New restrictions on mobility scooters

[cotatica]

My apologies for cut and pasting this from Joankiara but I feel it is very important. Anyone else hear anything about this? It doesn't make sense if a scooter can be stored in a reg room, the Travelscoot can, but with so many scooters starting to be left in elevator and stair areas this may be their way of limiting us to traveling if we are disabled but there are no disabled cabins. If this is true it is very sad!
joankiara
Cool Cruiser

Posts: 81


New restrictions on mobility scooters from March 2013
Yesterday we booked a cruise on P & O UK going from the UK to the Mediterranean then back to the UK....sounds great. During the booking process it was brought to our attention that as of March 2013 you will only be able to use mobility scooters (any kind including TS) if you are occupying a 'disabled' cabin. Our cruise isn't until September but no disabled cabins available for this cruise...we have still booked but asked to be put on the wait list if such a cabin becomes available. We can manage if need be without the TS around the ship but it just makes life so much more enjoyable for my husband.

Apparently this is a new directive from Carnival that UK travel agents have been sent affecting all Cunard, Princess and P & O UK cruises. If we wanted to pay double the standard balcony cabin price, we could have a mini suite 'disabled' cabin but this was not an option for us. Previously the policy was that you had to be wheelchair bound to use a disabled cabin, now it has been changed that if you want to use a mobility scooter on board you must occupy a disabled cabin regardless of your level of disability. We are pretty disappointed at this change of policy and wonder how others feel. My husband has used his TS recently on a short cruise and found it very liberating and we are certainly taking it on our South American trip in January. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of disgruntled TS owners when this information gets around a bit more!

[rbrugler]

I use a scooter on cruises and agree with this policy. It is hard enough to maneuver around cleaning carts, ice chests and laundry bags in the hallway without having travel scooters in the way. I would think that the cruise lines could remodel a few more rooms for those with special needs.

[Donna's Dad]

Originally Posted by cotatica

My apologies for cut and pasting this from Joankiara but I feel it is very important. Anyone else hear anything about this? It doesn't make sense if a scooter can be stored in a reg room, the Travelscoot can, but with so many scooters starting to be left in elevator and stair areas this may be their way of limiting us to traveling if we are disabled but there are no disabled cabins. If this is true it is very sad!
joankiara
Cool Cruiser

Posts: 81


New restrictions on mobility scooters from March 2013
Yesterday we booked a cruise on P & O UK going from the UK to the Mediterranean then back to the UK....sounds great. During the booking process it was brought to our attention that as of March 2013 you will only be able to use mobility scooters (any kind including TS) if you are occupying a 'disabled' cabin. Our cruise isn't until September but no disabled cabins available for this cruise...we have still booked but asked to be put on the wait list if such a cabin becomes available. We can manage if need be without the TS around the ship but it just makes life so much more enjoyable for my husband.

Apparently this is a new directive from Carnival that UK travel agents have been sent affecting all Cunard, Princess and P & O UK cruises. If we wanted to pay double the standard balcony cabin price, we could have a mini suite 'disabled' cabin but this was not an option for us. Previously the policy was that you had to be wheelchair bound to use a disabled cabin, now it has been changed that if you want to use a mobility scooter on board you must occupy a disabled cabin regardless of your level of disability. We are pretty disappointed at this change of policy and wonder how others feel. My husband has used his TS recently on a short cruise and found it very liberating and we are certainly taking it on our South American trip in January. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of disgruntled TS owners when this information gets around a bit more!

You can only blame this on people who leave their equipment in hallways and elevator/stair areas.

And as for linen cart and such, they have places to store them, they're just too lazy to put them away.

What I've found, is calling the passenger desk, and complain, gets results.

Cato

Completed Cruises !

Pre-cruise Days - The Big Red Boat, 1993 ??

1st cruise - Coral Princess, 19 November 2008, 10 day Panama Canal, FLL to ACA
2nd cruise - Coral Princess, 15 May 2009, 3 day Repositioning, Los Angeles to Vancouver.
3rd cruise - Sapphire Princess, 25 November 2009? 7 day Mexican Riviera.
4th cruise - Golden Princes, 12 June 2010, 7 day Alaska. (Golden Anniversary Cruise)
5th Cruise - Island Princess, 04 October 2010, Vancouver - Los Angeles, Repositioning
6th cruise - Sapphire Princess, 05 January 2011, 10 day Mexican Riviera. LA to LA.
7th cruise - Golden Princess, 11 May 2011, 3 day, LA to Vancouver, Repositioning
8th cruise - Sapphire Princess, 14 May 2011, 1 day, Vancouver to Seattle, Repositioning
9th cruise - Coral Princess 19 May 2011 2 day, San Francisco to Vancouver, Repositioning
10th & 11th cruises - Coral Princess 02 July to 16 July 2011, round trip Vancouver - Whittier Alaska, B2B
12th & 13th cruises - Sapphire Princess, x2, Cabins, 18 Sep. 2011, 1 day, Seattle to Vancouver, Repositioning
14th & 15th cruises - Golden Princess, x2, Cabins, 24 Sep. 2011, 1 day, Seattle to Vancouver, Repositioning.
We have now reached Elite status with Princess Cruise Lines
16th cruise - Oasis of the Seas, 26 Nov. 2011, 7 day, Western Caribbean, Ft. Lauderdale, Ret.
17th & 18th cruises - Crown Princess B2B, 03 - 10 Dec & 10 - 17 Dec 2011, 14 Days, South & western Caribbean
19th cruise - Grand Princess, 31 Mar. - 07Jun.0212 7 Days, Eastern Caribbean, FLL - FLL
20th cruise - Island Princess, 06-16 June 2012, 10 day cruisetour Vancouver - Wittier
21th cruise - Emerald Princess, 16 day, 10 - 26 Sep. 2012, TA, Copenhagen - New York


Future & Hopeful Cruises !
( Already booked )

22nd cruise - Carnival Ecstasy 10 - 14 January, 2013, 4 Day Bahamas, Port Canaveral Ret.
23rd cruise - Sapphire Princess 31 March - 06 April, 2013, 7 Day Coastal LA - LA
24thh cruise - Royal Princess 16 June - 05 July, 2013, 19 Day Inaugural cruise, Southampton - Venice.
25thcruise - Emerald Princess, 01 Oct. - 16 Oct. 2013, 16 Day Cruisetour, Toronto Via Quebec City to New York City
26th cruise - Royal Princess, 14 November - 01 December, 2013, Eastern Caribbean, Fort Lauderdale Ret.

[xxoocruiser]

This change in P&O policy has been circulating around the CC Forum for several months now. The directive from Carnival was probabably issued to be compliant with the new E.U. regulations for all cruises initiating from a E.U. Port that came into play December 18, 2012 rather than it being an arbitrary policy change.

[terrierjohn]

Originally Posted by xxoocruiser

This change in P&O policy has been circulating around the CC Forum for several months now. The directive from Carnival was probabably issued to be compliant with the new E.U. regulations for all cruises initiating from a E.U. Port that came into play December 18, 2012 rather than it being an arbitrary policy change.

Do you have a link to this directive?

I have not heard that RCCL/Celebrity are amending their booking regulations to meet this ruling and they both have lots of ships starting from EU ports during the summer.

Could this be due to Carnival over reacting to an EU H&S directive?

[xxoocruiser]

Originally Posted by terrierjohn

Do you have a link to this directive?

Do not have link. Just remember reading about it on CC back a while ago. One of the Moderators posted it on another forum. The article posted was very limited and just hightlight some of the sames. The Regualtions that went into early this month were actaully passed sometime in . Not certain this is the reason that Carnival made this policy change that's why I stated in my original post that it was probably due to these new regulations. Perhaps I should have worded my post to state "may be a result of " .

Originally Posted by terrierjohn

Could this be due to Carnival over reacting to an EU H&S directive?

Think you raise a good point given that other cruise lines sailing from EU ports have not changed their policies.

Also read somewhere that people are in an uproar over this policy change and are appealing to their EU lawmakers to apply pressure to get P&O to change this policy . However don't know how all that works in the EU.

[rbrugler]

[quote=Donna's Dad;36480283][color=RoyalBlue]You can only blame this on people who leave their equipment in hallways and elevator/stair areas.

And as for linen cart and such, they have places to store them, they're just too lazy to put them away.

What I've found, is calling the passenger desk, and complain, gets results.

Cato


Cato, I did not say nor did I imply that the crew is too lazy to put their cleaning carts and such away. They use these things, and if one is using a scooter in the hallway when they are cleaning, it can be difficult to maneuver past them. The staff is always quite helpful. Please do not put words in my posts that are not there.

[Donna's Dad]

[quote=rbrugler;36486090][quote=Donna's Dad;36480283][color=RoyalBlue]You can only blame this on people who leave their equipment in hallways and elevator/stair areas.

And as for linen cart and such, they have places to store them, they're just too lazy to put them away.

What I've found, is calling the passenger desk, and complain, gets results.

Cato


Cato, I did not say nor did I imply that the crew is too lazy to put their cleaning carts and such away. They use these things, and if one is using a scooter in the hallway when they are cleaning, it can be difficult to maneuver past them. The staff is always quite helpful. Please do not put words in my posts that are not there.[


I did not try to put words in your mouth, I was passing on my own experiences, on 20 out of 21 cruises.

Cato.

[HamburgAvonLady]

Wouldn't this be a violation of the US Disability act ??? It certainly sounds like discrimination to me.

[1025cruise]

The American's with Disability Act doesn't cover cruise ships, per se. Plus the ships do have cabins available for people that need them.

I think the general reason for the rule is to make sure that there is a place to safely store the scooter inside the cabin. Since it is known that most scooters won't fit in regular cabins, rather than taking an approach that could leave the rule open to interpretation, with the end result the scooter not fitting in the cabin, all P&O is doing is making sure there is a place to put the scooter.

[xxoocruiser]

Originally Posted by HamburgAvonLady

Wouldn't this be a violation of the US Disability act ??? It certainly sounds like discrimination to me.

The only cruise ship in which the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) applies to is NCL's Pride of America as it's the only cruise ship registered to and sails under the USA flag.

There are limited regulations under the USA Passenger Vessel Service Act of 1886 and the Federal Regulations that went into effect back last year on 1/1/2012 that apply to all other cruise ships ONLY IF THE SHIP EMBARKS FROM A USA PORT.

P&O's Policy does not violate any of these regulations as the OP is referring to a cruise that is departing from the UK for the Mediterranean and not embarking from a USA port.

[Chunky2219]

As XXOCruiser says, this has been around for many months. I believe it aslo affects Cunard, but have not seen any publicity about it extending to Princess or the other Celebrity brands (yet).

It just means that getting hold of an accessible cabin will be even harder than it has been, because people who could cheerfully cope with a standard cabin and a small scooter which will dismantle will nevertheless have to go for the wheelchair cabins.

It is a short sighted measure that unfortunately brought out the worst in some people on the forum, encouraging out all sorts of vitriol about folks with scooters and chairs. The armchair doctors who can diagnose a malingerer from fifty paces were the worst.

If your pockets are deep enough you can always go for a suite. These are exemped from the new rules. But it does seem to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut and it's hardly a way to fill ships in these difficult economic times.
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[Chunky2219]

Oops! I meant Carnival, not Celebrity. Too late to edit. Sorry

[duck addict]

The ADA does apply to cruise ships regardless to flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spector...ruise_Line_Ltd.
NCL subsequently settled with all the passengers involved.

At least if there is any US contact such as departing from, stopping at, or disembarking at any US port.

For a foreign cruise line (which basically all except the one US flagged ship are) that starts the cruise in another country and does not touch US soil, it might be a fun legal fight (such as : If the cruise was booked through a US travel agency...??)

[joankiara]

Originally Posted by duck addict

The ADA does apply to cruise ships regardless to flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spector...ruise_Line_Ltd.
NCL subsequently settled with all the passengers involved.

At least if there is any US contact such as departing from, stopping at, or disembarking at any US port.

For a foreign cruise line (which basically all except the one US flagged ship are) that starts the cruise in another country and does not touch US soil, it might be a fun legal fight (such as : If the cruise was booked through a US travel agency...??)

Interesting to see the reaction to my original post about the use of a Travelscoot on a forthcoming cruise. A couple of days ago I contacted the UK agents and said that OK if we weren't able to access one of the disabled cabins by the time the cruise was due to leave in September (presumabley there might be some cancellations), we would like to bring the Travelscoot on board with us as luggage so my husband could use it in the ports of call.....everyone knows how much walking can be involved in some ports and we don't always want to go on organized tours, just do our own thing locally. The TA came back to me and said she had been in contact with P & O UK and we couldn't bring the travelscoot on board and would have to make our own arrangements for storing it in the UK while we were on the cruise....we are only flying in from Australia to join this cruise and don't happen to have any family at hand down there in the Southampton area to 'dump' this troublesome fully collapsible ,(fit in your pocket almost) Travelscoot. Tough luck, we have our regulations, is in effect what P & O are saying.

Now what if I was an avid golfer and wanted to bring my golf bag with me to have a round of golf in some places...would I be restricted from taking my clubs with me?? I only make this point as some American TS users transport their Travelscoots in golf bags???

I also checked on the Disabled facilities site (on cruise.co.uk) again today, and every one of the major cruise lines excepting Fred Olsen state you can bring your electric mobility scooter on board and not a mention of having to book a disabled cabin.

We saw some huge mobility scooters (rental ones) on our last cruise and these were stored in the stairwell areas at night - obviously these folk were not in disabled cabins. I never saw any scooters left outside cabins blocking access either. We were always very aware of the busy times in lifts and frequently went to the far end of the ship to use the lifts there so as not to inconvenience other passengers. We never took it to the dining area in the evening either.

I haven't given up the battle to take the TS on board as luggage yet....just need to maybe get through a few layers of the P & O system!

Joankiara

[triplejs]

i've just read this thread. if it is true and starts being enforced, i hope that any cruise line that pulls this CRAP is ready to leave the US. the lawsuits will be coming. there will be ways to make the cruise lines understand that they will NOT be welcome in US ports. can we say boycott ??

[Shebbieal]

Cool your jets Triplejs! No boycott here. I am disabled and life isn't always fair.

I use a power chair and have cruised over 40 times, always having a h/c cabin. I realize with this maybe a h/c cabin will become a more coveted commodity, but I book way out anyways. A mobility device should be in the cabin, if not major fire issue! My suggestion would be for the cruise line to get the measurements, so for example a Travelscoot chair, folded up, would be fine in a regular cabin.

This is my opinion, no harm intended! Right now, just European cruises. I am sure lawyers will get involved!

Sherry

[triplejs]

i have a Pride Go-GO Elite travel scooter that breaks down into 4 separate pieces. so far i've cruised on RCCL, X, and even Carnival, several airlines, too, with no issues. i don't need a H/C cabin, so that's not an issue. i'm on the Island Princess, LA to FLL, Panamal Canal cruise in 2 weeks. next year my plans are for an RCCL european crusie. i guess we'll see what RCCL plans for us. i really don't think that i am over reacting to items like this. BTW, fairness has NOTHING to do with this. we really don't need to go down that road.

[rbrugler]

Maybe the cruise lines could take out a couple of inside rooms and open them up to the hallways so there is a place to park scooters. As we baby boomers age, there is only going to be more of them. And as I said earlier, I think the ban on parking in hallways is a great idea.

[Shebbieal]

Triplejs,

Whether you need or don't need a h/c cabin isn't the issue, if you require the use of a scooter they are saying it must be stored in your cabin. They need to address the fact that some scooters can break down into manageable pieces, thus a regular cabin will suffice.

Sherry