Handicapped Rooms

[mmackeymouse]

Okay, please do not reply to me as if I am eating puppies, but just hear me out. I was wondering how hard it is for non-handicapped people to get one of the handicapped rooms.

I would NEVER want to take the room from someone who really needs it, but if it just happens to be open, I was wondering how to get it. I have read on the boards of some non-handicapped people that have stayed in them, but others say a medical form has to be filled out.

Also, do the handicapped rooms on Deck 7 only sleep 3 people?

 

[gordonandjackie]

Hi
We were upgraded by Dreams unlimited to a Cat 5 from a Cat 8. It was free of charge and we were allocated it approx 3 weeks before we sailed. We did not request the upgrade and we didn't fill in any forms. It was room 7138 which had a king sized bed, sofa bed and a murphy bed. Lots of space. Had a walk in shower/bath/sink. We were a group of 2 adults and 2 kids.
Here is a pic

~Jackie

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I believe you can request any room, however, if anybody needs the room you will probably be moved or upgraded to accomodate the handicapped individual. The handicapped rooms on Deck 7 sleep 4 people. You have a queen, sleeper sofa and murphy bed.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I believe you can request any room, however, if anybody needs the room you will probably be moved or upgraded to accomodate the handicapped individual. The handicapped rooms on Deck 7 sleep 4 people. You have a queen, sleeper sofa and murphy bed.

Does this include the Cat 11's?

The pictures over on Castaway Club show only a sitting chair, and not a full sofa in the Cat 11, so I was not sure.

 

[slk]

Does this include the Cat 11's?

The pictures over on Castaway Club show only a sitting chair, and not a full sofa in the Cat 11, so I was not sure.

The Cat 11 on Deck 6 only sleep 3. Not sure about the outside hc on deck
6 but I am positive about the inside hc on deck 6 only sleeping 3. My
nephew is hanicapped and my in-laws did have to provide a Dr. form to get
the hc room.

 

[mickeymom923]

My mom has to have a doctor's form filled out to get the HC room. One year, we did not get one, and she had a difficult time because she needed the walk in shower and the regular cabin didn't have in. She couldn't get into the tub. She also had a wheelchair and there was no room in the room to get around. She needed the grab rails in the bathroom and there weren't any.

I personally feel that it is really selfish for someone to request a handicapped cabin if they don't need it. Just remember the saying, what goes around comes around. Or be careful what you ask for. I wish you good health and hope that you never "NEED" the handicapped cabin.

Bev

 

[Olga]

If it is close to final payment date and a hc room has not been requested in the cat your are booking Disney may offer it to you. They gave me a choice that included a hc room but I declined as I do not need one. It was Cat3 room and they wanted the revenue, I booked another Cat 3 instead.
In short, if the room hasn't been requested and it's the last minute they will sell it to a non hc rather than have it go vacant/ and unsold.

 

[tinytink]

My mom has to have a doctor's form filled out to get the HC room. One year, we did not get one, and she had a difficult time because she needed the walk in shower and the regular cabin didn't have in. She couldn't get into the tub. She also had a wheelchair and there was no room in the room to get around. She needed the grab rails in the bathroom and there weren't any.

I personally feel that it is really selfish for someone to request a handicapped cabin if they don't need it. Just remember the saying, what goes around comes around. Or be careful what you ask for. I wish you good health and hope that you never "NEED" the handicapped cabin.

Bev

I am sorry this happended to you mother but the possibility of DCL assigning a HC room to a party w/o the need is probably not the case. It's possible that when you all sailed all the HC rooms were occupied, it's frustrating but there's only so much DCL can do and I don't think that was what the OP was asking.

I am not HC nor is anyone in my party but if the room was available and DCL offered it to me I would most def take it barring there is no other party requiring the HC room but I would not take it from someone who needed it.

 

[pjpoohbear]

Does this include the Cat 11's?

The pictures over on Castaway Club show only a sitting chair, and not a full sofa in the Cat 11, so I was not sure.

Actually 6147 has the sofa, not a chair, but still only sleeps 3. We love this room, as DM uses a walker, requires the higher bed, needs the roll/walk-in shower and high toilet with bars.

Pj

 

[aprilgail2]

I am sorry this happended to you mother but the possibility of DCL assigning a HC room to a party w/o the need is probably not the case. It's possible that when you all sailed all the HC rooms were occupied, it's frustrating but there's only so much DCL can do and I don't think that was what the OP was asking.

I am not HC nor is anyone in my party but if the room was available and DCL offered it to me I would most def take it barring there is no other party requiring the HC room but I would not take it from someone who needed it.

I got flamed on here one year for having a handicapped room when we didnt have anyone handicapped in our party! We had booked a handicapped room and at the time my godson was going to be coming with us and he was in a wheelchair, we were sailing April 28th and he died on April 8th so when I called Disney to take him off I also told them that we no longer needed the handicapped room and that they could move us if they wanted to- well someone on here thought it was horrible that I didn't insist that we be moved out of that room since we no longer needed it- like that was the only thing on my mind at that time!!

 

[tinytink]

I got flamed on here one year for having a handicapped room when we didnt have anyone handicapped in our party! We had booked a handicapped room and at the time my godson was going to be coming with us and he was in a wheelchair, we were sailing April 28th and he died on April 8th so when I called Disney to take him off I also told them that we no longer needed the handicapped room and that they could move us if they wanted to- well someone on here thought it was horrible that I didn't insist that we be moved out of that room since we no longer needed it- like that was the only thing on my mind at that time!!

Wow, that was mean of the person who flamed you!!!! Sorry to hear of you loss. Like I said before I would gladly take the room if it was not needed by one who was HC. I am sure DCL would have moved you if they needed the room for someone was has HC or book someone HC or not if that room was not occupied.

 

[NancyIL]

We had a HA cabin in cat. 6 in January, because my mom was in an electric wheelchair for the cruise. The problem with them on DCL is that they are at the very back or front of the ship - not near elevators where they belong. It seemed there were always housekeeping carts in the hall every time my mom left the cabin, and it was a LONG way from the back of the ship to the nearest elevators. I hope DCL improves on the location of their handicapped cabins with the new ships.

 

[flexsmom]

We had a HA cabin in cat. 6 in January, because my mom was in an electric wheelchair for the cruise. The problem with them on DCL is that they are at the very back or front of the ship - not near elevators where they belong. It seemed there were always housekeeping carts in the hall every time my mom left the cabin, and it was a LONG way from the back of the ship to the nearest elevators. I hope DCL improves on the location of their handicapped cabins with the new ships.

But there are elevators at the back and at the front of the ship, in addition to the mid-ship? I don't understand this. The aft set of elevators isn't very far from the rear-most staterooms. What am I missing here? What deck?

 

[pjpoohbear]

But there are elevators at the back and at the front of the ship, in addition to the mid-ship? I don't understand this. The aft set of elevators isn't very far from the rear-most staterooms. What am I missing here? What deck?

I know that the concern is that it is still about 50-100 metres from most of the handicap rooms to any elevator. In the morning and evenings when most of the coming and going happens for breakfast and dinner, there are housekeeping carts, generally we found 2-4 carts and/or linen bins between room 6147 and the aft elevators, that take up half the hallway width, making it impossible for most wheelchairs to get past. Even DM with her walker had to have carts/linen bins moved to get past, and that was when the Room attendant was around to ask. It was a pain when the carts were there and the attendants weren't yet on duty.

I agree that handicap rooms should not be an after thought placed in the left over extra space at the ends of the ship, and I would take any elevator/people noise to allow DM the ability to walk to the elevator with her walker without needing assistance to move housekeeping carts.

Pj

 

[cats mom]

I believe you can request any room, however, if anybody needs the room you will probably be moved or upgraded to accomodate the handicapped individual. The handicapped rooms on Deck 7 sleep 4 people. You have a queen, sleeper sofa and murphy bed.

You can request any room, but you will not be assigned one of the accessible staterooms without having a medical form on file; unless it's just prior to your sail date, and no one who needs it has asked for it.

That's why you sometimes see posts here where folks have been offered an accessible room just days, or possibly weeks at most, before their departure date.

On the flip side, sometimes the accessible rooms have all been allocated far in advance. I called to ask for one for my FIL 11 months before our cruise date and there was not a single accessible room left on the ship in any category.

After reading NancyIL and pjpoohbear's posts, maybe I did just as well anyway. I booked a room right off the elevator lobby so at least he won't have to deal with the hallway issue.

OP, if you are really interested in getting one I would have the request noted on your ressie, but I would also call just after the final payment date to make the request again. I sometimes wonder if they really pay much attention to the notes on the ressies.


aprilgail2,
I've seen the mob mentality kick in here over some pretty crazy things. Your example is right up there. Sorry you had to deal with that nonsense.

 

[justhat]

We sailed on the 7/18/07 Mediterranean cruise. We booked this cruise the day booking opened, in April 2006. We wanted a Cat 3 and the only one available on that sail date was 8100, an accessible room. We didn't know it was accessible at the time of booking (my mom booked it and they didn't tell her on the phone) so we didn't request this room. As most people know, it was a madhouse at the DCL call lines that day, so my mom said she'd take any Cat 3 for any July sailing and that's what they offered her.

So that was a good 15 months before the cruise that they sold us the accessible cabin.

I had an 11 month old at the time so I would have preferred a bathtub actually, but again, my mom had no idea and by the time she was off the phone and called me, there was no way we could get through to DCL again, and when we did all the other Cat 3s were sold out.

So I think you can book it whenever you want, as we did over a year in advance. What I don't know though, is if a handicapped person had needed our cabin, what would they have done with us? I know all the Cat 1s, 2s, and 3s were booked, so would they put us in a lower category? We kinda feared that the whole 15 months, but it worked out fine.

 

[kcashner]

THe only way a handicapped room can be booked ahead is with the medical form. This assures that the rooms are available for people who need them. However, you can put in a request for one without the form--this puts you at the bottom of the list. That is, you'll get it IF no one with the medical need requests it.

I do understand that you don't want to take the room from someone who needs it--no flames here. The point is that if no one with a documented need books the cabin, DCL wants to sell it to another guest. Even if you are ultimately booked in the room, if someone with a medical form appears up to the last minute (say a recent injury requiring a wheelchair), they will get the room. However....if no one with a medical form wants in, you can get it.

On one of our cruises we were able to purchase an upgrade at the port, and were assigned to one of the handicapped rooms. Personally, I wouldn't want one for our family. The good thing is that the room is bigger than the normal cat. 8/9 cabin. However, it had only a single bath with a shower (no tub, no second sink, etc.) It had no coffee table in the living space, and there was only the one large bed--no pull out couch, no pull down bunk. We went to guest services about the bed issue and were told that at the worse, they'd supply a roll in couch for my daughter and at best we could be moved to a different cabin.