Miserable experience on Disney Wonder as disabled w/scooter passenger

I'm a full time scooter user, have been on more than 80 cruises, on most of the lines out there, and I can assure you that most lines do not have the main dining room open for lunch on embarkation day, or on ports days either, for that matter. The only lines I've seen that had the MDR open on embarkation day are the luxury lines. RCI, Carnival, Celebrity, Disney, Costa and more do not have their main dining rooms open on embarkation day.

You indicated that you were on this cruise with family, so I guess I'm wondering why they didn't/couldn't help you in the buffet? Why do you need to rely on a crew member when you have family with you? I cruise with my sister and she is always willing to help me at the buffet. And when I cruise solo, a simple "Can you assist me" is all I need to do to have someone help. But to be honest, I really don't like having a crew member's help and I find going through the buffet while driving my scooter is NOT difficult at all. Seriously, it's VERY easy to do the buffet thing while riding a scooter.

I do understand about non automatic doors, and it's not something only on Disney. I've had problems on RCI, Carnival, HAL, Princess and a few others. I've found Celebrity's S class ships to be the best, not only with having auto doors, but having smooth thresholds to the outside decks-----HAL was the worst, by far.

I've not had a problem with drills on any ship, and I do not understand your particular problems. I've been on ships with 5000 passengers and didn't have one single issue with bringing my scooter to the drill, I didn't hit, or come close to hitting another passenger and experienced nothing close to what you describe.

As for your disembarking issues, did you inform Disney you'd be needing wheelchair assistance? Did you get wheelchair assistance at embarkation? I surmise that you rented the scooter, therefore you had to leave it in your cabin, so if you didn't inform Guest Services that you needed assistance, that's your fault. Disney can't read minds and they don't automatically know who needs assistance unless told.

As far as the issues with the boarding ramp, I'm sorry, but I have a difficult time believing that they held you prisoner in your cabin. I may be wrong, but I just can't see that happening. As a matter of fact, I've taken numerous videos of port side ramps for fellow scooter users, and never have I been told that it's illegal----unless you went into a restricted area once the ship was at sea, and did your video. But if the ship was still docked, taking a video of the ramp is not illegal, as I've done it many times. Also, the angle of the ramp is NOT the cruise line's fault. The fault lies with the port you were in and the fact that their docks are too short to accommodate taller ships. The cruise line can only do so much with what their given by the local authorities.

As a disabled person, I know that my access will be restricted in many ways, and I've come to expect that. If I see a ramp is too steep, I don't leave the ship. If the port is a tender port, again, I don't leave the ship, and I accept that because I know my disability automatically restricts me.

But I will point out something to you. The Supreme Court decision regarding accessibility and cruise ships is very clear that if doing modifications on a ship is physically impossible or it causes financial hardship to the company, that ship will not be considered in violation. It's just the way of the world.

Well, this is interesting. We were on the Disney Wonder on 12/3 for a 4 night and had similar experiences. I was never so glad to get off a ship in my life. Both of my young adult son's are disabled with one using a wheelchair due to a heart condition and stamina. We could not get an accessible cabin even though we booked 9 months out. I thought this would not be a problem as the overall size is similar to Carnival. Wrong. The way the bed is set up makes it virtually impossible to fold up and store the wheelchair for the night.

Had the same issues as you with the safety drill. On Carnival we have always gone to the library or other separate area.

Buffet, similar problem. No assistance trying to find a table that would fit a wheelchair and trying to navigate through the buffet area to find a table was horrible.

Hallways were way too narrow and elevators were way too small. The lips to get to an outside deck were terrible as mentioned. There were several expansion joints around the ship that were abnormally high.

Yes, we saw the storage area on deck 6 but didn't use it.

Did not have a problem with the ramps on and off at ports.The one bright spot was Castaway Cay. Loved the beach wheelchairs!

All in all we did not feel the magical experience we thought we would get from this cruise., especially considering the price.

We are going back to Carnival in April and I know we will have a great time. I did write a review on Cruise Critic called Disney Wonder not so Wonderful if you want more details.

Princess having ADA restrooms and ADA hearing loss kits should not be interpreted that Princess believes that construction requirements as contained in ADA law apply to them. Particularly since the USA Congress has yet to adopt any law specific to the construction build out of Foreign registered/flagged cruise that enter USA waters.

 

Princess' decision ,or any other cruise line 's decision for that matter , to provide ADA restrooms and ADA hearing loss kits can only be interpreted that its chosen to "Voluntarily" comply to limited aspects of ADA Law so to broaden its customer base

Actually, Congress has nothing to do with it. It is the Access Board (which writes regulations under the ADA) that has failed to publish the final regulations related to cruise ships, even though they have been collecting public comment on these regulations since 2006 (before my father passed away). The cruise ship industry has made the vast majority of comments...in the first round of comments, only 40 were received from private citizens (and two of those were from me, and from my father).

Sorry you had such a bad experience on Disney. Recently cruised on Allure with my sister, who uses a scooter. We always book an accessible cabin and the ship itself is very accessible. The muster was very easy - when we showed up, they sent us to the "accessible" staging area. All public restrooms have automatic doors, even for the accessible stall. In the Windjammer, there were accessible tables. One time someone who did not need the accessible table sat down right before we came in. One of the crew went over to them and asked them to move so we could sit down. There was always crew members offering to carry my sister's tray as she browsed the buffets. Always got beverages for us, etc. We even had a pool assistant get us lounge chairs close to the beach pool, which was easy for her to get in and out of.

 

We've had amazing service on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

 

Unfortunately ADA doesn't mean anything to the cruise industry. Some seem to be better than others. The new ships seem to be better than the older ships.

 

Hopefully you'll have a better experience on your next cruise.

I too, have only cruised on Celebrity & Royal...This thread just makes me determined to stay off Disney!

I plan to cruise on Princess in 2017...hope I find them as disabled friendly as the Royal cruise lines. :eek:

We sail on HAL.

DH has always had to attend muster outside with the rest if the passengers. Even when we've stayed in suites and asked the concierge for help in getting him excused, he was told he had to attend.

There is no special area for people with disabilities.

It's hard for him because of the threshold. We saw a man on a scooter come close to tipping over on a recent cruise, and my husband refused to go out that doorway. The crew did not take that well, but someone led us to another doorway that was a bit better.

HAL almost always has an embarkation luncheon, but it is for Mariners. Sometimes it is only open to 3-star Mariners and above. We always go to it. We tend to avoid the Lido (buffet) because of the tight spaces between tables. When we do go, I get my husband's food for him.

We encounter a lot of metal thresholds throughout the ship. I am guessing those are for some kind of interior doors in case of emergencies.

I too, have only cruised on Celebrity & Royal...This thread just makes me determined to stay off Disney!

 

I plan to cruise on Princess in 2017...hope I find them as disabled friendly as the Royal cruise lines. :eek:

If you can change those 2017 plans, you might want to consider doing so.

Our last cruise was on Princess, and we found them horribly UN-friendly to mobility challenged passengers. From malfunctioning lifts to lying and incompetent shorex personnel to a we-couldn't-care-less attitude from customer "service", we could not wait to get off that ship. We will never ever sail Princess again. Their brochures go directly into our recycle bin.

We're sticking with Royal and Celebrity.