Do any Princess ships have wheelchair accessible handicap aft balconies?

[Firehunter]

Looking at cruises to Alaska and have been searching through deck plans to see if there are any ships that have wheelchair accessible handicap aft balconies, but so far no luck. Does anyone know if any have them? Would love to get my 89 year old MIL a large aft balcony, but may just have to choose a side one if there are none. Thank you.

[beg3yrs]

Not in Alaska yet but the new Sun and Star Princess Sphere class ships have aft-facing accessible balconies.

[Thrak]

Not at all sure about Aft-facing balconies but have been in a Caribe Deck HC balcony on Crown Princess. It had the regular extra large balcony that is on Caribe Deck on the Grand Class of ships. There was an automagic little ramp that folded down when the door was opened and then folded back up when the door was closed again. (Our oldest son is a disabled vet who is totally dependent on a wheelchair and I don't understand why the ramp isn't simply always in place.) We weren't sailing with our son that time and were upgraded from a forward interior cabin to the HC balcony so I have to assume (and hope) that nobody who needed it had been blocked from booking that cabin. It was a 4 day cruise due to work constraints and the main stop was Catalina Island which isn't particularly wheelchair friendly so (as I said) hopefully nobody who needed the cabin was "blocked" by our upgrade. (I only found out about the upgrade by accident by checking our booking to print out boarding passes shortly before the departure date.)

 

We have only had an aft-facing balcony once and, as far as I can tell, it was my wife's absolute favorite cabin of all time. (I'm weird and there is an aft-facing Ocean View on Coral Princess that is my all time favorite. We have booked it twice.)

[dides]

8 hours ago, Firehunter said:

Looking at cruises to Alaska and have been searching through deck plans to see if there are any ships that have wheelchair accessible handicap aft balconies, but so far no luck. Does anyone know if any have them? Would love to get my 89 year old MIL a large aft balcony, but may just have to choose a side one if there are none. Thank you.

I believe you won't find any official wheelchair accessible aft facing cabins in the current fleet. They generally place them close to elevators and all the ships have aft elevators a fair distance away (which changes with the new Sphere class - Sun and Star Princess).  However, one anomaly seems to be on Grand Princess where you have two side facing mini-suites next to the aft area (D732 and D733). They have a lovely big balcony but don't seem to have a direct view of the wake (will have to peek around the divider!). It might be the closest you'll get.

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by dides

[Essiesmom]

8 hours ago, dides said:

I believe you won't find any official wheelchair accessible aft facing cabins in the current fleet. They generally place them close to elevators and all the ships have aft elevators a fair distance away (which changes with the new Sphere class - Sun and Star Princess).  However, one anomaly seems to be on Grand Princess where you have two side facing mini-suites next to the aft area (D732 and D733). They have a lovely big balcony but don't seem to have a direct view of the wake (will have to peek around the divider!). It might be the closest you'll get.

 

 

 

The problem with those cabins is they were designed to be accessible, and indeed, they are.  However, their entrance is on the side from a narrow corridor, and was found to be too narrow for a scooter/mobility device or turn to enter the cabin.  So they are not classified/sold as HC.  EM

[dides]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

The problem with those cabins is they were designed to be accessible, and indeed, they are.  However, their entrance is on the side from a narrow corridor, and was found to be too narrow for a scooter/mobility device or turn to enter the cabin.  So they are not classified/sold as HC.  EM

I'm in no position to dispute that but they are still sold as an accessible stateroom on the Princess site:

[Firehunter]

Thank you everyone. Very helpful information and I can stop searching through the deck plans. We'll just have to get a side accessible balcony cabin for grandma. Looking at Discovery and hope it can get all the way into Glacier Bay for her to enjoy the views.