Oasis of the Seas with limited mobility mom

We cruised on the 3/17/12 Western Caribbean sailing of the Oasis of the Seas. On this cruise was myself (Female, 44), my mother with limited physical mobility due to health issues. Also along were my sister, Brother in Law and their 6 month old baby. We all had balcony staterooms but my mother and I were in a handicapped accessible room (room 6226) due to her need for a scooter and wheelchair. If I could book our rooms all over again I would have chosen one on the Starboard side. It seems that we always docked on the starboard side and I would have enjoyed watching the ship go into the different ports along with a view of the islands. Instead we always had an ocean view on port days. The only exception is Cozumel where the starboard side had an amazing view for about two hours until the Celebrity Millennium docked and blocked their view. If you are renting a scooter to help navigate the ship consider bringing along a collapsible standard wheelchair to help with embarkation and getting around the ports. Also a scooter cannot be stowed under the tour bus or put in the back of the taxi vans. So we were very glad we brought it.

Prior to sailing I reserved all our shows. I tried to book as many afternoon shows on sea days knowing that with a baby and my mom we wouldn’t be able to stay up late. I was really glad we booked in advance and selected afternoon shows. We were exhausted most evenings. I also reserved a hillside cabana in Labadee, the Dunns River Falls & Dolphin Cove excursion in Jamaica and the Discover Mexico & Chakanaab Park excursion in Cozumel. The only specialty restaurant we pre-reserved was Giovannis Table. I also ordered the Royal Caribbean tote bag and two water bottle holders from Gifts and Gear. The tote bag was worth it. It had a pocket for a large bottle of water, zippers for a sea pass card and pockets for sunglasses and sun screen and a center pocket large enough for a towel and water shoes. I used this every day. The water bottle holders we didn’t use because they were too small to hold anything larger than a 16oz bottle of water. Things I was glad I packed: An over the door shoe organizer for all my stuff. It really kept my room organized. A pen and highlighter to mark on the cruise compass (there’s so much to do you really need to highlight the things you are interested in or it gets lost) and Binoculars to look at the islands from the ship. I also brought my own water shoes for Dunns River Falls. Things I wish I had brought: More sunscreen! I went through a ton of it just because we had to reapply every time we got out of the water.

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at 10:30am. We wanted to board the ship as early as possible because there were a number of things we needed to take care of. Check in was simple, from the time we left our bags with the porters to having our sea pass cards it was probably 20 minutes. We waited 15 minutes in a common area and then they began boarding a little after 11:00am. We had reserved a scooter from Special Needs at Sea and knew it would be waiting in the stateroom. However, my mother would have had great difficulty navigating the ship at ports or getting on or off the ship so we brought along her foldable wheelchair for back up. We were certainly glad we brought it! The ship is absolutely massive. The wheelchair allowed us to disembark easily at Cozumel and Jamaica and fit the chair on the tour buses. In Labadee we just took it off the ship with us. More on ports later.

The first thing we did upon embarkation was to go to the Shore Excursion desk on deck 5. We had reserved a hillside cabana in Labadee but because I wasn’t sure how much of a climb the “hillside” was I wanted to check if there were any over the water cabanas available. They were all sold out on line. Once at the shore excursion desk I asked if there were any over the water cabanas available. There was one left! They refunded me my other cabana and I booked the other one. While I was checking at the excursion desk my BIL went to deck 14 to ask about the on board iPhones. We really wanted one to keep tabs on each other. I’m so glad we went right away because by 2pm they were sold out. The iPhones were awesome. They were only $40 for the week (a total of $80 because you need two). They worked pretty good but sometimes lost the signal. They used a VIOP system so it depended on the wifi on the ship. The best part was we could locate each other using the locate function. We couldn’t find my mom one afternoon and she didn’t hear it ring so we were able to see that she was on deck 6, aft on the Boardwalk. Awesome! We could also text. The charge if you lose or break the phone is $500 per phone, but we were careful. Next thing we did was check on the Royal Babies and Tots program. The sign up for date and time you want is first come first serve. If there are a lot of babies on board then you will have a very limited number of hours. When we arrived we were able to reserve a total of 20 hours for the week. We reserved babysitting for all the shows and most of the dinners. I’m really glad that I brought a copy of all the show times that I had booked for the week because we were able to reserve our babysitting right then. The next day, if hours are available you can request more hours. We went back on day 2 and found that there were plenty of hours left so we also reserved babysitting for our Jamaica and Cozumel excursions. We didn’t think the baby would enjoy the heat or bus rides and he couldn’t go snorkeling so we decided to allow him to stay on board. The Royal Babies program is excellent. The workers are wonderful and kind. It was never overcrowded and the children always looked happy and content.

Having gotten all our chores done we regrouped and went to the specialty restaurant Giovanni’s Table. I had read on previous trip reports that the Windjammer buffet was to be avoided on embarkation day as it is a crowded nightmare. We wanted to avoid having our first impression of the ship stressful so while everyone else was fighting for a table we were sitting in a quiet, half empty restaurant having a wonderful and relaxing lunch at noon. It was worth every penny and I would highly recommend this. Once we were finished with lunch our rooms were ready so we headed to our staterooms. My sister was in the room next door and we had no problem opening up our balcony dividers. Previous reports a year ago had mentioned that they couldn’t be opened. This is not accurate as we opened ours and loved our large balcony. The standard balcony rooms were spacious and fine. The handicapped accessible room was a slight bit wider (maybe by two feet) to accommodate a wheelchair. The shower had a seat the closet had an upper lower rack for clothes. The closed seemed a little small at first but it’s designed well and we were able to fit a lot in it. At this point I’ll break up the report by subject:

The shows: This is a big reason that the ship is worth every penny we spent. There is so much diverse and amazing talent on this ship. The singers were top notch! We loved Hairspray. We arrived at every show 30 minutes early and relaxed. When you have a reservation they check your seapass card at the door and let you in. If you did not reserve your show you go to a different line and have to wait. About 10 minutes before the show starts they let in the standby’s. If you want a good seat pre-reserve the shows. The ice show was awesome; your kids will really like it. The costumes were beautiful, the skating amazing and the “sand artist” was incredible. The Come Fly With Me show left us speechless. The acrobats both in the air and on the stage were without question the best I’ve ever seen on a ship. If that weren’t enough the Oasis of Dreams and Comedy Dive Shows were fantastic. You couldn’t help but have your heart almost stop every time the divers flipped, twisted and turned off the high dive. We missed our reservation for Oasis of Dreams on Day 1 because we were so tired by 9pm. But we were able to catch the show one evening even though we didn’t have reservations. We went to deck 11 aft. If you take the elevator up and go down the stateroom corridor to the very end there is a door that opens out to a small outdoor deck. No one knows about this deck because most of these decks are for the private loft suites. But deck 11 isn’t, it’s a public deck. So we had an empty balcony to watch the show. It was great. The comedy show was okay but I really prefer clean comedy. Half of the jokes were fine but the other half were so disgusting I didn’t like it. I think it takes more talent to make people laugh at a clean joke than a dirty one.

The ship: In a word, amazing. There were so many places to go and see that on disembarkation day my sister and I ran around to see all the things we missed. What makes Oasis unique is all the areas to explore. The plants in Central Park were beautiful, the boarwalk was a fun, family friendly place to hang out or watch a movie under the stars. I liked having a balcony stateroom on Deck 6. We were located midship toward the back. Most mornings I would walk to the Donut Shop on the Boardwalk and get a coffee. The ship and shows made the cost of the cabins worth it. If I had had my teenagers with me the flow riders would have added to the value. The Solarium was amazing and we would have spent more time there if we didn’t have a baby. The loungers in the Solarium that face the ocean go quickly. You’ll need to get one early if you want one. The area is restful with a waterfall, padded loungers, two whirl pools and a larger pool in the middle. We reserved the cupcake decorating class and had a lot of fun with it. You get to eat your work at the end of the class. Bingo was not worth the money. If you are going to play wait for the last day when the payout is larger. We went to a game and the pay out on game one was only $100 and the winner had to split it with a second winner. This “win” didn’t even cover the cost of the $55 bingo machine that she used. Bring cash for the Casino, if you charge to your seapass card the ship charges you a small percentage for the privilege of taking out cash to lose in the casino.

Handicap accessibility: surprisingly, the handicap accessibility was not good. Of course the cabin and public rooms were fine. However, the biggest flaw is in the corridors leading to your stateroom. They were too narrow and had raised humps at doorways along the corridor that were very difficult to get over. When we needed to use my mom’s standard size collapsible wheelchair it was absolutely impossible to get the wheelchair past the stateroom attendant carts that were parked along the corridor. Half the time a stateroom attendant was in the hall and would move their cart. The other half of the time my mom had to physically get out of her chair, fold it, push it past the cart then reopen it and let my mom get back in. I honestly do not know what someone would do who is 100% wheelchair bound. Her scooter was barely able to get past and most of the time it scraped along the wall as she tried to scoot past. The other issue was the metal, raised humps at doorways that separated the different sections of the hallway. These were so high in some sections that I almost sent my mom flying trying to go over them as they caused the small wheels in front to stop abruptly. This was a problem with all standard wheelchairs and transport wheelchairs, the scooter did not seem to have difficulity . I spoke to an elderly woman who was pushing her husband in a transport wheelchair. By the look on her face she had almost sent him flying too. We had to turn the wheelchair around at these points and go over them backward with the large wheels first. The inability to get a wheelchair past the hall carts is a huge issue for which I don’t think there is a solution. Royal Caribbean cannot ask their stateroom attendants to leave them in front of people’s stateroom doors. If you are 100% wheelchair dependent I wouldn’t recommend the Oasis. They may have great shows and a great ship but if you cannot independently get back to your room I guess it doesn’t help much.

The food: The food was good. I probably gained 5 pounds so it must have been good. We almost never ate in the Windjammer. There are so many other options. Instead breakfast was either at Johnny Rockets (finally a hot pancake), room service or the Solarium Bistro. The donuts at the donut shop were dry but fine if you are dunking it in coffee. We loved lunch at Park Café in Central Park. They had a “make your own salad”, fantastic roast beef sandwiches on a roll and yummy soup. We also had lunch at Johnny Rockets twice. There is a small fee ($5 per person) for lunch but breakfast was free. The dining room in the evenings was nice. No complaints. Overall the food was good. I don’t rate a cruise on the quality of the food so maybe I’m not the best person to ask.

SPA: The spa was nothing to write home about. It was on deck 6 and 7. No view, no destination resort style facilities. If you want a great spa go on the Norwegian Jewel, Carnival Splendor or Holland America Zuiderdam. I’ve been on these ships and really enjoyed the spa area. They charge extra but I’ve always thought it was worth it for the ambiance and low crowds. We never used the Spa on Oasis, so we saved some money here. They do offer a spa access package for $30 a day and you can use the tiled loungers and steam rooms. But without a whirl pool or view it’s hardly worth it. The cantilevered whirl pools on were beautiful and huge. The spas in the solarium were nice and hot. During certain times on sea days they were packed but we went at off times and enjoyed them.

Ports: Labadee was amazing. We exited the ship by 9:00am and headed straight toward the Barefoot Beach Club. We were able to take my mom’s electric scooter off the ship and were glad we did as the pier was long and there was a lot of walking. Once we arrived at the Barefoot Beach Club we were greeted by some wonderful staff who gave us a tour of the private beach. We had privileges to use the facilities and beach at either Nellies’ Beach where our cabana was located or the Barefoot Beach Club. We chose to swim at Nellie’s beach because it was just as beautiful and not crowded. We arrived early enough to have our pick of the water cabanas and I think we got the best. Nellies beach is shaped like a horse shoe. If you are facing the water at the bottom of the horseshoe we chose the top cabana on the right over the water. It was quiet and had an amazing view of the bay. To our right was a private exit down to the sandy beach. To our left was a little deck and a ladder into the deeper water (about 5 feet upon entrance). The over the water cabanas at Nellies Beach are available to everyone. They are $200 for the day ($175 for the hillside) and you can take up to 6 people. The prices includes a personal Cabana attendant who will bring drinks, refilling the water, get your floating mats and tell you when lunch is served. The price included two mats but our attendant was happy to bring a 3rd at no extra charge. Included in the cabana is an Iced cooler filled with large bottles of Evian water and four or five beach towels (so we didn’t need to take ours off the ship). Drink as much Evian as you like, they’ll keep refilling it. The cabana is three sides and a roof. It has a large wrap around thickly padded couch, a ceiling fan and two nicely padded lounge chairs. The view was amazing and it was nice to get in and out of the water without getting all sandy. In addition, you have your buffet lunch with the Cabana Beach Club guests and which includes an upgraded buffet. The buffet was fine, and included shrimp and steak. They ran out of shrimp and steak within an hour so be sure to line up for the food when they open. My nephew took his nap on the couch and my mom appreciated the shade and ceiling fan. I loved the water and floating on the mat while gazing at the ship in the background. It was the best beach day ever. If we had little kids that wanted to swim or play in the sand we would have stayed in the first cabana on the right. It was over the water but two steps away from the entrance to the shallow part of the beach and the kids could have played. Our Cabana went right into deeper water. We visited the artisan market. It wasn’t as aggressive as some reported. Please visit the market and support the local vendors. However, if you have an electric scooter do not attempt to take it up the steep hill to the top hill vendors. My mom did and her scooter battery died on her way back to the cabana. The staff were very kind and put the scooter on a truck and delivered it as well as us to the entrance to the pier.

Jamaica: We loved the Dunn’s River Falls. Despite what the brochures or ship excursion people may say it is not for the very young or very old. You need to have good knees and the ability to crawl up the side of a rock formation with slippery conditions. If falling on a slippery rock will break a hip or throw out your back don’t do this climb. My sister has a bulging disc in her back and although she can walk, if she were to fall she would experience severe back spasms, so she didn’t hike. Next was the Dolphin’s Cove. It was nice. If we had small kids on this trip I think it would have been perfect but we weren’t interested in swimming with or kissing a dolphin. It was a pretty area and included a small buffet lunch. We would have liked to return to the ship earlier but because the stop was scheduled for almost three hours we had to wait. If I could do it all over again, we would have skipped Dolphin’s Cove and just done the express Dunn’s River Falls excursion.

Cozumel: We booked the Discover Mexico museum and Chakanaab park. We were really impressed with both. We had a tour guide that did a wonderful job of escorting us through the art museum and explaining key pieces and how they relate to Mexican history and culture. The miniatures were very well done and the guide explained all the key temples along with the history of Mexico and the cultural heritage. We were very impressed with this museum. After, we went to the Chakanaab Park. This was a wonderful beach area with a pool, restaurant, bars, snorkeling and swimming. It was absolutely beautiful. First we had lunch at the only restaurant on the beach. It had a wonderful view and was very beautiful. Unfortunately, the food was very expensive and the quality was poor. As a matter of fact I began to feel a little nauseous about 2 hours after eating there. Snorkeling was $15 for the equipment and worth every penny. We had such a fun time snorkeling and seeing all the colorful fish, sponges and sea fans. It was great snorkeling for a beginner and we loved it. Unlike the excursion in Jamaica, this tour was organized around the participants going at their own pace and taking Taxi’s to their destination. We stayed together as a group for the museum, but when we were done with Chakanaab Park, our guide hailed a taxi and we were on our way back to the boat. We didn’t have to wait for a large group of people. The best part was, the excursion included the Taxi fare so we only had to tip the driver.

Disembarkation was a breeze. You collect your luggage then go through customs. If you have a ton a bags you’ll want to save a little bit of cash for the porters who will greet you once you get in the terminal. It was so helpful to have someone get the suitcases.

Overall, it was a wonderful week with a lot to do and fun activities to get involved in. I would book Oasis or Allure again, but would probably be just as content on a Freedom class ship if the price is right.

I just wanted to add that Dolphin Cove was very difficult to navigate in a wheelchair simply because you have to go down a very steep hill to get to the beach. Thankfully, we had my very strong Brother in Law to help. Also, sorry for all the grammar errors above. I've fixed them for the review on the main pages :-)

I hope this helps. I wish I had more info when booking the trip for my mom.

Thanks for the review - we are going on the Allure in July and I use a wheelchair so I really appreciated this information!

I'm pretty sure the reason for those "humps" at the doors to the hallway is for sealing the hall, in case of flood or fire....not much they can do about that!

I know exactly what you're talking about in terms of wheelchair accessibility on those ships. My husband is confined to a wheelchair, and we've found that cruising is a great way to take a vacation, but there are problems. We were most recently on Jewel of the Seas, and the stateroom attendant's cart in the hallways was a major problem. Sometimes the attendant was nearby and he'd move the cart, but sometimes he wasn't anywhere to be found. On those occasions, either I moved his cart myself, or a nearby helpful passenger did it for me. It wasn't really the cart itself that was the problem; it was the rack that holds clean drinking glasses that was on a shelf of the cart -- that rack was too wide for my husband's wheelchair to be able to pass by.

We have also found those "humps" on the floor to be sneaky little buggers -- not all of them stick up enough to cause a problem, but some of them sure do! Now what I do is slow down before each of them and tilt the wheelchair up in front, unless I clearly remember that particular hump as not being a problem. It's just annoying.

On Jewel, we also found it impossible for my husband's chair to pass through the casino -- the stools in front of the slot machines stick out into the aisle too far -- and the aisle in the shopping area is also too narrow when there are more than a few shoppers looking at the display cases. Problem is, going through either the casino or the shopping area was the only way to go from one end of the ship to the other on those decks, without going outside. So we ended up going outside every time we wanted to go from the dining room to the theater. Not that much fun when it's raining, or windy.

We'd been on Freedom of the Seas twice before we went on Jewel, and we didn't have these problems on Freedom -- so we're sailing on Freedom again in October!

Thank you for the additional information Wellshonemoon. This is why I love this forum, all this information wouldn't be available if we didn't share with eachother. I'll keep the Freedom Class in mind for future cruises :-)

Hi WL56 ...thank you for sharing such a detailed review on your experiences on the Oasis. My experiences aboard the ship were very similar to yours. Last year I took my mom, who has limited mobility, on the Oasis OTS and had a wonderful time with her. She uses a manual wheelchair, but I'm the one that "pushes her around" everywhere. It was just the two of us and I was very hesitant to take her on shore so we really took advantage of the ship on port days, especially the hot tubs by the Solarium entrance.

This year I'll be taking her on the Allure OTS and an considering giving her a different experience by taking her on shore. Was your mom able to transport herself on the scooter all around Labadee? How doable would it be to move around Labadee with a manual wheelchair? Did you happen to see the beach wheelchairs that apparently are available for passenger usage?....if so, do they let you use the chair for as long as you need it, or do they just transport you to a specific location and take back the wheelchair?

In Cozumel I was thinking of doing the museum and Chankanaab Park tour. How was the terrain at Chankanaab Park for a manual wheelchair? Did you happen to see any beach wheelchairs? I was even considering doing the manatee encounter with her at Chankanaab, but I haven't made a final decision yet... I'm a little hesitant considering she'll have to stand in the water for approximately 30 minutes. Did you get to see the sea lion show?:confused:

In Jamaica I was just thinking of checking out the area around the Falmouth port which was still under construction when we went last year. I was in Ocho Rios Jamaica a few years ago on a cruise with my husband and daughters and did the Dunn's River Falls and River tubing....we had a fabulous time....but with just my mom and me I wouldn't go anywhere further than the port, especially considering her limitations.

Thanks again for your excellent review. Will look forward to any further information you can give me. God willing, we'll be on the Allure on May 6....woooo hooooo!!!!!:D

Was on the Allure in November 2011 and found the ship to be very accessible. Had no problem with driving my scooter down the hallways. Though I took the arms rest offs just in case as they sometimes are the reason it my get hung on things, I really didn't need to. There wasn't anywhere on the ship that I could go. There was even a ramp up to the flowrider area.

Also should mention that I was with a group that had at least 25 of us using either scooters and or wheelchairs due and none ever expressed having any issues moving about the ship. Other than the occassional snag having to wait for an elevator because other passengers would jump in front of you not allowing you to enter/exit the elevator.

Also should mention that I was with a group that had at least 25 of us using either scooters and or wheelchairs due and none ever expressed having any issues moving about the ship. Other than the occassional snag having to wait for an elevator because other passengers would jump in front of you not allowing you to enter/exit the elevator.

To avoid the "elevator-jackers" I've learned to get on the first elevator that is available, even if it's going in the opposite direction. What goes up must come down, and the elevator that goes down eventually comes up. :)

To avoid the "elevator-jackers" I've learned to get on the first elevator that is available, even if it's going in the opposite direction. What goes up must come down, and the elevator that goes down eventually comes up. :)

 

 

 

I've always done the same thing. Also have gone to the farthest less centrally located elevators but people still jump ahead regardless.

HI Deezee,

I hope I can help answer some of your questions :) I'm assuming that your mom can get in and out of a wheelchair? If she is completely wheelchair bound I'm afraid I may not have noticed some of the things that would be inconvenient. My mom was able to get out of her chair if needed.

Was your mom able to transport herself on the scooter all around Labadee? Yes, Labadee is very accessible. The island is paved everywhere. Except, ofcourse, on the beach. My mom would park her scooter under a shady tree and walk to the beach.

How doable would it be to move around Labadee with a manual wheelchair? I think you wouldn't have a problem moving around the island on a manul wheelchair. You'll have to stick with visiting the artisian market area that is on level ground and skip the one that is up a hill unless you have alot of arm strength.

Did you happen to see the beach wheelchairs that apparently are available for passenger usage?....if so, do they let you use the chair for as long as you need it, or do they just transport you to a specific location and take back the wheelchair?

I did see the beach wheelchairs. I would suggest that you get off the ship early (before 10am) to be sure to get one. They are surprisingly easy to push on the sand. We used one at Chankanaab Park. You can use them as long as needed.

In Cozumel I was thinking of doing the museum and Chankanaab Park tour. How was the terrain at Chankanaab Park for a manual wheelchair? The terrain wasn't good once you get past the entrance area. The areas was paved for a portion (by the pool and, I think the Manatee encounter area) but the rest was sand. There were beach wheelchairs there as well. We used one.

Did you happen to see any beach wheelchairs? I was even considering doing the manatee encounter with her at Chankanaab, but I haven't made a final decision yet... I'm a little hesitant considering she'll have to stand in the water for approximately 30 minutes. Did you get to see the sea lion show?:confused:

No, I didn't see the shows. My mom went shopping and my sister and I went snorkling :-)

I would suggest that you consider renting a scooter from Special Needs at Sea so your mom can be independant on the ship. You won't need to push her. If you didn't know about this company they are wonderful. I've used them 3 times before. They deliver the scooter right to your stateroom and you leave it in your room when you disembark. The price is reasonable.

In Jamaica I was just thinking of checking out the area around the Falmouth port which was still under construction when we went last year.

The Falmouth port looks GREAT now. You'll love it. Any questions I'm happy to answer.

Thank you for the great review - I've got my mother with limited mobility booked into this same cabin next month, and a scooter rental arranged. She's a little concerned with things like seating at the onboard shows and access in the dining room. We've got some shore excursions booked, have already checked to make sure the scooter can be accommodated on them. Is there going to any issue with getting it off the ship?

We've also contacted RCL about embarkation and they responded to say they're noted "wheelchair pier assistance" on the reservation, whatever that means.

We're also planning on renting the iphones onboard - glad you had such a good experience with them!

Thank you for the great review - I've got my mother with limited mobility booked into this same cabin next month, and a scooter rental arranged. She's a little concerned with things like seating at the onboard shows and access in the dining room. We've got some shore excursions booked, have already checked to make sure the scooter can be accommodated on them. Is there going to any issue with getting it off the ship?

 

We've also contacted RCL about embarkation and they responded to say they're noted "wheelchair pier assistance" on the reservation, whatever that means.

 

We're also planning on renting the iphones onboard - glad you had such a good experience with them!

Re: shows .. there is space in all venues to accomodate scooters and wheelchairs.

Re: Dining room - she will be allowed to drive the scooter to the table . Than the waiter will take and park the scooter for her and retrive it after dinner. Just make certain to have the waiter bring pack the key after it's been parked.

Re: excursions ... You really need to recheck with the Shore Excurison Director once on board that the tours you have selected actually have a bus with a lift to accomodate the scooter. I've yet to take an excursion sold by the cruiseline that has a wheelchair lift bus. Generally you have to book private tours in order to have accessible transportation.

Re: Wheelchair assistance at the pier. Upon arriving at the pier go speak to a cruiseline rep and they will assist you in getting a wheelchair for embarkation. The night before debarkation it will be posted in the daily news letter where you need to go wait for wheelchair assistance to get off the ship.

Re: Tendered Ports ...If there are any Tendered Ports on your intinerary, it is the sole decision of the cruiseline/captain if she will be permitted on the tender with the scooter. You need to plan for her to have to stay on board ship and if the cruise line allows tendering with the scooter that day than consider it your lucky day. There are numerous reason all reagrding safety issues for not allowing a scooter to be tendered.

xxoocruiser had great replies to all the questions. What my mom did when dealing with dinner time is park her scooter out of the way on deck 6 by the elevators. Then she would ride the elevator down to deck 3 where our dining room was. She was able to walk the short distance from the elevator to our table. This helped IMMENSELY with the elevator rush at dinner times. It was sometimes hard to get on and off the elevator during dinner rush with a scooter. If your mom can walk a short distance this may be a good idea. If she would struggle then xxoocruiser has great advice. Also, we checked out the table with the Matri'd on embarkcation day just to be sure the table was easy to get to.

Thank you both!

My mother can definitely walk a short distance. She's had both knees replaced, her main difficulty now is asthma & COPD. She doesn't require the wheelchair lift for the bus, and the rest of us with her are very familiar with taking apart and stowing the scooters so we can easily stuff it under a bus. The shore ex folks already nixed one of the excursions we were looking at.

She will be very, very pleased and thankful for the feedback! Thanks again!

ETA: Oh, one more question! With embarkation assistance, do they just take her up on to the ship and then she's on her own, or does she get to use the chair until she can get in to her stateroom to access the scooter? She'll have her walker with her but with a ship this big there's a limit to how far that's going to get her.

Thank you for the wonderful review.

I'm trying to convince my grandmother to cruise with the family (30 of us) but she is really concerned about getting around such a big ship. From other forums they posted sites where you can rent scooters and wheelchairs so will look into that for her. Any suggestions?

Thank you both!

 

My mother can definitely walk a short distance. She's had both knees replaced, her main difficulty now is asthma & COPD. She doesn't require the wheelchair lift for the bus, and the rest of us with her are very familiar with taking apart and stowing the scooters so we can easily stuff it under a bus. The shore ex folks already nixed one of the excursions we were looking at.

 

She will be very, very pleased and thankful for the feedback! Thanks again!

 

ETA: Oh, one more question! With embarkation assistance, do they just take her up on to the ship and then she's on her own, or does she get to use the chair until she can get in to her stateroom to access the scooter? She'll have her walker with her but with a ship this big there's a limit to how far that's going to get her.

You will find that once outside the USA not all tour buses are equiped with a luggage hold/storage area. Again you need to check with the Shore Excursion Director once on board the ship as he/she will have better information about the types of buses being used for the specific tours. Would not reply on the information from a RCCL phone rep as they are just giving general information. Also even if the bus has a luggage hold some tour providers will still not allow a scooter to be stored for insurance reasons. Remember you will not be in the USA and ADA laws offer you no assistance outside the USA.

Re: Embarkation Wheelchair Assistance. She will only be taken on board Possibly taken to the Windjammer or another location that you prefer to wait until the rooms are available if you have a tip available. I tip $5.00 up front and ask if they will take to the Windjammer. It usually works provided there's not a long wait for wheelchair assistance at checkin. Once on board she has to use her walker.

The cruise line has a limited number of wheelchairs and after they take your mother onboard it has to be return to checkin so others can receive the same assistance that your mother received. She does not get to keep the wheelchair so you need to carryon her walker and not check it at the dock. Remember the rental contract for the scooter clearly states that is will be delivered by 2:00 PM so she will have to use her walker until she can get into the cabin . Also sometimes it's late being delviered as the ships there can be hold up at the dock that out of control of the vendor depending on the number of trucks waiting in que to delvier to the ship.

Thank you for the wonderful review.

 

I'm trying to convince my grandmother to cruise with the family (30 of us) but she is really concerned about getting around such a big ship. From other forums they posted sites where you can rent scooters and wheelchairs so will look into that for her. Any suggestions?

Each cruise line has there own pre-approved vendors that you have to use if you want to rent mobility equipment.

Most cruise lines use CareVacations http://www.carevacations.com/ or Special Needs at Sea http://www.specialneedsatsea.com/ However NCL only allows Special Needs at Sea.

Perfect, thank you so much!

I assumed her wheelchair at embarkation would only be FOR embarkation, she was thinking otherwise but she's painfully optimistic sometimes :) I'm hoping to get the iphones once onboard so perhaps they can take her as far as wherever those are being rented out on the sailing and leave us there, once we we have the phones she's quite happy to just slowly amble about the ship on the way to lunch or the cabin.

For the shore excursions I dealt with ShorexAccess@rccl.com, the contact they have set up for handicapped/ADA shore excursion requirements. They required information on the type of scooter, dimensions and weight of it etc, and for any of the excursions we were interested in they contacted the individual tour operators with that information to verify whether or not she could be accommodated. Then in a few days we'd get responses back from them like:

"Tour operator advised that scooter user guest can be accommodated to participate on the tour as long as guest can negotiate the 3- 4 motor coach steps to enter/ exit the tour vehicle. Collapsible scooter can be stored in the tour motor coach. It is the able bodied companion's responsibility to load and unload the collapsible scooter in the motor coach luggage compartment. "

or sometimes that the excursion could not accommodate the scooter. But they were very helpful.

WL56: Thanks so much!! My mom can walk short distances with help. I really appreciate all the information you've provided.:)

 

For the shore excursions I dealt with ShorexAccess@rccl.com, the contact they have set up for handicapped/ADA shore excursion requirements. They required information on the type of scooter, dimensions and weight of it etc, and for any of the excursions we were interested in they contacted the individual tour operators with that information to verify whether or not she could be accommodated. Then in a few days we'd get responses back from them like:

"Tour operator advised that scooter user guest can be accommodated to participate on the tour as long as guest can negotiate the 3- 4 motor coach steps to enter/ exit the tour vehicle. Collapsible scooter can be stored in the tour motor coach. It is the able bodied companion's responsibility to load and unload the collapsible scooter in the motor coach luggage compartment. "

or sometimes that the excursion could not accommodate the scooter. But they were very helpful.

Regardless of what ShoreAccess@rccl.com advised , still strongly recommend that you reconfirm with the Shore Excursion Director once on board the ship. Bring hard copies of all communication from ShoreAccess@rccl.com Things do get lost in communication from shore to ship despite all your hard work and there can be last minute equipment chances by the tour provider on the day of the tour that ShoreAccess@rccl.com may not know.

Thank you for the great review - I've got my mother with limited mobility booked into this same cabin next month, and a scooter rental arranged. She's a little concerned with things like seating at the onboard shows and access in the dining room. We've got some shore excursions booked, have already checked to make sure the scooter can be accommodated on them. Is there going to any issue with getting it off the ship?

We've also contacted RCL about embarkation and they responded to say they're noted "wheelchair pier assistance" on the reservation, whatever that means.

We're also planning on renting the iphones onboard - glad you had such a good experience with them!

Hi,

I used Special Needs at Sea but first filled out the form to get T.A. commission through my agency. With only 15 minutes between classes, it will get me there on time. Last year, at Mandalay Bay in Vegas, it took me 20 minutes to walk from my hotel room to the Conference Centre & then I saw others with the scooters. I was able to see & do a lot more using the scooter that I rented at Mandalay Bay Hotel.

I had one on a transatlantic from Barcelona to Miami last year for 13 days on the Epic. No classes then, but lots of Entertainment venues.

I fly in one week to FLL. Are you going to the BBQ by Marriott Resort & Spa on Friday night?

Yes we are, but since we're just renting the scooter for the actual cruise my mother will have her walker for that. I looked at having the scooter for the hotel as well but it doubled the price!

If possible please let me know who your commission cheque is issue by - ours came already and I was surprised to see it was actually issued from Scootaround. I'd contacted them for pricing as well and they were higher than Special Needs at Sea, but obviously SNaS contracts out to them.

And yes the scooter was absolutely necessary at Mandalay Bay - the distance from the hotel to the conference centre was just incredible, there's no way she could have made it without one.

Suzette will receive the check first & then send me my split. She owns the agency so do not know commission yet. I had the same experience of also pricing ScootAround. SN@Sea is headquartered in FLL so they should not make it that expensive to service the hotels there. Special indeed. I don't use a walker (just walk slowly), so I will look for you at the Marriott BBQ. I will be wearing a turquoise muu & turquoise jewelry and I will be with a short man with grey mustache & some grey hair.

We're fairly easy to recognize - my mother will have a walker at the Marriott, and I'm the one with the purple/blue/black hair.

Vegas was quite interesting dealing with the mobilty challenges and the scooter, I'm very curious to see how the ships and the ports handle it.