Cruising with Disabled Child

[JayIsFunny]

Booked first cruise on Oasis July '23 with my partner and 4 teenagers, one of whom uses a wheelchair to get around about 85% of the time (he can walk/stand/play about 20 minutes before he needs to sit) Any advice, concerns, did I pick a good ship for him? I don't want him to feel left out of anything.  I also booked Anthem for Xmas '23 so I guess same questions would apply. 

[ARandomTraveler]

I don't have experience with anyone with a mobility challenge on a cruise ship, so I'm sure there are a lot of things to consider that don't even cross my mind. But the one thing that stood out to me on my last cruise was that the elevator situation seems like it gets frustrating for people who can't take the stairs.

 

There were many many many times throughout every day of our trip where it took a long time for elevators to come, or where elevators were full. We ended up using the stairs a lot more often than the elevators, even when carrying 2 full plates of food from the windjammer down 12 flights of stairs, because it's was faster than waiting for the elevator. 
 

It wasn't even that the elevators were always full, it was just that they wouldn't stop on the floors to let people on. So, that could be a challenge. But I think that will be a challenge no matter which ship you're on.

Oasis class ships have a lot more floors, but on the other hand, once you're on a floor that you want to be on, there's enough to keep you entertained for a longer time so you won't need to go up and down as often. 
 

I feel like it would be a good idea for them to dedicate one elevator bay on each side of the ship to be used for mobility challenged people only. It should stop on every floor, rather than being programmed with whatever AI that the other elevator bays have which makes them pass up floors even when the buttons have been pushed. 

Edited December 7, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

 I can't think of a better ship to give it a try.  There's plenty of open chair friendly space on Boardwalk, Central Park, and Promenade. You will have a great time.   

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

 I can't think of a better ship to give it a try.  There's plenty of open chair friendly space on Boardwalk, Central Park, and Promenade. You will have a great time.   

 

We were on Oasis last month.   I think this is a very accurate description and agree with you.   

 

An earlier post mentioned elevator issues.  For our 7 day Oasis cruise there were a couple of times when we had to skip multiple elevator due to crowds.  But most of the time waits for the next available elevator were reasonable.   

[Bloodgem]

Hi and welcome to Cruise Critics.

 

Watch out for people.  We cruise with a wheelchair bound son, every cruise we have to suddenly stop because someone has stepped out in front of the wheelchair.

As @ARandomTraveler has mentioned allow extra time for  elevators, particularly at busy times; for example after shows have finished.

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

I don't know how old your teenagers are, but since you use the word child in the subject I suspect them to be minors. The only place I can think of what could possibly be problems in is the Casino if it is crowded. I had to tell one slot player to move his chair one busy evening so a lady in a wheelchair was able to pass, she was to nice to say anything, she just sat there at the aisle and couldn't pass and was just about to turn back. It really bothered me.

 

[Rubyfisch]

I've cruised several times with my mother who uses a manual wheelchair outside of my parent's house. Cruise ships are way more wheelchair friendly than the world at large.

 

Did you get an accessible cabin? If not, it is a tight squeeze to get the chair through the door. We've sailed in both accessible and regular cabins and my mother would just get out of her chair and we'd slightly fold it up to get it in.

 

The staff goes out of their way to make life easier and the grand majority of passengers do as well.

 

There are some great live reviews from Laurieal that go into handicapped accessibility - here is one

 

[CruiszBug]

Our first cruise on Royal Caribbean with our special needs daughter was on Oasis. We LOVED it! She LOVED it more! I think you will find people will be kind when it comes to the elevator more often than not. (There's always a few #@%, 😉).  We did request a table in the MDR that would be easy to access and we were right at the first table in front of the doors. There is a wheelchair lift in Studio B for the ice shows that will allow your child to sit in the front row. Arrive a  little early and ask a crew member to help you. Enjoy your cruise!

[CruiseDad-NYC]

Oasis has an accessible Family Balcony cabin that sleeps 6 people, I believe.  It is a very large cabin. The bathroom and balcony are wheelchair accessible and there are bunk beds.