Disney Cruise

[dstier]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone here has taken a child in a wheelchair on a Disney Cruise. Some of my questions are: Do they charge more for an accessible room? Are the activities suitable for a child with a disability? Would I need to have a caregiver with her to participate? Is the staff trained to accomodate a child who can't participate the same way the other kids can?
We go to Disney every year and they are so accomodating to us! We have started looking into a cruise for next year and I am wondering if it will be as much fun for her as being at Disney. If anyone has done this before, I would love to hear about your experience. Thanks.
Denise

 

[cdhheidi]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone here has taken a child in a wheelchair on a Disney Cruise. Some of my questions are: Do they charge more for an accessible room? Are the activities suitable for a child with a disability? Would I need to have a caregiver with her to participate? Is the staff trained to accomodate a child who can't participate the same way the other kids can?
We go to Disney every year and they are so accomodating to us! We have started looking into a cruise for next year and I am wondering if it will be as much fun for her as being at Disney. If anyone has done this before, I would love to hear about your experience. Thanks.
Denise

Denise,

I think it will depend somewhat on what issues your daughter has. We went on a 4 day last year, and will be going on a 7 day in October this year. My son needed the wheelchair primarily as he tired easily, but we found they were great with him and his various other issues as well. Sean does not eat anything (is tube fed and also gets IV nutrition). Because of this, when he was in the lab during meal times they arranged to have staff available so that he did not have to go to meals with the other kids and could keep playing. The staff really is amazing at working with kids with various issues, you just need to let them know what the needs are so they can help.

How independent is she with her chair? Can she get herself to the restroom when needed?

We did stay in a handicapped room, he has a LOT of equipment in addition to the chair. It was so nice and roomy... loved it! They don't have a lot of them, but they do have some that are inside room as well as some with veranda's. I don't think we paid more for that room given the category that we chose, but we were also on a group trip for our homecare agency's 15th anniversary conference. Our cruise in Oct we booked while on the ship so got a nice discount.

I would highly reccomend a cruise vacation... DH and I felt this was the most relaxing and REAL vacation we have ever had as a family which is why we rebooked.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Welcome to the boards, Denise!!

I haven't got a child, so it's hard to take him/her along. However, I'm in a wheelchair myself. Haven't sailed yet, but have booked. I'm sure some others will come and chime in soon enough, untill then I'll post my experience so far.

No additional cost for the accessible room. However, not every category has them. Cat. 11, cat 8 and cat 6 have them, and I know there are some suites but didn't look into those so I'm not sure about the specific cat. The downside is that most only sleep 3, with only some that sleep 4.

As there are very view accessible staterooms, I'ld advice to book asap. Did you see the deckplans yet? They've got info on there so you can see which staterooms are accessible.

One thing you'll probably want to know about is the swimming (after all; that's a big thing for a lot of kids). Both the Mickey and Goofy pool do not have accessibilty facilities. The adult pool has transfer piers.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I can't help with the child part but I can help with the HCA room issue.
We have requested a HCA room for our cruise next January. There are very few staterooms on the ship that are accessible so reserve early. I know the door frame is so small in the regular room that my DH's ECV won't even fit through the door. They do have the dimensions of the room and doorway when you reserve.
We have a stateroom at the back of the ship. The room only sleeps 3 (not a problem for us) where the normal category that we reserved sleeps 4. You do need to fax over a medical form that your doctor fills out. This just shows that you do require a HCA stateroom and what other accomodations may be required. The form is on the DCL website if you are interested in it. This doesn't need to be completed prior to your reservation. I think they need it at least 14 days prior to sailing. Our cruise isn't until January so I can't tell you about the accomodations until then.
Enjoy your sailing.

Oh forgot to mention that there was no additional cost for the price of the room. And we have a stateroom with a large verandah.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi and to both DisBoards and disABILTIES!

There is no extra charge for an accessible room.

If you can give some information about the child (age, size, general information about problems, etc.,) it will allow us to better answer your questions. Also, I expect Kathy (DCLFun) will chime in shortly. She has several disabilities and works for DCL and has sailed often.

 

[Mason7AK]

HI! We were on a 3 day last December with two DC in wheelchairs. DCL was GREAT! My DS5 had the best time of his life! He LOVED the club and stayed there most of the cruise! We had to drag him out at night. The counselors were wonderful with him. We did not have a handicapped accessible stateroom on that trip and our DD's wheelchair had to be left in the hallway outside the room because it wouldn't fit through the doorway. DS's did fit and we kept it inside the stateroom. Whenever we came out into the hallway carrying our DD7 several room stewards always came running to see if we needed help getting her into her chair. It was kind of funny as we are used to carrying her around at home!
We had so much fun and it was so relaxing that we booked a 7 night cruise for 2009. We booked through Dreams Unlimited and got two HA staterooms, one inside and one outside as we have a family of 6 (two in wheelchairs) and each room accommodates three people. There are a few HA staterooms that sleep four, but book early as others have mentioned!
Good luck and if you book you will have a great time!
Angela

 

[dclfun]

It seems like everyone has covered most of your questions but just to add that a child in a w/c is welcome to participate in programming independently as long as they are independent in their w/c. Exceptions have been made to this requirement but for that you'd need to check onboard with the youth counselors. How old is the child? Are there any other special needs other than using a w/c?
The ship itself is fully accessible including restaurants and all public areas. There's w/c seating in the movie and Walt Disney Theater ( where you will see the live stage performances). In the WDT you can arrive a bit early and ask to be seated up front, at which point a crew member takes you down the elevator through a separate entrance or there is designated w/c seating in the back of the theater. You will ALWAYS find a helpful crew member ready and eager to help with doors, food trays, etc. without having to ask. That's one thing I always appreciate- having my needs anticipated and someone whose got a big smile ready to assist without my feeling like I'm imposing. In fact it is their pleasure.
As was also mentioned there are few, in fact only two staterooms ( Cat 5 verandah) that sleep four guests as well as four suites ( Cat 3 ) that sleep four. There are, unfortunately, no connecting accessible staterooms. If your budget doesn't allow for a verandah stateroom and you have four guests, then it's best financially to book two inside staterooms next door to each other, or in the case of larger families, a verandah across the hall from an inside stateroom. The accessible oceanview staterooms ( Cat 8) only sleep two. All the accessible staterooms except the two oceanviews are aft ( back of the ship ) with the two Cat. 8's being forward ( front of the ship). Hope that helps somewhat.---Kathy