Cruising with a disability

[libvt]

 I’m trying to create a question about traveling with a disability, and I’m having some difficulty finding exactly where to pose this question.   My husband uses a scooter and I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for excursions. We will be on Royal Caribbean FOS in November visiting:  St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia, SXM  and Barbados.  He does have the ability to walk a little but not far.  TIA.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2019 by Host Kat
Thread moved to a more correct forum.

[kokopelli-az]

Contact Royal's Access Dept for information about any accessible shore excursions they may be offering.  

You will need to contact them anyway to advise of your husband's scooter and limitations,  if you haven't already done so.

Do you have an accessible stateroom?  

If his scooter won't fit through a regular stateroom door, they can help with this, too.

Of you're looking for accessible shore excursions other than with Royal, maybe others can chime in with their experience with other vendors at your ports.

If any of your ports require tendering to get ashore,  a scooter will not usually be allowed on the tender boat.

[Bloodgem]

Welcome to CC (Cruise Critic). 

I would post your question on RCI's forum as well as here. https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/forum/51-royal-caribbean-international/.

That way you will have a better chance of getting answers.

[kokopelli-az]

Here is some more information from Royal, direct from their website:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/accessible-shore-excursions

[CRUISEWITHH]

Skip the cruiseline excursions and do a little research and find private excursions.  Hopefully you will be able to get on a tender.

[TRadle]

When you are on the cruise planner you can select that you need accessiable excursions.  That should help you narrow it down. Also, be sure to fill out the special needs form.  We have sailed Celebrity, same company, and they have been wonderful.  We sail RCI in September.

[Splinter]

Be aware that those ship's excursions marked "accessible" may indeed require that he walk up the steps of a large bus, and a scooter will not be able to bump up over a curb or step or two into a shop.

 

Traveling with my mother, who used a power wheelchair, we always took a regular light weight folding manual wheelchair as well, which we used for ports. We could transfer her to a cab and put the folding wheelchair in the trunk almost everywhere. Rarely if ever did we have ship's excursions that were equipped with a wheelchair lift, so we rarely used them.

 

Also be aware that they may not allow a scooter on board the tenders for any tender ports, and he may have to do steps to get onto the tender and also shoreside. The ship's safety officer makes that determination at the time (not ahead of time) so you may need a back-up plan for what to do on the ship if you cannot get onto the tender in any of those ports.