Princess Disability phone #?

[suzy_g]

Anyone have this number? I tried searching the board but the search function isn't working. Also tried searching Princess' website and I can't find it.

Thanks [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Queenie2]

Well that's because they technically don't have one (available by incoming phone. )

Time and time again as a journalist they have told me "All special needs requests go through reservations. We do not have any special needs numbers that we release to the general public. Everyone must first call our general reservation number and they wil be routed to the appropriate department."

I have a few "private" numbers (available to journalists for information and fact checking) but have been told that I cannot print them or release them to the public in any way.

Here's a big clue folks. If a cruise line does not have a dedicated "access department" available by phone, then they really don't want the (your)business.

Candy

Candy Harrington
Editor, Emerging Horizons
[url="http://www.EmergingHorizons.com"]www.EmergingHorizons.com[/url]
The only accessible travel magazine

[Splinter]

I agree. This is another reason we do not cruise Princess any more. They will only talk to your travel agent, who really cannot answer the detailed questions or truely know your needs (even when you educate them). If you can, do it in a conference call with your agent or go to their office and do it with them. HAL, RCL and Celebrity will talk with you...you may want to give them your business too.

HA Constitution 1986
NCL Skyward 1988
Crystal Harmony 1992
Dawn Princess 1994
HA Independence 1995
Celebrity Zenith 1997
Grand Princess 1999
Regal Princess 2000
Crystal Harmony 2000
HAL Ryndam 2001
HAL Statendam 2003
RCI Vision of the Seas 2003
HAL Ryndam 2004

[jennan76]

I like Princess but you're right, you can't get good answers. I love HAL and their access dept. Call them and ask for Eena. She has helped me on my last several cruises. And you don't have to call through the reservations lines anymore. you can call them directly at 8005478493.

[suzy_g]

Thank you for the responses. I have MS and I can't tolerate the heat unless I can sit or air conditioning near by. I simply asked if for embarkation, there will be some place I can sit and be cool. Needless to say I got two different responses from two different customer service reps (isn't that an oxymoron? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] I'm hoping the line(s) won't be that bad and if they are I've got medical documentation which hopefully will get me a chair.

In December, I will be cruising with Celebrity for the first time [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I was DX'd in 2000 and I took my first cruise end of November last year with Royal Caribbean.

thanks!!
[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Queenie2]

where are you departing from suzy? Maybe somone on the board has some recent experience with that terminal and can tell you about air conditioning.

You might alsowant to think about some of the cooling vests or neck wraps they have on the market now. I hear they work pretty good. Some MS Society loan closets have them in their inventory.


Candy

Candy Harrington
Editor, Emerging Horizons
[url="http://www.EmergingHorizons.com"]www.EmergingHorizons.com[/url]
The only accessible travel magazine

[suzy_g]

I'm leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale. I've already posted in the Princess forum re: Port Everglades embarkation and got my question answered [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I have a Camelbak ([url="http://www.camelbak.com"]www.camelbak.com[/url]) which is basically a backpack with a bladder. I put mostly ice & some water in the bladder so I have something cool to drink and something cool against my back. It works pretty well. I need to check out those cooling vests.

[DesrtDrmr]

Hi Suzy-g,
If you ask a Princess staff member when you first arrive, for a chair, they will get you one and wheel you inside right away. You will not have to stand outside.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2005;4;4;17;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]
Hawaii - On the Island

[guardhouse]

My wife also has MS, but has some mobility. When we sailed Princess in March, the moment we arrived at the pier and they saw the wheelchair there was a cruise staff member at her side and a porter for our bags. 5-10 minutes later we were on the ship.

Embarkation was 11:30 am, we arrived at noon.

[mrsgoofy98]

Queenie and Splinter, I would have to disagree with your assessment of the situation. Although Princess does not have a special needs phone number, they are very professional when handling the needs of the handicapped I have travelled on other cruise lines and they were the best. A good travel agent, which I am one, will do whatever is necessary to help you make those arrangements. I need both oxygen and a wheelchair whenever I travel so I am speaking from experience. I had absolutely NO complaints about the way I was treated on my cruise on the Grand. Princess could not have done anything better. There was not even one glitch the whole time. The only other cruise line that is as good would have to be Royal Caribbean/Celebrity. The person(s) who handle those arrangements are truly wonderful, too. The crew on Royal Caribbean was very helpful and kind, also.

Good luck,
Donna

[Queenie2]

Well MrsGoofy98, I never said that Princess provides horrible services, I just said that independent travelers have a difficult time getting access information from them. I base this on the over 200 complaints I've gotten about them (specifically on this subject) from our readers.

As for finding a good travel agent, well that's a pretty hard thing to do for some people. You may be very good (don't know, never talked to you) but for the most part it is very difficult to find a travel agent that knows the laws, understands access and is willing to take the extra time with their clients. I have a list of 500 plus travel agents who claim an expertise in accessible travel (most of them in cruise travel) and I would actually only recommend 3 of them.

I also know many readers who do quite well on their own (without a travel agent), but these are folks who are willing to put the time in to really research the ships and the ports for access.

To be honest, I've heard unconfirmed rumors that Princess doesn't want to do business with individual disabled travelers, and they would rather that all of their disabled clients book through one of their preferred travel agents. That perhaps explains the whole phone number thing, but as I said it's unconfirmed.

Candy

[Splinter]

I agree. One of the worst experiences we ever had on a cruise was on the Grand Princess. We complained long and loud (through an excellent travel agent) and got a $750 credit per person (there were 3 cabins and 6 people in our party), but this was with much persistance. Their poor staff training has shown on all their ships we have been on....condescension, poor disability awareness training, etc. etc. We get the feeling they wish we (people with disabilities) would disappear. While we have an excellent agent, she is not disabled and is unable to really understand what our specific needs are....for this reason with other cruise lines we deal directly with Disabled Services staff and always get arrangements made ahead of time. Princess' lack of access to these services by passengers themselves is another patronizing, medicalizing way of dealing with people with disabilities (and fairly typically British vs. American, if I do say so).

Given that, we are giving them another chance on the Island Princess in November RT Hawaii from LA as we were able to get a wheelchair cabin for 3 (big deal for Princess). Unlike HAL, they show only 1 wheelchair accessible tour on this entire trip, so again we will make our own private arrangements for shore excursions (and save a lot of money too).

[Queenie2]

Splinter made me think of another thing -- just because a travel agent happens to have a disability doesn't mean that they will be a good travel agent for you. You have to make sure that the agent has experience dealing with your specific type of disability and of course that they are a competent travel agent as well. There are a lot of card-mill travel agents out there that don’t really have enough training or experience, and unfortunately card mills tend to prey on PWDs because they tout a "work from home" scheme. I've also run into a number of travel agents who are not able to see beyond their own disability and they think that everybody has the same access requirements as they do. A red flag should go up if your travel agent does not ask you lots and lots of questions. If they just ask "Do you need an accessible room?" it's not enough.

The bottom line is, interview your travel agent before you decide to work with them and make sure they know the law, understand your specific disabiltiy and have a number of years booking cruises.



Candy

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

We are sailing on the Royal September 16th for 30 days to Bangkok. When we first booked there were no handicapped cabins available but our travel agent got us waitlisted. (My husband has had a stroke, he can walk but has mobility issues and his right arm remains paralized. He therefore must have a shower stool and hand held shower.) About two weeks after we booked, we cleared the waitlist and now have the handicapped cabin. As with Celebrity, the room looks to be about twice the size of the other cabins on our deck. I hope it works out well for us.

Best of luck to you all and thanks for the information.

Regards,

Shannon

[mrsgoofy98]

Hi Queenie:

I do agree that not all travel agents with a disability will know about every need. As someone said, it is important that the travel agent asks a lot of questions. I am just saying that I have experienced sailing with Princess and I really and truly felt that I was treated very well. I travel with oxygen and a wheelchair. For one example, the day we were tendering at a port, the elevator wasn't working. Four staff carried me down two flights of stairs in my wheelchair. When we returned on the tenders, the elevators were still not working. Once again, they carried me up two flights of stairs. I felt that they had a great deal of compassion for me. Also, they hold the last couple of rows in the showroom for those with a walking disability and/or who are wheelchair confined. I did not experience this treatment on Holland America, Carnival or RCCL.

These were the primary reasons I felt that they were very handicap friendly. I have also been advised by many of those travel agents who primarily handle the handicapped, that Princess is the best cruiseline for the handicapped. I have never had trouble when requesting information from Princess for my oxygen and wheelchair accommodations. I would be more than happy to help anyone who wants to sail on Princess. I assure you that I will see to it that their needs are met.

Thanks for listening,
Donna

[slgjhg]

This made me feel much better about our upcoming cruise on the Royal. We have sailed her three times before but not since my husband's stroke. So listening to your reaasruance was nice for me. Sure sounds like you know what you're talking about.

Regards,

Shannon

[mrsgoofy98]

I am glad to hear I was able to reassure you Shannon. Please let me know how you made out when you get back from the cruise. I always love to have others give me their feedback. You can feel free to email me at [email]mrsgoofy98@comcast.net[/email].

Thanks,
Donna

[cindersue]

Hi All,
I have an "interesting" :mad: Grand Princess experience. In 2001 my sis and I booked a cruise with a balcony catagory guarantee. When our cabin was assigned I saw it was an accessible cabin. I called Princess and said. "We are Not disabled..This is the wrong cabin. We don't want to take an accessible cabin. What if someone else needs it? The Princess representative says "No this is your cabin"..."Disabled passengers always book months in advance." I said again "I don't feel comfortable keeping that cabin. I teach kids with disabilities.I DON'T Want to take a cabin from someone who may need it. We don't!"
She said again "Your cabin has been assigned don't worry about it".I asked them to please change our room if there was a request for an accessible room..She agreed. I called back twice and asked if there were requests for the cabin and we were told "No". I did notice an empty accessible cabin.I hope Princess doesn't do this regularly. I've read that some people book accessible cabins without a person who needs them so they will have a bigger cabin. Does Princess check if there is really a need for a cabin? Even though that is and invasion of privacy to the traveller...
Cindy