Cruise from UK for someone who can't transfer

Hello

My family are planning on going on a cruise next september. It will be our first one and so we are very nervous about what to expect. We have narrowed it down to the following:

Grand Princess - calling at Malaga, Barcelona, monte carlo,Civitavecchia, Naples, Ajaccio, gibraltar

Royal Caribbean's Independance of the sea - calling at Gibraltar; Provence (Toulon), Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), Ajaccio, Corsica; Cádiz, Lisbon, Vigo,

P&O Ventura - calling at barcelona, villefranche, civitavecchia, ajaccio, gibraltar

P&O Oceana - calling at Oporto, Almeria, Civitavecchia, Livorno, monte carlo, barcelona and gibraltar

We were just wondering if anyone could give us any advice about the practicalities of the three and which is best if at all. We will be bringing our own hoist, feed stand for a peg and portable pressure mattress. We'd be wanting a cabin with a balcony as my mum will spend time each day on the bed. Ideally we'd pop a hospital bed in a cabin but I presume that's a no no so we'll cope, using stands and pillows to prop up legs and head.

My mother is quite severely disabled and cannot stand at all. Her wheelchair is manual but quite bulky and we cannot transfer her to a normal folding wheelchair for trips ashore as she cannot hold her head up. We want to be able to get off of the ship in as many places as possible and so have discounted the canary isles trips as we've heard it is often difficult to disembark onto the islands. Could you give us any information about the trips I mentioned above. Will any of them make getting off of the boat easier?

Which of the above boats/lines do you think are best for people who can't transfer or walk at all? I will be e-mailing them each in turn to find out specifics but I'd love to hear from people with personal experiences.

Thank-you very much.

Care Vacations can supply a hospital bed for use on ship. they show service available in Britain, Scotland and Ireland, as well as several other ports. Oscar had one on our B2B in October. It was great. There is also Special Needs at Sea, I've not used them, but heard good things about them also.

Oh fab. Thank-you. Had a look a the care vacations website and the bed looks just what we want. Just have to find out now how much and whether these liners accept it. Have fired off an e-mail to them.