Magic 7 day Eastern cruise with disabled mom

[TriciaT]

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone that frequents this board has been on the Disney Cruise. I am traveling with my dh, sons, and nephew along with my mother who has Morquios Syndrome and can walk only short distances. On a past trip to WDW we rented a scooter from Walker Mobility and that worked well for her. I am wondering if we can do the same for the cruise and if anyone has any personal experience with any of the ports of the Eastern itinerary. We would like to have her leave the ship with us at both St. Thomas and St. Martin and I was wondering where we would be able to use her ECV.

After the cruise, we are spending two nights at a Ft. Wilderness cabin which will be something new for us as well. Is there anything I should know about that resort and accessibility?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Trish

 

[keystone minnie]

Hi,
I was on the Disney Cruise -- 7 day eastern only 3 weeks post knee surgery, my mom, with a heart condition, who can't handle the heat, and my grandmother who has the same knees that I do but on an 85 year old body -- so she couldn't walk much. (along with small children)

Firstly, we had a blast! We brought a WC that can be folded, it was too much of a hastle to bring her scooter on the plane. The WC worked just fine. My grandmother went everywhere my children went and enjoyed herself. She can walk a bit (20 - 50 feet or so), so getting on and off the ship she would walk and did fine. Though there seemed to be plenty of help for us to get her on and off the ship. Because she can walk a little here and there, it may have made it easier. We took a tour at St. Maartin's -- next time, we'd stay on the ship. Not, a pretty place. For St. Thomas, we got a taxi and took it to Coral World. Everyone was able to truly enjoy the trip and we were able to stay longer than going with the excursion, which was good because then everyone was able to go at his/her own pace. Very WC friendly (and bad knee freindly). The Disney Island is set up so everyone can enjoy it. Which we did.

The only strange part was for the shows. They took us through a bar and through back doors to be able to sit in the front, (My grandma's favorite place to sit). I don't know if that was the only HC seating, but I know I felt strange taking my son through a bar and it did make my grandma feel uncomfortable having to go through an area that was clearly not designed for guests. (just the 3 of us went to the shows which is why I had to bring a preschooler through a bar -- yes, people looked, but we lived)

 

[ducklite]

Do NOT take the Charlotte Amalie walking tour in St. Thomas... Lots of walking, over 120 steps fromt op to bottom, I do'nt know why they do'nt say this is not good for disabled and strollers in the literature!

Anne

 

[Leia's Mom]

I have done these stops on a RCCL cruise with my mom who is in a wheelchair. We are doing the same cruise in a few months. The excursions were a significant problem.

We tried to "do it ourselves" and we all ended up tired and frustrated. St. Maarten is not at all wheelchair friendly for shopping, etc. We will just be enjoying the boat for St. Maarten this year.

St. Thomas isn't so bad. Also, there is a place that does accessible tours. Here is the URL if you are interested (I've never done this, but plan to on our trip)

http://www.accessvi.com/tours/tours.htm

We always take Mom's manual wheelchair because the Jazzy is just too much trouble with the airlines.

Good luck and have a wonderful time!

 

[abitjaded]

I wrote a trip report a while ago about the Eastern. Will try to add the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=287109

If this doesn't work, email me with your email and I will forward it.

We really liked St Maarten, but the accessibility there is poor. We did do O.K., check my trip report. If she can walk a bit you can shop there, the prices are better than St Thomas. Just be flexible. I sent the trip report to Jennifer and Dave of Passporter fame, hoping they will add some accessibility info to their book. Others! Record your experiences and let them know! With 14 wheelchair cabins on each ship, there has to be more of us out here willing to share our trials and successes.

Leia's Mom, we were thinking of getting the boat shuttle passes and just going to and from the beaches at Phillipsburg. Did you try this? Was it impossible with a wc?

Keystone minnie, which tour did you take in St. M?

It does seem a wacky set up to get into the theater, we all get separated going through customs on St Thomas day, some went through the bar, the rest of us down the steps, send your experiences to DCL, if they ever do make a new ship... Or maybe when the Magic goes to dry dock, enough input may make some changes.

Carla, going again in Jan 2004, but doing the Eastern again because I do not want to figure out new port accessibility!

 

[keystone minnie]

Howdy,
We went on a bus tour of St. Maarten. It was actually quite sad-- St. Maarten is quite poor. After the tour we understood all of the postings about staying on the ship. After the tour we took my grandmother back on the ship and tried to do some shopping. We had one difficult time with the stroller -- I agree -- shopping is better for all sorts of reasons on St. Thomas.

There was one other problem we had on the ship. Those elevators are so small, we couldn't fit the entire family with wheelchair and stroller in one and often times very able bodied people would push there way in front of us. On mulitple occassions we would have to wait 20 minutes for an elevator that was open enough just for the wheel chair and the pusher. When that happened, we folded up the stroller and the rest of us took the steps. (not my choice having just had knee surgery) but the wait really was a bit of a problem. FYI -- we did not have such a problem on the RCCL cruises we took with my Grandmother.