Scooters

[calico cruiser]

What,if any, problems has anyone had using rental scooters onboard Star Princess.  My DH and I are in planning stage for Alaskan cruise and will both need help with mobility due to health issues.

[capriccio]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Each cruise line has its own forum where your inquiry will be seen by more cruise line specific passengers.  You should post this on the Princess forum:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/119-princess-cruises/.

 

When you post, you might want to include whether you are in an officially designated handicap cabin since scooters cannot be left in the hallways.

[BlueRiband]

If you both need scooters then you absolutely need either a HC stateroom or a larger suite.   Getting it through the door is only 10% of your problem.  Where you will park and charge it once inside is the other 90% of the problem.  The need to park and charge two definately makes things more difficult.

 

Very few ships will store and charge scooters for you - they must be stored and charged in your stateroom.  I'd suggest you look at the Disabled Cruise Travel forum to start.  Also ask on the Princess Cruises board as somebody may already have rented scooters on the Star Princess.   When you find an itinierary you or your TA should discuss accommodations for two scooters with the line's Access desk.

[Schoifmom]

I would recommend that you check out the Disabled Cruise Travel forum here.  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/  There is a ton of excellent information from people who have lived it.

[Cru1s1ng2009]

priority #1 is you will need a handicapped room which means you need to book WAY ahead of time because they are few and sell out fast. And what everyone else said, look at the disabled cruise forum, it has a ton of info. Your room will be very tight with 2 scooters but that is a small sacrifice for a wonderful cruise.

[jlp20]

All  Princess ships, ALL SCOOTERS must be stored in your cabin when not in use. 

 

Scooter has to be narrow enough to fit through the door. This usually means it won't fit if going in at an angle. Most accessible cabins are located near elevator banks to accommodate a scooter to approach at a full 90 degrees.

 

Normal scooters take 7-9 square feet of floor space. A normal cabin simply has zero free space to spare. You and anyone else in that cabin would quickly get tired of climbing over a scooter to do anything. 

 

We traveled once  in a standard cabin with device, never again. 

[D&L Thomas]

There were several scooters parked in the hallway on Regal Princess in February. I was in a wheelchair due to an ankle injury and I couldn’t maneuver past the scooters down the hall in some spots. My wheelchair folded up nicely under the desk area of our inside cabin, one of the “sideways” ones on Regal.

[BlueRiband]

2 hours ago, D&L Thomas said:

There were several scooters parked in the hallway on Regal Princess in February. I was in a wheelchair due to an ankle injury and I couldn’t maneuver past the scooters down the hall in some spots. My wheelchair folded up nicely under the desk area of our inside cabin, one of the “sideways” ones on Regal.

When I see a scooter in the hall I call or visit the Purser's desk.  Within minutes it is gone.  Situations such as yours is exactly why they should not be allowed to get away with it.  It's rude to wheelchair users and downright dangerous in an emergency.   Let the ship security team deal with the offenders. 

[brillohead]

A scooter CAN fit in a regular room, but only if the "living room area" is first, and the bed is to the back.  

You may need to ask the cabin steward to remove the coffee table to make room.  

[BlueRiband]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

A scooter CAN fit in a regular room, but only if the "living room area" is first, and the bed is to the back.  

You may need to ask the cabin steward to remove the coffee table to make room.  

However, the OP stated that they will need his and hers scooters.   Maybe one scooter would fit as you described but two presents a real challenge.

[iancal]

On the last Princess cruise we were on we saw stewards several times during the day and a few times at night going down the halls and knocking on doors that had scooters parked outside.

 

It was good to see this.  They are an impediment to other mobility challenged passengers and they very much a hazard in the case of an emergency.   We were happy to see that this policy was being actively enforced.