NCL HC Rooms

[strawberrychris]

Hi

Just thought you all would like to see this post. Someone is posting all the hc cabins on NCL.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=362857&highlight=handicapped

[HumanCookie]

NCL DOES NOT MEET THE ADA REQUIREMENTS IN MANY WAYS:mad:

WE JUST GOT OFF PRIDE OF ALOHA; WHEN TENDERING; THE PEOPLE WHO USED WHEELCHAIRS WERE UNABLE TO GET OFF THE SHIP BECAUSE IN ORDER TO GET TO THE SMALLER BOATS (DINGY) YOU HAD TO WALK DOWN A SET OF STAIRS AND THERE WAS NO ELEVATOR LEADING TO THE DINGY.

NONE OF THE TELEVISION SETS HAD CLOSED CAPTIONED, THERE WERE NO INTERPRETERS OR SCRIPTS PROVIDED

ALL OF THE SO CALLED HANDICAPTED ROOMS WERE INSIDE; NONE HAD BALCONIES;

NONE OF THE TOURS HAD LIFTS TO THE BUSES

NONE OF THE ELEVATORS HAD BRAILLED; NOR THE DOORS, NOR WERE THERE ANY BRAILLED MENU'S

THERE WERE SEVERAL PLACES ON THE SHIP THAT YOU HAD TO WHEEL YOUR CHAIR OVER A HUMP; OR THE DOOR WAS NOT WIDE ENOUGH FOR A CHAIR; THERE WAS A DOOR WITH A "RAMP" TO GO OVER THE SMALL HUMP IN ORDER TO GET ON TO THE DECK BUT THE DOOR WAS TOO SMALL FOR THE AVERAGE WHEELCHAIRS TO GET THROUGH !!!!

IF YOU HAVE A PHYSICAL DISABILITY DO NOT GO ON ANY NCL CRUISES.. ALTHOUGH ALL CRUISE SHIPS MUST BE COMPLETELY ACCESSIBLE; NCL APPARENTLY LOOKS THE OTHER WAY..

HUMAN COOKIE

[leoandhugh]

unfortunately it is not true that cruise ships MUST comply with ADA disability requirements; congress stressed that they should attempt to comply and on many of their ships NCL does very well. the pride of aloha was designed and laid down for costa as the costa olympia. costa then went into bankruptcy and carnival bought them and completed the hull as norwegian sky which then became pride of aloha. the ship was too far into the building process to put more accessible cabins - european lines such as costa and oceania are way behind in accessibility. but i agree, it is a shame that an american flagged ship like pride of aloha is so deficient. suggest you look at the deck plans of the new pride of america for comparison.:)

[DEL67]

HumanCookie:

 

We have cruised on most of the major cruise lines in addition to NCL and what you experienced on the Pride of Aloha is not unique to NCL.

 

With very few exceptions, tender exits have stairs. Some cruiselines such as RCCL have put installed tender lifts on their ships; but, they have them only at one exit so you can not use them if the ship is using the other exit. Most cruiselines, including NCL, have crew members stationed at the tender exits who will carry down disabled passengers in manual chairs. However, they will not do so in rough water for safety reasons.

 

You are correct, most of NCL's older ships only have inside handicap cabins. However their newer ships have outside and balcony ones also. And, the HC inside cabin we had on the NCL Sky which I believe is now the Pride of Aloha was one of the most accessible we have had.

 

We usually take private tours because we have found that few, if any, ship excursion buses have lifts. And this included ones in Hawaii.

 

Except for the pool deck, most ships have ledges to get out onto the deck. Even when ramped, these ledges are difficult for a wheelchair to traverse.

 

The bottom line is that although, you found HC issues on the Pride of Aloha, they are not unique to NCL. It would be nice if the Supreme Court ecision improved some of these isses, but they still have not really defined to what extent the ships mudt comply with the ADA and how it will be monitored.

[Queenie2]

The Pride of Aloha is a retrofit so they had to make do with what they could when getting rid of steps etc. Although all of the accessible cabins are inside, they are very spacious. And as somebody pointed out the tender situation is not unique to NCL (however I have seen wc-users carried down on that particular ship, although that's an entirely personal choice.)

 

On the up-side the only tender port is Kona, and there's not a whole lot there. They do dock in Maui as they don't come in to Lahina but rather Kahuli (I think that's a big thing, especially since they overnight on Maui.)

 

AS for the ADA, although the Supreme Court found that it does apply to cruise ships, we still don't have any regs, so for now you can't say (legally) something is or isn't accessible or doesn't meaure up to ADA regs (there aren't any). As it looks now the cruise regs will be different form the land regs, with allowances for older ships, but with the emphasis placed on access in newly built ships. And no, nobody knows when the regs will be released or when they will actually go into effect. The Access Board has been sitting on them for a very long time.

 

Oh, and even under the ADA, Braille menus are not required (if the sever reads your menu choices to you or there is some other alternative). Neither are interpreters; however some cruise lines do provide them as an added service.

 

The Pride of America is newly built and it does have a larger selection of accessible cabins (including balconies and suites). It was also built to be accessible so things are smoother. NCL does have a lift-equipped bus on a number of their Hawaii tours (as they acquired the tour company that has them). Not all tours, but some. Some would not be accessible once you get there anyway (that's an issue of the atractions not NCL).

 

Candy