Need Advice on Scooter

[disneypoor]

Hello! My mom is cruising with us during spring break. She had complete ankle replacement on December 14th. She is slowly getting better, but it is looking like she may need to bring her scooter with us to make getting around easier on her. She can walk with a shoe boot and cane, but she's pretty slow moving, and she wears out quickly. The scooter helps tremendously. It isn't a motorized scooter. It's one that she rests her knee on while using her other foot to move it around.

Anyhow, she is completely stressed about taking the scooter. How do the airlines handle things like this? Do you use it until you get ready to board the plane and then they take it like they do with wheel chairs? Also, my mom is wondering about Castaway Cay. Don't they have some sort of wheel chair that is made to go through the sand? If so, do we have to reserve one ahead of time?

TIA for any help or input. My mom will be fine, but we're just trying to make sure we have everything covered. Our cruise is about 4 weeks away, so she still has time to get better, but as of right now, walking all over the ship with just her cane is an overwhelming thought for her. Thanks!

Susan

[nannylori]

Castaway Cay DOES have sand wheel chairs,but they can be hard to push thru the sand. But they are there if you need them. I believe they are first come first serve. I don't think you can reserve them ahead of time.
At the airport,you MAY have to gate check the scooter and trade for an airline wheelchair. You need to check with each airline to see what their policies are.She would probably be allowed directly on board the ship using the scooter. I've seen at least one scooter on every cruise we've ever been on.

[neg58]

She'll be fine with that little knee scooter. My brother had one for a while and it just folds up to store. The plane may check it like a stroller or might have room in the cabin of the plane for it. You could also just check it and use a wheelchair in the airport.

It will be fine on the ship and on CC. Of course it won't go through the sand, but there are a lot of chairs up near the sidewalk and she can just walk the few steps to a chair.

Nancy

[disneypoor]

Originally Posted by nannylori

Castaway Cay DOES have sand wheel chairs,but they can be hard to push thru the sand. But they are there if you need them. I believe they are first come first serve. I don't think you can reserve them ahead of time.
At the airport,you MAY have to gate check the scooter and trade for an airline wheelchair. You need to check with each airline to see what their policies are.She would probably be allowed directly on board the ship using the scooter. I've seen at least one scooter on every cruise we've ever been on.

Thank you for your reply. She is calling our airline and DCL today to double check on things. We're in hopes that she won't need the scooter or the sand wheel chair, but I think she'll feel better about the cruise if she knows ahead of time what her options are if she is still unable to walk for long distances.

There are 44 of us cruising this time, so she definitely doesn't want to miss it, but because her recovery is taking so long, I think she is finding it difficult to get too excited at this point. Right now, she has an open wound that is infected along the incision line, so that has her really down in the dumps. We are pretty doubtful she will be able to even put her feet in the water at this point, but she is okay with it as long as she gets to go.

Thanks again for your help!

Susan

[disneypoor]

Originally Posted by neg58

She'll be fine with that little knee scooter. My brother had one for a while and it just folds up to store. The plane may check it like a stroller or might have room in the cabin of the plane for it. You could also just check it and use a wheelchair in the airport.

It will be fine on the ship and on CC. Of course it won't go through the sand, but there are a lot of chairs up near the sidewalk and she can just walk the few steps to a chair.

Nancy

Thanks for your reply, Nancy. I told her the scooter would be fine. She didn't want to have to lug it along at first, but it is so easy to fold up and take that I talked her in to it. She truly needs it at this point. Who knows though, she could be a lot better in four weeks. It's the infected open wound that is the scariest part right now. She's diabetic, so we don't want to mess around with it, and it is absolutely terrible!

I also told her she could use the tram and the scooter at CC. She could walk the short distance to the beach area if she needs to. I'm trying to keep her positive right now. Being trapped in your house since December 14th starts messing with your emotions. Then, as soon as she kind of got released to start walking on it a little bit, she got an infection. We're still holding out hope that she'll be a lot better off than she was before the surgery eventually!

Susan

[jdb in AZ]

Sounds like a Disney cruise with the family would really lift her spirits. You didn't mention how old she is, or whether she has "old-timers" memory. When we cruised with DMIL in her 80's, we took her wheel chair and her walker. When we disembarked she was in her wheel chair and didn't think about her walker, so it was left behind at the cruise terminal. oops. DCL was very good about shipping it home to us. On another trip she forgot her carry-on bag in the airport waiting area. It had her I.D. on it, so the airline flew it home to us, complete with her Lladro figurines, dirty undies, and $1500 in cash.

The point is, you might assign a family member to carry-on her carry-on for her, and if she switches to a wheel chair at the airport, somebuddy needs to stoopervise her scooter. If you take turns, it isn't a big deal, and people know ahead of time to plan to help.

We also found it helpful to assign a "family of the day" to make sure grandma got the help she needed to be escorted to meals, etc. Everyone was willing, but sometimes we just assumed someone else was helping her so it didn't get done. It helped to have a plan, tho we didn't tell her about it.

[Sailingpartyof10]

Originally Posted by jdb in AZ

We also found it helpful to assign a "family of the day" to make sure grandma got the help she needed to be escorted to meals, etc. Everyone was willing, but sometimes we just assumed someone else was helping her so it didn't get done. It helped to have a plan, tho we didn't tell her about it.

We did something similar on a family reunion cruise, though we broke it down by meals and shows rather than whole days. It worked really well, and I highly recommend it. My grandmother did know who was taking her places, though, because it was in the schedule I gave everyone (that also said who was going on what excursions, etc.).

[disneypoor]

My mom is 58. My younger sister and her son are sharing a room with her, so she will have someone with her all of the time. The three of them didn't want to do any excursions, so they plan to stay on the ship for everything except CC. Luckily, we have lots of people going that will be willing to help out if needed. We're just really hoping she is lots better in four weeks! She has been walking on it, but the infection is what is really slowing her down now.

Susan

[antlawn]

Originally Posted by disneypoor

My mom is 58. My younger sister and her son are sharing a room with her, so she will have someone with her all of the time. The three of them didn't want to do any excursions, so they plan to stay on the ship for everything except CC. Luckily, we have lots of people going that will be willing to help out if needed. We're just really hoping she is lots better in four weeks! She has been walking on it, but the infection is what is really slowing her down now.

Susan

Hi (former) neighbor! Born and raised 15 miles west of you. I would take her "scooter", even if, she appears better at cruise time. It would be a lot easier to have it, if needed, than not. There's quite a bit of walking on the ship itself. I think the airlines will just gate check it, like strollers, etc.

[disneypoor]

Originally Posted by antlawn

Hi (former) neighbor! Born and raised 15 miles west of you. I would take her "scooter", even if, she appears better at cruise time. It would be a lot easier to have it, if needed, than not. There's quite a bit of walking on the ship itself. I think the airlines will just gate check it, like strollers, etc.

I agree and think we need to take the scooter no matter what. Where did you live? I'm originally from Pomona, so I wondered if that was where you were from?

[disneypoor]

Originally Posted by antlawn

Hi (former) neighbor! Born and raised 15 miles west of you. I would take her "scooter", even if, she appears better at cruise time. It would be a lot easier to have it, if needed, than not. There's quite a bit of walking on the ship itself. I think the airlines will just gate check it, like strollers, etc.

Where are you from?

[disneypoor]

Sorry for posting twice. Darn phone! Acted like it didn't send the first time.

[antlawn]

Oh, even closer. I'm from Quenemo, but have lived in NW Arkansas since 2001.

[disneypoor]

Originally Posted by antlawn

Oh, even closer. I'm from Quenemo, but have lived in NW Arkansas since 2001.

Omg! You really were my neighbor!

[OrcaPotter]

Did you book a HA room? If not, be prepared for some confusion on where to park the scooter. My grandfather rented a scooter on our Dream 1/27-1/31 cruise. All the HA rooms were booked, and there's no way to get the scooter in a regular room. I was told pre-cruise that we could keep the scooter out in the elevator lobby. But throughout the cruise, we kept being told different things from the staff. One said we couldn't park it out there, we had to park it in the hallway by the room. Another said absolutely not, park it by the elevators. Our room stewardess then insisted that we had to park it on deck 2 by Enchanted Garden--a CM would take it down and retrieve it for us. Incredibly inconvenient, if you ask me. Especially with as often as my grandfather went back to the room. So we left it in the elevator lobby, where no one bothered it.