Cruising with a child in a wheelchair

[Woth2982]

Hi Everyone,
Not sure if this should be here or the cruise boards, but here goes. My friend has a daughter who is disabled and needs assistance 100% of the day. They are wondering if a Disney Cruise would be ok for her. I read that they have "open house" hours where parents can accompany kids in the Kids Club so she wouldn't completely miss out on that. Has anyone cruised with a child like this and how accommodating is a Disney Cruise for a wheelchair bound child. Her parents just want to make sure she will be able to enjoy it as much as their other kids. Thanks everyone!

 

[lanejudy]

There is lots to do on a DCL cruise, even without utilizing the kids clubs.

How accommodating are they? They accommodate as best they can, but are not set-up to be one-on-one with any child. You say the child "needs assistance 100% of the day." Do you mean just supervision? Is she able to do anything? Does she participate in any group settings? If so, she may be able to attend the secured programming. If she truly has a 1:1 caregiver at all times, then she would only be able to go to the clubs during "Open House" times -- but these occur at least once a day in each club space (Oceaneers Club and Oceaneers Lab are technically 2 separate spaces, though kids 3-12 may attend either and move between them).

Your friend will definitely want to plan ahead. Accessible staterooms can be booked up early, and I'm not sure there's any official waiting list. They'll want to make sure they complete the special needs form that's available on the website as well, to let DCL know of their specific needs and concerns.

On our last cruise, there was a young girl obviously wheelchair-bound and seriously disabled, but I saw the family frequently around the ship and this child had the biggest smile on her face! I'm sure your friend's family will have an enjoyable vacation -- but they'll need to do their planning and have appropriate expectations.

 

[Woth2982]

Thank you so much! I know they have done Disney World and said that the parks were amazing! By 100% assistance, she always has a parent or caretaker, I don't think they have any expectations to have a CM with her all the time, it would be them going to the open house. I guess what I mean by accommodating is how handicap friendly is the ship? She doesn't get out of the chair unless she is sleeping.I will give her the heads up on the accessible rooms being booked early. Thank you again for the information!

If anyone else has anything to add please do!

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

I think a cruise, Disney or other is the best way for a family to relax and lighten a load. The handicap rooms are wonderful accomadating, to just show up for meals, have as much of what you like is great. We freestyle which for our family is perfect.

Warm tropical water, relax on a beach, I know Norwegian has the wheel chairs to get you to the beach, around and back on their private island, I think Nassua did also.

The theater shows, music, games on the deck, even if you sit in the shade just let stress float away.

 

[4redheads]

Yup, they have beach wheelchairs. First come basis though. Don't let her miss the hermit crab races.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Mrsjvb]

I guess what I mean by accommodating is how handicap friendly is the ship? She doesn't get out of the chair unless she is sleeping.I will give her the heads up on the accessible rooms being booked early. Thank you again for the information!

If anyone else has anything to add please do!

the passages between the doors can be...problematic. more than once we had to help this one gentleman who got stuck and couldn't get all the way across.

some tender ports can be a no go as well, depending on several factors( such as the only way to get to the tender is via stairs)

the private island has beach chairs so that's no problem at all( if applicable)

as for dining, again all you need to do is note it so they can arrange for them to be seated at an area that is not accessed by stairs. IIRC Magic had a couple of alternate access points for 2 of the dining rooms. (it's been several years since we sailed her)

 

[LamieMom]

We have cruised twice with my daughter, now six, in her manual wheelchair. We were on the Magic in Feb 2012 and the Fantasy in Feb 2013. The cabins (H/A inside on Magic; H/A OV on Fantasy) had ample room for the 4 of us, our daughter's chair (albeit toddler-sized), her walker, crutches and walking braces. The wheel-in shower had a bench and was large enough for a parent (or two if necessary) with the bench in use.

My daughter is small for her age, so we transfer her to a dining chair with a booster in the restaurants, but her chair could have been accommodated if it had been a more standard height.

The public areas are good, though she has difficulty pushing herself on some of the carpets and we have carpet at home so she is pretty used to pushing on it. For some reason it seems more difficult on the ship. As a PP mentioned, there are some lips in the doorways to the outside areas that can be pretty tough to get over. She cannot get over them herself and I usually had to tip the chair back to get the casters on the front of the chair over the door frame. These are mostly going to the pool areas, out of the buffet doors and outside onto the deck 4 promenade. We also found it annoying on the Fantasy that there did not seem to be a good accessible path to get from port to starboard around the pool area -- I think we had to go inside an elevator lobby to get to the other side. I recall the Magic having more ways to do that. Also, my daughter wanted to see the mini-golf area on the Fantasy and that was quite an adventure. There is elevator access, but I had a difficult time figuring it out.

We have had good experiences in the clubs (better on the Magic) but my daughter can go independently. She could not reach the automatic hand washers on the Fantasy, so they usually just gave her a hand wipe. She also had some difficulty reaching some of the fixtures in the club on the Fantasy (some of the computers and tables), but this is more due to her size. They seem to have some good activities planned during the Open Houses as well, so hopefully your friend's daughter will enjoy that.

We are sailing on the Magic in December and the Fantasy in February. It will be nice to do a comparison in a short time frame. I hope this was helpful. Let me know if I can answer any questions. I lurk often but post infrequently.

 

[mdvlprof]

DCL is wonderful for disabled guests [DS disability started at 17, so don't know about kids clubs].
Rooms are great. Been on Wonder and Fantasy.

 

[Woth2982]

Thank you all so much! I have shared this link with my friend. I think she will find it very helpful in making a decision about taking he DD on the cruise!

 

[herdadditions]

My dd has cp and uses a wheelchair in addition to other needs. On our last cruise, we also had the additional issue of my dad having an accident just weeks before leaving and also being in a wheelchair. Disney was awesome for both of them.

Dining and general movement on the ship were no problem at all. Our servers were totally prepared for our additional issues. We visited the kids club during open house but mostly we just did the other things on board and our dd loved every minute of it.

We did not attempt to leave the ship at a port.

Castaway Cay was awesome for both of them. We used the sand wheelchairs and just parked the regular ones. The bathrooms etc were perfect.

You will have an awesome trip. It is easier than "real" life any day!