Wheelchair logistics before,during and after the cruise.

One of us is disabled (stroke victim) and paralysed on the right side of his body and uses a power-wheelchair to get out and about. He can walk only very, very short distances with a cane and supervision.

When we cruised, we booked a power-wheelchair through Special Needs at Sea which was waiting for him in our cabin. We have since learned that Special Needs at Sea will, upon request, deliver the chair to your hotel if you fly in the day before which is nice as that it gives us the opportunity the explore the embarkation port city.

We use a manual (rented in our hometown) collapsible wheelchair to get from the house to the airport (checked in as luggage) and from the airport to the hotel and again from the ship to the airport after the cruise. The power chair is left in our cabin as arranged with Special Needs at Sea.

The manual collapsible chair travels also with us on the flight home (checked in as luggage) and upon arrival at our home airport we wait for the chair to be brought to the aircraft to take us home.

We don't want to 'chance it' by taking his own power-chair with us in case of damage and/or operational issues while at sea.

Hope this helps.

We have since learned that Special Needs at Sea will, upon request, deliver the chair to your hotel if you fly in the day before which is nice as that it gives us the opportunity the explore the embarkation port city.

I did not know this. Is this for specific cities? And does it cost more money to have it delivered to your hotel? Also, I am assuming after the cruise you left the power-wheelchair in your stateroom and Special Needs picked it up from there?

I did not know this. Is this for specific cities? And does it cost more money to have it delivered to your hotel? Also, I am assuming after the cruise you left the power-wheelchair in your stateroom and Special Needs picked it up from there?

Both SpecialNeedsatSea and Scootaround will deliver to the pre-cruise hotel as well as pick up from the post cruise hotel. This apples to all cities in the US that each company services. Don't know if the same service is provided in the cities that each company services outside the USA.

Generally speaking if you only need it for one night post cruise you can often get the extra day cost waived it you make your own arrangements to transfer it to o the ship most of the time there's no charge. From my experience with Scooteraround (CareVacations) the fast the I have a customer for many years seems help me getting the extra cost waived.

If you need the mobility equipment for multiple days both companies charge the regular daily rate. Also if you need either company to pick it up at the hotel and than transfer it to the port there will be another charge.

If rented pre-cruise you still leave it in the cabin for pickup.

This is good to know. Thanks for the information.

I did not know this. Is this for specific cities? And does it cost more money to have it delivered to your hotel? Also, I am assuming after the cruise you left the power-wheelchair in your stateroom and Special Needs picked it up from there?

xxoocruiser beat me to it ! :) Thank you!

The only extra charge is the transfer from the hotel to the ship (wheelchair accessible taxi/van) if not already provided by the hotel. Yes, we left the power chair in our stateroom for pick-up by Special Needs at Sea.

After one cruise, we decided to spent a few days after the cruise at the hotel and we left the power-chair in our hotel room and/or designated area of the hotel, for pick up by Special Needs at Sea. The only extra charge was the transfer from the ship to the hotel and from the hotel to the airport if not already provided by the hotel.

Happy sailing!

Xxoocruiser did a great job of describing use of scooters.

I just finished a 2 week cruise with a Gogo sport scooter I rented from Special Needs at Sea.

We were allowed into our room at 1 PM.

The wheel chair assistant took me up to the ship gangway, then a ship crew member took me up to ship.

Think ahead where you might like to be dropped off on ship.

Most people want to be dropped off by the buffet lunch area.

You still need to get from where they drop you off to your room.

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