Cruise advice

Leia's Mom

Goofy Runner
Joined
Sep 6, 2001
Messages
350
I posted over on the cruise board and haven't had any advice yet. Thought some of you might have some hints.

I have booked rooms 7638 and 7634 on the Magic for an upcoming vacation. My mom is wheelchair bound. I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on excursions. Mom is unable to walk at all, and transfers are very difficult (to and from a normal car are fairly easy, but wheelchair lifts are otherwise required). When we did a Royal Caribbean cruise, we didn't really feel like we had many options (and without ADA, just touring the towns was very, very difficult). Should we just stick to the boat during the entire cruise? Any suggestions?

Also, any input on the room location (noise, etc.) is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
We just returned from the 7 day Western on the Magic. We also did the 4 day on the Wonder a few years back. I take it you got accessible rooms. The cruise itself should not present any problems, everything is accessible (although not all of the public bathrooms are, there are signs directing you to the nearest accessible one). The Disney folks called our room to make sure that we did not need extra assistance when doing the safety drill. Let me know where you are going and if we've been there, I can try to fill you in on land accessibility. We did not end up tendering for Grand Cayman bc we had to skip it due to a tropical depression:( but we nevertheless had a super time.

Cupcake
 
St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay.

I do have an accessible room (with a balcony so that she can sit and watch the water if she is so inclined).

We did a Royal Carribean 2 years ago and tried to just see the sites, and it was practically impossible with the curbs being so high and not ramped. I'd love to be able to take a taxi to something like the Butterfly farm, but if we have to stay on the boat the entire time, I don't think we'll suffer :-)

Thanks for any help!
 
Several other frequent posters to this board have gone on cruises, so hopefully one of them will be able to answer too. From what I recall, there wasn't much in terms of accessiblity outside of the boat (although I am not sure, I think Castaway Cay was an exception). The other thing people have mentioned is that the elevators are small and often filled, so if you need to use one, plan ahead.
 

We had 7638 on the 3-day Wonder in June, so I can help you. The room is probably identical on the Magic. I wrote a 6-part trip report on the cruise board; will excerpt some of it here. We were two adults and two 17-year-old girls in the one stateroom. Instead of a wheelchair in Orlando I had rented an electric scooter, which I picked up at the pre-cruise hotel and dropped off at the Orlando airport.


We took the very comfortable Disney transfer bus from Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Had to show ID to get on the bus. We had checked our luggage at the Port Orleans (had to show ID) and it reappeared in our stateroom. I was able to climb up the steps into the bus. If I hadn?t been able, they would have provided a bus with a lift. The scooter rode in the luggage compartment of the same bus.

Wheelchair Stateroom 7638

We had Stateroom 7638, a wheelchair-accessible room with a king-sized bed, a sofa, and a large veranda. A lovely room, with a large beautiful bathroom (single, not divided like the others) with lots of grab bars and a roll-in shower with a fold-down shower seat.

There was no trouble at all with noise or unpleasant vibration. In fact, I was disappointed by the relative lack of motion, because I like to be rocked to sleep at sea.

My electric scooter takes up more room than a regular wheelchair. Even though the room was much larger than a non-accessible room of the same category (Category 5), it was somewhat of a tight fit with the scooter and the 4th bed. The extra floor space was contained in a very large walk-in closet, which had wooden, louvered sliding doors which didn?t open enough to use any of that space for the scooter. I wish I had requested that the closet doors be removed; then I could have parked the scooter in that otherwise wasted space.

Another disappointment with the room was that the 4th bed, instead of coming down from the ceiling like an upper bunk over the sofa, was a Murphy bed which came down perpendicular to the sofa. Thus, the 4th bed completely blocked the door to the large veranda. The only access to the veranda all night would have required crawling over a teenager. Since one of my very favorite activities on a ship is to go out to the veranda during the cool of the night, barefoot and in my nightgown, to listen to the water and smell the air and watch the stars, this was a major loss.

The king-sized bed was actually too low for me since I have trouble getting up. As soon as we saw the room, I asked the room steward (Tara) to have an extra mattress placed on top of the original one to build up the height. The extra mattress was placed onto the bed while we were at dinner. Problem solved!

Castaway Cay

The water was clear as bathwater--very, very pretty. I explored the beaches briefly (rode my scooter off the ship and took it on the 2 trams all the way out to the distant adult beach). The walkways are paved and very accessible for wheelchairs. I?ve heard that Disney has special wheelchairs for traveling on the sand, but I didn?t look for them.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
pjkds
 
I'm hoping to finish a trip report about our wheelchair experiences soon. You do not need to stay confined to the ship. There are options. Briefly: We rented a van in St Martin, got around some. We chartered a boat in St Thomas, then toured Havensight Mall which is mostly doable from a wheelchair. The Coki Beach aquarium is also mostly doable, though we did not go there this time. There are obstacles most everywhere, on and off ship, with the exception of Castaway. There are sand wheelchairs at CC. More soon, I hope, stay tuned. Will try to post the TR on the Cruise TR board with reminders here and on the main Cruise board.
 
One thing to consider- be sure to allow LOTS of time for an elevator. We missed the sailaway party since every elevator came occupied (we were on deck 6) and they are very small. Also, beware of the automatic doors on Deck 9! I had to "back in" the doorway as there was a high ledge that my chair couldn't go over forward. I'd press the automatic door button, but by the time I'd turned around, there'd be a horde of people coming out, and there are NO sensors in the doors. I got my armrest broken in that doorway, and another family with a stroller said their daughter's arm had also been hit by those doors. I spent nearly a day with the crew captain ( I work for DCL) pointing out problems with accessibility, which were numerous. He followed me around with a palm pilot and stated that they'd already been trying to address some of these issues. Unfortunately at a recent party we had at AK, I spoke with someone who told me that none of the problems had been rectified, and this was a year ago. I went with my two sons who were often doing teen activities so I had no one to assist me on the ship. This made it more difficult for me to navigate. It should be easier for your Mom since she will have you to help her! By the way, our stateroom on the 6th deck was at the back of the ship and had a huge verandah, one of the things I enjoyed most. We had my chair, which reclines and tilts, elevates legs to where I was laying "flat", two lounge chairs, a table and three regular chairs, and there was still lots of room- felt like you could have a basketball game out there. I layed in my chair, raised it up to see over the railing,and had a most wonderful view and relaxing time out there. Oh, and get to the shows early as there will be someone to direct you to the center of the "auditorium". If you arrive late, you have to sit in the back. I hope you all enjoy your cruise! --Kathy
 
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WE too had a lot of problems with the elevators. I think that Disnet Cruise Lines should make one of the elevators a priority elevator. That it should be used specifically by people with wheelchairs ? strollers. If someone in one of these wants to use it , any able body person should out of courtesy, step off and either walk the rest of the way or weight for the next one.
Sorry if my opinion upsets anyone. I always use the stairs if I haven't got my disabled DD with me. Keeps off any excess weight I might get eating all that cruise food.
 
I agree about the w/c only elevator!
Dan typically got ready for dinner first and would "try" to get an elevator. I would meet him there!

Often I would use the stairs if he was able to fit into an elevator and say see you there! I was always amazed at the people using the elevators to go one flight!

Tendering was a big problem not mentioned but when we docked in St Thomas were able to locate an accessible bus that gave us a tour and a stop at Megan's beach! We had a lovely day!

Linda
 
The Under Two Flags Tour in St. Maarten and the Charlotte Amalie Historical Walking Tour in St. Thomas are both completely inaccesible. The first would probably be OK for mobility impaired (cane/crutches/etc.) but not wheelchair bound, the second is not at all accessible, and I don't suggest it for strollers (lots of stairs).

Anne
 
I have found a short tour in St. Thomas (which looks about righ for us). If anyone needs the link, here it is:

http://www.accessvi.com/tours/tours.htm

I haven't found anything similar in St. Maarten, but I think I've decided that we will just enjoy the emptiness of the boat -- relax in the sun, get a good meal, see about high tea on that day or something else. Just relaxing on the boat will be fun.

Thanks for all the help. Any other tips are welcome, and I'll let you all know how it turns out after we go (in a few very long months ;-))
 














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