We have been put in a handicapped room . . .

[DesrtDrmr]

I think it is unfair that able bodied people book handicapped rooms hoping to be upgraded into better rooms............................when handicapped people cannot be upgraded, nor can they even sail thanks to many people that are so inconsiderate. Ships have few handicapped rooms, and many standard cabins. Cruiselines will NOT move passengers out of handicapped cabins before sailing even if they are not handicapped, which is rather proven by the two people that were moved out of handicapped cabins AFTER THEY WERE ONBOARD. If the cruiseline had cared that a non handicapped person was in a handicapped cabin, and they had handicapped people trying to book handicapped cabins, the cruise line would have moved the able bodied passengers BEFORE the cruise started. As it was, handicapped people had to book a regular room, and then tried to get the purser's office to switch them once onboard. Lucky for them, they were able to.....................but again, the able bodied passengers got upgraded, onboard credit, and a fancy dinner............the handicapped people got to take a shower and use the facilities!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Read again Bill he says he "booked room 9292..........."

 

" We have booked the Valor for March 2007 - and booked cabin 9292 on the Lido deck. I understand that it is a handicapped room and there's a chance we may get moved if it is needed (which I totally understand). I am wondering if we will get moved to a better room - perhaps an outside room - also, have any of you been in a handicapped room on the Lido deck?? Are they bigger - than other inside rooms? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks"

 

where is this writen at? I went back and "read again" but some how can't see this? I only see 2 post by the op in this thread and neither one says this??

 

Bill

[M&M CRUZERS]

OP also says they realize they could be moved should the cabin be needed and they were totally ok with that. I see no problem here. They may have booked it without realizing it was HC or they may have done it on purpose realizing if they get moved they are hoping for an upgrade but are totally willing to move if the need arises.

 

that once the HC accessible cabins are removed from inventory it means that another passenger needing a HC cabin will simply be told by the cruiseline that one is not available.

 

Please don't take a HC cabin or book one unless you need one. On Jewel of the Seas, there are 1690+ total cabins/suites and 19 of them are HC. You do the math.

 

I travel with a mobility scooter and a manual wc, due to having MS. All I can do is ask all AB passengers - if you don't need the wider door for your scooter or wc, and/or if you don't need more space in your cabin to manuever your scooter or chair, and/or if you don't have a problem stepping up into your bathroom or need to sit in the shower -

please don't take that same opportunity away from a person that needs that accessible cabin.

[alirat]

is that there are people actually discussing the *merits* of getting a HC cabin when they are able bodied! This is frankly appalling. If anyone has any doubts about the difficulties HC people have in booking cruises and getting rooms, spend some reading in the disabled cruising section of this board. All the chat about 'of course we would move if requested...' is a smokescreen, and again I would suggest spending time reading the disabled cruising section to read some of the heartbreaking stories.

 

Get a life people.

[Umbarger]

where is this writen at? I went back and "read again" but some how can't see this? I only see 2 post by the op in this thread and neither one says this??

 

Bill

 

OP said it in another thread. Here is the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=410979

[S.S.Oceanlover]

OP said it in another thread. Here is the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=410979

 

so there's mystery. When you said, reread it, you were implying that I had read it the first time. Since I didn't go and look at all the past post from the OP I missed it.

 

Since they booked into the cabin knowing they were not handicapped, I agree, that is totally wrong.

 

as an addendum to my earlier post about my wife booking a handicapped cabin unknowingly. I believe it was cabin 6281 and it still does not show on the deck plans as being handicapped accessible.

 

Bill

[futaba951]

that once the HC accessible cabins are removed from inventory it means that another passenger needing a HC cabin will simply be told by the cruiseline that one is not available.

 

Please don't take a HC cabin or book one unless you need one. On Jewel of the Seas, there are 1690+ total cabins/suites and 19 of them are HC. You do the math.

 

I travel with a mobility scooter and a manual wc, due to having MS. All I can do is ask all AB passengers - if you don't need the wider door for your scooter or wc, and/or if you don't need more space in your cabin to manuever your scooter or chair, and/or if you don't have a problem stepping up into your bathroom or need to sit in the shower -

please don't take that same opportunity away from a person that needs that accessible cabin.

 

is that there are people actually discussing the *merits* of getting a HC cabin when they are able bodied! This is frankly appalling. If anyone has any doubts about the difficulties HC people have in booking cruises and getting rooms, spend some reading in the disabled cruising section of this board. All the chat about 'of course we would move if requested...' is a smokescreen, and again I would suggest spending time reading the disabled cruising section to read some of the heartbreaking stories.

 

Get a life people.

 

Don't shoot ME. I didn't book the HC room, nor was I the messenger. :)

[DqALEX]

My last cruise on the celebration I had one. It had a very big shower

[thymcruisers]

When we booked with our PVP, we wanted a room on the LIDO deck and he said this was available - HOWEVER, IF A HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKED AFTER US AND NEEDED IT, WE WOULD BE MOVED!! We totally understand this - - - my question is this, WHAT IF NO HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKS THIS CRUISE - would you expect the ship to sail with rooms empty!! I DON"T FEEL WE DID ANYTHING WRONG - if Carnival needs the room, they will move us. WE WERE TOLD THIS MANY TIMES DURING THE BOOKING PROCESS!

[lhall85917]

When we booked with our PVP, we wanted a room on the LIDO deck and he said this was available - HOWEVER, IF A HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKED AFTER US AND NEEDED IT, WE WOULD BE MOVED!! We totally understand this - - - my question is this, WHAT IF NO HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKS THIS CRUISE - would you expect the ship to sail with rooms empty!! I DON"T FEEL WE DID ANYTHING WRONG - if Carnival needs the room, they will move us. WE WERE TOLD THIS MANY TIMES DURING THE BOOKING PROCESS!

 

I don't see anything wrong with what you have done. You know that you might be moved, aren't taking this room just because its "bigger", and you certainly don't seem to be trying to take advantage of anyone. That is a completely different situation than someone knowingly booking this type of room just because of the size.

 

Enjoy your cruise! :)

[Umbarger]

When we booked with our PVP, we wanted a room on the LIDO deck and he said this was available - HOWEVER, IF A HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKED AFTER US AND NEEDED IT, WE WOULD BE MOVED!! We totally understand this - - - my question is this, WHAT IF NO HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKS THIS CRUISE - would you expect the ship to sail with rooms empty!! I DON"T FEEL WE DID ANYTHING WRONG - if Carnival needs the room, they will move us. WE WERE TOLD THIS MANY TIMES DURING THE BOOKING PROCESS!

 

The cabin will not sail empty at Final Payment time any unsold HC cabins are released to the general public. By that time any HC that need the cabin will have booked it. My last cruise I had to book a year in advance to get a HC cabin.

 

Thymcruisers, what if they do move you and you are not on the Lido deck. What then? I think you will raise a royal stink.

 

PVP's dont know everything. In fact they are very low paid employees. Ask a handicapped person we know. Carnival will not move you. If you care at all please go to the disabled forum and read what a hard time handicapped people have.

 

I hope you never HAVE to book a handicapped room. I would love to book a regular room.

 

Remember what goes around comes around.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[FrancescaH]

When we booked with our PVP, we wanted a room on the LIDO deck and he said this was available - HOWEVER, IF A HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKED AFTER US AND NEEDED IT, WE WOULD BE MOVED!! We totally understand this - - - my question is this, WHAT IF NO HANDICAPPED PERSON BOOKS THIS CRUISE - would you expect the ship to sail with rooms empty!! I DON"T FEEL WE DID ANYTHING WRONG - if Carnival needs the room, they will move us. WE WERE TOLD THIS MANY TIMES DURING THE BOOKING PROCESS!

 

The process is misunderstood for many. Pre-cruise if an able-bodied passenger books a handicapped room it is taken out of the inventory and not available for pre-cruise bookings. If accessible cabins are still available within 30-60 days of the cruise date, they open them up for those booked in guarenteed rooms of various classes. Yes, once on the cruise you may be asked to move for a passenger who truly needs the cabin but only after that disabled passenger has had to book a general cabin in the hopes they can be transferred which is no guarentee. Please recognize that a ship's accessible cabin inventory is extremely limited and if you have no *need* to be in one, please book another cabin. I have cerebral palsy and use a powerchair which only fits through the doors of accessible cabins... please allow me and cruisers like me to enjoy our cruises just like the majority.

[Lakeman953]

The cabin will not sail empty at Final Payment time any unsold HC cabins are released to the general public. By that time any HC that need the cabin will have booked it. My last cruise I had to book a year in advance to get a HC cabin.

 

Thymcruisers, what if they do move you and you are not on the Lido deck. What then? I think you will raise a royal stink.

 

PVP's dont know everything. In fact they are very low paid employees. Ask a handicapped person we know. Carnival will not move you. If you care at all please go to the disabled forum and read what a hard time handicapped people have.

 

I hope you never HAVE to book a handicapped room. I would love to book a regular room.

 

Remember what goes around comes around.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

 

 

I think everyone here has read what you have said a bunch of times. If you have a problem with not being able to book a HC Cabin because Cruiselines don't Flag non Handicap Passengers then you should take your problem to them, But I have Traveled in Handicap Cabin on Triumph in April and It was A BIGGER ROOM. And They told me that I was Flagged as A non Handicapped person as I asked them at the Pier if we still had the room and questioned them about the Booking of Handicap Rooms.

[Gr8DanesMom]

I thought you might like to know what I was told by the Special Needs dept. about our cruise later this month. I sent in our forms and spoke w/ the Sp. Needs dept. several times. I am on fore-arm crutches but I also use a wheel chair. They asked me if I needed to be moved to a h/c room, and told them no, it wasn't necessary. On my cruise I plan on using my crutches only. I told them that I didn't want to take a room from someone who may not have the option that I have, and that we also needed connecting rooms since my 8 y/o daughter is also handicapped. She is autistic, so I need to keep a close eye on her.

 

The rep in the dept. told me... "Are you SURE??? You need to tell me this NOW b/c once someone is put in a h/c room... EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT H/C.... the room is 'sold' and you cannot get it if you change your mind." I told her thank you, but I was sure. Sooo, from what I have been told is that once the room is tagged as 'sold' you cannot get it. As for the theory that they will bump the person out, I would think that the Special Needs Department would have the absolute answer. We were also told that if I needed one, and they were all sold, we would be unable to go on the cruise and would have to change our dates. So, I'm not sure how anyone thinks that they will move you if it is needed.

 

I'm not trying to flame the fire, I just thought you all might want to hear what I have been told. As for what the OP should or shouldn't do, that isn't up to anyone here but the OP. I know what I would do, but that is ME, not anyone else. :)

 

Cindy (counting down the days until we are in Heaven on the 'Quest!}

~ please ignore spelling... I'm dyslexic ~

[Guest CRUZIN' SUZIN]

I think the cruiselines say whatever they have to/want to say at whatever time it is needed. If you are in need of a handicap cabin, it seems as though you are given the line that "once the rooms are booked, too bad." However, if you do not need a handicap, just about everyone has said the same thing consistently. I, like many, were told that we can be bumped out of the room. Since all cruise ships have a few cabins unreserved right up until the day before the cruise, it is quite possible for the cruiseline to move a passenger around, if they want to. My guess would be that for some reason, the cruiseline did not want to make the that adjustment.

 

Perhaps the ships have a limit of how many handicapped passengers they are willing to take on board at any one time. Once that number is reached, if these passengers require a handicap cabin, the reps say whatever they have to say. I don't know, just throwing it out there.

 

From a safety/emergency standpoint, special needs passengers have special needs. That is fine if everything goes well but . . . . in case of an emergency, who is responsible for getting a handicapped passenger to the lifeboats? How is that handled? That scenario has to be taken into account. I am curious. Does anyone know what special procedures are in place in the event of an emergency?

 

Anyone know?

 

This will cause a flame but if you know you have special needs, it is up to you to book a cruise far enough in advance to get all of the special amenties you need and are entitled to. A handicapped cabin is not something I would suggest you try to book last minute. If you have to book a year in advance, that is what has to be done. Unfair? yes but necessary.

 

I smell smoke. . . is that a flame over there?

[Valentine's Mom]

There was one incedent on the handicapped forrum where ther person called to book a handicapped room after reading on the boards of an able bodied person who was saying they where willing to move. Well, this person called with correct ship and room number and guess what she couldn't get the room because it was already bought. She asked if they would check if the room was really needed because she had read on this board that it was not. They wouldn't check and this person was unable to cruise for a whole year. Believe me the "flag" is just a smoke screen.

 

All I want to know is this how we want to treat our fellow man? Seems the world is really becoming more "help me," instead of "how can I help you?

[Janet19]

I just called Carnival directly and asked to book cabin 9292 on the Valor for the March 11, 2007n sailing. I AM HANDICAPPED (had to leave my w.c. outside in the hall while sailing on The Liberty, no accessable room available). I was told the room had already been booked. When I asked if it was by a H.C. person, the agent replied, "I presume so, we have no way of checking."

[GRMonLI]

I just called Carnival directly and asked to book cabin 9292 on the Valor for the March 11, 2007n sailing. I AM HANDICAPPED (had to leave my w.c. outside in the hall while sailing on The Liberty, no accessable room available). I was told the room had already been booked. When I asked if it was by a H.C. person, the agent replied, "I presume so, we have no way of checking."

 

 

 

You go girl!!!!! :D

(Yes I am Handicapped and no I do not book a HC room because I do not use a wheelchair)

[Umbarger]

I just called Carnival directly and asked to book cabin 9292 on the Valor for the March 11, 2007n sailing. I AM HANDICAPPED (had to leave my w.c. outside in the hall while sailing on The Liberty, no accessable room available). I was told the room had already been booked. When I asked if it was by a H.C. person, the agent replied, "I presume so, we have no way of checking."

 

Way to go Janet19!!!!:D

 

Do you believe us handicapped people now?????

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Way to go Janet19!!!!:D

 

Do you believe us handicapped people now?????

 

so how did they know to contact my wife when she was asked to move from her handicapped cabin if there is no way of knowing??

 

Bill

[Janet19]

so how did they know to contact my wife when she was asked to move from her handicapped cabin if there is no way of knowing??

 

Bill

That proves nothing. They took a chance and ended up with an able-bodied person on the other end of the line.

BTW..a cabin cannot be 'handicapped'..it can be 'accessable.'

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I'll take your word for it. Sounds asinine to me to not keep track of who is in what cabin and to have to call every person in the accessible cabins hoping to find someone who does not need the cabin. Common sense does not always win out I have found in some cases.

 

I don't know why they don't do as someone suggested in an earlier post and make them submit a form or something like they do for the military discount.:confused:

 

Bill

[Roboat]

We have heard in this thread about people

• offering to be moved, and getting moved, with compensation
  
• many TA's and PVP's advising AB pax that they may be moved if necessary
  
• many pax saying the cruise line had no way of knowing, in spite of personalizers
  
• zero examples of someone being "forced" out of a HC room
  
• one example of HC person saying no HC rooms were available thus she could not cruise when she wanted to

I conclude the cruise lines' policies, privacy issues, training, and computer systems vary wildly. Thus, able-bodied pax can assume, when booking an HC cabin, that they may very well be (but not definitely) preventing an HC person from booking an HC room, regardless of what a TA or PVP says.

 

FWIW, I have a lot of experience with business info systems, process flows, etc. I can easy imagine the "HC cabin assignment" being a one-way process. The HC cabin assignment could be a result of a phone booking, a Personalizer entry, or the "general public cabin assignment" program (or person), which recommends non-HC cabins until other cabins are booked. If a pax insists on a cabin that is HC, it appears the cruise line will accommodate them.

 

But... the "booked cabins info" system may not indicate how the cabin came to be booked, only that it is booked. So there may be no way for a PVP pr TA to know whether a HC cabin was booked by a HC person. Short of requiring HC pax documentation of HC to be faxed in, which is unlikely, I don't think the cruise lines have any option but to go by the pax word, whether they requested an HC cabin because of a wheelchair requirement, or because of some perceived benefit.

(All above is speculative.)

[DEL67]

For the last 10 years of my husband's life, we could not cruise unless we had an accessible cabin. During this time we took over 20 cruises on a variety of lines including Carnival, RCCL, Celebrity, HAL, Princess and NCL. Based on my experience and what others on this thread have said, I would like to make the following comments:

 

- No matter what they tell you, the majority of cruise lines will not move

able bodied passengers so that a handicap person can have an accessible

cabin. Carnival can be an exception. Sometimes, they will contact

everyone booked an accessible cabin and move someone if they admit

to not needing it. Note: I said sometimes so you could still be

taking a cabin away from someone who needs it. None of the other lines

ever offered to do so.

 

- Handicap cabins are sometimes released to the public well before final

payment even when the ship is not full. I know this because I have

seen NCL and Princess accessible cabins on the internet inventory 4 and

5 months before sailing.

 

- Carnival's accessible cabins are often no bigger than regular ones. On

their newer ships they can be a little larger because they are often in

the "odd" shaped areas such as the front of back of the

ship where they can not put "cookie cutter" cabins. They generally have

less furniture and less closet space and sometimes are shaped in such a

way that the beds can not be placed together. Outside cabins often

overlook small public decks so you need to keep your curtains shut for

privacy.

 

- Yes, bathrooms in accessible cabins are bigger because they need space

for a wheelchair to move around; however the roll-in showers usually leak

all over the bathroom floor and the roll-under sinks have little storage

space. I certainly would not want one now that I do not need it!

 

Finally, although I know that I will get slammed, I wish that any able bodied person who is considering booking an accessible cabin would first spend just one day in a wheelchair. Then they might be more understanding of why those cabins should only booked by those that truly need them until the last minute.

[dgack1]

and are wondering the advantages and/or disadvantages to this! We are on the Lido Deck of the Valor - Room 9292 - anyone out there with info on this type of room!

 

Hey, we had 9292 as one of our rooms on the valor two weeks ago. To sum it up in one word MOVE!!! The room is the same square footage as other inside rooms on the valor. The difference is the bathroom is twice the size as non HC rooms so this leaves enough room two beds, a small closet, and a desk. Also, for some reason this room vibrated constantly, I mean really nonstop. I cannot figure out why, my room (balcony) was across the hall, down three rooms....anyway we did not have this shaking. I have been on several different ships and have never felt "queezy" but if I spent more than 15 minutes in this room, I felt like throwing up. Poor mom this was her first..probably last cruise.

 

 

And for everyone just waiting to flame me......yes my mother is HC