Accessible cabin availability (lack of) in the future kinda frustrating

[ryano]

Being that we are cruising in the peak of hurricane season in 11 days and forecasters saying that things are about to get "ramped up" for the Caribbean, of course in my head I start playing out "worst case scenario".    There is a disturbance off the Bahamas that could develop into something over the next 5 days which will likely be long gone but I dont like something new I see coming off the coast of Africa on the NOAA satellite.      I wouldnt mind at all to get a few extra days at sea but IF something happens and this cruise is shortened several days, I would hope there would be a cancellation option which we would likely take.     The only thing is, it looks like it will be at least another year before i could book the same type accessible oceanview balcony and the prices are WAY more than what I paid when i booked over 500 days ago.   It seems like several years ago, you could get an accessible cabin about 6 months out.  Now, that has been lengthened to a year or more it seems.     Hopefully nothing happens and we get our full 7 day cruise.  The worrier in me has me playing out things that havent even happened yet though lol.    I normally wouldnt book during this time of the year but it was really the only way to get a balcony cabin on one of the newest, largest ships in the world at such a decent price.

 

Has your cruise ever been effected (shortened) by weather?   Were you given the option to cancel?   Were you price protected?    

Edited August 21, 2019 by ryano

[cruisinfanatic]

4 minutes ago, ryano said:

Being that we are cruising in the peak of hurricane season in 11 days and forecasters saying that things are about to get "ramped up" for the Caribbean, of course in my head I start playing out "worst case scenario".    There is a disturbance off the Bahamas that could develop into something over the next 5 days which will likely be long gone but I dont like something new I see coming off the coast of Africa on the NOAA satellite.      I wouldnt mind at all to get a few extra days at sea but IF something happens and this cruise is shortened several days, I would hope there would be a cancellation option which we would likely take.     The only thing is, it looks like it will be at least another year before i could book the same type accessible oceanview balcony and the prices are WAY more than what I paid when i booked over 500 days ago.   It seems like several years ago, you could get an accessible cabin about 6 months out.  Now, that has been lengthened to a year or more it seems.     Hopefully nothing happens and we get our full 7 day cruise.  The worrier in me has me playing out things that havent even happened yet though lol.    I normally wouldnt book during this time of the year but it was really the only way to get a balcony cabin on one of the newest, largest ships in the world.

 

Has your cruise ever been effected (shortened) by weather?   Were you given the option to cancel?   Were you price protected?    

Absolutely needless worry about something that doesn't exist at this time

[Ourusualbeach]

6 minutes ago, ryano said:

Being that we are cruising in the peak of hurricane season in 11 days and forecasters saying that things are about to get "ramped up" for the Caribbean, of course in my head I start playing out "worst case scenario".    There is a disturbance off the Bahamas that could develop into something over the next 5 days which will likely be long gone but I dont like something new I see coming off the coast of Africa on the NOAA satellite.      I wouldnt mind at all to get a few extra days at sea but IF something happens and this cruise is shortened several days, I would hope there would be a cancellation option which we would likely take.     The only thing is, it looks like it will be at least another year before i could book the same type accessible oceanview balcony and the prices are WAY more than what I paid when i booked over 500 days ago.   It seems like several years ago, you could get an accessible cabin about 6 months out.  Now, that has been lengthened to a year or more it seems.     Hopefully nothing happens and we get our full 7 day cruise.  The worrier in me has me playing out things that havent even happened yet though lol.    I normally wouldnt book during this time of the year but it was really the only way to get a balcony cabin on one of the newest, largest ships in the world.

 

Has your cruise ever been effected (shortened) by weather?   Were you given the option to cancel?   Were you price protected?    

I wouldn’t worry until something actually happened.  I just looked and Jan 12, 19 and 26 there were accessible balconies available on Harmony.  Priced high but if something happened I would definitely be pushing Royal to price protect it as long as it was a comparable week.  I.e going from non prime to a prime week.

[ryano]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Priced high but if something happened I would definitely be pushing Royal to price protect it as long as it was a comparable week.  I.e going from non prime to a prime week.

 

Yeah!  DOUBLE what I paid!  LOL.

 

Guess I will just cross that bridge if/when I get to it.   🙂    worrying is in my nature and my anxiety starts kicking in around 14 days out.  Thanks for the info 

[mets123]

Royal will not sail into a hurricane. There rd plenty of other ports they can reroute to.

[ryano]

21 minutes ago, mets123 said:

Royal will not sail into a hurricane. There rd plenty of other ports they can reroute to.

 

Oh I know!  Once Im on the ship, I dont care where we go 🙂   Im mostly just concerned with Port Canaveral getting closed and the trip getting shortened.  I dont think I would go through all the trouble to travel down and do a 3-4 day cruise.   Absolutely none of this has happened yet though as pointed out.   Just my anxiety running rampant as usual.  

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, ryano said:

 

Oh I know!  Once Im on the ship, I dont care where we go 🙂   Im mostly just concerned with Port Canaveral getting closed and the trip getting shortened.  I dont think I would go through all the trouble to travel down and do a 3-4 day cruise.   Absolutely none of this has happened yet though as pointed out.   Just my anxiety running rampant as usual.  

 

[molly361]

Our oasis cruise two years ago went from a seven day to a four day one. You could have gotten a full refund if your did not sail and got a fifty percent refund and fifty percent refundable box if you took the shortened cruise

[brillohead]

6 hours ago, ryano said:

The only thing is, it looks like it will be at least another year before i could book the same type accessible oceanview balcony and the prices are WAY more than what I paid when i booked over 500 days ago.   It seems like several years ago, you could get an accessible cabin about 6 months out.  Now, that has been lengthened to a year or more it seems.

I blame the number of people using scooters these days for the decrease in available accessible rooms. 

IMO, accessible rooms should be for those who actually need the features of the room -- the roll-in shower, the no-step bathroom/balcony, the safety rails in the bathroom, the space to maneuver around the room in a wheelchair, etc. 

People who can walk around in their room on their own and only need the scooter to walk for longer distances around the ship, etc., should be required to book a regular room.  There is room to park the scooter in the seating area (you can ask the room steward to remove the coffee table, if needed).  

[Lady Hudson]

Our Adventure cruise a few years ago went to Canada instead of Bermuda.  Royal compensated those who decided not to cancel and others had the option to cancel, I believe.  Royal made a bad situation as good as they could, but, of course, there were still people very upset.  Those who had never been to Bermuda were the most upset, understandably.  But . . . If you book a cruise during hurricane season you have to expect that there could be consequences.  Katherine

[reallyitsmema]

5 hours ago, ryano said:

 

Oh I know!  Once Im on the ship, I dont care where we go 🙂   Im mostly just concerned with Port Canaveral getting closed and the trip getting shortened.  I dont think I would go through all the trouble to travel down and do a 3-4 day cruise.   Absolutely none of this has happened yet though as pointed out.   Just my anxiety running rampant as usual.  

 

I always look at this site.  Looks good!  Nothing developing that they have identified off Africa right now, so that is good.  

 

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

 

You are going to finally cruise an Oasis class ship!  Deep breaths 😄 

[molsonschooner]

41 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I blame the number of people using scooters these days for the decrease in available accessible rooms. 

IMO, accessible rooms should be for those who actually need the features of the room -- the roll-in shower, the no-step bathroom/balcony, the safety rails in the bathroom, the space to maneuver around the room in a wheelchair, etc. 

People who can walk around in their room on their own and only need the scooter to walk for longer distances around the ship, etc., should be required to book a regular room.  There is room to park the scooter in the seating area (you can ask the room steward to remove the coffee table, if needed).  

of course, some people will take advantage, but there at least 2 sides to every story. My DW uses a scooter. I have asked on this board, and on the disabled board, looking for a simple answer, will a scooter fit into a standard ocean view balcony cabins.Some people say it depends on how wide the scooter is.

Some people said for sure they will, some said they might and some said that the scooter might need to be disassembled in order to get it through the door. Some people just leave the scooter in the hallway. Some say the cabin steward will park it for you.

I even asked one of the bigger travel agencies. Their response was, "of course , if she will be using a scooter then you should certainly book an accessible cabin

[brillohead]

14 minutes ago, molsonschooner said:

of course, some people will take advantage, but there at least 2 sides to every story. My DW uses a scooter. I have asked on this board, and on the disabled board, looking for a simple answer, will a scooter fit into a standard ocean view balcony cabins.Some people say it depends on how wide the scooter is.

Some people said for sure they will, some said they might and some said that the scooter might need to be disassembled in order to get it through the door. Some people just leave the scooter in the hallway. Some say the cabin steward will park it for you.

I even asked one of the bigger travel agencies. Their response was, "of course , if she will be using a scooter then you should certainly book an accessible cabin

It depends on the scooter, but the standard scooters provided by the rental companies specifically for cruising do fit through the doorway and inside the room of a standard balcony room on the newer ships.  If using a scooter from home or a bariatric scooter, you'd have to get the dimensions of that model to find out if it would fit.  

The bigger issue I see is people just not wanting to have to walk around the scooter in their room -- they want the bigger room so that they have room to park the scooter off to the side and still have the rest of the room to themselves.  If that's the case -- they just want more room to walk around while the scooter is parked -- they should cough up the money and pay for a Junior Suite.  The cost of the scooter rental is cheaper than the upgrade to a Junior Suite...

Accessible rooms should be reserved for people who actually need the special features of the room, not just for people who have a scooter but are able to maneuver in the room without assistance.  

 

[molsonschooner]

2 minutes ago, brillohead said:

It depends on the scooter, but the standard scooters provided by the rental companies specifically for cruising do fit through the doorway and inside the room of a standard balcony room on the newer ships.  If using a scooter from home or a bariatric scooter, you'd have to get the dimensions of that model to find out if it would fit.  

The bigger issue I see is people just not wanting to have to walk around the scooter in their room -- they want the bigger room so that they have room to park the scooter off to the side and still have the rest of the room to themselves.  If that's the case -- they just want more room to walk around while the scooter is parked -- they should cough up the money and pay for a Junior Suite.  The cost of the scooter rental is cheaper than the upgrade to a Junior Suite...

Accessible rooms should be reserved for people who actually need the special features of the room, not just for people who have a scooter but are able to maneuver in the room without assistance.  

 

you will be pleased to know that we booked a regular ocean view balcony for our next cruise. I hope the scooter fits, with very little effort.

[brillohead]

2 minutes ago, molsonschooner said:

you will be pleased to know that we booked a regular ocean view balcony for our next cruise. I hope the scooter fits, with very little effort.

In most cases, all that is needed is to remove the armrests -- those are usually the widest part of the scooter.  

[gadaboutgal]

4 hours ago, brillohead said:

I blame the number of people using scooters these days for the decrease in available accessible rooms. 

IMO, accessible rooms should be for those who actually need the features of the room -- the roll-in shower, the no-step bathroom/balcony, the safety rails in the bathroom, the space to maneuver around the room in a wheelchair, etc. 

People who can walk around in their room on their own and only need the scooter to walk for longer distances around the ship, etc., should be required to book a regular room.  There is room to park the scooter in the seating area (you can ask the room steward to remove the coffee table, if needed).  

You make it sound like using a scooter is simply a delightful way to trip around the ship.

Just keep in mind that if someone is "just" using a scooter to get around the ship, they may also require the other adapted facilities in the HDC cabin: Not being able to step over bathroom thresholds, not being able to sit on a regular height toilet; needing additional security and support of the multi grab bars.   You may never know what another's needs are just by looking. 

[brillohead]

2 minutes ago, gadaboutgal said:

You make it sound like using a scooter is simply a delightful way to trip around the ship.

Just keep in mind that if someone is "just" using a scooter to get around the ship, they may also require the other adapted facilities in the HDC cabin: Not being able to step over bathroom thresholds, not being able to sit on a regular height toilet; needing additional security and support of the multi grab bars.   You may never know what another's needs are just by looking. 

If you read my comments -- which you quoted yourself but obviously didn't read -- you'd know that I specifically mention the FEATURES OF THE ROOM.  Here, let me show it to you again:

 

4 hours ago, brillohead said:

IMO, accessible rooms should be for those who actually need the features of the room -- the roll-in shower, the no-step bathroom/balcony, the safety rails in the bathroom, the space to maneuver around the room in a wheelchair, etc. 

Obviously, some people who need a scooter also have OTHER mobility needs, and therefore they need the OTHER features of the room.  Because they actually need the accessible features of the room, they are the people who should be booking an accessible room.  

My comments, which you quoted but didn't read and are shown here for you to see again, were about people who CAN GET AROUND OKAY IN THE ROOM and only "need" the accessible room because they want parking space for their scooter.  

 

4 hours ago, brillohead said:

People who can walk around in their room on their own and only need the scooter to walk for longer distances around the ship, etc., should be required to book a regular room.  There is room to park the scooter in the seating area (you can ask the room steward to remove the coffee table, if needed).  

 

There are also people who have an actual need for the accessible room even if they don't use a wheelchair or scooter -- they may walk with a cane or walker, but need the bathroom grab bars, shower facilities, etc.  That's why I specifically mentioned that a need for the FEATURES OF THE ROOM should be the deciding factor in who is allowed to book an accessible room. 

If the person can use the regular shower and toilet and can get into the bathroom and onto the balcony okay, they should not be allowed to book an accessible room until final payment or whatever date the cruise line makes them available to everyone. 

If the cruise line enforced this as a policy, it would result in a lot more accessible rooms being available for the people who actually need the special features of those rooms... it would mean that accessible rooms would be accessible to the people who need them.  As it is now, some people just say, "I use a scooter, I deserve an accessible room" when in reality they can function just fine in a regular room. 

I'm not anti-scooter at all.  I am, however, anti-scooter-abuse.   

[GUT2407]

Wonder how we decide who needs what?

[peymas]

5 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

My husband used a rollator walker until recently and still has to occasionally.   He now has a mobility scooter.  The walker would not fit into the room. He can’t fold and get in without losing his balance.  It would have to sit in the hallway until I got there.  I’m concerned about the scooter getting into a regular room.  We have booked a regular room for January.  I much prefer the handicap room for the shower for him with the bars and no lip to get in. For me not so much because water gets everywhere.  There is still a need for some who use mobility scooters.  

 

I blame the number of people using scooters these days for the decrease in available accessible rooms. 

IMO, accessible rooms should be for those who actually need the features of the room -- the roll-in shower, the no-step bathroom/balcony, the safety rails in the bathroom, the space to maneuver around the room in a wheelchair, etc. 

People who can walk around in their room on their own and only need the scooter to walk for longer distances around the ship, etc., should be required to book a regular room.  There is room to park the scooter in the seating area (you can ask the room steward to remove the coffee table, if needed).  

 

[gadaboutgal]

Brillohead, it would appear that you did not read my full statement:

"You may never know what another's needs are just by looking."                                              So who is to judge whether someone should be denied the use of an accessible cabin; the one who reserves the cabin is in a better position to judge (and must affirm) their needs.

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, peymas said:

My husband used a rollator walker until recently and still has to occasionally.   He now has a mobility scooter.  The walker would not fit into the room. He can’t fold and get in without losing his balance.  It would have to sit in the hallway until I got there.  I’m concerned about the scooter getting into a regular room.  We have booked a regular room for January.  I much prefer the handicap room for the shower for him with the bars and no lip to get in. For me not so much because water gets everywhere.  There is still a need for some who use mobility scooters.  

 

If it's a standard scooter, it will likely fit through the door. If you're renting one, rather than bringing yours from home, it should fit through the door in a regular room. 

If he uses a bariatric scooter, though, it probably won't fit through the doorway of a regular room (unless you have a suite, which has a wider door).
 

[ONECRUISER]

10 hours ago, brillohead said:

I blame the number of people using scooters these days for the decrease in available accessible rooms. 

IMO, accessible rooms should be for those who actually need the features of the room -- the roll-in shower, the no-step bathroom/balcony, the safety rails in the bathroom, the space to maneuver around the room in a wheelchair, etc. 

People who can walk around in their room on their own and only need the scooter to walk for longer distances around the ship, etc., should be required to book a regular room.  There is room to park the scooter in the seating area (you can ask the room steward to remove the coffee table, if needed).  

20 years ago Royal would wheel all passengers off that needed assistance, first thing. They even Wheeled my Father In Law to our parked car. This before scooters. Now so many from first to last can be 9:30 when last is off, not counting those that didnt need assistance. Though 20-30 yrs ago wasnt as many 3/4 passenger or Accessible cabins as is now on newer ships...Agree though, removing Coffee Table creates more room in Cabin, as does having connecting cabin room which has more space by that door. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[Bloodgem]

5 hours ago, gadaboutgal said:

 So who is to judge whether someone should be denied the use of an accessible cabin; the one who reserves the cabin is in a better position to judge (and must affirm) their needs.

I have to disagree because you will always get some passengers that will claim they need an accessible  cabin when they do not, they only want the cabin for the extra space. 

 

We were on the Indy in May 2018.  My DS and I overheard a conversation between a  scooter user and her friends. One of the friends made a comment, which I did not catch. The scooter user quite clearly said. "I've only brought it so I can have an accessible cabin. I'll only use the scooter when i'm off the ship as I do not need it whilst I'm on the ship".

 

This woman may be a one off but how can we rely on some passengers being truthful? 

[nadinenurse1]

So as a wheelchair , manual not scooter,  user, you should see the looks I get  I am a RN w a back injury , I can walk short distances , like the length of a ship dinning room at the buffet, but that’s it, can not walk to my room from any venue on the ship, can not stand for long periods, can not not even stand in the shower, can not even bend over to wash my feet without falling over,   My wheelchair folds flat as all manual ones do, so I use it for all distances , for me a distance is anything longer than a 10 minute walk, lol , But,  if my injury goes into spasm, I can’t move at all, if really bad, become bed bound. I do get a handicapped room ,because if I do get bad, ie; in spasm, I will need wheelchair inthe cabin to get to the bathroom.  But to look at me in good days, I look  fine, and yes ...I get nasty looks all the time when my back is good and I can push the wheelchair for distances and take sitting breaks until I can walk again.  I would be very upset at those that use a scooter for  continence or a bigger room.  My life would be tons easier if I had not caught a falling patient 15 years ago.  Since I don’t look handicapped, people make assumptions.  I also , when in the wheelchair, get sat on, pushed, stepped on, yes people step on my feet, shoved, squished, you name it.  Sorry about the rant here. As a other poster said,  we have no idea what is going on with others. I am defiantly treated differently in the wheelchair and out of it.It is much better out of it.  In conclusion, I must have a accessible room

[ryano]

16 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I always look at this site.  Looks good!  Nothing developing that they have identified off Africa right now, so that is good.  

 

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

 

You are going to finally cruise an Oasis class ship!  Deep breaths 😄 

 

Ive been watching it like a hawk!  LOL!   😂