Pier Assistance

[Mr&MrsBee]

Any comments for tipping for pier assistance with wheel chair. Never used this feature as I just had back procedure and do not want to cancel cruise. Any other comments or ideas. Thank you for the info.

[Mosttoyswin]

Some will say tipping is not required. However I usually tip five or 10 bucks. Depends on the time and distance. I tip the porter for my luggage and I think I’m more valuable in the luggage. My DW might argue that point :-).

[phoenix_dream]

My relatives used to tip $5 when they needed wheelchair assistance. But that was a number of years ago so I would say that would be the minimum and if there is a long way to go you may want to tip more. Not required, but I'm sure they appreciate it.

[Mr&MrsBee]

Thanks for the info. I figured $10-$15 for the tip. Any problems in exiting to go ashore? I have never been in this situation before. Any suggestions for someone in a wheelchair.

[kands6191]

We had a friend in a wheelchair on our last cruise. We didn't use help at the pier when we arrived because there were plenty of us to push her. She was allowed to board early with her daughter who was in a suite. I don't know if they would have boarded her early otherwise. When we got off of the ship we went to Customs and a luggage handler asked if he could help us. We said yes because we were trying to push her too. He put all of our luggage onto a cart and said to follow him. He took us right up to the Customs agent, bypassing the long line. We weren't looking to jump the line but we needed to stay with her. Have to admit it was great service and we did tip him well.

What you might have trouble with is the elevators on the ship. In our experience people don't care that you are in a wheelchair. It is every man for himself when those doors open. We would be the only ones waiting, people would gather behind us to wait as well, then they would run around us as we tried to get the wheelchair going on the carpet. The elevator would fill up and NO ONE would offer to get off to let her on. We literally waited through 3 or 4 elevators while this happened. Finally on the third day we got wise. One of us would park ourselves between the two elevators on the right, the other would park himself between the two on the left. When the door dinged we would hover in front while the people got off. Then we would literally put our arms out and say, "Wheelchair boarding!" as pleasantly as we could while the other one would be pushing her on. Then the people would wait for us. Very sad that it came to that but it did.