mystery island and isle of pines and wheelchair

[rabbit1971]

Hi,

Here is a question for those who have visited these islands.

I am wondering how long the jetty's are that the tenders pull up to and how far away the beaches are.

The reason behind my query is this;, my 10 year old son has limited mobility and for long diststances he uses a wheelchair. He can walk or be carried for short distances ( up to 50m), and if he is unable to access the tender in his chair due to tides ect he could walk onto the boat, but may not be able to walk to the beach if the distances are too far from the boat, in which case we would not attempt it.

Thanks in advance

Alternatively if anyone has accessed these islands in a wheelchair how difficult was it?

thanks maree

[Aus Traveller]

Is the wheelchair a folding one that could be taken on the tender - I have often seen them loaded on after all the passengers get on. On some ships (not sure if it is P&O or Princess because we cruise on both quite often) they take people in wheelchairs down in the crew lift to very close to the spot where passengers embark onto the tender. If the weather is rough they are likely to announce that people with mobility problems can't go on the tender because of the danger of helping them on.

 

Mystery Island - The jetty ends at the beach in very soft sand. A wheelchair wouldn't work there. If you can carry your son from the end of the jetty to the hard surface (and someone else carry the wheelchair) it might work for you. On the island you could push him around on the paths and then walk or carry him for the last bit on the soft sand of the beach.

 

Isle of Pines - The jetty ends at a hard surface and bitumen road. It is a few hundred metres to a swimming beach on the left. Between the road and the sand there is short-mown grass that would be fairly easy to push a wheelchair on, but I haven't tried it. :) There is beautiful soft fine sand and shallow water gently sloping down to deeper water.

 

Also at Isle of Pines - About 600-700 metres from the jetty there is the main beach where people swim/snorkel. It is on the right. It would probably be more difficult to push a wheelchair to that beach. I am trying to visualise the walking path, but I am sure there are tree roots and other obstructions across it. However, the path that runs a little further back (8 to 10 metres) from the water is probably smoother than the one close to the water's edge. The sand is lovely fine sand and the water here gets deeper more rapidly (not dangerously so).

 

If you can manage to get your son ashore on one or both of these islands I am sure he will enjoy it. All the best to you all and enjoy your cruise.:D

[rabbit1971]

Hi AussieTraveller,

Thankyou for the info. we are taking his manual chair which had a fixed frame base and removable back. carnival have told us much the same, if its good weather and he can roll on roll off the boat then he can get on with his chair. i was thinking outside the box if he is unable to take his chair.

Any idea how long the actaul jetty is on both the islands, just so we know if its feasable to take him minus his chair?

Cheers maree:)

[need_a_holiday]

Isle of pines jetty is very short, there are three or four steps and about 10 metres of jetty. You can get most of the way to the beaches on the bitumen road. Mystery island is longer, maybe 20 metres, found a photo album that gives you some idea of the jetty and terrain:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mj_snapz/sets/72157620149127260/detail/

 

The is no concrete or bitumen on mystery island but plenty of people enjoy the beach right next to the jetty. It's only a couple minutes walk to the other side and the coral reef snorkelling. You can also hire a local boat right next to the jetty and go for a tour.

[Aus Traveller]

We are of the opinion the jetties are closer to 20-25 metres long and on Isle of Pines there are a few concrete steps to get from the level of the tender up to the main jetty.

[keagle]

Isle of pines jetty is very short, there are three or four steps and about 10 metres of jetty. You can get most of the way to the beaches on the bitumen road. Mystery island is longer, maybe 20 metres, found a photo album that gives you some idea of the jetty and terrain:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mj_snapz/sets/72157620149127260/detail/

 

The is no concrete or bitumen on mystery island but plenty of people enjoy the beach right next to the jetty. It's only a couple minutes walk to the other side and the coral reef snorkelling. You can also hire a local boat right next to the jetty and go for a tour.

 

This photo is of the old jetty that is no longer used at Mystery Island. The new one is made from plastic and can bob around quite a bit. It is no longer though. I would also say that the walking tracks on Mystery Island are not firm to walk on. They are more sand than any thing else.

[cjm66]

On our last cruise we visited the Isle of Pines and used a wheelchair hired on the ship. We had taken H's portable scooter on board but HAL did not agree to tender him ashore using it so we hired a wheelchair. P&O and Princess had been happy to take the scooter on the tender on three previous visits so we knew the island well. Different conditions possibly leading to different decisions.

 

There are steps at the tender wharf ( more or less depending on the tide) but after that it is level pushing to the end of the wharf and the beginning of the bitumen road that leads to the beach, the performance area and the snokelling area around the Sacred Rock. This was the first time I had pushed H in a chair on the Isle of Pines. I grunted a little on the sandy bits and over the tree roots but otherwise managed OK provided I remembered to pull backwards when the going got tough. We got around to the performance area ( grassy but not difficult). the Sacred Rock where I snokelled , the "boutique" and enjoyed a beer looking out over the beach. We did not attempt a tour of the island, but I supect that this would be possible if the wheelchair was foldable and you bargained.

 

We have not tried going ashore together on Mystery Island. Too sandy and sometimes too crowded if the ship is large.

[Sandielle]

I would also like to say that I think the paths on Mystery Island are too soft for a wheelchair. You would be exhausted pushing him after a while.

 

I agree it is nice to swim near the jetty, even if you go no further.

[Sandielle]

:eek: Something happened to my photo library, but I'm pretty sure this is the Mystery Is jetty taken Sep 2012. Aneityum Island in the background. I think this is one of the islands where they had just put in a floating pontoon at the end.

 

 

Sep 2011 - This shows more of the jetty

 

[rabbit1971]

Thankyou all so much for your replies. Rohan loves the beach so we are happy to plonk down near the end of the jetty somewhere and just enjoy the sand and water, so this info is fantastic. Sounds like the isle of pines may be more the go than mystery island, if we can get the chair off well and good, if not we will walk him off and find a sandy spot to sit and enjoy the water.

Cheers maree

[musicorn]

This is a photo of the jetty at Isle of Pines.

[keagle]

Here is a link to my website. The third picture along gives you a very good view of the jetty at Isle de Pins.

 

http://mycruisediary.net.au/moreisland.htm

[keagle]

Here are some other pictures of the pontoon at Mystery Island.

 

This is the new pontoon that moves around quite a bit. You walk straight on to sand.

 

This is a picture of the old (on the right) and the new (on the left). You can see that it is close to swimming.

[need_a_holiday]

Has anyone else had a problem with the tenders at mystery island? I have only been there once but from 11am to 2pm the ship only had one tender running, so there was a queue of people trying to get back to the ship that ran along the dock, across the beach and into the trees. That queue was there for several hours and it was the only island where it happened. After 3pm all tenders were running again and there was no queue. We got back to the pier, saw the queue and went swimming and snorkelling along the beach and loved it, so it turned out to be a blessing. I cannot really complain about being trapped in a tropical paradise!

 

I would make sure you can get priority boarding on a tender back to the ship without spending an hour in a slowly moving queue.

[Drelix]

My brain is not focusing properly but I can tell you that I know a passenger who has traveld on 2 cruises to tender islands on p&O on pacific dawn and pacific sun

 

Pacific dawn they got them on to the tender and there carerer pushed them around the island etc.

 

then a few years later they went on pacific sun tender islands they where not aloud off at alll I think its strange but Maybe also depends on the layout of the ships.

 

 

would not even let them on tender if there carrer did all the work

[Aus Traveller]

then a few years later they went on pacific sun tender islands they where not aloud off at alll I think its strange but Maybe also depends on the layout of the ships.

 

 

would not even let them on tender if there carrer did all the work

 

Yes - it sometimes depends on the staff involved - whether they are playing extra cautious or not.

[Drelix]

Though I think it should be a all around rule so they know when booking whether they can get off or not that is all.

[rabbit1971]

Hi, we have been told by carnival australia that it will be at the captains discretion as to wether we can get onto a tender, depending on tides, weather ect, but they said that all efforts would be made to try and allow Rohan and his chair onto the tender.

So the only hard and fast rule we were told was they will not allow motorised wheelchairs onto the tender, only manual chairs.

so we shall see what happens.

Thankyou to everyone who has posted, the pictures have been most helpful as I can show my hubby and we can plan if rohan can't take his chair off the spirit Mystery island looks the best bet as we can plonk ourselves right near the jetty into that gorgeous sand

Cheers maree:).