Boarded Regal 3/6-never have I seen this!

[Napagirl]

This thread has been a great reminder that not all problems are obvious to the innocent bystander. It's not my job to judge or determine if someone really "deserves" that handicap placard or jumping to the front of the line.

 

Thanks to all who have contributed their story and enlightened us on the subject.

[sabookkeeper]

I do believe there are scammers out there not just on cruise ships. For 3 years I needed to use my scooter to board and disembark and to get off at ports. I didn't need it on board because I would walk a bit and then sit down and rest. It took us longer to reach our destination but we knew it would. If someone saw me embarking on a scooter and then saw me walking around they might have assumed I was faking it. Of course, I wasn't running or dancing:D. This year I had to use my scooter on board as well so no misunderstandings.

 

I have also driven my scooter right to the door of the plane and I was the last person off the plane to ensure my scooter had been brought up for me.

 

I guess my point is to be careful judging people just by what they look like.:confused:

 

Dar

[Colo Cruiser]

They are everywhere. :rolleyes:

[Jessejo]

Just before a 2 week Hawaii cruise a few years ago I had severe back pain, was diagnosed with degenerative spinal disease, scoliosis, spinal stenosis, rheumatoid nodules, etc. I was feeling better but was afraid it would flair up again so I asked my daughter-in-law, a physical therapist, if I should take a walker on the cruise. She thought that would be a great idea, so I called my doctor and she agreed and wrote me a prescription. I ended up not needing the walker but had to get on and off the ship with it... The funny thing is that when we boarded our Southwest flight out of Dallas the Flight Attendant made me walk the walker back up the ramp to be gate checked :eek: Good thing that I didn't really need it. It was right next to the door of the plane when I got off.

[crawford]

Its A miracle!!! Maybe he got a miracle cure in the spa!!! Lol. Seriously though, last plane trip we took with two connections there was a woman with her husband in a wheelchair. When we got to Florida at the end of our trip she jumped out of her chair and was walking better than I do! People just have to be first. We show up at 1 pm every cruise and smoothly get through the line. Life is too short for me to but and push and con to be first.

 

Had a twenty-something on my flight several months ago, leaving MSY. He hobbled to the front of the line with a cane and his buddy. First to board, he folded up his cane in the jetway and trotted to his seat, as everyone looked on. When one woman asked the GA if he was going to stop him, the GA replied that the lady was welcomed to chase him down, if she wanted to.

[Ron the Rev]

Anyone who has traveled with a handicapped person knows how difficult it can be traveling with a wheelchair or other equipment. It kills me when people try to scam that system. I also get crazy when people bring in untrained 'therapy dogs' where only service animals are permitted. I have raised guide dog puppies and know how specialized the training is for genuine service animals whether they are their for an obvious physical reason like blindness or a hidden reason like seizures. Please stop scamming the system and be grateful you don't have an exceptionality.

 

Dw is wheelchair bound, we often see people abuse common decency by cheating and booking the handicap cabins when they don't need them. It's become so bad in recent years that so as to get an hc cabin we have to book about 18 months before sail date. Fallen world.

[TracieABD]

As many of you know, my mom spent increasing amounts of time in wheelchair. When we first started our travels, we only needed them in airports and cruiseports. Within a few year years, we needed them when going to dinner or to go longer distances on the ship. In the end, she rarely even transfered out of the chair.

 

I opted not to use accessable cabins, as we felt there were people who need them more. I was always with her, so I could make the modifications and adaptations she needed.

 

Honestly, our biggest struggle was the elevators. After shows or the dinner seating, we could wait for 10 or 15 minutes as people would just stream past her to get on. I never rode the elevator with her. I would hoof it up or down the stairs to make room for someone else.

 

By the time we were at our last couple of cruises, I noticed a trend. People began creating a "wall" to allow those with mobility issues to board the elevators first--especially those with chairs, walkers and canes. I absolutely love this. If this was done for one person who was faking it, it was done for many who were not. I love it when humans band together to take care of one another, and I am glad that my mom was a recipient of this kindness.

 

One of the ways that I continue to honour my mother on cruise ships is that I do not use the elevators. For all of those who made a space for her or gave up the ride for her, they can have my space. And yes, I can walk up 11 flights of stairs in my mid 50's (multiple times a day) and I am so grateful for every step that I make. I know some day that I will need a place in that elevator, and I hope someone will make a little space for me. Until that time, I will hike it up and down like I was born to a mountain goat.

[birdiebill]

All medical problems are not always visible. My wife has an artificial hip where the stem of the implant goes much farther into the femur (upper leg bone) than most implants due to a prior hip/leg fracture. As a result she sometimes has deep thigh pain that requires her to use a cane to walk. The thigh pain is not constant nor predictable. When the pain is absent she can walk without the cane even ballroom dance. But when the pain is present, she needs a cane to walk. Individuals who see her dance, and then a few days later see her with the cane in the handicapped lane may think she is scamming. But I guarantee she is not.

[Napagirl]

TracieABD - What a beautiful story! I love seeing this kind of behavior!

 

Hubby and I take the stairs most of the time on a cruise. How else are we supposed to burn off the midnight buffet calories??? :D

[elliair]

There's no one here that would begrudge anyone who truly needs a wheelchair the opportunity to board with the caregiver. The problems revolved around other family members (many of them) boarding with the disabled person. Also, people pretending to have a disability when they do not. We were held up getting on a Princess transfer bus because a woman demanded a wheelchair for her husband. We flew with them on the same airplane to the ship. He walked onto the plane and off the plane without a wheelchair or any problems. She apparently didn't like the seating arrangement on the airplane going to the ship and that's when she decided to do the wheelchair act so they could get the best seats on the bus and the best seats on the airplane. She even bragged to me about her plan. It's people like this who make it bad for those who really need the special attention, but it makes some of us look and frown upon those who abuse it and are skeptical as well. This kind of bad behavior goes on everywhere.

[keithm]

We were in the Preferred boarding line up to go into the building to get our cruise cards & had been standing in line for about 1 hour or so.

A man came up to the front of the line with his whole party (wife plus 4 or 5 others) and wanted to cut into the front of the line

due to his foot being in a boot. He had words with the guy manning the line because he wanted his whole party to cut into the front of the line.

No dice, but he did let this man & his wife through.

Have no issues when someone has a physical handicap & needs special attention, but here comes the kicker ---

saw the same guy 2 days later running to catch the elevator & absolutely no boot on his foot or problem moving quickly.

 

Guess he either had a miraculous recovery on the ship;) or he was scamming the system to go to the front of the line without having to wait his turn:(

 

My husband has a pet peeve about people cutting in line, but the guy got out of the elevator before he could say something to him (maybe a good thing!).

 

We're at Elite level with Princess and I lurk on cruise critic, but rarely comment or post, but wanted to see if anyone had ever witnessed anything like this.

 

We had a wonderful cruise on the Regal Princess. I'm planning to post our impressions soon. Happy cruising:)

Unless he was in a wheelchair, he would not have gotten past me. Boot or no boot!

[Logger1]

I have a couple of thise boots if you ever want to borrow one. Woukd do everything in my poeer not to take one with me on a trip!

 

I have just started to pack. What is more fashionable? A right or left boot?

[greenie082756]

We all don't like being fooled. It is irritating to say the least when someone gets by with something.

 

Well, I've come to the conclusion and I try to live by it.:D

 

That is KARMA. What goes around comes around. ;)

 

I'm not going to let anyone upset my apple cart just because they think they are smarter than anyone else.

 

I wasn't always like that but now I try to let that stuff go because getting upset over what someone else does is a waste of energy.

[Goodison78]

Hi,

 

First time poster and ex-princess employee here and after 7 years with them I definitely have some stories relevant for this thread.

 

First off on the issue of entitled Elite guests my last contract was on the Ocean, doing the Tahiti run before we did the Sydney to Dover cruise which was almost 3 months long. Pretty much the whole ship was Elite or Platinum at this point, by large it was a great group of guests who many of us got to know each other on a first name basis.

 

However like previous posters have mentioned there were always a few people who thought this entitled them to more than it did. I remember one of our biggest issues was during tour dispatch in the morning as the cruise went on many people wanted to get 'the best' seat on the buses so they'd come to lounge collect their tour/bus stickers and then just leave the lounge and go queue up at the gangway rather than waiting for the whole group to leave at once.

 

So you can imagine the issues this caused! by the time I would lead the guest to the buses and get on the bus they would be half full. This again caused problems because people would lost or get in the wrong queue when they didn't leave in the complete group meaning we lost time from the tour or left without them.

 

I lost track the amount of times I had to explain to people to 'please wait because other tours were leaving first' and that all the dispatches were timed as well as they could be so that we could bypass the queues.

 

Again this caused problems for our genuine disabled guests as they would register with the front desk so that we would know to get them down to the buses early and when we get to buses they'd have to sit from the midway point of the bus onwards because ignorant people wouldn't move.

 

I'd eventually got to the stage where I stood and blocked the way to the gangway and would turn people back if they were trying to sneak down early to a torrent of abuse. Nothing like someone yelling and swearing at you at 7am in the morning! :) I had someone push past me once and say I'm going to the bus when we hadn't even docked yet!

 

With the amount of people and the average age on some cruises it is very hard to decide who has a genuine issue and who is just trying it on, especially when it comes to priority for tour dispatch.

 

I know on more than one occasion when helping the disabled guests to the buses via the lifts I'd have to throw able bodied guests out of the lift by politely asking them had they registered as a slow walker at the front desk and when they said no I'd politely ask them to get out of the left and rejoin the queue.

 

And one funny story to finish, me and a friend were in the photo gallery on a quiet day when a couple walked through obviously a bit worse for the wear, at one point the lady managed to trip over her own foot and went sprawling onto the carpet initially more concerned about dropping her bottle of wine than any potential injury, until her husband started telling at us 'theres a divit which made my wife trip' I ventured over to help the lady up which she refused so I asked did they want medical called? The lady got up pretty quickly then but I then had both of them yelling at me about this 'divit'...A young guy in his twenties walks past and apologises to us and says 'mum get up of the floor your making an embarrassment of yourself again' Unfortunately my colleague burst out laughing at this point and then had a complaint put in that she had laughed at this lady falling over! :)

[alexspepa]

I had a child with MS in my class one year. All he wanted to do was be able to walk in line with his classmates. He and a pal (and his aide) would always leave early for lunch, specials and dismissal because his motor problems made it difficult for him to move with normal speed. His mom told me about that before school started. So that year, we all left five minutes early (except for dismissal because he needed to be out for the handicapped bus 15 minutes before dismissal). All a handicapped kid wants to be is part of the pack.

awesome story...thanks for sharing.

[fishywood]

It appears the same "gentleman" (sic) that the OP encountered made his way to Emerald a few weeks after gracing Regal with his lovely self.

 

Disembarking yesterday morning, waiting at the aft elevators at 7:45 (before the ship had even been cleared to start disembarkation) to go from Deck 8 to Deck 6 as breakfast is in the Botticelli DR on turnaround day. Elevator door opens to reveal an ogre of a man standing dead center inside, left hand holding a large wheeled case, right foot encased in a walking boot. Before anyone waiting can move one inch towards the door he roars like a wounded dragon that there is no more room for anyone else. There are all of three others inside, all trying to sink into the walls pretending they do not know him--but of course they can only be his travelling companions as only they would be invited into Mr. Personalty's private car.

 

Thankfully there was a little old lady with a walker who is perpetually up to the task of out-pigging the pig-headed and had no qualms about standing in the doorway of the elevator holding it up until they made room for her. As I walked down from Deck 8 to 6 I heard him continuing to spew his venomous garbage as the door opened on 7 for him to shuffle off. Undoubtedly he was off to plant himself at the front of the gangway to be allowed ashore even before the first self-carry group was due, his brief taste of humility having no effect whatsoever.

 

But I have faith that karma catches up with all--in this case, in the form of me (who will never forget this jerk's face) and my mom (you really don't think I would describe a random little old lady as I did) encountering this wreck of a human under circumstances lacking the decorum prohibiting us from saying what he really deserves to hear.

[Gwendy]

Who gets to decide this? I always reply, shuffle to the back, we can fit two or more in. I wish I owned an elevator and could decide who could get in. Keep your faith in Karma, got to believe it works. Nothing wrong with random old ladies even if they are your Mum. My daughter travels with her random quite often.

[mrs and mrs]

I'd suggest everybody take a deep breath, before you judge too much although I hear you loud and clear.

 

We travel with a physicically handicapped child. (Arthritis, TBI, and a severe connective tissue disease) and She's great for short distances or moving at her own pace. But things can and do deteriorate rapidly. We have one entire suitcase of mobility aids. Boots - splints - cruches - canes and other manner of devices. We don't know from day to day or even hour to hour what's going to work and what isn't. Yes we use wheelchairs in airports, long distance etc. while at the same time trying to keep her as independent (and nondependent on devices) as she can be. And yes we have a Disabled parking permit and have walked normally into a store and limped out....

 

Its unbelievable what she and we have heard from folks. Sort of makes one reach out and touch sometimes........... BTW how much does it REALLY slow one down if a disabled person boards with his whole family/party?

Hear Hear. We also have a severely disabled grandie,and there is absolutely no way are we going to stand in line, whilst someone pushes our grandie off and leaves us standing there.Oh and what about people with mental disabilities, are they to be judged also. I applaud your post TNTLAMB:)

[Triship]

Like Ron the Rev my wife is a full time wheelchair user so we have to book a long time in advance, but we do see lots of people who try to buck the system. The one we had was last year on a tour. Like has been said the front seat on the coach is reserved with our name on so I can help the wife up the few steps and into the seat. When we got on board there was a lady sitting in our place so I asked her to move so my wife could sit down. She told us that she was disabled and needed the seat. The guide and the driver told her that the seat was for us and she would have to move. All we heard then was her moaning about it. When we stopped anywhere she got off no problem at all with walking around. When back at the ship there was a walker brought out which she then sued to get back on the ship first. So yes we have seen it.

[Luv my furbaby]

Please don't be too quick to judge. Just about every cruise my mom went on we rented a wheelchair for her. She usually used it for getting through the airport, getting onto the ship, getting to the muster drill (some ships you still need to stand out in the hot sun). Other than those times we rarely used it. Why did we have it, because we never knew when she would get very tired from her heart condition, bad back and arthritis. Sometimes we got to go to the shorter handicapped lines other times not. No scam - just a frail old woman!

[keithm]

This type of behavior ruins it for those that do legitimately need priority boarding etc. I will always let someone in a wheel chair or with a physical disability go ahead of me but I do not appreciate the attitude that since I am in a wheel chair I need to board the elevator before you. This is one of the reasons I prefer to walk the stairs....I'm able bodied and can leave the elevators for those that need it but did travel with my brother in law who could not navigate the stairs.

 

I had an experience at Disney world. It was after the fireworks and we had a group of about ten high school girls with us. We had told them to stay with an adult so as a result I asked everyone in my good to stay within touching distance. The crowd thinned to cross a bridge and a women in a scooter started nudging me in the legs. I ignore her and then she started nudging me harder. Again I ignored her. She then started beeping her little horn. So I turned to her and said yes? She said I'm disabled and need to get through. I told her she had to wait and she said well let me through. I said I couldn't as I was in a group and no one had anyplace to move to. So she just proceeded to keep beeping and hitting me in the legs until she knocked me off balance. One of the girls steadied me and I turned and said to her enough. She said now let me through or I'll do it again! Arggggggggggg lovely.

Had a woman some years back run over my feet in a local store. Basically I wound up with black toes & lost a few nails. I gave off quite a yell when she did this to me. Instead of "I'm sorry" , I got "If you weren't in my way, it wouldn't have happened". My kind response was "If you weren't such a ("expletive" pig)you wouldn't be on that scooter. Of course that line seem to get the attention of the "PC Police" which had not noticed what she did(a few people did)My response to them was go ahead sympathize with her & support her all you want. It's our tax dollars that allow this. Those few people who DID come up to me told me she is like that all the time. I warned "miss heavy go lightly" If she ever did that to me(or anyone else)again, it would not end pleasantly for her.

[Aboat1]

Just a view from the other side. I know you will flame away. So be it.

 

The next time someone has to be placed in front of you in a line....PLEASE know that that person would give anything to be able to just stand in line with you. That person would love to be able to wait for the next elevator. I would love to be seated in just any old seat on a aircraft.

 

You see I have several birth defects. I have not been able to stand in line, run or set in a regular aircraft seat for 10 years. Walking at a normal pace would be a gift from heaven. Some days just walking would be a gift. Living free of pain is a distant memory.

 

I am so greatfull for a Husband that is willing to take me cruising. I Thank those of you that are kind to me, and don't mind the minute or two I use to board a tender or cut in front of you in long lines. Thank you for making room for me on "Your" elevator. Thank you for understanding.

 

Thank you for not running over me as I try to keep up with the group.

 

Most of all Thank you for not judging me. I wish I were you.

 

The occasional "cheat" may make it tough for us. Please don't judge...you really don't know....do you? The few moments it takes to be kind will be returned 10 fold I a sure.