Wheelchair pusher, luggage helper at domestic and overseas terminals

Making two transfers: One in Barcelona from airport to cruise ship, and second from cruise ship at Rome port to Rome airport in Apr & May 2015. Need a good, reliable shuttle service to transport us, and also need the following:

Wheelchair assistance for me (my companion can't do it any longer) nor can she handle baggage. We each have one checked bag and at least one carry-on. I have a CPAP in addition to my carry-on bag.

Wheelchair pusher for me, and baggage handler for both of us are needed to help us transfer to shuttle. Once at the airport I still need wheelchair assistance from the shuttle to the gate, and baggage help to get the luggage to where it needs to go. Help, please!:confused: I appreciate your wisdom & guidance. wm

Transferring from Civitavecchia Port to Rome Airport (FCO) in May.

Making two transfers: One in Barcelona from airport to cruise ship, and second from cruise ship at Rome port to Rome airport in Apr & May 2015. Need a good, reliable shuttle service to transport us, and also need the following:

Wheelchair assistance for me (my companion can't do it any longer) nor can she handle baggage. We each have one checked bag and at least one carry-on. I have a CPAP in addition to my carry-on bag.

Wheelchair pusher for me, and baggage handler for both of us are needed to help us transfer to shuttle. Once at the airport I still need wheelchair assistance from the shuttle to the gate, and baggage help to get the luggage to where it needs to go. Help, please!:confused: I appreciate your wisdom & guidance. wm Transferring from Civitavecchia Port to Rome Airport (FCO) in May.

For the air related needs, contact the airline and ask about your special

needs.

For your cruise needs, contact the special needs dept. of the cruise line for

those needs. If your ship is Royal Caribbean, special needs will also provide

free distilled water and an extension cord. We both travel with 2 CPAPS!

I can find the name of a wonderful car service we used in Barcellona if you

want to email me. Our guide there was awesome.

texascruzinlady@yahoo.com. Will you be spending time there, or arrive

the day before? I have other suggestions if you need them, but can't help with

the Rome part.

Happy planning,

Cruzin Lady

We've flown into both Barcelona and Rome, using wheelchair assistance in both airports. As crusin lady mentioned, we made prior arrangements through our airlines. It is very simple to do when making reservations or can be noted in your 'profile' later.

In Barcelona we just used a taxi to our hotel. The wheelchair pusher took us from the plane, through immigration, getting luggage, and out to the taxis.

In Rome we arranged for private transfers with a company called "Rome Cabs". Stefano there can also do transfers from the port to the airport. Again the airport wheelchair pusher took care of us from the plane to where we met our driver (at that time we didn't need assistance to go further). You can find out more about Rome Cabs on the Italy forum.

I also suggest looking at the Disabled Cruise forum.

Your biggest problem will be your luggage. Cruise lines will not help with your bags and finding porters in foreign terminals will be difficult. It's not like here in the US where cruise terminals have a lot of porters to help with luggage. I suggest cutting down on the amount of luggage you have, and try and keep your carry on to one. Not sure where you'll dock in Civitivecchia, but in the area where we docked, there was no terminal, and bags were just on the dock with no one to help.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

Our experience with luggage in Civitivecchia was the same as yours. It was lined up on the dock with no baggage handlers to assist.

Post the same question in "Special interest" section of Cruise critic, in "Disability" for more answers and advices.

Making two transfers: One in Barcelona from airport to cruise ship, and second from cruise ship at Rome port to Rome airport in Apr & May 2015. Need a good, reliable shuttle service to transport us, and also need the following:

Wheelchair assistance for me (my companion can't do it any longer) nor can she handle baggage. We each have one checked bag and at least one carry-on. I have a CPAP in addition to my carry-on bag.

Wheelchair pusher for me, and baggage handler for both of us are needed to help us transfer to shuttle. Once at the airport I still need wheelchair assistance from the shuttle to the gate, and baggage help to get the luggage to where it needs to go. Help, please!:confused: I appreciate your wisdom & guidance. wm. Transferring from Civitavecchia Port to Rome Airport (FCO) in May.

Besides contacting your cruise line's Special Needs dept, be sure you also let your airline know ahead of time that you need wheelchair assistance. They will take care of it from there. My husband needs wheelchair and pusher and he always has CPAP plus a backpack. We also have one checked bag each.

The airline has wheelchair and escort meet us at door of plane, pushes hubby, with CPAP and backpack on lap or chair, to luggage carousel. Sometimes I've had to put our checked bags onto trolley from carousel, other times the escort has done it. Then escort takes us through immigration, usually a special line, through customs, and then to shuttle.

We have found those wheelchair escorts to be awesome and always tip the equivalent of $5 or $10, depending on distance and how much they do.

In Barcelona you can simply take a taxi to the port. The wheelchair escort will push you to the taxi area after taking you through immigration and customs.

The Rome port is at Civitavechia, about 90 minutes from Rome. The cruise ship wheel chair escort might help you get a porter or trolley, both of which are very scarce. If you use cruise ship transfer to the airport I'm not sure how your companion will get your bags to bus if there is no porter available since cruise line pushers are limited in what they are allowed to do.

Hopefully the bags are wheeled ones? I'd suggest that you book ahead of time private transfer from port to airport so that the driver will load your bags for you. Even so, your companion will need to move them from dockside area.

I have flown in and out of Rome and Barcelona and taken ships from both ports in the last year and previously.

On our last cruise on Celebrity, there were folks waiting for assistance in wheelchairs to get off the ship in Rome and I over heard that the cruise line would only assistant them to the point they were off the ship, from that point on they were on their own.

We always use Romecabs.com when we go in and out of Rome. In Barcelona we use taxis as other have stated.

I would definitely ask what others experience has been on the special needs blog here on cruise critic. As others suggest contact the airlines, I believe the airlines do a better job than cruise lines at this point from what I have seen.

Another another approach might be to take a 3rd able bodied person with you, generally fares for a 3rd person in a cabin are reasonable. I say this only because I am 67 and my DH is 82, we are both able bodied but are finding it increasingly challenging to manage the long distances between gates and airplanes... dealing with security checks etc. We did a transfer through Paris to Rome in October, we had to walk for every to get from one plane to another and ended up going thru both Passport control and a separate security check. After flying all night, it is challenging at our age. We are seasoned travellers, but since 9/11 travel has gotten a lot more complicated.

Hope you find the resources you need to have an enjoyable trip.

Be sure to post on the roll call for your cruise. If all else fails, you might

post on your roll call, asking if a student or able-bodied person travelling with

you would help you for pay. Also, a wheelchair pusher might put your luggage

in a wheelchair and push it onto the ship along with your chair pusher.Even the wheelchair pusher for you might go back to transport your carry ons. Try

these things if nothing else works. My husband and I deal with mobility

issues and each of us carries a CPAP.

Also, perhaps the wheel chair pusher might be able to find a friend who would like to help with luggage for extra money. Of course, this would be a last minute

arrangement.

I will keep trying to think of ways to help you.

You definitely need to check with your cruise line's special needs department

to see what they suggest. It might be that they can solve the problem for

you.

Are you staying only one night in Barcelona?

More questions---ask away!

Cruzin Lady

Absolutely make the arrangements yourself for assistance through the airports. In my two experiences (while I was wheelchair-bound after an accident in Italy), the airport special needs department were great (FLR and CDG). I had an assistant meet me at the curb, stay with me through checkin, security, got me to the gate, and then assisted me to my seat on the aircraft (at CDG - I got lifted up in a catering truck to the door of the 777!!!). Security was very respectful of my inability to stand (unlike the TSA idiots at IAD, who barked at me to stand up).

But, I'm no good to you for the cruise portion of your trip. Honestly, it does sound like you require assistance for your entire cruise. I did some quick cruising the 'net and found this page for Barcelona:

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/cruise-port/disabled-facilities-barcelona-port.html

Another poster suggested looking into bringing a companion to assist - that's a great idea and worth looking into.