? Wheelchair rental pick-up port of Miami

[CarolZaga]

My disabled husband, sister and I will be sailing on Celebrity Eclipse in November. I will need to rent a wheelchair for my husband's use and plan on using Special Needs At Sea, a company that we have used many times when sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale. Does anyone know if there is a pick-up and drop-off location for wheelchair rental at the cruise terminal, so we can use the chair to get on and off the ship? Or is a rental chair left in the cabin for pick-up? I ask, because in Ft. Lauderdale we are able to pick-up the wheelchair at an outside location before boarding the ship and then use the wheelchair to disembark and then leave it at the drop-off location.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.:)

[Splinter]

Why not take your own wheelchair with you?? If you are renting from these companies on a regular basis, you have probably paid for a decent manual wheelchair several times over by now. In addition, you have the wheelchair to use at the airport going and coming home from your cruise.

[Knolmom]

We embarked Allure of the Seas in Ft Lauderdale in November.i require wheelchair assistance to embark and the service I received from my car all the way to the Oceanview Cafe was superb. With no advance notice, A civilian employee of the port met me and assisted me through registration upto the special assistance area where you wait to board. As soon as boarding was announced, crew member came and wheeled me all the way to a seat Oceanview cafe where I ate lunch while my husband went to the cabin and retrieved my scooter that I rented.

You do not need to have a wheelchair available at the port. You would need a pretty strong person to push or pull so done up the gangway. Crew are used to it.

I understand that this does not apply if you are traveling on Carnival. They seem to have problems with special needs embarkation in FtLauderdale.

[CarolZaga]

Thanks Splinter for your suggestion. Although a very good suggestion and one that would save me money in the long run, I find renting a chair the easiest course of action. I have issues with my back and about 5 months ago, had back surgery. So lifting a chair in and out of a vehicle went traveling to and from the airport really isn't an option.

Knolmom, thanks for letting me know about your experience in Ft. Lauderdale. I will have someone from the ship wheel my husband onboard and will pick up our wheelchair in our cabin.:)