Cruising with a mobility scooter

[Sven1990]

I have started to plan a DCL 7 night western Caribbean cruise for April 2017 the cruise will follow a 10 WDW trip. Any suggestions or trip reports to help make this vacation as stress free would be greatly appreciated.

 

[diznymom]

Be sure to get a HA room. They are configured to have space for the scooter, whereas the other rooms are not.

Happy planning

 

[dcassetta]

I have no personal experience, but I do recommend that you read some of the trip reports by FranandAJ such as http://www.disboards.com/threads/sh...caribbean-cruise-bonus-posts-wrap-up.3343364/

Their trip reports always have great information about traveling with a scooter

 

[lbus42]

Be prepared for some hateful looks from some of the passengers. There is a percentage of people that absolutely hate them and there was even a pretty ugly thread on the subject. I did not know that so many people had such feelings about people using mobility scooters.

I just came off the Fantasy about 9 days ago. There were many interactions between passengers on scooter and others. I personally witnessed a great deal of courtesy between most everyone, but I saw a couple of occasions where people gave looks to a person on a scooter, for instance on an elevator.

 

[thumpie's mom]

My daughter uses a wheelchair and for the most part we have little problems. One of the reasons we like cruising is the ship is pretty accessible. Biggest problem does tend to be the elevators...people will jump in front of us (even though we were there first) and grab the elevator. We have also had looks and sighs because of the amount of space we need. I guess they really don't realize we NEED the elevators since she can't walk and we cannot take the stairs. But the ship is pretty easy to get around...there are a few thresholds that are difficult to get over, but we just go find a different door to go through. The crew are fantastic and offer assistance if we need it. Have wonderful cruise.

 

[Sven1990]

It's so frustrating there's a stigma with other guests. On the othe other hand I keep reading how outstanding Disney crew members are with all of their guests. This is one of the reasons I don't have a problem shelling out thousands for this once in a lifetime vacation.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Be prepared for some hateful looks from some of the passengers. There is a percentage of people that absolutely hate them and there was even a pretty ugly thread on the subject. I did not know that so many people had such feelings about people using mobility scooters.

I just came off the Fantasy about 9 days ago. There were many interactions between passengers on scooter and others. I personally witnessed a great deal of courtesy between most everyone, but I saw a couple of occasions where people gave looks to a person on a scooter, for instance on an elevator.

The biggest issue with scooters/wheelchairs (and even strollers) onboard are the people who aren't used to using them pretty much running into others. Space onboard the ship is more limited. And then there are the people in those scooters/wheelchairs who seem to feel as if, just because they are in a scooter, they get priority in the elevators and just barge on in, even before others get off.

Of course, the same can be said for ambulatory people cutting in front of those in scooters/wheelchairs just because they can.

It goes both ways.

 

[thumpie's mom]

For what ever it is worth, we never cut off others to get to the elevators (if we have it was unintentional) or just barge in. It is typically the other way around.

 

[lbus42]

The biggest issue with scooters/wheelchairs (and even strollers) onboard are the people who aren't used to using them pretty much running into others. Space onboard the ship is more limited. And then there are the people in those scooters/wheelchairs who seem to feel as if, just because they are in a scooter, they get priority in the elevators and just barge on in, even before others get off.

Of course, the same can be said for ambulatory people cutting in front of those in scooters/wheelchairs just because they can.

It goes both ways.

I did not see anyone on a scooter run into anyone, but there was a woman on our floor who kept bumping into the walls and her cabin door trying to turn it around in the hallway. I saw this happen several times. The hallway is narrow and there really isn't enough room to turn the scooter around. She should have gone down the hall to the next set of elevators to turn around.