Accessible stateroom for people with no disabilities

[PQI]

Hello guys!

 

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section... So, I'll be sailing on the Anthem of the Seas on July 14th 2016 and I purchased the Interior Stateroom Guarantee. Anyways, yesterday I went to take a look at the reservation and see if my room was already assigned (you know, that good old guarantee anxiety) and voilá, there it was!

 

The thing is: Royal Caribbean put me on the 11525, which is an Accessible Interior Stateroom. At first, I like the fact that it is really spacious and close to the elevators. However, neither me or my girlfriend, who'll be cruising me, have any disabilities and I'm really not sure if this is correct or not. I'm worried when the time comes to check-in or board that I should run into problems due to fact neither of us have disabilities. There's also that little voice in my head telling me it's wrong to occupy an accessible room as I'm not disabled, as to leave the space open to other cruisers who might need it. :)

 

Has anyone experienced this before? Should I contact RCCL on this matter or will I be OK?

 

Thanks a lot!

[cruisinfanatic]

Not a problem at all. Close to sailing unreserved handicapped cabins become available to anyone. Enjoy!

[Tee & Chilli]

That type of assignment has happened to many people on these boards. If a person with a disability needs the cabin, Royal will reassign you. No worries..however if you would like to give the cabin back, you can call and ask if another interior room is available.

[atnolan94]

Hello guys!

 

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section... So, I'll be sailing on the Anthem of the Seas on July 14th 2016 and I purchased the Interior Stateroom Guarantee. Anyways, yesterday I went to take a look at the reservation and see if my room was already assigned (you know, that good old guarantee anxiety) and voilá, there it was!

 

The thing is: Royal Caribbean put me on the 11525, which is an Accessible Interior Stateroom. At first, I like the fact that it is really spacious and close to the elevators. However, neither me or my girlfriend, who'll be cruising me, have any disabilities and I'm really not sure if this is correct or not. I'm worried when the time comes to check-in or board that I should run into problems due to fact neither of us have disabilities. There's also that little voice in my head telling me it's wrong to occupy an accessible room as I'm not disabled, as to leave the space open to other cruisers who might need it. :)

 

Has anyone experienced this before? Should I contact RCCL on this matter or will I be OK?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Its fine from what I understand. They wouldn't assign you that room if someone else needed it. The guarantee means they just fill any empty room in your category or above. So you just kind of won the lottery on that. By the time these rooms are assigned they are assuming there won't be anyone with physical disabilities is needing it. Being july, the cruise may just be booked and thats why they assigned....

 

Bob will probably give you a better answer lol

[cb at sea]

After a certain period of time, if no one has booked the HC cabins, they are open to anyone. You will have lots of space, but the bathroom will be full of grab bars and possibly higher toilet than you might be used to....

[ryano]

Hello guys!

 

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section... So, I'll be sailing on the Anthem of the Seas on July 14th 2016 and I purchased the Interior Stateroom Guarantee. Anyways, yesterday I went to take a look at the reservation and see if my room was already assigned (you know, that good old guarantee anxiety) and voilá, there it was!

 

The thing is: Royal Caribbean put me on the 11525, which is an Accessible Interior Stateroom. At first, I like the fact that it is really spacious and close to the elevators. However, neither me or my girlfriend, who'll be cruising me, have any disabilities and I'm really not sure if this is correct or not. I'm worried when the time comes to check-in or board that I should run into problems due to fact neither of us have disabilities. There's also that little voice in my head telling me it's wrong to occupy an accessible room as I'm not disabled, as to leave the space open to other cruisers who might need it. :)

 

Has anyone experienced this before? Should I contact RCCL on this matter or will I be OK?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Final payment hasn't occurred yet I don't believe so you could possibly be moved but it's unlikely. As a disabled cruiser that requires an accessible cabin I say enjoy the extra space and kudos to you for being so thoughtful on the matter!

[montgomeryfamily]

The reality is that once a wheelchair accessible cabin is taken, whether booked directly or assigned from a guarantee, it is out of the inventory and any disabled person who wishes to book the cabin will be told it is booked and not available.

 

So while I'm not going to say it would never happen, it is highly unlikely you will be moved. Since Royal Caribbean assigned you to the room, you didn't do anything wrong, but I also appreciate you thinking of disabled people who might need the room.

 

While Royal Caribbean should hold the room back until at least final payment (and I believe even closer to sailing, as the room could be assigned to a guarantee at any time), I have noticed that it is not uncommon for Royal Caribbean to assign wheelchair accessible rooms to guarantees sometimes many months in advance of a sailing.

 

Those who need wheelchair accessible rooms have almost no chance to take advantage of Royal Caribbean promotions and price reductions which occur the last few months before sailing.

 

So thank you for being thoughtful, but since Royal Caribbean has decided this room should be placed in the general inventory, if you ask for another room, they probably would just assign the wheelchair accessible room to another guarantee.

[TigerLady]

Hello guys!

 

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section... So, I'll be sailing on the Anthem of the Seas on July 14th 2016 and I purchased the Interior Stateroom Guarantee. Anyways, yesterday I went to take a look at the reservation and see if my room was already assigned (you know, that good old guarantee anxiety) and voilá, there it was!

 

The thing is: Royal Caribbean put me on the 11525, which is an Accessible Interior Stateroom. At first, I like the fact that it is really spacious and close to the elevators. However, neither me or my girlfriend, who'll be cruising me, have any disabilities and I'm really not sure if this is correct or not. I'm worried when the time comes to check-in or board that I should run into problems due to fact neither of us have disabilities. There's also that little voice in my head telling me it's wrong to occupy an accessible room as I'm not disabled, as to leave the space open to other cruisers who might need it. :)

 

Has anyone experienced this before? Should I contact RCCL on this matter or will I be OK?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

As a mother to a mother with a child who is disabled, I will ask this of you..

 

Call the cruise line and explain that you would like a non accessible room.. If someone with disabilities wishes to book a cruise close to sail time, a room may be available. We've had to book over a year out, to get a room for our wheelchair bound son. I applaud the little voice inside your head, and appreciate you wanting to do the RIGHT thing..

Have fun on your cruise. God Bless

[BillOh]

Welcome to cruise critic. Its no problem! If in the event that someone books last minute and needs an accessible cabin and there is room to upgrade you, they might, but otherwise, they have released that room based on demand.

[Pipo]

I have the very same case: I booked a guaranteed oceanview balcony for the Harmony of the Seas, we were assigned to an accessible cabin on deck 10 three days after booking.

I was told that in case a person with a disability needs the cabin, RCI will contact us and negotiate, either an upgrade, or a downgrade with very good perks.

[montgomeryfamily]

I can tell you from actual experience including as recently as a few weeks ago that Royal Caribbean does not keep any notes or records as to whether or not a person occupying a room "needs" the accessible cabin or not. Once it is booked, it is out of the inventory and is not available for booking.

 

Special Needs can tell you whether or not a room has received final payment, but they have told me repeatedly that once an accessible room is booked, they assume that the person needs the accessible features of the room, at least until 30 days before sailing when they supposedly contact everyone who has not submitted a Special Needs form. They say that at that point, if the person does not need the accessible features of the room, they can be bumped from the room or denied boarding altogether if they find that the room was booked fraudulently (which filled by guarantee would not be). I don't know if they really do contact people for the special needs form or not, if one has not been submitted.

 

Special Needs can also tell you if a special needs form has been submitted. But when I asked them to contact the booked passengers who have not submitted the special needs form, they say that it is not required until 30 days before sailing and refuse. This has happened to us several times for sailings for which we were interested, the last time being in March.

 

I'm posting this again because of the myth that travel agents and others state that Royal Caribbean will move an able bodied person who books an accessible room if a disabled person needs it. This does not generally happen.

 

I'm not going to say it has never happened, but it would be very rare and only if the disabled person can persuade someone at Royal Caribbean to take the extra step to make the contact to confirm that an accessible stateroom is not required and to then move the abled bodied passengers. We have never been successful in getting Royal Caribbean to do this. (and we are Diamond Plus, so level doesn't mean anything either)

 

Pipo, I would be interested in who told you the information you posted? Was it your travel agent or someone at Royal Caribbean and if someone at Royal Caribbean, who that person was.

 

Again, for the OP, this is not meant to blame you--Royal Caribbean put you in the room basis your guarantee booking.

[laurac22]

We have found the above statement to be true. We have never gotten Royal to contact any passengers to find out if they "need" an accessible cabin when we needed one and they were sold out up to a year in advance. It is a myth! It is very frustrating that Royal seems to give accessible cabins out so early, when they know good and well that they will not be contacting anyone to change them.

[STEVE-O]

We must have an accessible cabin in order to cruise. My wife submits the required form within 2 days of booking. Twice, RCCL has called inquiring about our "need" for an accessible cabin. We say we do and they say OK, enjoy your cruise....No argument, no debate. So, they DO call....

 

I would like to also thank the OP for caring enough to ask......

Edited April 15, 2016 by STEVE-O

[montgomeryfamily]

Steve-O, our family member is confined to a wheelchair and must also have a wheelchair accessible cabin in order to cruise. We also submit the form within a day or two of booking. I don't know if it is because of our past booking history over the many years or what, but Royal Caribbean has NEVER called to confirm our need for the accessible cabin we have booked.

 

We would not mind them calling to double check. My discussions with Royal Caribbean Special Needs is that they only call if someone hasn't submitted the form within 30 days of sailing or if they have a question about the information on your form.

 

I'm glad that someone has received a call from Royal Caribbean checking on this, but it is surprising that they are calling someone who has submitted the form. Was this within 30 days of your sailing?

 

If not, I would like to know what someone has said that persuaded someone at Royal Caribbean to call and check the need of passengers who has booked the accessible cabins and submitted the special needs form. Or even better, who it was from Royal Caribbean that called, as I would like to be able to call that person to ask for a check of need of booked passengers when we are trying to book a specific sailing and the accessible cabins are already booked, especially as Laura said, the cruise is more than a year in advance.

[kerryincork]

I've booked an accessible room before, it always says on the booking that if the room is needed we will be bumped, which is fine with me.

[tserface]

If I were you I'd just go with it. As others have said, RCI will reassign you if they have someone who needs it.

 

A few years ago we went through the same thought process. We got assigned an accessible balcony room. We were told to let it go since it was close to cruise date and we ended up with the room and we really liked it.

 

The room we got was a log bigger than a standard balcony room and the bathroom was larger as well. The counter was lower than usual and we're pretty tall, but it wasn't that inconvenient. Also, the shower didn't have a "lip" on it so water could get out onto the floor, but we just put down a towel and that worked great.

 

We loved having the extra space and so long as we weren't taking it from someone who really needed the room we'd be happy to have one again.

 

Tom

[kerryincork]

This is disturbing, I am pretty sure when I booked the room it was in the terms and conditions that RCL could move me if the room was needed. I always read the small print. In future I will check to make sure room is not accessible before I accept it. I wouldn't want a room someone else needed.

[laurac22]

This is disturbing, I am pretty sure when I booked the room it was in the terms and conditions that RCL could move me if the room was needed. I always read the small print. In future I will check to make sure room is not accessible before I accept it. I wouldn't want a room someone else needed.

 

 

That is very kind of you! I have no problem with them releasing the rooms after final payment, but accessible rooms are being given out by Royal and TA before then. We have to have an accessible cabin, and year or more out I am unable to get one. They have never offered to call and try to get us one from someone that is booked in one and may not need it, they just say they are sold out of accessible cabins.

 

Considering that there are 2700 cabins on an Oasis class ship and ONLY 46 are accessible.... Well you can see what people that need them are up against.

 

Again thank you and the OP for the consideration.

[xxoocruiser]

Hello guys!

 

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section... So, I'll be sailing on the Anthem of the Seas on July 14th 2016 and I purchased the Interior Stateroom Guarantee. Anyways, yesterday I went to take a look at the reservation and see if my room was already assigned (you know, that good old guarantee anxiety) and voilá, there it was!

 

The thing is: Royal Caribbean put me on the 11525, which is an Accessible Interior Stateroom. At first, I like the fact that it is really spacious and close to the elevators. However, neither me or my girlfriend, who'll be cruising me, have any disabilities and I'm really not sure if this is correct or not. I'm worried when the time comes to check-in or board that I should run into problems due to fact neither of us have disabilities. There's also that little voice in my head telling me it's wrong to occupy an accessible room as I'm not disabled, as to leave the space open to other cruisers who might need it. :)

 

Has anyone experienced this before? Should I contact RCCL on this matter or will I be OK?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Being an individual that can only cruise booking an accessible cabin this is quite distrubing. Reason being that a under the USA Department of Transportation a law went into effect on 01/01/2012 that requires cruiseslines that have ships embarking from a USA port NOT to release unsold accessble cabins until AFTER the final payment period. Your cruise departs from a USA port and the final payment period has not past. Therefore the considerate thing to do would be to give up of the cabin now and go back into the gaurantee pool.

 

Think about this - the Anthem has 2,090 total cabins of which only 34 are accessible cabins.

Edited April 16, 2016 by xxoocruiser

[PQI]

Thanks a lot for all your input!

 

I will get in touch with RCI and at least let them know that I'm not disabled, in case they need the room or if they want to move me. I get it that other non-disabled cruisers might book it or that they may end up moving someone else booked as guarantee to that room, but at least I'll keep my conscience clear :)

 

I am eagerly looking forward to my first cruise abroad!

[xxoocruiser]

Thanks a lot for all your input!

 

I will get in touch with RCI and at least let them know that I'm not disabled, in case they need the room or if they want to move me. I get it that other non-disabled cruisers might book it or that they may end up moving someone else booked as guarantee to that room, but at least I'll keep my conscience clear :)

 

I am eagerly looking forward to my first cruise abroad!

 

Thank you for being considerate of those of us who do require accessible cabins.

 

Have a wonderfall cruise !

[STEVE-O]

Steve-O, our family member is confined to a wheelchair and must also have a wheelchair accessible cabin in order to cruise. We also submit the form within a day or two of booking. I don't know if it is because of our past booking history over the many years or what, but Royal Caribbean has NEVER called to confirm our need for the accessible cabin we have booked.

 

We would not mind them calling to double check. My discussions with Royal Caribbean Special Needs is that they only call if someone hasn't submitted the form within 30 days of sailing or if they have a question about the information on your form.

 

I'm glad that someone has received a call from Royal Caribbean checking on this, but it is surprising that they are calling someone who has submitted the form. Was this within 30 days of your sailing?

 

If not, I would like to know what someone has said that persuaded someone at Royal Caribbean to call and check the need of passengers who has booked the accessible cabins and submitted the special needs form. Or even better, who it was from Royal Caribbean that called, as I would like to be able to call that person to ask for a check of need of booked passengers when we are trying to book a specific sailing and the accessible cabins are already booked, especially as Laura said, the cruise is more than a year in advance.

 

One of the two calls was less than 30 days before sailing...I remember because I asked if she was the

accessible, upgrade fairy. In both cases, we had booked the cruise 18-24 months in advance so the call was more an inquiry if we "still" needed those accommodations. The calls were from the Special Needs dept.

[Pipo]

"...

 

Pipo, I would be interested in who told you the information you posted? Was it your travel agent or someone at Royal Caribbean and if someone at Royal Caribbean, who that person was".

 

Here is the thread on my case:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2330225

[tinkertwo]

I thought it was against the law to ask about someones disability. Is that right and if so, how would the cruise line be able to prevent someone from booking these rooms?

 

DISCLAIMER: I'm just curious and have never booked a disable room. I was once given one on another cruise line as a last minute upgrade that we were not aware of until our TA called a week before we sailed.

[Triship]

When you book an accessible cabin you are asked to complete a document to state when needs you have then the right cabin can be applied for the needs of the person.