Cruising with DisAbilities???? Please help!

[RedFamilyLuvDisney]

Hello everyone! As a gift from my Dbrothers and Dsisters (theres 7 of us) we gave our parents a Land and Sea vacation for their 45 years anniversary! My DP are coming with us and I for one are so excited!

My question is, my Ddad is in a wheelchair. I booked a category 8, wheelchair accessible room. We have done WDW before but never cruising. What kind of activities and shore excursions can my dad participate in? Please let me know if you have any suggestions. And is the room really big enough for my dad wheelchair to move around.??? I want to make this special for them. Excursions for Nassau and Castaway suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My Ddad is paralyzed from waist down and he still can't wait to try this new adventure. My Dmom would just do anything so no problem there!

 

[videogal1]

Here's what I posted on the main board:
The stateroom will be large and roomy (you might have the coffee table removed for more maneuvering space and request a shower chair in advance because the tiny benches that fold down out of the shower wall are a joke for someone truly paralyzed) but I pity the wheelchair pusher. The carpeting is thick, the seams between the sections of ship are a menace and the ridges in the floor at the entrances to the elevators and outside decks entrance areas will seem like small mountains. My suggestion is get a power chair for him for the trip (I know, they're highly customized, but it would be a blessing for the pusher not to have to endure the shoulder pain). As for the excursions, good luck! The policy of DCL is "well, that's a foreign country and we don't have to invent access for them". Unless you find excursions tailored to wheelchair access on your own you won't be going anywhere, although you will be paying full fare for the cruise...If you can get to Atlantis on Paradise Island, don't forget that, although the many-level site is riddled with elevators, each elevator is key-operated to prevent misuse by children, so every time you need to get around a bank of steps you'll have to find the corresponding elevator and the holder of the magic key that operates it.
Nassau is an adventure that I'd also skip if you don't have a fullback for a wheelchair pusher...Been there four times and it hasn't improved over time...I think someone else has posted the bad news about access there...
if you were going to be on the Magic, I'd suggest that you contact Heath at the Shore excursions desk...contact DCL for how to get in touch with him...pretty much everyone else is clueless... In the end, however, excursions are pretty much up to you... Some will point out the existance of the balloon-tired sand wheelchairs available on a first come-first served basis (no reservations) at Castaway Cay but they're very difficult to push, very uncomfortable to ride in...think of a rolling hammock... Of course Castaway Cay, except for the concrete tramway is sand...not wheelchair-friendly at all! So, not a pretty picture. Go to WDW but avoid the cruise unless you have a power chair is my suggestion.

 

[michelle9343]

I will agree pushing can be difficult on the cruise but is totally doable.Sounds like your Dad likes an adventure and would love cruising. The accessible rooms are very roomy , no problem at all with them. It is a little hard pushing around the ship but not hard enough that I would say don't go. The only thing I would most likely not go to Nassau. It was very hard to get around . Most curbs do not nave curb cuts and many stores have a step to get in. CC is beautiful. The cement walk way runs all the way down the family beach. The water is not far from the walk way. We did not try the beach WC so not sure how hard they are to push.We did the sting ray encounter on CC and if your Dad was OK in the sand WC I am sure they could push it into the water so he could partake in it. Any other questions feel free to PM me.

 

[RedFamilyLuvDisney]

I will agree pushing can be difficult on the cruise but is totally doable.Sounds like your Dad likes an adventure and would love cruising. The accessible rooms are very roomy , no problem at all with them. It is a little hard pushing around the ship but not hard enough that I would say don't go. The only thing I would most likely not go to Nassau. It was very hard to get around . Most curbs do not nave curb cuts and many stores have a step to get in. CC is beautiful. The cement walk way runs all the way down the family beach. The water is not far from the walk way. We did not try the beach WC so not sure how hard they are to push.We did the sting ray encounter on CC and if your Dad was OK in the sand WC I am sure they could push it into the water so he could partake in it. Any other questions feel free to PM me.

Thank you for you input! Eventhough my dad can't walk, his still very active and would love something like the sting ray adventure (watch from the side) I would definately look into that. I think the beach wheelchair would be better that what he has right now. Me, my DH and Dmom can take turn in pushing him, not a problem for us. We would mind it a bit.

In Nassau, I am thinking maybe just take my DMom and DDad to Atlantis and do the dig. I heard that its wheelchair accessible??? I could be wrong so please if you could clarify. Take a Taxi or whatever transportation to take us there and maybe do a little shopping in the Market. We might just do a couple of hours with them and take them back to the ship and my DH and DS's and I could do something else.

 

[michelle9343]

We chose to not go to Atlantis because I read that there are a lot of steps and even though there are elevators you actually have to find someone from the hotel to allow you access to them. Does his chair fold? If not I would definetly book thru Disney because I think you will have a really hard time finding a accessible taxi.