Family of 4 son uses w/c need cabin advice

[roadtripper]

Long time lurker here--4 short cruises on RCCL. We are planning an RCCL cruise for Feb 2012 and are having trouble finding a cabin that meets our needs. We need to travel Feb 18 or 19-- and can't find a ship with an oceanview (preferably balcony) cabin that sleeps 4 and is wheelchair accessible. We're not too picky about where we go, but East Coast is preferable. I was looking at the Voyager cruise out of New Orleans, but none of the E2 cabins sleep 4. The D1 cabins do, but none are accessible. Seems unfair. Any advice from the experts? Thanks in advance!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Call RCI. The Accessible staterooms won't show on the the regular booking site. If you call they can look up all the Quad Accessible balcony or oceanview cabins for you. it is still early enough that they are blocked off for only people that qualify for them.

[roadtripper]

Thanks smileyperry. I did call (several times) and spoke to the Access people and the regular reservation people. The problem is that the ship doesn't seem to have balcony cabins for 4 with w/c access. There are only interior cabins or suites. I can't understand how that is allowed. Due to DS' health issues, he needs to be in our cabin; I wouldn't trust a monitor onboard.

[kyriecat]

I think that you will have a hard time finding a cabin that meets your needs. I don't think RC has any HC cabins on Voyager that will sleep 4. The best you will find is a JS that sleeps 3. Depending on the ages of your children, RC might allow you to have 4 in the cabin.

 

Cabin 1328 on Freedom/Liberty is a JS that shows it can accommodate 4. Have you thought about a Freedom class ship?

[Agr8RN]

My brother also uses a W/C and this is a huge problem on most ships - the Accessible staterooms don't accommodate a 3rd / 4th person.

 

Whoever designed the ships obviously never consulted a family with a disabled child. (any similar situation for that matter.)

 

The only option for 4 people in an OV type cabin is a Junior Suite - there are 2 accessible HC cabins on the Voyager/Freedom Class class ships. You have to actually call RCI to book these, or have your travel agent book these. It's times like these that you really need a good agent to dig through all the crap for you.

 

If you decide to do an Oasis Class ship, there are lots of options.

Oceanview accessible quad (Allure 3578 & it even adjoins to another cabin; now they're thinking...)

 

Allure 9166/9170... and if you look at the deck plans, there are more to be found in different categories.

 

Princess recently upgraded some of their ships to include some new cabins addressing this problem; it was a problem everywhere (although I think NCL has some triple/quad HC balconies).

 

The only other option is to to book 2 cabins - ie an oceanview accessible and another next to it (unfortunately, again the problem is that the HC cabins don't adjoin to any cabins.)

 

If you're looking to keep costs down, then promenade accessible rooms are a better option than the standard inside, at least you have a window view to the inside of the ship.

 

Good luck on your venture.