RCCI Mariner Western Caribbean Handicap view

[Sarahsmom85]

Hi

We took a RCCI Mariner of the Sea Cruise from Jan 15-22. Thought I'd give a review and include my wheelchair point of view. My husband Martin is a c-4 quad, he uses a power chair.

Our travel agent booked us a w/c cabin 1337 tenth deck. Last minute our college age daughter decides she is being abandon and has to come with us. Last minute scramble to get her a plane ticket. What parents do for there children.

Our TA was able to get our cabin switched to a triple instead of a double. Now we get moved to deck 9 cabin 9553.

 

We booked our flights with Southwest. We have flown SW several times and have had no problems what so ever. The price was right and service was great. First on, last off. Martin did receive a few hits in the head and shoulder with carry-ons flung over passengers shoulders.

 

We left two days early to enjoy some Florida sunshine. Someone should have informed Florida. We arrived in Orlando a half an hour early to cool temp and lots of wind. And it stayed that way all weekend.

 

We booked transportation to the Radisson at the Port with Travelyn. We had the whole w/c van to ourselves. The cost was $75 for two and $90 including our daughter. The driver was pleasant and helpful. When we arrived at the Radisson he couldn't get the vans emergency brake to work and without it engaged the w/c door would not open. I went in with our bags and by the time I was told our rooms where not ready yet, Martin was released from the van.

 

Radisson at the Port is a very nice looking hotel. The pool area is great, the hot tub was really hot. They had Sleep Number®bed which the kids had fun with. They brought in a cot for us. Martin uses a air mattress with a pump that helps with bed sores, it is about 6 inches high. Putting this on the bed made it too high so we used it with the cot.

One thing about the Radisson is do not get a ground floor room or one near the stairs. It was quite noisy. We could hear everyone and everything that went by or up and down the stairs Also some pulled the fire alarm.

The staff was very nice. I was able to get a screw driver from maintance to fix a loose arm rest on Marts chair.

I need to tell you that we where with a group of about 100 others from our area. My brother and his family was flying in on Saturday morning.

The Radisson had two restaurants and a Subway near by and a McDonalds across the street. There was also a go-cart track within walking distance. The trolley stop in front and for $1.00 each way you could go down by the shopping area.

We went to CVS, Bealls Outlet, Publics and Ron Jons.

We couldn't enjoy the pool it was just too cool and windy. Everyone sat by the pool wrapped in sweat suits and towels.

That Saturday night the Patriots where playing on TV, don't know if I got this right but it was the playoffs? Anyway our TA who was travel with our group had it arranged with the hotel to provide a room for us to watch all together. The room had 3 TV's and a bartender. It was great. We really enjoyed ourselves. What would have made it better was if the had won.

 

The Radisson provided us with w/c transportation Sunday morning to the ship. We where told to meet at 12:30 out I front. At 10:30 we got a call that the van was here for us. Talk about rushing around. I had my daughter run to my brothers room and get them to get us packed up. We left before everyone else.

 

At the dock we had no wait at all to get on the ship. We eve had two ladies waiting on us. LOL Had to fill out a form that would allow our 20 yr to drink. We where on the ship in no time. I enjoyed calling my brother still at the hotel to say "We are calling from the ship"

 

We went right in to the casino to look around. Next we went next to the buffet and met our first on-line Cruise Critic friend Carol and Sarah. We looked around the pool area and met our next friends Kim and Tiffany. By this time we could get into our room. We dropped off our carry-ons.

Our room was good size, we kept the two twin beds together. They where low enough to put the air mattress on and still reach the floor to privet. We brought our own extent ion cord and a power strip. The bathroom had a roll in show and was good sized. Mart could wheel in and had plenty of room. I did have the steward take the coffee table out, it was just in the way. Also Mart is a diabetic so we ask for a sharps container.

We went back on deck and did a little line dancing. And at 3 we met the rest of our on-line friends at the Sky bar. It was great to met everyone after talking on-line for so long.

 

I will get back to this later. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

[RevSmith]

Thanks for sharing...interesting acount.

[Love-to-ride]

Just a few ??'s. We're looking at this cruise, our aunt will need a wheelchair and was wondering how the tendering works with a scooter or wheelchair? any trouble with the tenders rocking when getting on or off ? Any ports that he couldn't get off at ? Once off of the ship were the ports reasonably handicap accessible?

[Sarahsmom85]

i WILL get to tendering. to quickly answer your ?? Labadee was great, we did tender no problem. They had beach wheelchair. My biggest problem is that people (workers) want to help and sometimes you know an easier or better way of doing things. Jamacia was docked and we did a w/c tour. I will write about it. Grand Caymen was canceled. Cozumel was aawful. Danger Will Smith. Danger. You need to stay tune for that.

[Sarahsmom85]

I left off with meeting our Cruise Critic friends.

We went to the room and got our life vest and went to the muster drill. Martin did not have to put his on he just held it in his lap. We laughed and made joke about how we would get Martin in the lifeboats. My daughter ran the vest back to the room and we headed up to the pool deck for the sail away. Lots of people on the boards complain about the elevators and the crowds after the muster. We did have to wait a few minutes to get on but it wasn't too bad. I still an amazed at the people who walk in front of you or are too afraid to get on if there is an w/c in the elevator. We got some "Medication for our Vacation:"

and went to our room to unpack and get ready for dinner. P.S. this was the last time I in trusted my Medication to Martin he throw my glass away. My fancy cobalt blue gals was gone. Boy he go Hell. We took an earlier dinner seating since that was what most of our group wanted. We went with the crowd.

 

Our luggage was there and so was the people who we changed rooms with. The steward must have thought we pack a whole lot of stuff. Lucky we still had our old bag tags, and sent the bags to the rightful owners.

 

In the dinning room we sat at a table of 11. Martin has this lap tray bean bag thingy he keep with him and instead of pushing all the way under the tap he just eats off it. With the controls on his chair its hard sometimes to get close to the table. Our only problems was we where set in the back by the staircase. Mart could make it by all the tables and chirrs except the very last person and we always had to make the poor guy push his chair in tight to get by. He was part of our group and he really didn't mind. Did I say our group had about 100 people in it. After a nice dinner we all went to the Welcome aboard show. The have wheelchair spaces in the back row, they have a few loose seats to sit next to the w/c but most of the time they where already taken. We mostly left Marti in the back and went to get better seats up front. Not all the time but sometimes. Warning they have a heavy curtain on a track that they close to keep the light out and if you wheelchair sticks out you do have to be careful on to get hook on the curtain. First time they closed the curtain they scared the heck out of Martin. He liked sitting off to either the right of left side after the curtain ends. He didn't like having the curtain rubbing against his head. To give them credit a couple of people offered to move so that I could sit next to Martin during the different shows. But it a seat was not vacant I went and sat with our group.

 

We called it a night after the show we needed some beauty sleep. It had been a long night.

 

Thoughts on the first day. All the public ship door where automatic so this made it very nice for Martin to get around. Our room had enough space to move around with no problem. The bathroom was large and well lighted. One thing I forgot to bring and couldn't find anywhere to buy was air freshener. I suggest you pack a extent ion cord and a power strip. The room did have a refrigerator, safe and hair dryer. Another tip I found by accident is I had a shoe box I left it on the vanity and I would drop whatever was important in the box and that way you knew where to find it. We did that with room cards, camera, sunglass receipts for all the medication, lip glass, combs and gum. It really came in handle. When my daughter asked "Where's my camera?" In the box.

I did not get sea sick but I did feel like a drunken sailor the whole first day at sea, Martin was fine, nothing affected him.

Oh yes, don't let the ads fool you, anti-snoring spray does not work. Someone in our room snored, and I have the bruises from the things my daughter throw at me, to prove it.

 

I'll get to the first full day at sea, if you can hang in there.

[Sarahsmom85]

Day 2, the first whole day at sea.

Martin decided he needed a little more sleep so Sarah and I went to get breakfast. We stopped to view our welcome photo's. I was a little stick shocked at the prices. Last cruise a 8 x10 was $12 5 x 7 where $8. On the Mariner 8 x 10 cost $19.99. I wished they had offered some kind of package deal the more you buy the less it gets. I would have bought more. At the end I spent $166 on photos and I still could have spent more.

 

We took breakfast to Martin and Sarah went up on deck with her cousins. If there is one thing I should have taken with us where walkie talkies. It would have been so much easier to locate family and friends. I'd advise anyone to bring walkie talkies.

 

We went on deck and watched the horse racing. Didn't win. Listened to music snacked a little. At one o'clock we went to the Ellington lounge to our official Meet & Mingle. Meet our Cruise Critic friends. From the Ellington we could view the Belly flop contest. We had one of our group entered. Poor Scott, his wife promised him a x-box if he entered the contest. He got so drunk he could hardly stand never mind flop.

 

We spent the day exploring the ship. We like having all the automatic door. We went to check out the casino. They have one lowered blackjack table and we thought that was a nice touch. Only problem was the space between the players and the banister was minimal. The tables by the wall where tight and Martin did not even attempt to sit at any of those tables. We played a few hands of Blackjack. There was plenty of room around the slot machines.

Sarah and her cousins wanted to climb the rock wall. Kids under 18 need to have a waiver signed by there parents to climb. The kids loved it.They all reached the top. Sarah said she was shaking when she reached the bottom.

 

We left to go get dressed fro our 1st formal night. Again we had to make on guest move his chair in order to get in the dinning room. The waiter cut all Martins meats. I was on vacation. Where was he at night to throw him in bed?

 

We where lucky to find a w/c place and two seats next to it for the Beatles show. We really got into it and sang and yelled. To continue the fun we went to the Irish pub, had an Irish coffee and joined the sing along. Not much room in there. We moved on to the Karaoke Idol search. That was a blast. Some of the singer where great some.not so good. We had lots of laughs.

 

Called it a night after that Ladabee tomorrow so it was a big day.

 

Thoughts of the day. It went by very fast. The ship is hugh. Sing a longs are a lot of fun especially after a Irish coffee. They need more room around the blackjack tables. All in all a great day.

[Love-to-ride]

Sarahsmom85,

Thanks for the info.

Cozumel was aawful. Danger Will Smith. Danger. You need to stay tune for that.

Can't wait to find out the rest!!!

Looks like we may take the southeren cruise on the AOS out of San Juan!!

No tendering... so no (danger will smith. danger ):)

[Sarahsmom85]

Today we ordered room service breakfast. This is very easy for us. Not a lot of people understand what is involved in getting a quad ready for the day. You don't just get up and go. I have tried to explain it to people as like trying to get a baby ready for the day but it is not even like that. It takes me a good hour to get Martin dress and ready. I like that the ships have a wheel in shower but hat yet to use one. That little project would take a good hour in its self. We have found the wonder of "No rinse" shampoo. Getting back on track.

Room serve comes and I get my coffee and eat. I ordered an egg omelet. I was happy to find it was still hot and tastie. After I eat I get Mart ready he eats his cereal and fresh fruit. Then its time for me to hit the shower.

My brother calls to say they are leaving for Labadee. We ask about the tender and where told we can take the power chair over to the shore. It worked out pretty good. We put the chair in push mode and they rolled him down the gangplank and on to the tender. I just wonder why they don't make the gangplank fit the ship and the dock better? There is always a gap of the top and bottom. It would be so easy to make it flush with the bottom of the boat. If you don't know what its what I'm talking about. The gangplank usually has a step down, it would take nothing it put a little 3 inch piece of wedge there. I just don't understand why they do not make it easy o themselves. They park Martin on the front of the tender and off we go to shore. Once there they put down the ramped front of the tender and it is smooth sailing. Right before we hit dirt a man wheeled a sand chair over. We transfer Mart to the sand chair and they push him over the sand. We there lucky enough to spot my nephew and find out where my brother was located on the beach. I wish Mart could have stayed in the sand chair that way we could have brought him around Labadee. We had to transfer him back onto a lounge chair. I was surprised that NO beach umbrellas where available. We where near a tree but there where 4 other chair under the tree. During the whole time we where at the beach. One man came back to the chairs and sat for a while. Meanwhile I had to keep dragging Martins chair closer and closer to the shade. Why take up the shade and not be there. After a while I made my own umbrella. With a person with disabilities in our family you learn to be creative and adept things to fit your needs. I took my lounge chair and stood it on its end. Using the adjustable back rest as the base, I used the leg part to shade Martin. This worked really good. With the meds he takes he can get sunburned very badly.

He sat there all day and watched us have fun in the water and napped. Sarah gave him her MP3 player. I had to bring back some food for him. The sandchair man said to come get him when we wanted to take Martin over for food, but it was easier just to bring it back to him.

We went to look at the items for sale in the open market on the beach. If the people would actually let you look and quit pushing things at you it would be easier to buy something. If you even looked at an item, they would put it in a bag and shove it at you. I did buy a nice wooden tray. Sarah bought some bracelets for her friends back at college. My nephew got a very nice wooden globe.

We had a nice afternoon. A lady while waiting to use the bathroom told me that usually the weather is so hot in Labadee that you can only stay on the beach for about an hour. She said we had a really lucky, since the weather was so nice.

At 2 o'clock the sandchair man came back to pick us up. The others stayed for a little while more. We put Mart back in his chair and off we went. Like I said before the people who help you try to take over, and I guess I'm so use to being the one who does for Martin its hard for me to give up control. I always feel rushed. I'm still picking up his lap tray and drink and they are halfway up the tender.

So that was our trip to Labadee. As far as the wheelchair goes, it was pretty simple. The sandchair had the trip to the beach easy. I wish we could have used it all day. I forgot to take a photo of Martin in the chair. The day was hot but not unbearable. Martin did get a small area o his forehead sunburned, and the left side of his face was tender for a couple of days. I tried really hard to keep him in the shade.

I will tell you more about the rest of the day on another post. The night has just begun.

Before I forget I want to say I found a handicap bathroom upstairs on the sports deck under the rockwall. It is what a great find. When I'm with Martin I try to get him to go into the woman's room if he need to empty his leg bag and most time he won't, unless he has NO choice. To find a bathroom I can take him in is super. If there was one, there might have been others but really didn't look hard enough to find one.

[Sarahsmom85]

Love to ride,

Could you please let me know who the PR cuise works out. I think we will plan for that next March.

If we are recoved by then. LOL

Linda

[Sarahsmom85]

if you want to see some of my photos here are the links

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/Sarahsmom85

http://community.webshots.com/user/Linsarmom

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/Sarahsmo101

[RevSmith]

I have a question...is there a lip, from the cabin to the balcony when the cabin is not disabled and is there a lip between bed room and bathroom?

[Sarahsmom85]

We go cheap and did not have a balcony. We did not have any lips of any type. Do you want to know if they have them in a non handicap room?

 

I don't remember if I say in the above post or not but we had the steward take the glass top coffee table out of the room. We could have gone without the chair that was in the room but we where able to push that out of the way easier than the table. If just got in the way.

[Yvonne]

Really looking forward to reading the rest of your review. I found it after reading your post on my review thread, otherwise I probably wouldn't have found it so I'm glad you posted on my thread.

 

I'd been wondering where the reviews were from others that were on the same sailing, seems like there should be more but maybe all don't like writing reviews.

 

It's fun to read the perspective of someone else who was on the same cruise.

 

BeatleMania was great, wasn't it? I just couldn't believe how much they looked, sounded and acted just like the Beatles.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[Sarahsmom85]

Here is a photo link to go along with what I have writte so far. I will try to post some more soon.

http://community.webshots.com/user/Sarahsmom85

[Sarahsmom85]

Yvonne, have you looked at my photos? Do I did you see us around the ship? We are hard to miss.