Wheel chair assistance. Royal Caribbean. Long Beach

[audome78]

I am cruising with my 92 year old father and my 90 year old mother, celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary. We have arranged, thru, Royal's Special Needs department, for wheelchair assistance at the terminal in Long Beach. 

 

Does anyone have experience on WHERE the assistance begins and where it ends? Does it start at the curb, with luggage drop off and continue thru check in? Our does it start after check-in and only for going up the gang way?

 

I'm trying to plan for our arrival. Mom uses a walker at home, but  getting on Navigator and to her room is going to be a challenge. I have rented a wheelchair for the cruise, which will be in her room. Getting to the room from the car is the issue.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

I am posting this on the Royal Caribbean forum also

Edited November 3, 2022 by audome78
Spelling

[kokopelli-az]

2 hours ago, audome78 said:

Does anyone have experience on WHERE the assistance begins and where it ends? Does it start at the curb, with luggage drop off and continue thru check in? Our does it start after check-in and only for going up the gang way?

 

It begins where the luggage is dropped off and continues through security, check-in, boarding and finally to your stateroom or other public area (like the buffet).

 

As soon as you get to the terminal where you drop off your luggage let the port employees know you need wheelchair assistance.   You will probably have two different people pushing the wheelchair:  the first one would be the port employee and they take you are far as they are allowed.  Then a Royal Caribbean employee will take over from there.   

 

Tips are always appreciated. 

 

On your final day, there will be a designated area for people needing wheelchair assistance to meet and you will be taken off the ship from there.   The information as to where you meet will be in your daily newsletter (toward the end of the cruise) or you can ask Guest Services.  

 

In case you haven't seen Royal's Accessible Seas Brochure, it is attached.    

Royal Caribbean Accessible_Seas_Brochure_2020.pdf

[shadow 123]

2 hours ago, audome78 said:

I am cruising with my 92 year old father and my 90 year old mother, celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary. We have arranged, thru, Royal's Special Needs department, for wheelchair assistance at the terminal in Long Beach. 

 

Does anyone have experience on WHERE the assistance begins and where it ends? Does it start at the curb, with luggage drop off and continue thru check in? Our does it start after check-in and only for going up the gang way?

 

I'm trying to plan for our arrival. Mom uses a walker at home, but  getting on Navigator and to her room is going to be a challenge. I have rented a wheelchair for the cruise, which will be in her room. Getting to the room from the car is the issue.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

I am posting this on the Royal Caribbean forum also

I was told it starts at the Pier. They will take you to your room And at the end of the cruise they will take you from your room to the Pier.

[audome78]

12 minutes ago, kokopelli-az said:

It begins where the luggage is dropped off and continues through security, check-in, boarding and finally to your stateroom or other public area (like the buffet).

 

As soon as you get to the terminal where you drop off your luggage let the port employees know you need wheelchair assistance.   You will probably have two different people pushing the wheelchair:  the first one would be the port employee and they take you are far as they are allowed.  Then a Royal Caribbean employee will take over from there.   

 

Tips are always appreciated. 

 

On your final day, there will be a designated area for people needing wheelchair assistance to meet and you will be taken off the ship from there.   The information as to where you meet will be in your daily newsletter (toward the end of the cruise) or you can ask Guest Services.  

 

In case you haven't seen Royal's Accessible Seas Brochure, it is attached.    

Royal Caribbean Accessible_Seas_Brochure_2020.pdf 6.33 MB · 0 downloads

Thank you so much. This is exactly the info I was looking for. 

🙏

[Essiesmom]

Ummmm…I think Royal sails from San Pedro.  Only Carnival sails from Long Beach.  EM

[kokopelli-az]

22 hours ago, sandrajean123 said:

And at the end of the cruise they will take you from your room to the Pier.

I'm pretty sure you have to go to a designed area when disembarking if you want wheelchair assistance.   So you  have to get from your room to the meeting area.

[shadow 123]

21 hours ago, kokopelli-az said:

I'm pretty sure you have to go to a designed area when disembarking if you want wheelchair assistance.   So you  have to get from your room to the meeting area.

Okay, I'm pretty sure you're right but I'm just telling you what holland America told me.

[VirginiaIsForCruisers]

On 11/3/2022 at 4:08 PM, sandrajean123 said:

I was told it starts at the Pier. They will take you to your room And at the end of the cruise they will take you from your room to the Pier.

My experience with Royal was very different. They dumped me in the elevator lobby that is right by the gangway entrance. When I asked to be taken to my cabin, I was told no. And at the end of the cruise, I was told where to wait for assistance (it was a bar near one of the elevator lobbies).

[shadow 123]

3 hours ago, VirginiaIsForCruisers said:

My experience with Royal was very different. They dumped me in the elevator lobby that is right by the gangway entrance. When I asked to be taken to my cabin, I was told no. And at the end of the cruise, I was told where to wait for assistance (it was a bar near one of the elevator lobbies).

That scares me. I felt such confidence when Holland  America told me that they would take me from the pier to my room and back again when it was time to leave. I'm gonna call them again just to be sure.

[shadow 123]

Just now, sandrajean123 said:

That scares me. I felt such confidence when Holland  America told me that they would take me from the pier to my room and back again when it was time to leave. I'm gonna call them again just to be sure.

Ps... How did you end up getting to your cabin?

[VirginiaIsForCruisers]

On 11/7/2022 at 7:44 PM, sandrajean123 said:

Ps... How did you end up getting to your cabin?

I hobbled to the elevator (I can walk a very short distance). I went up to the buffet and planted myself until the rooms were ready. I then hobbled to the room very slowly. At the end of the cruise, they allowed me to leave the scooter/wheelchair rental in the staging area where they pick you up for wheelchair assistance at the pier. My first three cruises I rented a scooter and had the same situation. For my cruise this year, I purchased a Fold and Go powerchair. It made a huge difference. I didn't have to wait for assistance and I could go everywhere I needed to go quickly. It was well worth the cost.

 

The cruises where I rented a scooter were before Covid. Now some of the providers let you pick the scooter or chair up right outside the pier. That would have been wonderful for me.

 

You may consider asking the company that is renting you the wheelchair if you can pick it up outside the port. You can still have Royal or port staff push the chair, but you could take over once they got you on the actual ship.

[smart_alec]

We took 4 cruises with Royal Caribbean out of LA this year (I assume you are going on Navigator of the Seas?). My wife needs wheelchair assistance to board and disembark. The info kokopelli-az provided is mostly accurate. You should ask one of the port employees to point out the exact location to you, but basically there are benches in front of the building entrance where you will seat and wait for someone to come and get you with their wheelchair (unless you are coming with your own). That area is by the small white tent in front of the building, close to where you drop off the luggage and where the lines to board form. 

 

There will be two people helping you, port employee and then Royal Caribbean employee as kokopelli-az mentioned. Port employees pushing are not allowed to assist you with luggage (labor union issues). They will not even touch your bags. So you need to be able to handle all carry-on. 

 

They will help through security and gangway onto the ship. They will not take you to your cabin. Our cabin wasn't ready when we boarded, so it wasn't really an option. In our case they left us at Bolero lounge, close to the rear elevators. After that it was up to us to figure out how to navigate the ship. My wife can walk short distances with her cane, so we managed. 

 

For disembarkation definitely let them know you will need assistance so they will put you on the list. We had to go to the same Bolero lounge to wait for the wheelchair assistance. It was reasonably quick. It's also the same process with two people - Royal Caribbean crew member will take you off of the ship to the port and will "hand you off" to the port worker, who, once again, is not allowed to touch any of your bags. They will get you outside of the building. In our case we were catching Uber, so they got us to the island where you wait. There are no benches on the island, but there are benches by the building, Depending how long you need to wait for your transportation, you may want to ask them to leave you by the benches. You'd just have to cross the road to get to the island if needed. 

[audome78]

On 11/21/2022 at 8:36 PM, smart_alec said:

We took 4 cruises with Royal Caribbean out of LA this year (I assume you are going on Navigator of the Seas?). My wife needs wheelchair assistance to board and disembark. The info kokopelli-az provided is mostly accurate. You should ask one of the port employees to point out the exact location to you, but basically there are benches in front of the building entrance where you will seat and wait for someone to come and get you with their wheelchair (unless you are coming with your own). That area is by the small white tent in front of the building, close to where you drop off the luggage and where the lines to board form. 

 

There will be two people helping you, port employee and then Royal Caribbean employee as kokopelli-az mentioned. Port employees pushing are not allowed to assist you with luggage (labor union issues). They will not even touch your bags. So you need to be able to handle all carry-on. 

 

They will help through security and gangway onto the ship. They will not take you to your cabin. Our cabin wasn't ready when we boarded, so it wasn't really an option. In our case they left us at Bolero lounge, close to the rear elevators. After that it was up to us to figure out how to navigate the ship. My wife can walk short distances with her cane, so we managed. 

 

For disembarkation definitely let them know you will need assistance so they will put you on the list. We had to go to the same Bolero lounge to wait for the wheelchair assistance. It was reasonably quick. It's also the same process with two people - Royal Caribbean crew member will take you off of the ship to the port and will "hand you off" to the port worker, who, once again, is not allowed to touch any of your bags. They will get you outside of the building. In our case we were catching Uber, so they got us to the island where you wait. There are no benches on the island, but there are benches by the building, Depending how long you need to wait for your transportation, you may want to ask them to leave you by the benches. You'd just have to cross the road to get to the island if needed. 

Thank you for explaining your experience. Yes, we are on Navigator of the Seas. We have already filled out the special needs form and been in contact with Royal to confirm. I hope we will have a similar experience to yours.

[audome78]

On 11/3/2022 at 5:39 PM, Essiesmom said:

Ummmm…I think Royal sails from San Pedro.  Only Carnival sails from Long Beach.  EM

Yes, thank you. I was mistaken.

[audome78]

On 11/21/2022 at 5:36 PM, smart_alec said:

We took 4 cruises with Royal Caribbean out of LA this year (I assume you are going on Navigator of the Seas?). My wife needs wheelchair assistance to board and disembark. The info kokopelli-az provided is mostly accurate. You should ask one of the port employees to point out the exact location to you, but basically there are benches in front of the building entrance where you will seat and wait for someone to come and get you with their wheelchair (unless you are coming with your own). That area is by the small white tent in front of the building, close to where you drop off the luggage and where the lines to board form. 

 

There will be two people helping you, port employee and then Royal Caribbean employee as kokopelli-az mentioned. Port employees pushing are not allowed to assist you with luggage (labor union issues). They will not even touch your bags. So you need to be able to handle all carry-on. 

 

They will help through security and gangway onto the ship. They will not take you to your cabin. Our cabin wasn't ready when we boarded, so it wasn't really an option. In our case they left us at Bolero lounge, close to the rear elevators. After that it was up to us to figure out how to navigate the ship. My wife can walk short distances with her cane, so we managed. 

 

For disembarkation definitely let them know you will need assistance so they will put you on the list. We had to go to the same Bolero lounge to wait for the wheelchair assistance. It was reasonably quick. It's also the same process with two people - Royal Caribbean crew member will take you off of the ship to the port and will "hand you off" to the port worker, who, once again, is not allowed to touch any of your bags. They will get you outside of the building. In our case we were catching Uber, so they got us to the island where you wait. There are no benches on the island, but there are benches by the building, Depending how long you need to wait for your transportation, you may want to ask them to leave you by the benches. You'd just have to cross the road to get to the island if needed. 

Is wanted to come back and report our experience with boarding Navigator yesterday...smart_alec was spot on. This was EXACTLY our experience. Very seem less and professional.

 

Thank you to all for your input!