the code applied). Have you considered buying a rollator? You may find out that by the time you rent one you may have spent enough $ that you could have purchased one.

Definitely gate check your precious cargo. The last thing you want to do is end up with no mobility device, or a broken one, at your destination. If you have a layover on your flight, let the airline personnel know you want to pick it up at your connection stop. Then ride it over to your connecting gate and again gate check it.

Are you going to be on Celebrity this time? If so, you definitely need to contact Celebrity's Access Department at (954) 628-9708 or send an e-mail to special_needs@celebrity.com. They will need to be advised of his condition in any event. If you're going to be on another cruise line, you need to contact that company's Access Department. If you are interested, you might contact either Scootaround.com or SpecialNeedsatSea.com and inquire whether they have something like this to rent. It would be delivered to your stateroom. I'm sure there are others on this board with personal knowledge who can speak about toilet assistive devices. PS: Commodore cruiselines??!! We sailed with them in 1999 out of New Orleans on the Enchanted Isle.

Regarding the wheelchair closet, on our flight next month to FLL, I plan on requesting that my husband's foldable wheelchair be placed in the closet, not stowed below. We have a somewhat short layover (thanks to the airline changing the schedule) and I would like to have the wheelchair available immediately (and hopefully the pusher will be there when we land, too). I'm interested in seeing what they say when I request this since I know the crew likes to stow their own things in the wheelchair closet.

You can always ask the pusher to stop by the restroom on the way to the gate. They will wait for you outside the restroom. I have had them ask if we wanted to stop by a restaurant to order something to go. About being left at the gate without a pusher (from the US Dept of Transportation): If you believe your rights under the Air Carrier Access Act are being or have been violated, ask to speak with a Complaints Resolution Official (CRO). A CRO is the airline’s expert on disability accommodation issues. Airlines are required to make one available to you, at no cost, in person at the airport or by telephone during the times they are operating. Here is the Air Carrier Access Act FYI: https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/passengers-disabilities

We travel on Alaska a lot. Last month we were at the airport (PDX) and the Alaska people were outside the door of the terminal and asked if we needed wheelchair assistance (this was about 4am). From the front door! We've never been asked that before; we've always checked in at the counter, have them take our luggage, and they direct us to where people are waiting for wheelchair assistance. We didn't even talk to the people at the counter. Our luggage was left at the luggage self-checkin place and off we went with the wheelchair pusher. We'll be on Alaska again next month so I hope the Alaska personnel are outside of the terminal again. (They can hang the walker on the back of the wheelchair.) But unless the Alaska personnel are outside the terminal, you will need to speak to the first Alaska representative you see. You may also see where the Alaska passengers needing a wheelchair are waiting and can go over there and talk to whoever is coordinating things so you can get on the list. Make sure you've requested wheelchair assistance on your reservation. At your arrival airport, the wheelchair pushers will be outside your plane when it arrives waiting for passengers who have requested wheelchair assistance to deplane. We have always had the pusher take us out to the taxis, Ubers, etc. Also, they will take you to and wait for you at the restroom, baggage claim, etc. Tips are appreciated. So to answer your question, "someone be there at the airport at SFO from Alaska Airlines when I arrive & will take me through security to the boarding gate & when I arrive they meet me at the gate, take me to baggage claim, & outside where I can get a Uber/Lift ride", the answer is yes (assuming you have requested wheelchair service). You have seen this, correct? https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/accessible-services/specialservices-wheelchair

With most airlines, you do not need to use a pusher; you can do it yourself. I would go to where the people are waiting for the pushers for your airline and ask whoever is in charge if you can take the wheelchair yourself and leave it at the gate. If there is no one there in charge at the time you get there, I probably would just take one of the wheelchairs. The advantage of using one of the airline's pushers is that they know exactly where to go and know the shortcuts of getting through lines and security. It's usually quicker and easier to use one of the airline's pushers.

Right now they are having half price, refundable deposits. Just booked the Sky for Feb 2025 with a $250 refundable deposit. I'm sure they will have a Black Friday sale of some kind. Interesting when I was doing a dummy booking on the Princess websiste for the Feb 2025 cruise. I wanted a mini-suite for 2 but there was no choice to select a Reserve Collection mini-suite (category M1) unless you chose 3 passengers. Then the Reserve Colleciton mini-suites came up. I called my TA and the final price was actually about $800 less than what was showing on the Princess website. Plus I got some OBC. Had I booked directly with Princess it would have cost more plus no OBC.

United’s 24-hour Accessibility Desk is 1-800-228-2744 within the United States or Canada Additional info here: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/special-needs.html

Here is some help from United regarding wheelchair assistance. (You can hold on to your walker while in the wheelchair or the pusher can hook it on to the back of the wheelchair.) https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/accessibility-and-assistance/wheelchair-assistance.html The contact information for Princess' Access Dept is: accessofficeprincess@princesscruises.com Let them know you would like to request wheelchair assistance (a Princess wheelchair and a pusher) for embarkation and disembarkation. There are lots of threads on this board about wheelchair assistance.

For Celebrity accessible staterooms, the shower "chairs" are pull-down from the wall. However, on our cruise in a Sky Suite on the Equinox last month, our room steward suggested we try another shower chair; one that we could move around in the shower. So he brought us another shower chair and we then had two of them in the shower. My husband liked the one the room steward brought better than the pull-down one. If your stateroom is not accessible (which already have pull-down shower chairs), just ask your room steward for one; there is no charge. See photo of our shower chairs from last month.

Well, it's not a silly concern because we had someone else's scooter (rental identical to ours) delivered to our dining room table and took off on it to our room. It wasn't until we got to the room that I noticed it was the wrong scooter. So I took it back to the dining room and we got "our" scooter. The rentals pretty much all look alike. We usually have a bunch of junk in the scooter basket and the wrong scooter that we got had the same stuff in their basket so we didn't know it was the wrong scooter. Anyway, yes, we now use one of the pom pom luggage tags from one of our suitcases and attach it to the scooter. And put it back on the suitcase when we go home.

You shouldn't have much trouble getting around on the ship with a scooter. The automatic doors will mostly be for going from the inside of the ship to the outside. Elevators are a long story and talked about frequently on this board. If it is busy it takes longer to get an elevator because other passengers usually run over to the elevator door when it opens and get on, leaving no room for a scooter. We always stay near one of the elevators on the end of the bank of elevators and specifically wait for that particular elevator door to open. We get on (assuming there is room) no matter what direction it is going and we will get to our floor eventually. The best times on the elevators is when it's not busy because you will often be the only one on it. If there is no one on the elevator, we always back in so it's easier to get off. If there are already people on the elevator, then we just go straight in and back out of the elevator when we get to our floor. People are pretty good on the elevator and will stand around the edge of it so the scooter can enter (plus they are worried about their toes - ha). You'll be able to reach the elevator buttons or ask someone to push your floor number for you. On a few occasions after waiting forever to get an elevator, I (my husband is the one with the scooter) will go to the elevator as it opens and stand in front of the open door so it doesn't close. If others try to crowd on, I ask them to allow the man with the scooter to board the elevator because he has been waiting a long time. This works. Here are a couple of threads discussing this topic: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2778566-elevator-concerns-with-wheelchair/#comment-61041964 And one on renting a scooter: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2950950-scooter-rental/ In the dining room we select a table that is easily accessible. My husband takes his scooter right up to the table and after he gets settled, one of the employees will take the scooter and park it near the entrance of the dining room (there will be other mobility aids there, too). After the meal, just ask them to go get the scooter and they will bring it back to the table. If you need to park the scooter, just find a place out of people's way to leave it. If you have someone with you, they can even park the scooter for you after you get in the pool. This works in the casino, too. Another thing is getting off with the scooter at port stops (you cannot take the scooter on a tender). Always wait at the top (or bottom) of the gangway for one of the employees to assist you down (or up) the ramp. They will be there and will be looking for passengers needing assistance. You do not want to use the ramp without assistance. You will need to advise Princess you will be bringing a scooter. Have you seen this? (scroll to accessible cruising) https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/pre-cruise/prepare-for-your-cruise/ If you happen to rent from scootaround.com, try discount code USCRUISE (you may have to call them to have it applied). It's from United Spinal and will save you some bucks.

That's exactly what I'm going to do. Thanks!