questions about wheelchairs on DCL

[poohstx]

I have a friend wanting to book a Disney cruise. We have a few questions.
Where are the handicap rooms on board and how are they?
Any recommendations for getting around?
My friend wants to bring her own electric chair. What about recharging the battery?
What about getting off the ship? Tours at the ports of call?
Are standard wheelchairs available?
What about getting from airport to cruise line on disney bus. with electric wheelchair?
Thanks for your help! Sue

 

[eek40]

Originally posted by poohstx
I have a friend wanting to book a Disney cruise. We have a few questions.
Where are the handicap rooms on board and how are they?
Any recommendations for getting around?
My friend wants to bring her own electric chair. What about recharging the battery?
What about getting off the ship? Tours at the ports of call?
Are standard wheelchairs available?
What about getting from airport to cruise line on disney bus. with electric wheelchair?
Thanks for your help! Sue

Hi Sue,
I hope I can help here. I just returned from my disney cruise about 4 days ago. There are a few handicapped rooms on board, I had a catagory 6, room 6654. ITS HUGE! Plenty of room for a electric chair both in the room and on the balcony. They have roll in showers, and a bath with railings on the sides. The room has plenty of space to move around in and the door is automatic. I am not sure about tours as I didnt do any. The disney buses ask ahead of time if you need a lift , and if you do they provide a bus with one on it for your use. As far as recharging there are several places in the room to plug in the chair. My only complaint is that the door out on the verhanda/balcony is very very heavy and hard to open up.
Aimee

 

[SueM in MN]

There are several DIS posters who have been on cruises with power wheelchairs (not me, sorry to say). The biggest difficulties that have been reported are that the elevators are small and often full, so it may take several tries to get where you want to go on the elevator. From what I have read, the off-shore trip at Castaway Cay is accessible because of the way that Disney built the dock. They are using island supplied docks or tender boats at the other trips, so not accessible. And, if they have changed that, the islands were not developed with accessibility in mind, so there will be curbs without curb cuts, etc.
I don't know if this link from the official Disney site about Cruise line accessibility still works (Disney is always moving things around on their site, so a link that worked one time doesn't always work a second time). Anyway, it's worth a try. If it doesn't work, you could try going to the Disney site at www.disney.com and do a search for "wheelchair" and "cruise".

 

[poohstx]

Thanks for your help. We called Mouse Ears vacations and they have a employee who is in a wheelchair and helps people plan their vacations! I think he will be very helpful!!
Aimee....would you mind if my friend emailed you directly for any other questions?
Thnaks again..... I LOVE these message boards.....everyone is so willing to help and answer questions! Sue

 

[eek40]

Sue,

My email is eek40@aol.com

Feel free to email me at anytime!
Aimee

 

[dclfun]

Sorry I'm late in reading your question about DCL and accessibility. I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have. There is a medical special services coordinator at DCL if you contact them directly also. ---Kathy