Photo of ramp to board ship?

[Chickadee]

DH will be renting an ECV and was asking what kind of ramp there is to board/disembark the ship. (Wonder)
I cant seem to find any information on this, or any photos of people boarding.
I am assuming the same ramp is used at all ports?

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

You assumed wrong, as did I. Might be the same ramp in theory, more or less, but in practice it can be totally different.

Just got back from a Eastern 7 nighter. At St. Maarten and St. Thomas, you would board/disembark at level 1. It was a pretty nice ride. A bit steep, but very doable for a powerchair or ECV. (I went with a powerchair, but had an ECV for a couple of years, so know what it's like)

Now, boarding at PC is a bit more of a challange. The angle of the ramp is steeper and the ramp consists of a bit more 'humps and bumps'. My friend uses a manual chair with emotion wheels. Basically, the wheels have power on them to make wheeling very very easy. She needed a hand to embark, it was too steep for too long of a distance. I can imagine certain types of ECV's having a bit more of a hard time at PC. The ones I would consider light duty.

That all being said; there are CM's around all over during boarding and disembarking. Anybody and everybody is very willing to help. If that is not a solution as far as your DH goes or if you have any doubts or questions; contact DCL special services and talk it over. Don't talk in general words, but specific words. DCL has seen ECV's from specific renters go on their ships multiple times. Which worked fine for boarding, which didn't? Which required a helping hand, which didn't?

I talked it all over with DCL special services before our cruise. Not only did it clear a lot of things up, knowing what to expect makes a huge difference imho. With that info on hand, I found the real life experience to be even better. Especially at the ports except PC it was a breeze to embark/disembark. 'Worst' thing was having to wait for folks going the other way to empty the gangway. Well, boohoo.

 

[Chickadee]

Thanks for the great reply
We are trying to get a mental picture of what this ramp looks like. I'm assuming that if you have to wait for people coming the other way that it is very narrow?
Steepness shouldn't be a problem as he is renting "The Dream" from Scootorando, which is a big powerful ECV (from what we've heard).
DH used a power chair for many years and has used EVC's before, so he isnt nervous about his driving skills, its more of a curiosity thing.
Funny no one has a photo of anyone disembarking or boarding any ship, any where!

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Stupid thing is, I never even gave it a second to think about taking such a pic. Did take pics of the 'ramps' in the stateroom to the bathroom and the verandah door, in case a DISer might want to see them. Oh, and I did take pictures of the hallway, both with stateroom host carts in them and without. But alas, no gangway pics from me. How could I have not taken those? Oh well, life and learn.

The waiting was mostly because I do not like being 'stuck' anywhere that isn't a flat underground. My body overreacts to that. So I would wait untill everybody was out of my way and I could embark/disembark without having to slow down.

You could fit a powerchair and person next to eachother on the gangway at the ports, allthough it being a tight fit. No way a stroller or other wheelchair/ECV would fit next to it. At PC the gangway is a lot wider.

Guess it also depends a bit on personal outlook. For instance, I've read multiple people complaining about how difficult they found it to move around the ship while the stateroom host carts were out. Me? No problem with it what so ever. I found those spaces to be tighter than the gangways. To give you an idea; before you embark after being at port, you have to go through a metal detector port thingie. Just like the airport, but this one was just wide enough for me to go through it while staying in the powerchair. Whoohoo for DCL on that one! Anyway, that was a lot tighter than the gangway.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

As large as The Dream Scooter is, I don't know if it would really fit on the ships. Especially in the corridors. I know that using a Pride Go-Go was a tight fit.

And my advice for the various ports with an ECV is if at all possible to walk up or down the gangway holding the handrails and ask one of the crew to (with control towards Turtle) walk alongside the ECV and drive it.

 

[Chickadee]

Cheshire,
We acually are kind of concerned about the size of the Dream scooter, DH is using it mostly for our 2 days at WDW before the cruise. He can walk with a cane, but distances wear him out and cause pain if he cannot sit often.
We wouldn't even bring it on the cruise, but are worried about the distances involved at the ports.
We have one excursion booked at Nassau, the "Sea and See Tour" (Seaworld Explorer semi submarine and city tour by bus). It says its a 10 minute walk to the pickup point, where we were planning to leave the ECV at when he boards the boat/bus. Now a 10 min walk can be very different for someone who walks a normal pace compared to someone with difficulty. Does anyone have an estimate as to how many blocks this would be an equivalent to? (counting the distance from the aft of deck 7 where our cabin is of course).
I dont imagine there are benches along the dock to rest at.
We also would like to spend a bit of time at the shops/market in Nassau, never havng been there it would be something we've never seen. Having the EVC for that would probably be a nesessity also. Although,,, I seem to remember someone posting that there are no curb cuts on sidewalks, can anyone confirm this? If getting around the streets on an EVC would be impossible that would be another reason to not bother bringing it.
Thanks for all the help!

 

[KPeveler]

That ECV is actually LARGER than the ADA definition of a "standard wheelchair/mobility scooter" in length, and i know it is wider than most other scooter as well. In the tight space aboard ship, it may not fit in all spaces. I am pretty sure that it will not fit into restaurants, for example...

Do you have an accessible stateroom? If not, it may not even fit in your room. Also, since it is technically larger than what the ADA makes allowance for, elevators and such may not be big enough. Perhaps someone else here can help....

 

[Tiggerish]

Is using a rollator an option? A rollator is a walker with four wheels and a fold down seat. It gives you more support and stability than a cane. Since it has a seat, it provides the ability to sit and rest, whenever and wherever. I use an ECV for WDW but for the cruise my rollator was a better choice.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

When I did a cruise I did take a See and Sea tour with a semi-sub. I did not use my ECV (it could not get on the bus and Nassau does not have any ADA or equal). It was a walk on rough ground and also once on the boat I had to navigate a flight of stairs. I think that none of the tours that DCL arranges for are accessible (unless they have changed in the last two years) becuase the tour companies are under no legal obligation to be accessible and they do enough business to not care.

Kathy - any comment on DCL tours?

 

[Chickadee]

Cheshire,
Was there a place that you could leave your ECV to get on the See and Sea tour? What exactly is this meeting place that is a 10 min walk? Is it a terminal of some kind that he could park the EVC, take the key and not worry about it for the tour?
He can do stairs, his biggest obstacles are distance and low seats. He has had 2 hip replacements in the last year and has back issues.
There are no tours that we know of that are completely accessible. At least this one is doable if you can get to the pickup point and get on the boat/bus.
Can you estimate how far in city blocks the walk from the boat was?
And how far from the boat to the straw market or Bay street?

 

[Chickadee]

Is using a rollator an option? A rollator is a walker with four wheels and a fold down seat. It gives you more support and stability than a cane. Since it has a seat, it provides the ability to sit and rest, whenever and wherever. I use an ECV for WDW but for the cruise my rollator was a better choice.

Oh and DH has a rollator walker. It is also very heavy duty- wider and higher seat than most. He thinks taking it on the plane-changing planes once on the way, then to the WDW resort, then to the ship, then back to the airport, onto 2 planes coming home, would be a hassle. It would be too big to fit in the cabin of the plane so would need to go into cargo. We cannot find a travel case for it as it is not standard size. The company that made it even said they had one that fit, but when we got it- no such luck.

The Dream scooter is larger than most but he probably wouldnt use it much ON the ship, just to get on and off the ship. He can walk to restaurants- we are in an aft cabin. And if we take our time even the front of the ship is doable I think.

 

[dclfun]

I'm going on the Wonder Oct 25th and will gladly take some photos of all the ramps. The ramp going into the ship does have some bumps- one time my tires were a bit low and the bolt on my chair (that anchors it into my EZ lock for driving )prevented me from getting over one of the larger bumps. I had to then turn around and back onto the ship. A poor crew member was a nervous wreck but I was fine. The ramps getting on/off the ship in ports can vary quite a bit in steepness due to the water levels. I've had a few wild rides where I almost fell forward out of my w/c when the water level was high, and due to that bolt I always have to back up the ramp to get back on the ship. Crew members on either side of the ramp though are great and have asked people to wait for me since once I get a "running start" it's hard to stop on a steep angle. As to the OP, can you rent a manual w/c for the cruise portion? There are companies that will deliver to the port and one would be waiting for you. I know it's not the freedom of an ECV but maneuverability can be tight onboard in certain locations and the elevators are small. I agree to speak with special services about any mobility concerns on the excursions so they can look into details for you. I'm not familiar with the Dream Scooter or it's dimensions but special services can give you the dimensions of the elevators and doorways.---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

I know it's not the freedom of an ECV but maneuverability can be tight onboard in certain locations and the elevators are small. I agree to speak with special services about any mobility concerns on the excursions so they can look into details for you. I'm not familiar with the Dream Scooter or it's dimensions but special services can give you the dimensions of the elevators and doorways.---Kathy

the Dream Scooter is basically styled like a small motorcycle, so fitting in spaces may be problematic. I suggest you call the company you are renting it from and get the dimensions (total width and total length - get both measurements with the front tire out straight and the with it turned to the side). Then call the Special Services department with those numbers and see what they say. My guess is the Dream Scooter will be too big (based on people with power wheelchairs thst are smaller who report things were tight).

Also, I didn't see anthing written about how you are transporting the scooter. The Dream scooter does not come apart, so you will need a wheelchair accessible vehicle.

 

[dclfun]

If you are taking DCL transfers then this scooter would not fit on the lift and I doubt it would fit underneath the motorcoach either- definitely call and find out.---Kathy

 

[Chickadee]

Like I said, we would be using the scooter to get on and off the ship (and get to excursions), not to manuver around the ship and thru hallways, restaurants etc.
We are using DCL transfers and were assured that this scooter has been on the DCL busses many times. (and therefore on the ship itself)
We have been told, and have read on other posts, that the scooter is ADA compliant and fits on all standard lifts. The only difference being that once you drive onto the lift, you have to turn the front wheel sideways as it is longer than most scooters.
Apparently this company has modified The Dream so that it adheres to standard specs. The Dream that is sold retail lists its specs and being slightly larger than the one scootorlando rents out.
Honestly, this is really stressing me out, DH didn't want to rent a scooter at all and it took finding this "Harley style" scooter to convince him that it wouldnt ruin his fun to have a scooter. Long story, but he was in a power wheelchair for years and recently had "miracle surgeries" to get him walking again. He still does physical therapy to strengthen and stretch muscles. He's a young guy and wanted this to be his celebration trip. It will be our "once in a lifetime" vacation.
To tell him that he needs a walker or a manual chair or just to stay on the ship would break his heart.

 

[SueM in MN]

As large as The Dream Scooter is, I don't know if it would really fit on the ships. Especially in the corridors. I know that using a Pride Go-Go was a tight fit.

And my advice for the various ports with an ECV is if at all possible to walk up or down the gangway holding the handrails and ask one of the crew to (with control towards Turtle) walk alongside the ECV and drive it.

Not knowing which Pride Go-Go Cheshire Figment has, I chose the largest one for a size comparison. It is 40.25 in long and 21.125 in wide, considerably smaller than the Dream.
Some people have posted in the past that they planned to keep their ECV in their room, but could not even get it inside. I don't know what kind of storage facilities the ship has for ECVs, if they even have any, and whether or not they are first come, first serve. That was one of the big reasons I suggested getting the measurements and contacting the Special Services Department for the Cruise Line.

With the front wheel turned, the Dream does meet the 48 inches criteria, but there are some things where 48 inches total may fit better than 48 inches with the wheel turned. As you can see on the pictures on this thread, it does fit on the resort/park bus lifts, but is a tight fit.

Even if ScooterOrlando has made the scooter slightly smaller, it is still very much on the edge of meeting the definition of 'common wheelchair' that the ADA provides for. It appears that most of the modifications were probably things like removing the bumpers over the tires, which take off a small amount. Since your DH has power wheelchair experience, he will probably do better than someone without that experience. He should practice for a bit because he will need to 'relearn' what his 'space' is. When my DD got her new power wheelchair, she had to relearn a bit because her old one was rear wheel drive and her newer front wheel drive one turns much shaper (almost within it's own footprint), where the old one did not. That meant she sometimes turned too late with the new wheelchair because that's the point she would have turned with her old one.

Cheshire,
We acually are kind of concerned about the size of the Dream scooter, DH is using it mostly for our 2 days at WDW before the cruise. He can walk with a cane, but distances wear him out and cause pain if he cannot sit often.
We wouldn't even bring it on the cruise, but are worried about the distances involved at the ports.
We have one excursion booked at Nassau, the "Sea and See Tour" (Seaworld Explorer semi submarine and city tour by bus). It says its a 10 minute walk to the pickup point, where we were planning to leave the ECV at when he boards the boat/bus. Now a 10 min walk can be very different for someone who walks a normal pace compared to someone with difficulty. Does anyone have an estimate as to how many blocks this would be an equivalent to? (counting the distance from the aft of deck 7 where our cabin is of course).
I dont imagine there are benches along the dock to rest at.
We also would like to spend a bit of time at the shops/market in Nassau, never havng been there it would be something we've never seen. Having the EVC for that would probably be a nesessity also. Although,,, I seem to remember someone posting that there are no curb cuts on sidewalks, can anyone confirm this? If getting around the streets on an EVC would be impossible that would be another reason to not bother bringing it.
Thanks for all the help!

People have posted in the past that there are no curb cuts and that the only place on any of the Disney cruises that was really accessible was CastAway Cay.
I don't know how helpful this will be, but here is a link to an article on allearsnet.com about the walking tour of Nassau from the Disney Wonder in Dec. 2007 (with pictures, which makes it look like they did a lot of walking on the streets).

The wdwinfo.com part of the DIS site also has an extensive set of information about the Disney Cruise line, including this page of picture links.

When I did a cruise I did take a See and Sea tour with a semi-sub. I did not use my ECV (it could not get on the bus and Nassau does not have any ADA or equal). It was a walk on rough ground and also once on the boat I had to navigate a flight of stairs. I think that none of the tours that DCL arranges for are accessible (unless they have changed in the last two years) becuase the tour companies are under no legal obligation to be accessible and they do enough business to not care.

Kathy - any comment on DCL tours?

Like I said, we would be using the scooter to get on and off the ship (and get to excursions), not to manuver around the ship and thru hallways, restaurants etc.
We are using DCL transfers and were assured that this scooter has been on the DCL busses many times. (and therefore on the ship itself)
We have been told, and have read on other posts, that the scooter is ADA compliant and fits on all standard lifts. The only difference being that once you drive onto the lift, you have to turn the front wheel sideways as it is longer than most scooters.
Apparently this company has modified The Dream so that it adheres to standard specs. The Dream that is sold retail lists its specs and being slightly larger than the one scootorlando rents out.
Honestly, this is really stressing me out, DH didn't want to rent a scooter at all and it took finding this "Harley style" scooter to convince him that it wouldnt ruin his fun to have a scooter. Long story, but he was in a power wheelchair for years and recently had "miracle surgeries" to get him walking again. He still does physical therapy to strengthen and stretch muscles. He's a young guy and wanted this to be his celebration trip. It will be our "once in a lifetime" vacation.
To tell him that he needs a walker or a manual chair or just to stay on the ship would break his heart.

This is a picture of the DME bus lift.

It is the same as the DCL bus - the main difference is the outside decoration/theming. The lift is fairly similar in size to the lifts on the resort/park buses. The biggest difference is how high the lift goes up.
Because of the size of the Dream scooter and that it doesn't come apart for transport, you will need to make sure that DCL Transportation knows you need one of the accessible buses. Not all are accessible; that is just an inconvenience for us when we use DME to get to our resort, because we just wait a bit longer. Not having an accessible bus could mean you miss your boat, that's why I mentioned the bus situation.

Good luck on your trip.

 

[Chickadee]

So,,, I phoned DCL customer service and asked if there was anywhere DH could leave the scooter for the See and Sea tour. She put me on hold so she could "brainstorm" with the CM who looks after accesiblity issues. She got back on the line and told me no, there is no place to leave the scooter, and we would not have time for DH to drive to the meet-up point and have me drive the scooter back to the ship and walk back to the meet-up. So she said they only possiblity they could think of, is that DH could maybe use one of their folding wheelchairs, and leave it on the tour operators' bus during the boat part of the tour as well as the bus part. She said the only reason we would be able to use one of DCL's wheelchairs, which are only for emergency use usually, is because we would be using it for a DCL booked excursion. The big IF she gave us, is that they would have to get the CM in charge of excursions to contact the See and Sea Excurison vendor to ask if he could leave the wheelchair on their bus for both parts of the excursion.
If the vendor says no, we will have to cancel the excursion.
She was very helpful and seemed to be trying her best to accomidate us.
She said they will get back to us in a few days.
I'll be discussing the scooter size further when the CM in the accesiblity department calls me back with news on the excursion question.
One problem at a time,,,,lol

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

So,,, I phoned DCL customer service and asked if there was anywhere DH could leave the scooter for the See and Sea tour. She put me on hold so she could "brainstorm" with the CM who looks after accesiblity issues. She got back on the line and told me no, there is no place to leave the scooter, and we would not have time for DH to drive to the meet-up point and have me drive the scooter back to the ship and walk back to the meet-up. So she said they only possiblity they could think of, is that DH could maybe use one of their folding wheelchairs, and leave it on the tour operators' bus during the boat part of the tour as well as the bus part. She said the only reason we would be able to use one of DCL's wheelchairs, which are only for emergency use usually, is because we would be using it for a DCL booked excursion. The big IF she gave us, is that they would have to get the CM in charge of excursions to contact the See and Sea Excurison vendor to ask if he could leave the wheelchair on their bus for both parts of the excursion.
If the vendor says no, we will have to cancel the excursion.
She was very helpful and seemed to be trying her best to accomidate us.
She said they will get back to us in a few days.
I'll be discussing the scooter size further when the CM in the accesiblity department calls me back with news on the excursion question.
One problem at a time,,,,lol

Talk to shore excursions desk onboard once you get there. They are your best shot in my experience. Having said that; there isn't much they can offer that is fully accessible. Either no room to bring along anything else than a collapsible wheelchair and/or you will be required to walk some steps and/or you are required to be able to get on and off a bus yourself etc. etc.

Having said that, I found the desk CM's A LOT more cooperative then the mainland folks. The latter basically just hid behind 'can not promis anything, therefor wont offer anything', when I was just looking for info. Talked to shore desk onboard and explained I knew it would be tough to find me something but I'ld rather do it through DCL because of making sure you don't miss the ship. Explained what I was looking for (which included some stuff most folks would think I'm nuts for still wanting to do), and the manager had a good time hunting something down for me. Didn't work in the end, but they tried their butts off for me.

To give you an idea; I'm in a powerchair. That scares the lot out of most folks when talking about arranging stuff. I explained me being interested in going parasailing, or something else 'out there'. I always do one of those things each trip. This particular CM didn't go but went . Asked what I might be interested in and what my limitations are. Nothing was 'out of discussion' from the get go. He checked them all out, knowing from the get go it was going to be 'interesting' to find me something.


Besides DCL, also do a search on your own. There might be some options that DCL can not offer you that you might be interested in.

 

[SueM in MN]

If you choose to stay with the Dream scooter, I would be very interested on your DH's impressions and experience with it.
If you choose to go with something smaller, ScooterOrlando has some very nice smaller models. While they are not as 'non-traditional looking' as the Dream scooter is, they are more streamlined and modern looking than many of the other companies rent.

 

[dclfun]

I wanted to mention that there *are* curb cuts on some streets in Nassau and many shops there now have ramps, albeit rather steep ones that probably don't meet ADA requirements. I was able to get into the Hard Rock t-shirt shop, many of the touristy-type stores, and even through parts of the straw market. There is an a/c fully accessible building with accessible restrooms that is between the cruise ship docks and Nassau itself that each guest passes through to/from. There are straw market handmade and touristy items there for sale. For the OP, I hope the vendor will allow for the folding manual w/c to be left on the bus- I guess alot would depend on whether the bus will be waiting for your group or going somewhere else to pick up other guests while you are on the "sea" part of the excursion. You may also want to ask ( if you haven't already found out) how steep the steps are onto the bus and if it "kneels" if your husband has trouble going up steps. It's a shame that getting around in the bahamian/caribbean islands pose such a challenge. I'm just glad I don't live *in* those places though where I'd be trapped in my home. Makes me appreciate the ADA.---Kathy