cruising with a wheelchair

[maduusa]

My husband is in a wheelchair, and we have done the Disney Resort experience twice now. Best vacations we have ever taken. Disney makes so much effort to accomodate, but does the accomodation carry over just as well to the cruise line? We are fixin to go on our first cruise with Disney in March.

chel

 

[eek40]

First welcome to the boards. Second I cruised with a wheelchair in November. If you want to chat email me at eek40@aol.com
Aimee

 

[SueM in MN]

I haven't had the good luck to go on a cruise, but several DISer with special needs have , as the last poster mentioned. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the coutries you will be docking at are usually poorly accessibel. The rest of the world is behind the US in terms of wheelchair accessibility.

 

[maduusa]

Thank you Aimee and Sue. I knd of dread docking day. I even sent an email to the Department of Tourism for the Bahamas to see what they might have to offer, but I haven't heard back yet.


chel

 

[Sarahsmom85]

My DH and I took a cruise last Feb but it was not a Disney cruise.
We had no trouble on board ship, but we did have some getting off the boat at the ports. Purto Rico was great no problem, St Thomas our boat was not using the lower deck off ramp and there where two steps to get up to the ramp. I kept trying to get them to find something to use as a ramp to put over the two steps but no go. Finally I just transfered him to a push chair and had them lift him off. but them I had to push him around. Nassua we had the same problem the two steps up, at this time I figured if they are not going to make this easy for me I'm not making it easy for them. I transfered my DH to push chair then made them carry his electric chair off the boat put him back in and off we went. Just let me tell you this chair is not light. When we went to the private island I knew ahead of time that we needed to take his push chair because we had to take the little boats over to the island. We had no problem there they just picked him up chair and all and put him on the little boat.
I have no idea why they don't just make it easy for them self and have a small ramp handy. Even I have a small ramp sitting on my front porch in case we need to go out that door instead of our ramped deck.

Also once we got to the towns we just zipped around. We where unable to use any taxi's
or buses so we just stuck around close to the docks but we still had a good time. There is alot of stuff to do close to the docks.

So my advice would be to transfer to a push chair and have them carry the electric one off boat and them transfer back. I've learned! this is what I will do. I state I DO NOT PUSH WHEELCHAIRS ANYMORE. LOL

In 1985 and 1986 I push a wheelchair all over Disney. No more POWER ALL THE WAY. So it will cost me $1,000 to rent a van in Orlando. I do not push.
I'm not pushing. 30 yrs is enough Oh in case you want to know I don't pluck nose hairs anymore either. Ok so I clean his glasses 20 times a day.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sarahsmom85, your post made me laugh. I can just see the look on those guys faces when they had to lift the power wheelchair. They are a lot heavier than they look.
It made me think of a few months ago when my MIL and FIL suggested we bring DD's power wheelchair when we come to visit them instead of her manual chair. FIL figured he could lift the power wheelchair up 3 steps into the house. By himself. When he has 2 bad knees, 2 bad hips and one bad shoulder.

 

[dclfun]

There are no steps to get on/off the ramp with DCL. The ramp at Nassau is VERY steep, with the one at Castaway Cay being a better slope. If there were steps though, they'd not be able to lift any of your equipment or assist a person, which would be required in ports where it would be necessary to use a tender. The 3/4 night cruises you can easily get on/off the ship with a power chair but again, Nassau shops aren't accessible due to steps up. There's a new shopping area in an enclosed building right at the end of the cruise ship docking area plus you can get to the straw market. It's a harrowing experience to "drive" a chair through the streets of Nassau, but doable! On the Eastern Caribbean cruise, St. Thomas was fairly accessible, but you'd need to make sure your cruise wasn't one that's tendering. St. Maarten also had a small area near docking that you could shop at and look around, but to get to the island itself requires a tender. None of the shore excursions are accessible, but exploring on your own in a limited fashion was fine. For the Western, Grand Cayman requires tendering for everyone, but there's Key West and Cozumel to visit. ---Kathy

 

[maduusa]

Sarahsmom, I couldn't imagine them carrying the electric chair all that way. I remember last year watching the poor guys struggle with getting it on the plane...and that was minus the batteries!! I did a little homework before booking and we chose the Disney 4 night specifically because of the docking and not tendering. But just like other vacations we have taken, the first time we are a little skeptical. We even found a hotel room once that was 100% wheelchair accessible with a roll-in shower, and it only had one step. What a contradiction!! What else besides shopping is there to do close to the dock? Any sight-seeing within reach? The rest of us are in good shape and the kids even could walk up to a mile.


chel

 

[dclfun]

In Nassau, there's nothing else close to the dock that's accessible. The shops aren't accessible except for a few areas of the straw market and I'd get all the way down one street or block and find I'd have to backtrack because not everyplace is ramped. Basically one way in and one way out.---Kathy

 

[Susan Prescott]

We cruised last Feb. on the Wonder & are going back this Feb. with our friend who uses a very large power wheelchair. DCL has been very helpful with taking care of some of the problems we had experienced on our last cruise. They will be providing Steve with an extra mattress in his stateroom...the beds are very low & difficult to transfer into. Getting around the ship wasn't very difficult, but there are threshholds between the doorways & some of the doors are very narrow to go through. The halls & elevators can also be a challenge , but it can be worked out with a little patience. Castaway Cay is accessible, but there aren't any ramps to the beach area. Nassau was ok in some areas, but we heard there is no accesible transportation to Paradise Isalnd. Hopefully in time things will change, but it was worth it all to have such a huge stateroom with a beautiful verandah! Give it a try!!! Cathy & Steve