Tendering

[Sideways]

Is boarding tenders out of the question for someone in a wheelchair? Actually my sister who is in a wheel chair can walk short distances but has poor balance. Would it be to dangerous for her to attempt boarding a tender?

[prairie_fox]

I have seen many people in wheelchairs use a tender. The crew helps them on and off the tenders at the ship. The only problems I can see is if the weather made it harder to get on an off with the waves being bad. No reason she shouldnt be able to go into tender ports.

[cjh]

We have had no problem tendering with Princess

[Splinter]

I assume she has a manual wheelchair. Have her stay in the wheelchair. They will either use a tender platform accessed by an elevator, or carry her up and down the gangway stairs in her wheelchair. I always put a seat belt on my mother for this though, as they can move the chair in unexpected ways, and since her sitting balance is not good, I don't want her falling out of the chair.

Have a back-up plan for tender ports. If it is rough, they won't let her go ashore, and she would be at high risk of injury. Staying on board does not have to be a disaster. My dad and I sometimes leave my mother on the ship when we go snorkeling or something, and she enjoys going to the movies or just sitting by the pool and talking with the others who stayed on board. The crew is good about helping her get drinks or assistance with doorways to go to lunch, etc. It is not like leaving someone behind at a hotel.

[Sideways]

Thanks so much for your opinions. I told my sister what you all had to say. She is a bit nervous about being carryed in her wheel chair. She is a big person. Also at one port she wants to to ashore in an electric scooter. Will that make it harder?

[Hebe]

Hi Sideways

Which ports and cruise are you talking about your sister taking. This may help us tell you if a scooter and wheelchair is usable.

[Sideways]

We are tendering at two ports. At Zihuatanejo she will use the wheel chair. We are going on a Charter fishing boat. They will pick us up on the dock close to where the tender drops us off. In Cabo San Lucas it would be nice to have the scooter. We're just going to do some shoping and bars.

[sologrip]

We are tendering at two ports. At Zihuatanejo she will use the wheel chair. We are going on a Charter fishing boat. They will pick us up on the dock close to where the tender drops us off. In Cabo San Lucas it would be nice to have the scooter. We're just going to do some shoping and bars.

The DCL cruise I took to California last year had a tender stop at Cabo...no scooter allowed...too bad. Some friends loaded me up in a manual chair and we had a great time until coming back to the ship where the tender captain lost his marbles and unloaded all the able bodied passengers from the tender first, which allowed the tender to rise about a foot and bob around like a cork...Rule #1...Wheelchairs off first!

[daju22]

Hello Sideways,

My husband tendered in Cabo last December with his scooter. We were on Celebrity's Infinity. The crew carried his scooter on and off the tender. They also helped my husband step onto and off of the tender as he also has poor balance.
I guess it depends on the ship, the weather and the captain.

[5 p's in a pod]

Is boarding tenders out of the question for someone in a wheelchair? Actually my sister who is in a wheel chair can walk short distances but has poor balance. Would it be to dangerous for her to attempt boarding a tender?

No...not at all. I am in a wheelchair permanently and tendering was no problem. The staff had to carry me, in my chair, up and down some stairs but they did it with no problem. And I'm not small...I am 6'5" tall and weigh about 245 pounds. It took a couple of guys but they did it. Don't worry about it.

[Bookwmn1]

Thanks so much for the information on tendering. I am cruising in May on Princess with a friend who has physical limitations and had some concerns about stairs in case we would have to use a tender.

Nancy

Sun Princess, 5/28/06

[sanspike]

I have never had a tendering problem until my last cruise. It was Catalina on Carnival. The turn was too narrow and they could not get a wheelchair thru it. They wanted me to get up and walk. I was really upset, as they should have asked before they sent me out to the platform. It has never happened before.

Sanspike

[Sarahsmom85]

My DH uses a wheelchair> In January I asked and asked it would be ok to tender with an power chair everyone kept telling my yes. It was ok until we got on a small tender coming back to the boat in Cozamel, and finding out we had to go up a flight of stairs to exit the tender. No way in a power chair. Ended up transfering into someone elses manual chair. I think for now on we will use the manual chair for tendering and being a empty power chair if we plan to do a lot of walking.