Wheel chairs available

[sciencemom45]

My 15yo dd had leg surgery in March. We thought it would be totally healed by our cruise on June 27th but it is going much slower than predicted. Does anyone know if celebrity has wheel chairs available in case she needs one?

[GRBlizz]

My 15yo dd had leg surgery in March. We thought it would be totally healed by our cruise on June 27th but it is going much slower than predicted. Does anyone know if celebrity has wheel chairs available in case she needs one?

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Celebrity will have some chairs on board for emergency use, but she would not be able to have it for the whole cruise, and she wouldn't be able to take it off the ship if you wanted to take it into port.

 

Your best bet is to rent a manual wheelchair for her use throughout the cruise. There are companies who will have the chair in your cabin when you board, and you can leave it there when you leave.

 

Another option is to look in your local classified or Craigslist and see if you can buy one. You can often find them for less than the cost of rental, and then you will have the chair for the airport (if you're flying).

 

Good luck. For more info on rental companies, go to the Disabled Cruise Travel board under "Special Interest Cruising"

[Glendakayself]

My then 90-year-old dad hurt himself on Galaxy in 2006. They provided him with a wheelchair for the rest of the cruise and even wheeled him off the ship to the shuttle after the cruise.

 

A better option might be to arrange for a motorized chair which your dd could take off the ship into ports as well as scoot around the ship with ease. There are companies that rent them and have them waiting in your stateroom. We have had cruise critic friends who rented the motorized scooter-chairs and really enjoyed using them.

 

Best wishes for speedy healing,

[GRBlizz]

She's going to the Med, dd won't be able to use a motorized scooter in ports = no curb cuts, few lift-equipped transport vehicles. For use solely on the ship, sure, a scooter is way easier on everyone.

[Napi's Mom]

I'm sorry to hear that. Celebrity will have some chairs on board for emergency use, but she would not be able to have it for the whole cruise, and she wouldn't be able to take it off the ship if you wanted to take it into port.

 

Your best bet is to rent a manual wheelchair for her use throughout the cruise. There are companies who will have the chair in your cabin when you board, and you can leave it there when you leave.

 

Another option is to look in your local classified or Craigslist and see if you can buy one. You can often find them for less than the cost of rental, and then you will have the chair for the airport (if you're flying).

 

Good luck. For more info on rental companies, go to the Disabled Cruise Travel board under "Special Interest Cruising"

To be frank...this isn't correct on our Millennium cruise I was provided with a wheelchair for the entire cruise, and was allowed to remove it from the ship. I was walking with a cane but sometimes slowly. They allowed me to take wheelchair to cabin & KEEP it there, even tho I rarely used it, and there we chairs near the area used for boarding....and they were never all used, probably had 20 of them when I arrived on board!

[sciencemom45]

thanks for all the advice.

 

Napi's Mom,

 

We will be in s similiar situation - just need the wheelchair occassionally if she poops out walking with the cane! How did you get one on the Millie?

[GRBlizz]

To be frank...this isn't correct on our Millennium cruise I was provided with a wheelchair for the entire cruise' date=' and was allowed to remove it from the ship. I was walking with a cane but sometimes slowly. They allowed me to take wheelchair to cabin & KEEP it there, even tho I rarely used it, and there we chairs near the area used for boarding....and they were never all used, probably had 20 of them when I arrived on board![/quote']

 

The wheelchairs on the ship are for emergencies that arise while in transit, and you cannot count on having one available for your cruise-long use. You were lucky that one was available for you, but that just means that everyone else planned ahead and there were fewer emergencies than normal.

 

The Disabled Cruise Travel board frequently gets reports from people who expected a wheelchair to be provided by the ship and had their cruise activities curtailed because no chairs were available.

 

If someone knows in advance that they will likely need a chair, they need to bring or rent their own.

[Napi's Mom]

thanks for all the advice.

 

Napi's Mom,

 

We will be in s similiar situation - just need the wheelchair occassionally if she poops out walking with the cane! How did you get one on the Millie?

When I mistakenly walked up the very steep incline ramp to embark and looked just "done In" as I entered the ship, they handed me my glass of Champagne looked at me, asked if I would like a wheelchair!!! (I was in an accessible cabin tho) Promptly put me into the chair, and went up in elevator, down hall while my ambulatory DH followed with carry-ons, when reaching our cabin, I said I'd rather walk into the room, and thanked the attendant. He pushed the chair out onto our veranda!! Then we asked..."Ah I usually just use my cane..." He said..."well this one is here 'IN case you need it'...for the rest of the cruise" Never asked for it. We did ask if we could use it off the ship in Melbourne Aust. when it was 114o and We were invited out to dinner after a day long tour...and was told "Of course..." Several times they whipped up behind me as I tried to navigate the seemingly increasingly steep gangways in various ports with another chair , insisted I get in, and wouldn't let my DH push me in it, but had an attendant do it! I'm sure if you'd call the special needs phone # listed in the Website, you can arrange to have one reserved for your mom!:)

[sciencemom45]

Thanks for the info. It is actually for my 15 yo daughter :( - who may balk at the chair, but hate to have her miss out things if she starts to get tired.

[Lsimon]

...I'm sure if you'd call the special needs phone # listed in the Website' date=' you can arrange to have one reserved for your mom!:)[/quote']

 

Calling the special needs department is the best advice so far on this thread. No sense leaving such things to speculation and/or chance. Call and confirm what they will have available for you. I've seen this debated before so it could be that availability varies.

[hellosailer]

To be frank...this isn't correct on our Millennium cruise I was provided with a wheelchair for the entire cruise' date=' and was allowed to remove it from the ship. I was walking with a cane but sometimes slowly. They allowed me to take wheelchair to cabin & KEEP it there, even tho I rarely used it, and there we chairs near the area used for boarding....and they were never all used, probably had 20 of them when I arrived on board![/quote']

 

I agree with this.

 

But if you contact Special Needs they may allocate one to you. If they don't, I would rent one. However, we have ALWAYS been permitted the use of a wheelchair when we needed it and were allowed to use it in the ports-of-call. But..........................!! They could refuse!!

[kitty9]

I'm disabled and so was my mom and we never could rely on wheelchairs being available for occasional use on any Celebrity ship--even when calling the Special Needs Department, they told us not to rely on one of their chairs for a number of reasons, but mostly because they just cannot start providing equipment to every disabled passenger who wants one. They said if they started doing that, they would need over 100 wheelchairs and that's something they cannot do. You really need to bring your own, as was said on the Disabled Cruisers Board. To be honest, many of those wheelchairs on X are not in the greatest shape and in good working order. They are used for emergency purposes for the most part.

 

Even though you're cruising in the Med, CareVacations can provide a wheelchair or scooter to be brought on board for your daughter's use. I had a scooter, wheelchair and a walker delivered to the Constellation last year in Europe. There's no extra charge because you're not in a US port. The cost is reasonable and the scooters and chairs are in great condition.

[leoandhugh]

Darcie, If you don't mind, could you please tell me what size or make and model scooter they delivered for you in Europe. It may be a viable option for us instead of taking our GoGo Elite from home to fly with just the manual wheelchair and have scooter delivered for shipboard use. Thanks, Hugh leo2hugh@msn.com