Princess, RCL, Holland, Carnival for full time wheelchair user...

[shelly222]

Hi, 

 

We have four cruise lines to select from besides Disney and would like to know everyone's experiences that use a wheelchair at least 3/4 of the time that has been on one or all of these cruise lines. I have a daughter in a wheelchair with medical needs who loves to travel. We have only been on one Disney cruise. We can deal with a lot of issues / challenges that we encounter but would like to make it as smooth as possible. We only need an accessible room for space maneuvering her wheelchair around the stateroom, a nice balcony that is wide enough for her to have a lounge chair to lay on (can't sit in regular chairs and loves to lay down on lounge chairs outside in the fresh air). Why not give her another option besides wheelchair and bed to hang out on like all of us. We do spend a lot of time in the room for downtime / quiet time so we will be using the balcony a lot if weather is nice. She doesn't need an accessible bathroom and we actually prefer a tub if possible but not required.  Have access to as many decks as possible as we like to take late night strolls outside. I do try to keep her away from as many crowds as possible so she doesn't get too overwhelmed often. Dining is difficult as she doesn't always tolerate dinner in a restaurant (for me to eat - she is tube fed) so I might have to do room service for some dinners. She does better with breakfast eating in restaurants. I was really disappointed with Disneys' room service menu so a healthier menu with better options is a plus.  Anything else you would like to share about your wheelchair accessible experience with us is welcomed! Hope others can benefit from this post as well. 

 

Oh the cruise lines are: Princess, RCL, Holland, Carnival... 

 

Thank you so much! 

[spookwife]

all things considered, the public areas on all the lines are more alike than not.

 

 I am personally not a fan of Carnival, have never sailed Princess or HA and have many cruises on Royal.

 

standard balconies on Royal will not have loungers.  and no room for the most part unless you snag an aft facing one.  BUT:  

 

 Royal  suite class has tubs( Junior suite on up)  if you sail on one of the  newer ships, the higher level suites have Genies which act as personal butlers( each Butler only has a couple of cabins they are responsible for so you get very personalized attention. )  Crown Lift suites have stairs, so avoid those.  furthermore on those class ships suites have a private dining room for meals.  or,  you can order from the MDR menu for room service and( I THINK, but don't quote me) genie class cabins also get to order from specialty dining restaurants for RS  

 

how old is she?   the Solarium is 16 and up and will have  lots of the loungers in both shade and sun and should be a quieter poolside experience 

 

I am not sure how many HA suites there are but they do go fast.  

[Splinter]

Traveled with my mother on many cruises (she was a full-time wheelchair user), and our favorite cruise lines were Crystal, HAL, and Princess, although we also did well on Celebrity and a couple of RCCL cruises. One reason we like HAL is the option for traditional dining, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the dining room, with crew who are adept at meeting the special needs of a person with a disability. We avoided going to buffets if at all possible because although most often a crew member assisted my mother with her tray, that was not always the best experience for her.  Room service varies on the different lines, and often has a limited menu or incurs an extra charge, especially on the cheaper cruise lines.

 

Keep in mind the regular cabins may not have sufficient room for maneuvering wheelchairs around the beds nor have ramps to access the balcony, and may have such narrow doorways that getting through the door to the bathroom or even the room can be difficult unless you carry her through out of her wheelchair.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Splinter

[Essiesmom]

Ask on the HAL, Princess and Celebrity boards here about ordering room service from the MDR menu at dinner time.  I think you used to be able to do that on HAL if you ordered in the first half hour after it opened.  I think Princess may be only in suites...Hazy about Celebrity.  On most lines, if you want a tub, you will have to book a suite.  HAL has tubs in most OV and balcony cabins, but they wouldn't be large enough to maneuver the w/c nor have a balcony large enough for a lounger.  A mini-suite on Princess would give you a tub and larger balcony.  EM

[Schoifmom]

On 1/2/2019 at 12:24 AM, shelly222 said:

Hi, 

 

We have four cruise lines to select from besides Disney and would like to know everyone's experiences that use a wheelchair at least 3/4 of the time that has been on one or all of these cruise lines. I have a daughter in a wheelchair with medical needs who loves to travel. We have only been on one Disney cruise. We can deal with a lot of issues / challenges that we encounter but would like to make it as smooth as possible. We only need an accessible room for space maneuvering her wheelchair around the stateroom, a nice balcony that is wide enough for her to have a lounge chair to lay on (can't sit in regular chairs and loves to lay down on lounge chairs outside in the fresh air). Why not give her another option besides wheelchair and bed to hang out on like all of us. We do spend a lot of time in the room for downtime / quiet time so we will be using the balcony a lot if weather is nice. She doesn't need an accessible bathroom and we actually prefer a tub if possible but not required.  Have access to as many decks as possible as we like to take late night strolls outside. I do try to keep her away from as many crowds as possible so she doesn't get too overwhelmed often. Dining is difficult as she doesn't always tolerate dinner in a restaurant (for me to eat - she is tube fed) so I might have to do room service for some dinners. She does better with breakfast eating in restaurants. I was really disappointed with Disneys' room service menu so a healthier menu with better options is a plus.  Anything else you would like to share about your wheelchair accessible experience with us is welcomed! Hope others can benefit from this post as well. 

 

Oh the cruise lines are: Princess, RCL, Holland, Carnival... 

 

Thank you so much! 

 

It doesn't sound like Carnival would be a good fit for you.

(1) They don't have many "hot" options on the room service menu and none that really could be considered to be actual meals, they are more like snacks and a few sandwiches.

(2) Most, but not all, of the balcony rooms will not accommodate a lounge chair.  They simply aren't large enough.

(3) The only rooms with tubs are suites.

 

Having said that, Carnival is very accessible.  Almost every deck is accessible by wheelchair and there are a ton of places to use lounge chairs that are out of the way and quiet.

[shelly222]

23 hours ago, Splinter said:

Traveled with my mother on many cruises (she was a full-time wheelchair user), and our favorite cruise lines were Crystal, HAL, and Princess, although we also did well on Celebrity and a couple of RCCL cruises. One reason we like HAL is the option for traditional dining, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the dining room, with crew who are adept at meeting the special needs of a person with a disability. We avoided going to buffets if at all possible because although most often a crew member assisted my mother with her tray, that was not always the best experience for her.  Room service varies on the different lines, and often has a limited menu or incurs an extra charge, especially on the cheaper cruise lines.

 

Keep in mind the regular cabins may not have sufficient room for maneuvering wheelchairs around the beds nor have ramps to access the balcony, and may have such narrow doorways that getting through the door to the bathroom or even the room can be difficult unless you carry her through out of her wheelchair.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. It helps. I had never heard of Celebrity, so will look them up.  

 

 

[shelly222]

On 1/2/2019 at 5:16 AM, spookwife said:

all things considered, the public areas on all the lines are more alike than not.

 

 I am personally not a fan of Carnival, have never sailed Princess or HA and have many cruises on Royal.

 

standard balconies on Royal will not have loungers.  and no room for the most part unless you snag an aft facing one.  BUT:  

 

 Royal  suite class has tubs( Junior suite on up)  if you sail on one of the  newer ships, the higher level suites have Genies which act as personal butlers( each Butler only has a couple of cabins they are responsible for so you get very personalized attention. )  Crown Lift suites have stairs, so avoid those.  furthermore on those class ships suites have a private dining room for meals.  or,  you can order from the MDR menu for room service and( I THINK, but don't quote me) genie class cabins also get to order from specialty dining restaurants for RS  

 

how old is she?   the Solarium is 16 and up and will have  lots of the loungers in both shade and sun and should be a quieter poolside experience 

 

I am not sure how many HA suites there are but they do go fast.  

 

Thank you for the info... I will be adding it to my notes.. 

[shelly222]

6 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Ask on the HAL, Princess and Celebrity boards here about ordering room service from the MDR menu at dinner time.  I think you used to be able to do that on HAL if you ordered in the first half hour after it opened.  I think Princess may be only in suites...Hazy about Celebrity.  On most lines, if you want a tub, you will have to book a suite.  HAL has tubs in most OV and balcony cabins, but they wouldn't be large enough to maneuver the w/c nor have a balcony large enough for a lounger.  A mini-suite on Princess would give you a tub and larger balcony.  EM

 

Thank you for the info. Luckily, we don't need to maneuver w/c in a bathroom so any size is doable. 🙂

[shelly222]

4 hours ago, Schoifmom said:

 

It doesn't sound like Carnival would be a good fit for you.

(1) They don't have many "hot" options on the room service menu and none that really could be considered to be actual meals, they are more like snacks and a few sandwiches.

(2) Most, but not all, of the balcony rooms will not accommodate a lounge chair.  They simply aren't large enough.

(3) The only rooms with tubs are suites.

 

Having said that, Carnival is very accessible.  Almost every deck is accessible by wheelchair and there are a ton of places to use lounge chairs that are out of the way and quiet.

Thank you so much for the info. I appreciate it.. 

[SpencerNY1]

I am a quadriplegic travel agent and have been on all those cruise lines. I have had positive accessibility experiences on most with a few exceptions. Where and when were you looking? Having some specific ships would help answer the questions a bit more thoroughly.

[CateV04]

We had a fabulous time on the Carnival Victory (Room 1001) back in December and would happily go again. DH is unable to walk long distances, especially in the cooler parts of the year, so was in a manual wheelchair almost the entire time with no issues. We never had a problem getting an elevator, though a few of them were interesting to navigate (some of the elevators don't go all the way down to the main dining room, so we just hopped down to 6 and worked our way across from there). It was very easy to get to all the fun parts of the ship from there, and it had a drop-down berth for our 13-year-old daughter, who though the entire thing a grand adventure 🙂 There was GOBS of room to maneuver in the stateroom, people around the ship were very helpful and we really had no problems whatsoever.

[jpcello]

I have cruised on RC, Princess, Celebrity and NCL with my sister. The only accessible cabin we ever had that had full lounge chairs was an Aft Accessible Concierge Level cabin on Celebrity. It was massive and had two full lounge chairs as well as a table and four chairs. Any other accessible cabin we've ever had was never big enough for a lounge chair. We typically cruise in standard balcony/veranda cabins - always accessible. For cabins along the port and starboard sides, the balconies tend to be wider and not deeper, which is what you need for lounge chairs. 

[shelly222]

7 hours ago, jpcello said:

I have cruised on RC, Princess, Celebrity and NCL with my sister. The only accessible cabin we ever had that had full lounge chairs was an Aft Accessible Concierge Level cabin on Celebrity. It was massive and had two full lounge chairs as well as a table and four chairs. Any other accessible cabin we've ever had was never big enough for a lounge chair. We typically cruise in standard balcony/veranda cabins - always accessible. For cabins along the port and starboard sides, the balconies tend to be wider and not deeper, which is what you need for lounge chairs. 

Thank you. Our friends have done well with putting a lounge chair for their son lengthwise instead of widthwise so we are going to be able to do that on our next two cruises.. 

[shelly222]

On 1/27/2019 at 7:16 PM, SpencerNY1 said:

I am a quadriplegic travel agent and have been on all those cruise lines. I have had positive accessibility experiences on most with a few exceptions. Where and when were you looking? Having some specific ships would help answer the questions a bit more thoroughly.

Thank you.. 

We are sailing on Carnival Freedom (Costa Maya, Roatan, Cozumel) and Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas (Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba). 

[shelly222]

On 2/2/2019 at 2:50 PM, CateV04 said:

We had a fabulous time on the Carnival Victory (Room 1001) back in December and would happily go again. DH is unable to walk long distances, especially in the cooler parts of the year, so was in a manual wheelchair almost the entire time with no issues. We never had a problem getting an elevator, though a few of them were interesting to navigate (some of the elevators don't go all the way down to the main dining room, so we just hopped down to 6 and worked our way across from there). It was very easy to get to all the fun parts of the ship from there, and it had a drop-down berth for our 13-year-old daughter, who though the entire thing a grand adventure 🙂 There was GOBS of room to maneuver in the stateroom, people around the ship were very helpful and we really had no problems whatsoever.

Thank you...