Enchantment of the Seas - poor assistance for disabled

[Bean2]

Do not cruise with Royal Caribbean if you are not completely able-bodied. We cruised with my parents, and my father has difficulty standing and walking for long periods of time. Two weeks before departure, I contacted a Royal Caribbean "Special Needs" person, and requested a wheelchair for embarkation and debarkation. She informed me they would have a manifest with my father's name on it at the pier, and that a wheelchair would be waiting for him. We arrived at the pier at about 12:30, and ended up waiting in the overheated terminal for over an hour and a half for a wheelchair. There was no one at the pier with any list, nor were they able to explain why the wheelchairs were not available. I called the 1-800 number, and they told me there was nothing they could do. When I complained to the pier coordinator, they told me to call the 1-800 number. For debarkation, I approached Guest Relations the day before, and was informed to come to the gangway at 8:00 a.m., and that wheelchair assistance would be available at that time. We arrived at 8:00 a.m., only to be informed that we had to wait until our color was called, and that only then would he be assisted off the ship. We were not called until 10:45 a.m. If we had not been wrongly advised that we would be departing the ship at 8:00 a.m., we could have slept a little later and had a leisurely breakfast before making our way down to the gangway at the time our color was called.

 

They did, however, provide a refrigerator in their cabin for my father's insulin, and a sharps container for his syringes.

[DisneyGirl92]

Bean,

 

Sorry to hear about your problems with our cruise. My mother is not able bodied and she traveled using a scooter. By her use of the scooter, we learned the tricks of the trade from other individuals who are disabled. As for embarking, we arrived early (11:00 am) at that time, they had plenty of wheelchairs available for use. On the day prior to arriving in Philadelphia, I was advised by our stateroom attendant that we should get white or beige tags so that my mother could be off the ship earlier. We received beige tags and were off the ship by 9:00 am.

 

I agree, I called and received information from the "Special Needs" person that I thought was going to be of help. Of course it was not, I do have to say, I did gather great information from our stateroom attendants and the other disabled regular cruisers out there.

 

Jul

[montgomeryfamily]

Bean2, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with RCI. I think who ever told you that there would be a manifest for a wheelchair for your father at the pier was mistaken. I've never seen or heard of a manifest. Anytime we have sailed on RCI we have just asked for a wheelchair for embarkation and have always received one. I have never heard of wheelchairs not being available. You should write to RCI about this as this apparently was some type of breakdown of procedure and RCI should know about it to keep it from happening again.

 

As to what happened to you with Guest Relations regarding disembarkation, I can sympathize. Guest Relations/Pursers desk is often very bad about having the correct information about disembarkation assistance for disabled and with following through with the assistance. We have often had a problem with this on RCI. On our last two Rhapsody sailings, RCI had lots of disabled in a waiting area waiting on a wheelchair and no one was coming with wheelchairs to provide assistance, even though the colors were being called. I had to go to the Pursers desk both times and tell them that no one was bringing the wheelchairs for disembarkation. If you are sailing RCI, just make sure you don't have early airline flights.

[Queenie2]

If I had to make a guess, I'd say that there is a good chance that a whole bus load of people rolled up right before you got there, and a good number of them needed wc-assistance. I've seen it happen before -- all of a sudden a bunch of people get off the bus and 12 people need wcs. Then poof they are all gone.

 

i agree with what the second poster said -- getting there early (or very late) is the best way to beat the crowds and get a wc. If you get there at peak time, sometimes you just have to wait, but if that happens they ususally have a place for your to sit.

 

Candy

[Ken]

In 2001, my wife and I cruised on the Enchantment with our disabled son. After contacting their special needs office in advance, he was in fact put on a list to receive special assistance during embarkation. We were met at the pier as soon as we arrived, and my son received priority treatment.

[Splinter]

Of course if you had read this forum before your trip, you would have known that we always recommend taking your own wheelchair on a cruise. The wheelchairs used for the ship are not to be depended on for regular use, they are "first come, first serve", and if you show up in your own wheelchair, you invaribly get priority boarding on any cruise line we have used. We have not had problems with RCL such as you describe as we bring our own equipment.

 

Disembarkation is always "hurry up and wait". You could not have slept later as all cruise lines routinely require you to be out of your cabin by 8:00 AM so that the cabin stewards can make up the cabins for those arriving for the next cruise as early as 1200 noon. Experienced cruisers know this regardless if they are AB or disabled.

[Bean2]

We are experienced cruisers, but this is the first time we have cruised with my parents. We will definitely consider renting a wheelchair for the next trip (which will not be with RCI), but since we had been told two weeks before that there would be one waiting for us at the pier, we didn't worry about it. And, apparently, others have received such assistance, so I don't know what the problem was this time around. Also, we would have been able to sleep at least a half hour later the morning of disembarkation, because we would have gotten up and out of our room, but would not have gone to breakfast until after we had to vacate. Instead, we rushed to get out of our room, eat breakfast, and get to the gangway by 8:00. So, we missed out on a little sleep and relaxation. Not the end of the world, but we wish we would have been properly informed by the cruise staff.

[Connie78]

Bean2,

 

Did you sail from Philly? Enchantment's embarkations and debarkations at Philadelphia have been a mess. It's not a full-time set-up like they have in most ports. Also, there have been issues which have included port security staff, Septa buses (used to shuttle the people and baggage within the port) and baggage handling which are causing delays and confusion. Delays, limited wheelchairs for embarkation, misinformation about times, etc. are more likely an issue of circumstances with this port than more in general with this line or ship.

 

Connie*cgta

[Bean2]

Yes, we did cruise from Philly, and I thought it was a problem with the pier as well, until I was informed that RCCL is responsible for the wheelchairs. Other than the wheelchair debacle (which was a huge problem), embarkation and disembarkation in Philly was not too bad in terms of luggage handling, shuttles, etc.

[DEL67]

Bean2:

 

I am sorry that you has issues.

 

I have had issues in the past with RCCL not keeping their comittments so I now use email to contact them and take a copy of their response when I go on the cruise. When the shore staff or ship has no record of the what special needs desk comitted to, I pull out the email and it gets taken care of. This has worked multiple times including twice where the shore staff said that they had no record of our needing an HC transfer.