Handicapped Rooms

[idlenote]

A good friend and his wife are trying to book on the Conquest on March 22nd. He needs a wheelchair accessible room, but is being told there are not very many on the ship, and they don't know if they can accomodate him, something to do with his wheelchair being 24" wide and the doors being 22" wide.

 

I know when we were on the Ecstacy back in September, it seemed like we were in perpetual peril of being mown down at every turn.

 

Are the wheelchair accessible accessible rooms really are in such short supply?

 

Thanks

[firefly333]

You might repost your question here

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=190

 

on the disabled boards.

 

However, any cruiseship when you get down to the last 90 days approx there are going to be many cabins already booked, including handicapped cabins. If they are not booked, carnival starts giving them to able bodied pax that have guarantees so they dont go empty. Iv heard of that happening too last minute.

 

Im not sure how wide the doors are, is 24 inches wide an unusally wide wheelchair?? Iv never measured my dad's

[Beave8920]

My brother has to book a HC cabin for his wife and I know he has to book way early to get one.....the cabin door is a bit wider and the bath a bit more accomidating.....but you might be able to get away with a non HC cabin if you had a collapsable WC.....hope this helps.

[Bobbye]

24" wide is not a wide chair. Our sons electric is 30". The 22" is a standard doorway I believe. And yes, there really aren't many accessible cabins on ships.

 

The disability will determine if they can cruise in a non-accessible cabin. We need an accessible cabin and without one we can't cruise. But if the person that needs one can do a few steps on their own, negotiate the step into the bathroom, etc. they may be able to do a regular cabin.

 

A TA can call Carnival or they can call Carnival themselves and they should be able to tell if there is an accessible cabin available. Since you mentioned the 22" it sounds like they don't have any left and they were saying they couldn't give him one and that a regular stateroom will not work.

[DarthGrady]

We had my grandparents in a HC room last year on Sensation. My grandfather was able to get both his wheelchair and electric scooter in and out with no problems. They widen the doorways, and also eliminate the step up into the bathroom. They have handrails in the shower and next to the commode. They also have swing down seats in the shower. Now this was a "full" HC room. There are others that are just modified standard cabins that don't have all the features. When we booked the cruise I just told them that they would need the full HC room and it was no problem. As I recall, their guest relations dept. even faxed us a form to fill out letting them know about his special needs so they could accomodate us.

 

The crew was excellent in helping us with them. They sent a team to assist my grandfather during the muster drill, and our waiter even cut his food for him. I just cant say enough good things about Carnival's service on that cruise. Here is a link to my review of that cruise if you care to read it OP.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=29119

[woodey]

Yes there are very few HC rooms....depending on the category is what the difference would be ...Balcony rooms do not have a couch to make room for the chair...but will have a chair .....the door is 32" and the bathroom door swings in the different way to make it easier to get in and out of the Bathroom and it is also 32"

My DW uses a scooter and when we book we have done so over a year in advance to reserve these rooms...you will also will have to book the room specific...no guarantee HC rooms

We are taking the Spirit next month and if i remember right they have 6 HC rooms in each category 4,6,and 8 for a toal of only 18 HC rooms....

alot of people will book a regular room if there scooter or chair will fit because they like the couch ...my DW scooters arms adjust and will fit into a regular room....so it is possible

[KimtheCruiser]

And call Carnival Special Needs Department rather than than your PVP. I love my PVP, but she put my brother in a handicap-accessible cabin and not a wheelchair-accessible cabin. Our ship (Holiday) has several HC cabins but only 2 wheelchair-accessible cabins. The HC have bars and some of the other accomodations, but they also have lips on the doorways - the wheelchair-accessible cabin is big enough for him to do 360s around the cabin and roll into the shower. Be sure and specify that the person is wheelchair-bound and not just "uses a wheelchair".

 

Something else to ask about - the gangways at ports - we've been told that the standard gangway is 24" - my brother's chair is either 27" or 29", depending on which one he takes. The 29" is his current one, the one he prefers - his older one is 27". We are already planning for my DH and son to carry him off on Cozumel, and I will fold the chair up and roll it off.

[idlenote]

Thank you to all for the taking the time to reply. I've passed it onto our friends, and we'll see if they can get it worked out.

 

Jim