DCL NOV 2012 with CP cabin 6686

[HappyGilmore]

Looking for info to help gather info for my dear friend who will be traveling DCL for the very first time with her husband on a four night cruise November 2012. She has Cerebal Palsy and uses a motorized scooter exclusively. Any tips or advise are welcome.

As of now they have an HA cabin on deck 6 with ocean view 6686. Any interior room , aft end deck 6 hallway photos would be appreciated.

One of the things she has mentioned that she wants to do is take a trip over to Atlantis / Paradise Island. She is almost fully dependant on her scooter. Transferring out of her scooter requires a great deal of effort for her and even transferring to/from a wheel chair is a difficult. She needs to be able to take her scooter with her. Another issue is that she won't have room for a wheelchair and a scooter while traveling to the port.

Also, I read something about the shows arriving early and needing assistance to take an elevator in a crew only area and how there is a long wait for assistance.

Just trying to plan ahead to make her trip most enjoyable for her.
I don't want her to miss a thing... she has had to give up so many things and make so many sacrifices due to her disability I want this trip to be worry free.

 

[krisnme]

This is a good question for the Cruise Critic boards, they have tons of info. Try the disabled passengers thread.

 

[HowdyHeidi]

Here is a review for that room but it does not have the info you are looking for (yet). Maybe in the future someone will add more reviews on that room:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/roomreport.cfm?Room=6686

It looks like you may have already read some of the threads in the DCL forum, there are some with pictures of HA rooms to give you an idea. We are sailing soon and I would be happy to try to take some pictures of the hallways on deck 6 and try to come back and post them in a couple weeks.

We do not have an accessible room but DS is in a pediatric wheelchair that we are taking. This is obviously smaller than a scooter but I imagine we will have some of the issues.

Have you read the descriptions of the excursions? They should say whether they are accessible or not.

Also when we booked, our TA was able to talk to a RN from DCL to discuss what kind of medical accommodations they might be able to provide, so I imagine they would be available for this type of question too.

Good luck and happy planning!

 

[HowdyHeidi]

PS, I assume you are going on the Dream since you said DCL 4 day cruise, can you confirm this? I had heard that the Dream is a little better for those in wheelchairs than the older ships...

 

[dclfun]

PS, I assume you are going on the Dream since you said DCL 4 day cruise, can you confirm this? I had heard that the Dream is a little better for those in wheelchairs than the older ships...

The Dream was alot easier for me, although there are areas on the pool deck that are a bit difficult as there is only a ramp on one side. The elevators are spacious as are all the public spaces. They'd want to get to the Walt Disney theater early for the evening shows so that she can be brought down the elevator to sit in the front seating, otherwise the view is obstructed. I haven't stayed in that room but did stay in a midship verandah cat 4B and also an 11C for a back to back and was fine in each location. The rooms are spacious enough to allow for turning radius for her scooter as are the bathrooms. They have a fold-down seat and hand held shower as well as a toilet with rails. If additional equipment is needed dcl can provide a raised toilet seat or commode chair. As to excursions, there really isn't much if she can't transfer easily. She can request to use one of the manual emergency wheelchairs onboard and if one is available, she can take it off the ship in Nassau for an excursion as there are w/c taxi's. ( just not available through Disney's port adventures- ask at the desk when they get onboard). Actually the only challenge I had was the height of the bed being too high so hopefully she won't have a challenge there. Any problems though- go to Guest Services as they are amazing and will do what they can to help. In other words, don't suffer in silence!---Kathy