Cruising and Disabilities

[PurpleKomodo]

I have a question. Have any of you that are power chair users cruised with Disney? How was it? I am having a hard time picturing fitting all our equipment in a stateroom when we are a family of 5. We often bring a caregiver, which makes us 6. Six bumps us out of standard stateroom size and two rooms or a big room are even more expensive. My kids really want to cruise on the Wish, but I am having a hard time picturing it working. Any experience out there?

 

[lanejudy]

I haven't followed the WISH information too closely but I believe it has some larger staterooms for 6; however I think it's all concierge which is likely more expensive than 2 connecting lower-category staterooms. I don't think they've released how many or what categories of staterooms will be designated HA. I know the Classic ships only have the higher category verandah rooms for HA, but the Dream class has some oceanview HA rooms as well, which helps with affordability. It's my hope the Triton class will include HA interior rooms.

Generally speaking the HA rooms are a different shape from the traditional long and narrow stateroom. More squarish, with much more open floor space. So I think you'll have space for the medical equipment, especially if you book connecting rooms. You could work with DCL to figure out which room(s) best fit your needs, or use a TA to chase down that info.

Personally, we're waiting for the hype to subside before booking the WISH. Hopefully rates stabilize a bit without the super high demand, and also some first-hand reports.

 

[Lilsia]

The rooms are small and narrow with not a lot of storage. My 2 daughters and I get a deluxe family stateroom, that is supposed to sleep 5 but the 3 of us are cramped. With a power chair, you will need an accessible room because I can not imagine fitting in a standard room with one. In this case, I would call DCL and talk to them. They may be able to help you with measurements and what would work best for your group dynamic.

 

[tobikaye]

If you have not already checked out online videos or photos, I would suggest doing that. It is what I did before booking our Disney Dreams cruise. This at least gives an idea of size. We originally had a HA Deluxe Family Stateroom with connecting non-HA Deluxe Family Stateroom for 4 adults. At that time, my mom and sister could get around well without much mobility aids, but needed the safety of the HA showers. We had found a video of one of the HA staterooms, 8090 or 8088, and it seemed pretty large compared to videos of non-HA rooms. We had to push our cruise out and were able to upgrade to the 1 Bedroom HA and connecting stateroom for a very reasonable rate so I cannot say how the HA staterooms would work.