Need Help

[idcruisers]

I am in need of lots of help. DH and I have cruised several times, mostly on Princess so I thought I knew pretty much what I was doing, but not this time. I am trying to help DH's 88 year old Grandmother, her bother, his wife and her 83 year old disabled sister plan a cruise to Cozumel, Playa de Carmen, Costa Maya and Belize on the Grand Princess leaving 4/8/06. I had no idea there was so much to know about cruising with someone in a wheelchair. She can get around a bit using a "rolling walker" but needs a wheelchair for anything else. I have read that renting a scooter for on board may be a good option. They sail from Galveston and she lives in Denver. How would we rent a scooter? Also they would like to see at least one ruin site. They tender in 3 ports and dock in Costa Maya. Any suggestions for excursions? I think she can get in and out of a van with help. Does she need a seperate manual chair for going ashore? Can she tender? Does Princess have chairs she can use? It seems to me that their options are very limited with this itinerary. I think that they would be the most comfortable with ship excursions, but I am checking into one with "David and Ivan" in Costa Maya that goes to some ruins. I am so confused!! Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

[kitty9]

First of all, and please don't take this wrong, but can these people you're helping with a cruise do this by themselves with no help? With a mobility impaired elderly person, another elderly person and an elderly disabled person, can the three of them travel with no help?

 

As you said, the itinerary they chose is not the ideal one for the disabled, especially with so many tender ports. Plus, ruins aren't particularly accessible for the disabled. You should find out if there's a local guide that does tours for the disabled. I would avoid the ship's tours like the plague.

 

They will need to bring their own manual and electric chairs/scooters. You can contact either http://www.scooterstore.com or a local company http://www.jansenmedical.com. Jansen medical rents both scooters and manual wheelchairs and their prices are pretty decent.

[RevSmith]

I have a disabled husband who has traveled for many years. Let me try to answer as many of these questions as I am able. Get disabled cabins, they have the bars etc. and will allow easy access into showers and on and off commode, and onto balcony if a balcony cabin is purchased. Rent a motorized wheelchair...they are listed on line or in your yellow pages, or your travel agent probably has a good one. A chair makes getting around a ship easier...people tend to frown at the scooters now a days as everyone is using them, and not everyone needs them. But also bring a wheel chair. Many tours can accomodate wheel chair people, call your cruise line and speak with the dialabled counselor...they will help you with booking cruises. It is dangerous to take a disabled passanger onto a tender...especially if the water is choppy...you will be trasfering these people at your own risk...I would not put my husband on a tender, but many do. There are a number of tours to the ruins from Costa Maya...and it's easy to push someone up and down the ramp, most cruise members will assist you. So good luck, hope this helps a little.

[montgomeryfamily]

Since they are leaving in early April, I assume the rooms are already booked. Did they get wheelchair accessible staterooms? If not, neither the wheelchair or scooter will fit inside unless they booked full suites, which have larger doorways. The Grand Princess has some wheelchairs for embarkation and disembarkation and offers assistance with this, so I suggest they take advantage of this, as trying to push a manual wheelchair up the ramp can be difficult. There is a very limited amount for onboard use and they can be picky about letting you take a ship wheelchair off the ship at a port for a shore excursion.

 

If you rent a scooter from CareVacations or similar type of service, it will be onboard when you arrive. This will be easier for them than trying to rent a scooter and bring it with them. I agree with the suggestion to have both a manual wheelchair and a scooter, so that the scooter can be used on ship and the manual wheelchair for shore excursions. Do a search on the disabled board for the CareVacations info.

 

The Grand Princess is very large and I hope the other elderly persons are in good condition because there is a lot of walking. If not, perhaps look at getting two scooters. :)

 

Do they have traditional seating or anytime dining? If traditional, one of the party needs to check the seating location soon after embarkation. Some seating requires going up a step. If this is the case, they would need to go to the maitre'd immediately to try to get this changed. If they have anytime dining, be sure and tell them to tell the maitre'd when being seated that they need a table with no steps to access. They can make a standing reservation for the same time/same location and they probably should do this to avoid problems if they have the anytime dining.

 

The ship docks at Costa Maya and is fairly accessible, but really nothing beyond that. However, the port area is fairly nice and there is a stage which offers a free folkloric show. Belize requires a very long tender ride of 20 to 25 minutes or more and the pier area is difficult for wheelchairs. If they can get David and Ivan, then this might be doable. Otherwise I suggest staying onboard. Cozumel uses the large ferry boats as tenders and except for the long loading/off loading, these boats are more accessible than tenders and the crew is very nice about helping. With the damage and the way the sidewalks are, there aren't many places you can walk around. What types of shore excursions are they interested in here? The city tours on Princess involves buses and requires you to go to the bus and climb up on a few steps. They stow the wheelchair onboard. There may be some private tours that would offer this. I can't help with Playa, because although we have cruised on the Grand Princess several times, the last time was last year before they made this change.

[DEL67]

idcruisers:

 

Just thought I would tell you that I actually checkthis board more than the board for our 4/8 cruise so you can contact me here also if you need more information.