Best RCI ship and/or cruise for wheelchair person?

[Heidict]

My husband and I want to go cruising again but want to bring along my mother and sister this time. My sister has MS and must us a wheelchair for anything other then real short distances.

 

In your experiences, what RCI ship is best for wheelchair / scooters and what islands offer wheelchair accesible excursions. Any islands we should stay away from? Any help would be appreciatted.

 

Also........does anyone know how much it would cost to rent a scotter out of Maimi or Fort Lauderdale for the week?

 

Thanks, Heidi

[Oceanwench]

My husband uses a power chair & had no problems with the Enchantment of the Seas -- except that the elevators were always crowded!

Whenever he got on, he'd set off the :over the weight limit" button!

 

As far as renting a scooter in Ft.Lauderdale, you should check the yellow pages online.

[DEL67]

We have been on the Radiance, Splendor and Serenade and found them all to be very accessible. Being an older ship, the handicap cabins on the Splendor do not have as large a bathroom as the newer ships, but it was still equipped with bars, a roll-under sink and a roll-in shower. I am also not sure if it has handicap public bathrooms.

 

I can not suggest any places to rent scooters in Ft Lauderdale; however, we rented one from CareVacations last year. I do not remember how much it cost for the week ($150?), but they were very easy to deal with. They deliver to and pick up from the ship.

[DesrtDrmr]

Hi!

We found the Adventure of the Seas easy to get around on. They had self opening doors in and out of many areas. They had great public restrooms for wheelchairs or scooters, with an outside button to push to open the stall door. It was very nice.

We have rented wheelchairs from CareVacations.com, and it made life so easy. The chair was in the cabin when we arrived on the ship, and we left it there when we disembarked. The ship has wheelchairs and people to help push them to get on and off the ship. We took my battery powered scooter, and rented a folding wheelchair for shore excursions. I agree with Oceanwench about the elevators.........they were always full, and it was hard to get on them........just had to wait, and we finally got on, no matter which direction they were going.....they always came back if going the wrong way. :)

[Arlened236]

Hi...my husband and I took the Brilliance last Feb. doing the Eastern Carribbean Our w/c cabin (outside with a balcony) was great..large, excellent bathroom..event the balcony was accessible. All public rooms and bathrooms had pushbuttons to access which made it very easy using an electric scooter (rented from CareVacations)

After being told by the special needs desk at RCCL that some tours were w/c accessible...we booked 3 of them....surprise ...NONE of them were accessible and they had to refund all of our money...they were not happy to do so.

We found that getting around in ports (San Juan, ST. Martin, ST Lucia, ST Thomas) was very difficult...too many ships in port, too many people, very few curb cut outs, cobblestone streets and most stores were not accessible due to high steps (I used my own manual chair in ports). I am an a/k amputee with a new prosthesis so I and can walk short distances and can climb stairs..In one port they only way to get to town was to use the water taxi...I climbed into the boat and they folded my w/c. it was fun but difficult. My advise is dont trust the cruise line to tell you or tp even know what is accessible and what is not...

I still had a great time..I love being on the ship and enjoyed reading on our balcony.. I have come to realize that a non handicaped person does not know our understand what we need.

Dont let that stop you from enjoying a wonderful trip.

[Guest cruzr44]

My husband and I want to go cruising again but want to bring along my mother and sister this time. My sister has MS and must us a wheelchair for anything other then real short distances.

 

In your experiences, what RCI ship is best for wheelchair / scooters and what islands offer wheelchair accesible excursions. Any islands we should stay away from? Any help would be appreciatted.

 

Also........does anyone know how much it would cost to rent a scotter out of Maimi or Fort Lauderdale for the week?

 

Thanks, Heidi

 

Just off the Radiance. We also used CareVacations to rent a wheelchair ($95). My parents had cabin 7110 which has a great balcony! It was so perfect for them to have breakfast delivered by room service and sit on the balcony eating. As far as getting around the ship the only obstacles were some rude people (90% were great) and the dreaded elevators. There is a lift to get in the pool which I though was nice. Hard to hear the bell ding when a door opened so have someone ready to run and hold the door open so you don't miss it. We went Western - Labadee, we got off the ship early and were able to get a wheelchair for the beach. It is all sand as it is just an island so a regular chair won't work. Jamaica, we took a tour with Ionie McBeam and she was able to put the chair in the back of her van. The shopping area right at the pier is easy to get to. Grand Cayman, there is a chair lift to lower you to the tender (easy process). Getting around the streets was for the most part easy. A few places you had to go in the street as there were no curb cuts. Cozumel, took a taxi into town for shopping. Since last year they have done lots of work to the main street. Replacing the sidewalks. There are still some challanging sidewalks as they are still working, but doable. The stores are small and most have a step or two in order to get into them.

 

This was the first challange with my mom in a chair and our eyes were opened as to just how many obstacles there are. The worst in my eyes were the rude people.

 

Have a wonderful time where ever you end up.

[Splinter]

You don't have to stick to the Caribbean...or to RCCL. We have had good trips to the Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, and Alaska, and have used RCCL, HAL, Princess and Celebrity as well.

 

You will be hard pressed to find accessible tours anyplace but Alaska and Hawaii, but if your sister can transfer, plan to take a folding manual wheelchair and use cabs. This has worked well for us. Don't plan to take scooters or power chairs ashore except in limited locations...but they are invaluable around the ship due to lots of carpet and long distances to push a manual chair.