Can you "tour" a handicap accessible room while on a ship?

[windango]

I’ve seached every way I know how and browsed through pages and pages of threads but I can’t find the answer to this. My mother and I have gone on two cruises and just love it, but we’ve always had to leave my stepfather at home due to his mobility issues. He has MS and uses a motorized wheelchair 100% of the time. Because of this, they rarely take a vacation (and hardly ever together). If mom could see the way the rooms are set up she’d have a better idea of whether it could accommodate him or not. It would be wonderful to be able to take him with us and I think he'd really like cruising once he tried it. It's the unknown that has us uncertain. Is this ever allowed?

[cash413]

I don't think tours are allowed. We just returned and my DH has MS also. This was our first cruise and accessibility was no problem at all. We had a balcony accessible cabin that was large enough for us to maneuver the wheelchair around it. There was even access to the balcony. Book the cruise, make sure you have an h/c accessible room and enjoy! There is nothing like it!

[TheRoff]

I agree, I don't think anyone would allow a tour of an accessible room. Please check out my review of the QM2. May be it will help you picture an accessible room.

 

http://roffee.org/cruise/cruisereview/cruisepage1.mht

[Splinter]

On the last day, when they are cleaning rooms after everyone is out of the cabins you MIGHT be able to peak into a specific cabin or two, but you would not be given a "tour" and you would need to stay out of the way of the cabin stewards who are very busy at that time. The only time we have had a tour was when they have had a new ship open for tours prior to the maiden voyage, and you usually need to get invited to these mobbed events (not very good for wheelchairs) by a TA.

 

There are many places you can see photos of accessible cabins, on this site, and others on the internet.

 

My mother also has MS, uses a power chair 100% of the time, cannot stand or walk, and requires a roll-in shower. We also take a travel lift and our own travel shower/commode chair. My parents have taken nearly 35 cruises since she was diagnosed, and the ones you see on my profile were nearly all with them (with me traveling as the attendant on all but one of these). We look at others' photos but also know what questions to ask of the Special Services departments (most cruise ship companies have this except for Princess) and we call on our own (sorry TAs, we don't trust you to do this for us).

 

The members of this forum can also be very helpful so you can ask questions about specific ships. As always, try to limit yourself to the major cruise lines that are based primarily in the USA, and on ships built since 2000 or so.

[sanspike]

On several cruises we have been on thru our CC Roll Call, we have set up a Room Crawl and there always was one handicap cabin in the group. It was fun to see all the categories even though I could not go all the way in on some.

 

Sandi:D

[windango]

Thank you for all your replies. Mom and I have only cruised on Princess and from reading these boards, it looks like there are other lines that do a better job with handicap issues. My stepfather also refuses to fly, so that limits us pretty much to the West Coast as far as departure ports. We'll find a way to make this work!!

[DesrtDrmr]

Although Princess does not have a special access office, we have had excellent handicapped cabins and help on Princess.

The Grand Princess class ships have large handicapped balcony cabins.....we liked the Caribe Deck best. The newer ships also have some handicapped mini suites. There are also inside and ocean view cabins.

We have had wonderful service aboard the Sun, the Dawn, the Island, and the Star when I had my scooter. Perhaps your needs are different, and perhaps you need a cabin for three or four, but if not, at least look at Princess Cabins. You might ask, when aboard, someone that is in a handicapped cabin if you could see it at their convenience. I know I would not mind showing ours to someone for the purpose you describe.

[katisdale]

I sail mostly with Princess. I asked my cabin steward if it was possible to look at an accessible cabin on debarkation day. He spoke with a friend who was the steward for an OV accessible. On the last day after breakfast he took us to the cabin and we had about 5 or 10 minutes to look around.

[Barb_and_Sean]

I use a wheelchair 100% of the time and I have travelled on Carnival (not a terrific experience) and Royal Caribbean. I have found RCCL to be extremely accessible to me. We have stayed in balcony cabins and I am able to get out to the balcony, manuever in the bathrooms and they have a roll in shower with a folding shower seat. I believe that Mariner of the Seas is coming to the West Coast here in the next 18 months, and I'd suggest looking into that... lots of access and many things to do on a beautiful class of ship, IMHO.

 

Good luck to you and your parents... I believe that cruising is THE way to travel for disabled people. It certainly is for me, now.

[Splinter]

We have had good cabins on Princess, but their lack of a special services dept. can be an issue for other needs. It can be a challenge to find accessible cabins that sleep more than just two though. See the ships we have been on my list above. All of the trips we have taken since 1997 have been in cabins that will accomodate 3 (except for Crystal), although that usually puts me in either a roll-away or bunk bed. We also have found that Princess has poor seating for their show room, but that is true of most cruise lines except for the older HAL ships.

[WEELYNCRUZER]

If you want to see pictures of accessible rooms go to *****. Splinter may not trust accessible t/a specialist but told you you can get invited to a tour on a maiden voyage by a t/a. I guess they do come in handy. A certified travel specialist has been on all the maiden voyages and knows what questions to ask you before they contact the cruise line. Every disabled person has different needs. I'm sure he knows what his mother needs but he doesn't know what your needs are or what is available everywhere. It's nice that he takes care of his mother.

[leoandhugh]

besides looking on the final morning of a cruise when most of the cabins have been vacated, we have had success in going to the Guest Relations manager and asking if she could contact the passengers currently occupying an accessible cabin if they would permit us to meet them at the cabin and show us the features, explaining our needs(wheelchair and scooter) We have never been refused when we have asked and explained our needs.

Of all the ships we have been on - almost 40 - we have found that RCI is the most handicapped friendly and Carnival and Princess the least. :)

[GRBlizz]

An idea that worked for us was to start out with a short cruise that we called our "test cruise." My DH has MS and needs a wheelchair for all but a step or two. We had been told that cruising would be a good way for us to travel, but didn't believe it.

 

We were able to book a 2-night cruise on Azamara in a handicapped room for very little money. We figured for two days we could handle anything, even if he wasn't able to leave the cabin.

 

Turned out the cabin was terrific, and we were amazed at how easy it was to get around. The "test" having succeeded, we are leaving Wednesday on a 12-night Baltic cruise and we are very excited.

 

Good luck, I hope your parents try it.

[daveco58]

Not sure where this idea that Princess doesn't have a special needs department came from. The fact is they handle all this through their Fleet Medical Department, which is staffed by RN's and other actual medical people, instead of the amped up Rez Agents most lines use. They don't necessarily make it easy for consumers to get thru, but any competent TA has the number.

 

Princess, in my opinion, does a better job of dealing with PWD than any other line, from size and layout of accessible cabins to shoreside and shipboard personnel, I have never had a problem.

[WEELYNCRUZER]

Princess does a nice job on their accssible rooms. They fall short on their ramps. Most of their ships have little steps that are teeth rattering to go down. They will take you down with their stair climber. Some ships have one or two big steps at the bottom. They have changed that on their newest ships. RCCL hasd HC rooms that sleep 3 and 4 great ramps that allow you to go on and off in your power chair or they will push you in your manual chair. They also have power doors so you can get on to and out of the pool deck without assistants.

[sanspike]

As having been on both lines, I do feel that RCCL is a better fit for my needs. I can email the tours directly and they have been able to give me very good infomation in the past. When you call Princess you do not always get accurate info. Both need better knowledge of what is actually accessible and what is not. I like the HC cabins better on RCCL also, and have had not problem getting out on the Balcony.

 

When I needed info on the pool lift on Princess, I had to ask several people as not one seemed to know much about it. I wound up not using it because it was so much trouble finding the right person to talk to.

[windango]

I knew this forum was the right place to post, and everyone has been so helpful! Thank you all. I'll keep coming back to this thread to see if any new information has been posted. Barb&Sean, thanks for the tip about Mariner of the Seas, I wasn't aware that it might be sailing out of the West Coast. Seattle is the closest port to our Salem, OR home but a road trip to San Francisco or LA isn't out of the question. It'd just take a while!

[e-CJ]

I gave a tour of my accessible room to another passenger on HAL Noordam just because we were talking about it. It wasn't a problem. People are usually pretty friendly on cruises, but you shouldn't really need a tour. Just book what you need, go and have a great time. I do have photos of my HC room on the Noordam if you'd like to look at them. The link is in my signature line click on Cruise Photos. They probably do not show specifics that you might want to see, but I am willing to answer specific questions you might have.

[uppitycats]

I use a manual wheelchair 100% of the time and have found Princess ships to be quite accommodating, and the handicap-accessible cabins very well equipped. In addition I've found their staff to be exceedingly helpful when I contacted them prior to cruising to get my questions asked (I don't know where the idea came from that they don't have trained staff for this purpose; I've cruised with them several time over the last 11 years and there has always been someone available to assist with questions.)

 

Once on the ship I found all kinds of accessible bathrooms that weren't necessarily labeled as such -- just when I went in, there were stalls with appropriate grab bars, raised seats, all of that.

 

On the contrary, we sailed on a new Carnival ship which -- while the cabin was quite accessible -- the rest of the ship was not, meaning I had to return to my cabin if I needed to use the bathroom, for example. A bad experience.

 

You live in the west coast? There are several "mini cruises" you could consider that go up the coast. We took one a couple of years ago from San Francisco to Vancouver, for example. They are 3-4 days -- long enough to get a sense of what cruising is like, and whether the cabins would work for your family member, but short enough that if it isn't good, it isn't SO awful! :)

 

As for touring a handicap cabin -- I think the easiest thing is to simply approach someone in a wheelchair and ASK -- "is there a time when I could come by and tour your cabin? I'd like to take my father on a cruise and he needs a handicap accessible cabin..." I suspect you'll get mainly "yes, of course!" as an answer.

[mistshar]

Windango,

 

This is a site that has pictures that you might be interested in. They are only RCCL cabins but they will give you some idea. From what I have read, I believe that you will find that all of the HC rooms on all the ships (especially the newest ones) are plenty roomy for W/C's. Hope this helps.

 

http://www.romain-moisescot.com/voyagerclass/albums/albums/cabins/wheelchair/waHI/html/waHIFR.html

 

Carol

[teajak]

I don't think tours are allowed. We just returned and my DH has MS also. This was our first cruise and accessibility was no problem at all. We had a balcony accessible cabin that was large enough for us to maneuver the wheelchair around it. There was even access to the balcony. Book the cruise, make sure you have an h/c accessible room and enjoy! There is nothing like it!

Very tough to get a HC room, we have been trying for months for the Thanksgiving cruise on the Grandeur, and RC does not have a waiting list.

[pfisted]

In order to tour a HC room while on a cruise, you would have to enter someone's cabin. I don't know about you, but I would be furious if the cruise line was offering tours through my cabin. Remember, HC rooms are few and far between and they are rarely, if ever vacant on any given cruise. DD

[Cuizer2]

I’ve seached every way I know how and browsed through pages and pages of threads but I can’t find the answer to this. My mother and I have gone on two cruises and just love it, but we’ve always had to leave my stepfather at home due to his mobility issues. He has MS and uses a motorized wheelchair 100% of the time. Because of this, they rarely take a vacation (and hardly ever together). If mom could see the way the rooms are set up she’d have a better idea of whether it could accommodate him or not. It would be wonderful to be able to take him with us and I think he'd really like cruising once he tried it. It's the unknown that has us uncertain. Is this ever allowed?

 

Wait until the last day. After everyone has left their cabin, the cabins are left open while being cleaned and readied for the next passenger. You can go into the cabin then and look around and even take pictures.

[pfisted]

That's a great idea! Just remember to bring the HC room#s and keep in mind that not all cruise lines allow you to explore the ship on the last morning. DC :D

[Cru1s1ng2009]

http://community.webshots.com/user/TheBigBooper

 

This guy has some great pixs of handicapped rooms on serveral ships. this helped me a lot.