KathyHKidd

I'm glad to read this. I'm set to go on a Hamlet cruise with Celebrity next April, but I am paralyzed in the feet and do not know what is accessible in Scandinavia and what isn't. I am pretty sure I shouldn't be expecting Europe to be ADA compliant, so I'm not springing for the $300+ shore excursions that Celebrity has put together. Your post about the castle has helped.

Personally have never found it difficult to store a Portable Scooter in a standard cabin whether it be on the Enchantment or any other ship. More often than not scooters are left in the hallways because the individual does not what [want?] to attempt to get the scooter into the cabin or that the scooter is a full size scooter that doesn't fit through a standard cabin door in which case the person should have booked an accessible cabin.

 

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Alas, my scooter is full-sized. I have tried mightily to get my scooter inside the Enchantment's staterooms, with absolutely no success. I am not a thoughtless oaf, despite any inference to the contrary.

As for, "in which case the person should have booked an accessible cabin," all I can do is shake my head. There are exactly six inside accessible cabins on the Enchantment. I book my cruises nearly a year in advance, and I call every single week to see if one of those cabins has been vacated. I guarantee you, it's not as easy as just calling up and making a reservation.

I hoped that with the refitting of the Enchantment there would be more handicapped staterooms created, but that was not the case. All I have been able to do is to book my staterooms near an elevator so I can park the scooter in an area that is out of the way and still close to my cabin. Other cruisers in scooters do not go to the trouble that I do to keep their scooters out of the way, but that's life.

As the cruising population ages, I see this problem getting more and more severe. I am not sure what the solution will eventually be.

Kathy Kidd

I've done nearly 20 cruises with a scooter, and if you're doing the Caribbean with a scooter, it's the Eastern route hands down. There's a reason for this: The Western route is the one with all the culture. It's the one with the Mayan ruins and the Central American countries.

When people were building all those Mayan pyramids and digging the Panama Canal, political correctness was not on their minds. It just isn't as easy to putter around Costa Rica and Belize and Panama as it is to glide around St. Thomas and St. Martin.

Even Puerto Rico, because of its U.S. affiliation, has handicapped access on its streets so you can take scooters downtown. You're not going to find that in Central America. So though Central America is infinitely more interesting, the Eastern Caribbean is infinitely more accessible. Sigh. Life isn't fair.

Kathy

I have cruised on Enchantment perhaps a half dozen times. I usually travel with my own scooter and a backup walker, although now that I'm paralyzed I guess it will be a backup wheelchair till my feet come back. Scooters and wheelchairs are about 50/50 on the ship. It's a matter of personal preference.

Scooters only fit in the rooms with great difficulty on the Enchantment, so usually they are parked outside the rooms in the hall. It's a pain in the neck for everyone concerned, but the cruisers are usually really nice about it.

Although RCCL does not rent wheelchairs or scooters, you can rent them as mentioned in the above post. They will be waiting in your cabin, which means you have to make it to your cabin first. (This is a HUGE challenge in Baltimore, and I'm sure it is in other ports.) But once you and your scooter/wheelchair are united, you will have a lovely cruise.

Kathy