Caribbean Princess-Eastern

[holidayathesea]

Has anyone been on this ship and track in a wheelchair? My grandmother will be in a wheelchair with us on the ship. I'm wondering what sorts of things we need to look out for, and especially getting off in the ports. We want her to be able to go out and about and do things, what can we do to help her?

[katisdale]

We just got off the May 28 to June 4 Eastern sailing of the caribbean princess. I use a cane for short distances and a rolling walker for long distances. These are my opinions given my walking problems. This is a large ship - three football fields in length. If your grandmother cannot manage a few steps and if you do not have a collapsible wheelchair you MUST reserve a handicapped accessible cabin. We took a regular cabin. The access door is very narrow and my walker would not fit in the door in the forward position. It had to be collapsed and then entered at the short side. In the regular cabins there is a small step up to the bathroom. I asked for a shower chair which was provided. However the shower is very small and I had difficulty figuring out how to use the chair in such a tiny space. The shower did have a grab bar.

The cabin next to ours was a handicapped cabin. On debarkation day I looked into that cabin. It would offer access to someone in a wheelchair as the cabin entry door is much larger and the bathroom has no access step. The space under the sink is open allowing a wheelchair to roll up under it. There is space in the room itself for the chair to turn around and to do a transfer to the bed. I did not think to check if this room could hold three or four people.

I would be really concerned about getting down the halls in a wheelchair on the floors where the cabins are located. A wheelchair cannot pass the carts that the stewards use. You need to select a cabin that is near one of the elevator lobbies so that travel down the hall is unnecessary.

There is plenty of space in the public areas for wheelchairs so once you get down or up to those floors you should not have a problem. There are wheelchair accessible bathrooms throughout the ship (but not every bathroom area is accessible) that offer transfer space as well as a toilet and a sink within the stall. If she can leave the chair and walk a short distance she might be able to use any of the public restrooms as they all have grab bars.

We had a wonderful time on our cruise. The food was good. Our steward was welcoming. We had personal choice dining and all the waiters we had contact with were personable and professional. We did a day sail on the "New Horizons" in St Thomas that took us to two snorkeling sites (I can't walk well but am a strong swimmer - go figure). I would not recommend this excursion to anyone who cannot walk a few steps or go up and down a few steps although we had a great time. In St. Martin we took a taxi tour.

[katisdale]

Caribbean Princess Part Two

Both St. Thomas and St. Martin were docking ports which made getting off the ship easy. There was a medium length walk from the ship to the taxi stand. If she can transfer to the taxi I don't think she would have any trouble with this tour. I tend to avoid bus tours if possible as the steps up into the bus can be difficult for me while I have no problems with Taxi's or vans. We went all over the island. I did notice there were very few curb cuts on the streets. I am not a shopper but did stop in one store for an internet "fix" and had to navigate two or three steps into the store. All the stores around there had steps at the entrance as well.

On Princess Cays we had rented a cabana for the day. To access the area where the cabanas are located you must cross over a bridge with 6 or 7 steps. Princess needs to put some of the cabanas on the other side of the beach so everyone has the chance to use these if they so desire. The beach is deep white sand which is difficult to walk in. With my husband's help and my cane I made it to the beach. We did go into the ocean. The ocean floor has areas with rocks and I used my reef shoes and would recommend them if you want to go into the surf. Getting out of the ocean was a problem as there is a step up (natural) from the ocean back to the beach. If I did this itinerary again I would probably stay on board this day. It is a tender stop and I saw the crew carrying people in wheelchairs onto the boats. There were two or three beach wheelchair available at the first aid station but I did not see anyone using them.

The ship itself was wonderful. All of the lounges, dining areas etc. were either flat or had ramps. Inside doors were easy to open while doors to the outside were heavy but someone was always there at the same time I was so I had no trouble getting outside. I noticed several people in wheelchair and others in scooters. I noticed people who used oxygen concentrators. If you have any specific question I would be happy to try to answer them.