Which Excursion on Eastern DCL for wheelchair?

[gator287]

Hi,

I need to find out if there is an excursion on the Eastern DCL that can accomodate my father's wheelchair? We are looking at St. MArteen since there are no tenders involved there. Any experience is appreciated.
Thanks,
Suzy

 

[dclfun]

St. Maarten isn't accessible unless he can enter a boat to be transported. There's a walkway to the city but it's difficult to navigate, and none of the excursions accommodate a w/c. St. Thomas used to offer a lift bus to Coral World but it's no longer available if booked via DCL. I did find one company though that offered private accessible excursions there, and many of the shops in St. Thomas are accessible.---Kathy

 

[gator287]

KAthy,
THanks for the quick reply. Funny, because we also live in Lakeland. Came to the world wide web to get an answer from a neighbor. I thought we tendered in St. Thomas, is this not the case? I just want to make sure I get this right for my dad. He would like to get off the boat in one port and then at Castaway Cay. He can get out of his chair minimally (Weakness due to lung condition and finishing chemotherapy this month. We sail in May). We will have a manual chair with us as well, if that would help with the excursion.
Thanks for all of your imput!

 

[dclfun]

Hi neighbor! We actually sold our Lakeland home and moved to Hunter's Creek in Orlando in October but we're still close to each other, lol. DCL doesn't normally tender in St. Thomas but I'd be glad to check for your sail date or you could call to be sure. There have been occasions where the ship does tender- rarely. At least in St. Maarten he could get off the ship and visit the few little shops right off the walkway, but the city itself doesn't have curb cuts and all the shops have big steps. St. Thomas would probably be his best bet. I'll try to find my information about accessible tours there- I just can't recall the name of the company offhand. I've enjoyed shopping in the Havensight Mall area and did the tour to Coral World one time. It was a wild ride though- the driver was afraid of my service dog and didn't tie down my chair or that of the other lady in a power chair. We hung on to the seats in front of us laughing and screaming at the same time for dear life as we went up the mountaintop, our chairs slamming back, forth, and sideways. After our experience it's probably why DCL no longer uses that vendor!---Kathy

 

[gator287]

Kathy,

Thanks for the information. I will do some checking on the tendering to make sure we have that right. I will just keep searching St. Thomas for things we can do indenpendently. Thanks again
Suzy

 

[shovan]

This is a cruise that we've been thinking about. (Hi Kathy, hope you're doing well). For some reason, we were under the impression that the Disney boats had a way to transfer wheelchairs to tenders?? We must be totally off base on that!

 

[dclfun]

Unfortunately there is no way to transfer a w/c to the tenders. The boat in St. Maarten that takes you into the city isn't all that large anyway and would require someone to step up and over into it. I have a friend whose daughter is an adult but rather small and she and a friend were able to lift her daughter into the boat and then lift her manual w/c into it during their Eastern cruise a few years ago.The second time they went though the operator of the boat wouldn't allow them to do it, citing safety concerns. This was in St. Maarten. At the ports that have actual tenders, such as Grand Cayman, there is no way to get a w/c on one. Some cruise lines do have tender transfer equipment but I'm not familiar with any cruise line but DCL ( I'm loyal to the Mouse). Once in St. Maarten I ventured on the "highway" with my SD and w/c by myself and missed a turn off to get to the city. It was quite the adventure with being ON the road. Once in the city itself though there were no accessible shops so it wasn't worth it to go over anyway. There are a few little shops right in the area where the ships dock with "touristy" items such as t-shirts and liquor for sale and at least my SD could visit the grass, lol. Other than that, St. Thomas is much more friendly to guests in w/c's. It's tough to have to miss out on so much but it does make me grateful that the country in which I live has the ADA and that I don't face those challenges in my daily life. I can't imagine living in the Caribbean and being in a w/c. I guess those people never leave their homes.---Kathy

 

[shovan]

Unfortunately there is no way to transfer a w/c to the tenders. The boat in St. Maarten that takes you into the city isn't all that large anyway and would require someone to step up and over into it. I have a friend whose daughter is an adult but rather small and she and a friend were able to lift her daughter into the boat and then lift her manual w/c into it during their Eastern cruise a few years ago.The second time they went though the operator of the boat wouldn't allow them to do it, citing safety concerns. This was in St. Maarten. At the ports that have actual tenders, such as Grand Cayman, there is no way to get a w/c on one. Some cruise lines do have tender transfer equipment but I'm not familiar with any cruise line but DCL ( I'm loyal to the Mouse). Once in St. Maarten I ventured on the "highway" with my SD and w/c by myself and missed a turn off to get to the city. It was quite the adventure with being ON the road. Once in the city itself though there were no accessible shops so it wasn't worth it to go over anyway. There are a few little shops right in the area where the ships dock with "touristy" items such as t-shirts and liquor for sale and at least my SD could visit the grass, lol. Other than that, St. Thomas is much more friendly to guests in w/c's. It's tough to have to miss out on so much but it does make me grateful that the country in which I live has the ADA and that I don't face those challenges in my daily life. I can't imagine living in the Caribbean and being in a w/c. I guess those people never leave their homes.---Kathy

Thanks Kathy! For us with the cost of cruising, I just can't see spending all that money & DH not be able to see the places we visit! We did a Carnival Cruise where he was able to get off the boat at 2 of the 3 ports. So I think the DCL cruise is going to be a No-go for us.

 

[BroganMc]

Ok color me confused.

I've taken 3 Royal Caribbean cruises in the last 5-6 years. My last one was in '06. I distinctly remember the port in St. Maarten being a fully accessible pier. I drove my power wheelchair along the sidewalk to the nearby boardwalk and all around the city center. I don't remember there being any issues, save me not being able to drive onto the sand (something I can't do at home either). I was pleasantly surprised how accessible everything was.

Does DCL use a different port? (RCI uses Phillipsburg, St. Maarten)

As far as St. Thomas that was the absolute worst place to venture in my powerchair. ADA regs apply there (since it's a US Protectorate) but they are on their own time for completing them. There's a duty free shopping mall near the pier but to venture into Charlotte Amalie you get quickly stranded on the sidewalks. There's a curb cut on one side and none on the other. The skylift tram is up a flight of steps. But there was a new wheelchair-accessible bus tour offered at the time. My second visit and first time I got to see something more of the island than the pier.

Royal Caribbean also offered wheelchair-accessible tenders in Grand Cayman. I was only there in '02, but I got to tour the island fairly easily. I was using a manual wheelchair at the time though. Grand Cayman is a tiny island atop a an old volcano so no ship can get close enough to use a pier.

I assume tendering is also necessary for Castaway Bay. It certainly is for Royal Caribbean's private island in Haiti (Labadee). But there it's all sand so you must use a beach wheelchair to get around. I leave my PCW in my cabin and borrow a manual to get down to the tender. Beach wheelchairs are land-side.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Castaway Cay has its own dock so no tender boats are necessary.

dolphingirl47

 

[shovan]

Ok color me confused.

I've taken 3 Royal Caribbean cruises in the last 5-6 years. My last one was in '06. I distinctly remember the port in St. Maarten being a fully accessible pier. I drove my power wheelchair along the sidewalk to the nearby boardwalk and all around the city center. I don't remember there being any issues, save me not being able to drive onto the sand (something I can't do at home either). I was pleasantly surprised how accessible everything was.

Does DCL use a different port? (RCI uses Phillipsburg, St. Maarten)

As far as St. Thomas that was the absolute worst place to venture in my powerchair. ADA regs apply there (since it's a US Protectorate) but they are on their own time for completing them. There's a duty free shopping mall near the pier but to venture into Charlotte Amalie you get quickly stranded on the sidewalks. There's a curb cut on one side and none on the other. The skylift tram is up a flight of steps. But there was a new wheelchair-accessible bus tour offered at the time. My second visit and first time I got to see something more of the island than the pier.

Either they are using different ports or the pier was damaged by a hurricane.

We are going to have to check out RC line, just sad because I expected DCL to be the leader in accessibilty.

 

[dclfun]

DCL ports on the other side of St. Maarten. You can get off the ship and there's a little shopping area with "touristy" stuff but can't easily get into the city unless you want to take a boat over. In St. Thomas I had no trouble getting around the Havensight Mall area and one time took an accessible tour up the mountainside and to the aquarium, but that tour is no longer offered with a lift vehicle by DCL- it can be booked independently though. The ships dock directly at Castaway Cay- no tender needed there but you would need someone to push you in the sand wheelchairs. There's a paved walkway along the length of the island and to the bbq area. For Grand Cayman, DCL doesn't offer tenders with lifts. ---Kathy