Child in Wheelchair

[lorilou]

Hi! I'm looking for advice on which cruise/cruiseline would be best for our family. We're a family of 6 -- DH, myself, 13 year old son and 7 year old triplets. One of the triplets has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair primarily to get around. He does use a walker for very short distances but isn't the best at it. We have lots of options -- a big "stroller" (very compact), a manual wheelchair and a powerchair.

 

He is potty trained but at this point needs help to use the bathroom. He is totally verbal and cognitively pretty age appropriate. In his powerchair he's pretty independent and also has his two sisters to help him out.

 

Which cruiseline would work best? Could he use the kid clubs? I'm not overly worried about ports -- he's still light enough to lift/carry if necessary and we could use his lightweight stroller. I just want him to be able to have a good time.

 

Thanks for any advice...

 

Lori

[cjh]

I have 2 daughters with spina bifida ages 15 and 7 both use manual wheelchairs and never had a problem in the Princess kids program.

[LogansDad]

Hello Lorilou -

 

We traveled RCL's Voyager of the Seas last year with our two kids - age 8 son and age 4 daughter (in wheelchair).

 

The kids program was very accomidating to her special needs and we found the staff excellent. Tha facilities are good and accessible.

 

The Voyager was accessible in general for her and the staff everywhere very nice and helpful.

 

More than I can say for some of the passengers. It's amazing how many people will literally leap in front of a cute 4 year old in a wheelchair to get into an elevator. Many times we waited in crowds at elevators after a show or dinner with rude folks pushing in front of her to be sure we couldn't squeeze in. Sometimes we'd have to wait for two or three elevators even though we were right at the elevator entrance. I'm sure this isn't a Royal Caribbean only experience. There are rude and inconsiderate people everywhere, just as there are wonderful and polite people.

 

The only other comment about children in wheelchairs I'll give is this.

The disembarking was terrible. We got to our designated lounge for our color early and there already a lot of people there. So many that no seats were available. That wasn't so bad, but the lounge was filled with smoke. (BTW I am a smoker. but never smoke around my kids or anyone elses kids, even in a smoking allowed area.)

 

This lounge seemed to be where most wheelchair folks of all ages were designated and many were old and on oxygen. They did not appreciate the smoke either. Many complained to the purser that there should be a non-lounge area for the disabled to wait for disembarkation and that does make sence!

 

There was also not a single RCL person there to help the diabled who didn't have a lot of support. Like one elderly couple - One in a wheel chair and the other quite old and frail. That lady had a very rough time wheeling her husband when we finally did get called and the stampede began. And again all the non-disabled people pushed into the elevators leaving the wheelchairs in a stalled lineup. If there had been an RCL person there I think it would have been much more organized.

 

It's funny, too, because at embarkation RCL was very attentive and helped us into the handicapped minibus, helped us into a reserved elevator up, etc.

 

Maybe disembarkation was a bad day (it did take a lot longer to get off the ship than normal. I was told later there was an 'immigration issue' which threw a monkey wrench into the works that day.

 

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions about RCL Voyager and kid's in wheelchairs!

 

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze77uo0/id1.html

 

Jim

[HPEmom]

I would love to take family on RCCL however when speaking to Special Needs dept I was told flat out No for my 7 year old son to participate in the Youth program. My son is in a wheelchair and is not toilet trained. He would be attending with his 6 year old typical sister.

 

Was your child able to attend the children's program? Did you make any special arrangements in advance or just show up with your child?

 

We cruised CCL before with him and had no problem with him going to the kid's program. The staff there were great.

 

Any information you could provide would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Queenie2]

Yes, RCL has a rule about no-diapers and that the child must be potty trained (no exception for disabled kids) but if that is not a problem, then the kids programs are great.

 

Carnival will take kids in diapers (no matter what age) as long as you provide the diapers and changing supplies. I've heard great things about their kids programs too.

 

Candy

[LogansDad]

I would love to take family on RCCL however when speaking to Special Needs dept I was told flat out No for my 7 year old son to participate in the Youth program. My son is in a wheelchair and is not toilet trained. He would be attending with his 6 year old typical sister.

 

Was your child able to attend the children's program? Did you make any special arrangements in advance or just show up with your child?

 

We cruised CCL before with him and had no problem with him going to the kid's program. The staff there were great.

 

Any information you could provide would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Hello HPEmom -

 

We did contact the RCL special needs folks before we boarded, and it's a good idea to do so. We were on lists which made access easier.

 

As another posted pointed out, it isn't the special need like the wheelchair that's a problem for the kid's program, it's the toilet training. RCL's kid's programs don't allow non-potty trained kids, whether disabled or not.

 

NCL allowed non-potty trained kids (they page you when they need changing), but were not good about the special needs part (I thought NCL's service was not good in general, but esp special needs and the kid's program was terrible, even for my other child who is not disabled!) So I can't reccomend NCL. Haven't been on Carnival or Princess (though we are considering Princess for our next booking, now that RCL has effectively raised prices by eliminating discounts by TAs!).

 

E-mail me at jimscott3sp @yahoo.com if you want to chat offboard. (remove the "sp" from the email address... I put that "sp" there so that automated programs which harvest e-mail addresses wont work :) )

 

jim

[stmomma]

I took my daughter who was 15 @the time on a Disney (Wonder)4-day cruise last Aug. She has Cerebral Palsy and at home uses a walker for shorter distances, a power chair for longer distances and a manual chair for family outings (we don't have a lift in our van). We chose to take the manual and walker. We found the Wonder to be pretty accessible and the teen program had no problem with her joining them. The games they played were not very inclusive of all abilities, I spied on them a few times and saw her just watching because the game was not one a child with limited mobility could play. She is very outgoing and made friends anyway, even stayed out til 1:00 AM dancing at one of the teen parties. We avoided the pools, too many kids in them to be safe and have a short wall all the way around them. It would have been very difficult for me to lift her out.

I highly recommend Castaway Cay (Disney's island) because of the availability of sand wheelchairs. We just parked my daughters manual, tranferred her to sand chair (big fat wheels) and pushed her around beach. Would have been impossible to get manual out on beach. Also shuttle from ship to beach area was accesible, but the walk is not far if you choose and path is paved and level.

Our other stop was in Nassau. I guess it was somewhat accessible but in places not at all. We couldn't get into the Straw Market at all even with her small chair. The sidewalks on the way to the market were not very good either. We did take an excursion to swim with the stingrays on Blackbeard's Cay. While there were some tranfer challenges involving steps into and out of boat the staff were very helpful. They just picked her and her chair up and carried her. For the stingray adventure part she just sat in shallow water and the stingrays came right up to her. It was an amazing experience.

Hope this helps.

Tina

[cruzdaddy]

We are a family of 8 traveling on the Enchantment in November to Cozumel, Belize and Key West. We include a pair of 76-year old grandparents (celebrating their 50th anniversary), 2 pairs of middle-aged adults (my husband and I and my sister and brother in law), my 15 year old son and my 11 year old daughter (who has cerebral palsy). At home, my daughter uses a walker to get around but she is getting a power wheelchair next month to help her with long distances (we also have a Convaid stroller). Here's my questions: does anybody know of any excursions (RCCL or private) that we could all enjoy in either Cozumel or Belize? My husband is concerned about using a private tour operator for fear of "missing the boat". Anybody have any comments? Since I know my 15 year old would love cave tubing in Belize we were thinking of splitting up but can't seem to find anything of interest that is handicapped accessible in Belize. In Cozumel I thought we might go to a beach club where those of us that wanted to/could snorkel could hook up with a snorkeling trip. Any thoughts or suggestions on this idea? Also, any thoughts on taking the power chair vs the Convaid stroller? We took the stroller on the Voyager last August and didn't have any problems (we even chose the Family Suite over a Handicapped room with no issues). Both Cozumel and Belize are tender ports and I'm unsure of whether we can/should use a power chair in these instances.

 

Now that I've rambled on, does anyone have any suggestions or ideas. They would be much appreciated...

Thanx