Handicap Cabin for Non Handicapped

There is only one C cabin left on the Marina for our cruise and it is a handicapped cabin. We are not handicapped. What happens if a handicapped person requires this cabin? How does Oceania handle this? Thanks.

There is only one C cabin left on the Marina for our cruise and it is a handicapped cabin. We are not handicapped. What happens if a handicapped person requires this cabin? How does Oceania handle this? Thanks.

This is just my thoughts and not based on personal experience but it seems there are a number of scenarios.

1. If you book that last C cabin, then there is no more of those cabins that will be offered to anyone. If someone with special needs needs to book a cabin C, they will be told they are sold out.

2. If Oceania is overbooked, then they may offer to upgrade you to a higher level cabin for free, or find a way to switch you to another cabin of the same category (perhaps upgrading someone else with more Oceania sailings).) They also may offer you a lower cabin if that is acceptable to you, providing you the discount applicable plus something else like onboard spending.

3. If Oceania is overbooked and cannot find a place for you, then they may offer you or another guest to switch to another cruise with an upgraded cabin, onboard bonus, more nights for that cruise, etc.

You can give Oceania a call at their 855 number to get their take. :)

Hopefully they would move you to another cabin

When is the cruise ?

If soon maybe no one that needs a H/C cabin has booked & they have released the cabin to anyone

I agree call O

Cruise in in 2018. I called Oceania and was told that the revenue department would contact me if they needed the cabin. Ii am hoping that the scenario would similar to someone booking a guarantee.

We tried to book an accessible cabin for the 2019 world cruise last week. I called very shortly after bookings opened and they were all booked.

Unfortunately O allows anyone to book them and once someone has one booked, O will not ask if it needed when someone needing it tries to do a booking.

For the 2016 world cruise we were on a wait list for an accessible cabin but they ended up giving some to those on guarantee bookings.

This is absolutely nothing against the OP, but It's sad that O will allow anyone to reserve an accessible cabin for a cruise that is over a year out. My sister and I are contemplating O for an August 2017 Baltic cruise, and an accessible cabin is so much easier for her. We've only cruised in accessible cabins but my sister insists that, as long as there's a stall shower, she'll be OK. We're on a waitlist for an accessible cabin so I'm not sure if anything will come of it.

We tried to book an accessible cabin for the 2019 world cruise last week. I called very shortly after bookings opened and they were all booked.

 

Unfortunately O allows anyone to book them and once someone has one booked, O will not ask if it needed when someone needing it tries to do a booking.

Curious: How were you able to verify O would not ask non-handicapped cruisers to give up their accessible cabin?

Do you use a travel agent, especially one with premier status with Oceania? Since you seem to have had persistent problems with O about accessibility, I recommend you get a Top Oceania agent and let him/her do the heavy lifting for you.

This is absolutely nothing against the OP, but It's sad that O will allow anyone to reserve an accessible cabin for a cruise that is over a year out. My sister and I are contemplating O for an August 2017 Baltic cruise, and an accessible cabin is so much easier for her. We've only cruised in accessible cabins but my sister insists that, as long as there's a stall shower, she'll be OK. We're on a waitlist for an accessible cabin so I'm not sure if anything will come of it.

Just to let you know that I would gladly give up the handicap cabin for someone who is handicapped as long as Oceania put me in a same level or above cabin and I don't have to pay the upcharge.

Just to let you know that I would gladly give up the handicap cabin for someone who is handicapped as long as Oceania put me in a same level or above cabin and I don't have to pay the upcharge.

Agreed. Nothing against you (it's unfortunately the way O chooses to do business).

Just to let you know that I would gladly give up the handicap cabin for someone who is handicapped as long as Oceania put me in a same level or above cabin and I don't have to pay the upcharge.

Looking at the posts in this thread, we have the OP who...

... when booking, clearly identified herself as a non-handicapped person when offered an accessible room

... made known her concern about taking a handicapped room out of inventory at the time of booking

... was reassured that the revenue department would contact her if the cabin were needed for a handicapped cruiser.

We also have a poster who...

... is certain that O will not ask a non-handicapped cruiser to move to a different cabin if their assigned cabin is needed for someone with a disability

... is certain that O did not convert his wait list booking for an accessible room when one became available (World Cruise 2016) but, instead, assigned the accessible room to a non-handicapped person holding a guarantee

If both of these statements are true, then Oceania has a problem with an inconsistent policy or personnel who do not understand the policy and apply it inconsistently. If only one of these explanations is true, which one is it?

We tried to book an accessible cabin for the 2019 world cruise last week. I called very shortly after bookings opened and they were all booked.

Since there are only 3 h/c cabins on Insignia I am not surprised they were booked up

Oceania should required proof that those passengers need the H/C cabins

But wait

it is against the ADA rules to ask if or what your disability is

So they are in a catch 22 situation

Maybe ask to be on a waitlist for the H/C cabin it is almost 2 yrs away you may get one yet

I remember you got one part way through the RTW cruise last year

It's sad that O will allow anyone to reserve an accessible cabin for a cruise that is over a year out.

I agree

They should remove the H/C cabins from the inventory until at least after final payment

People that require h/c cabins usually will try to book early so they can one

Other lines seem to hold them back & require passengers to call to book the H/C cabins

I agree

 

They should remove the H/C cabins from the inventory until at least after final payment

 

People that require h/c cabins usually will try to book early so they can one

 

Other lines seem to hold them back & require passengers to call to book the H/C cabins

Why is the onus always on the Cruise line to act as the parent or big brother? Maybe I should not be so bold, but I think that the passenger, particularly those who desire a h/c cabin because they are perceived as being larger, are at fault.

The extent to which lack of civility has become the norm, particularly among privileged, educated people is disgusting to me.

Why is the onus always on the Cruise line to act as the parent or big brother? Maybe I should not be so bold, but I think that the passenger, particularly those who desire a h/c cabin because they are perceived as being larger, are at fault.

The extent to which lack of civility has become the norm, particularly among privileged, educated people is disgusting to me.

StanandJim, I agree with you 100% and more! I am so thoroughly disgusted with today's entitled society it makes me ill. I remember a time on O several years ago where we had booked the bridge tour, limited to I believe 10 persons. The tour was not advertised, and you had to know to ask if one was being offered. We were sitting in the lobby with a junior officer waiting for the other participants to join us, when up walked three fourty-somethings who asked what we were doing. I believe the jr officer told them we were waiting the balance of the group for the bridge tour.

I'm sure you can imagine 'the rest of the story'..... the three to the effect of 'great we'll go too'. When the jr officer told them the tour was full, they pulled a (loud) hissy fit, insisting they should be allowed to join in. After a phone call to the bridge, the privileged ones were allowed to join, unfortunately. They were rude and obnoxious the whole time of the tour as if saying - see, I told you we would be allowed to go.

But back to the main issue of the thread, some lines seem to be able to handle the use of the accessible cabins with the note that if the cabin is needed by a handicapped person, and the persons who booked it in advance are not handicapped, they will be moved to another stateroom. It's on the HAL and Celebrity sites.

Donna

Why is the onus always on the Cruise line to act as the parent or big brother?

The cruise line have the ability to hold back the cabins from the inventory

As I said it is too bad they cannot ask for proof that the H/C cabins are needed by those booking them

Our friends NEED the H/C cabin as her DH cannot walk but a few steps & even then it can take him 10 mins to walk 2 ft

If people are "entitled " they will not see a problem taking a H/C cabin from someone who may need it

JMO

I just hope I never NEED one

Since there are only 3 h/c cabins on Insignia I am not surprised they were booked up

Oceania should required proof that those passengers need the H/C cabins

 

But wait

 

it is against the ADA rules to ask if or what your disability is

 

So they are in a catch 22 situation

 

Maybe ask to be on a waitlist for the H/C cabin it is almost 2 yrs away you may get one yet

 

I remember you got one part way through the RTW cruise last year

But wait... Do the ADA rules even apply to Oceania since they are a foreign flagged ship? It seems a lot of U.S. Gov. ruled do not apply to cruise ships. Am I wrong? If so please let me know.

But wait... Do the ADA rules even apply to Oceania since they are a foreign flagged ship? It seems a lot of U.S. Gov. ruled do not apply to cruise ships. Am I wrong? If so please let me know.

Yes, some ADA rules do apply to foreign-flagged cruise ships that dock in US ports for the purposes of accommodating passengers with disabilities. The Supreme Court decided this in 2005 in Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line.

yes, some ada rules do apply to foreign-flagged cruise ships that dock in us ports for the purposes of accommodating passengers with disabilities. The supreme court decided this in 2005 in spector v. Norwegian cruise line.

good to hear !!!

Why is the onus always on the Cruise line to act as the parent or big brother? Maybe I should not be so bold, but I think that the passenger, particularly those who desire a h/c cabin because they are perceived as being larger, are at fault.

The extent to which lack of civility has become the norm, particularly among privileged, educated people is disgusting to me.

We were absolutely astounded at the lack of civility and common courtesy displayed by all too many of the passengers on our recent, and first, Oceania cruise...a 22 day segment of Insignia's world cruise.

From passengers treating crew as if they were dirt beneath their feet, to a couple who insisted on playing cards every night while attending the string quartet's pre-dinner performances (you could clearly hear the shuffling of the deck), we saw proof aplenty that having money can't buy you manners. In thirty years of cruising, and more than 50 cruises on taken on 9 or 10 different cruise lines, our Oceania cruise suck out like a sore thumb as a bastion of entitled bad behavior.

Our history with the accessible cabin is we booked the 2015 w/c back in 2013 in a regular cabin as my wife could at the time walk enough that she could get in the cabin and move around. After the Insignia fire we transferred to the 2016 w/c. Her condition had changed enough that she needed the accessible room and we asked to be on the wait list.

Once onboard we found out that 1 accessible cabin was booked by someone that had a prior problem and wanted the cabin in case the problem recurred and the other 2 accessible cabins went to those on guarantees so being on the wait list did not help us.

We talked to the GM who told us he could not do anything regarding booking but would contact head office but not to expect them to ask anyone to move.

We talked to the onboard sales rep who told us she blocks the accessible cabins from anyone that does not need them but there is nothing done at head office to stop anyone from booking them.

Later on the world cruise we were fortunate that for the Sydney to LA segment an accessible cabin did open and we transferred to it even though it was a down grade. During that time we asked several times about the LA to Miami segment - they could not tell us if it would be available - seemed weird that they did not know if the cabin was booked or not. Two days before arriving in LA we were told we could stay in the cabin for the next segment - not sure what happened but possibly H/O offered someone an upgrade so we could stay there.

Who defines the "need" for an accessible cabin. There are many people like myself with mobility issues who do not "need" one and would never book one.

That's part of the problem.

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We were absolutely astounded at the lack of civility and common courtesy displayed by all too many of the passengers on our recent, and first, Oceania cruise...a 22 day segment of Insignia's world cruise.

 

From passengers treating crew as if they were dirt beneath their feet, to a couple who insisted on playing cards every night while attending the string quartet's pre-dinner performances (you could clearly hear the shuffling of the deck), we saw proof aplenty that having money can't buy you manners. In thirty years of cruising, and more than 50 cruises on taken on 9 or 10 different cruise lines, our Oceania cruise suck out like a sore thumb as a bastion of entitled bad behavior.

Wow, this does not sound like anything I remember from any of our 10 cruises on Oceania. All the ships except Serina. And 2 more booked. For the most part we met wonderful people. Did not see anyone abuse the crew at all. Looks like you were on a cruise unlike anything most of us know of and these things did not happen on any of our trips. No bad behavior that we saw. Try again, as what you are reporting is not the norm.

Wow, this does not sound like anything I remember from any of our 10 cruises on Oceania. All the ships except Serina. And 2 more booked. For the most part we met wonderful people. Did not see anyone abuse the crew at all. Looks like you were on a cruise unlike anything most of us know of and these things did not happen on any of our trips. No bad behavior that we saw. Try again, as what you are reporting is not the norm.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it was the around-the-world cruise. If they have the time and money to do it maybe some people think they're better than us mere commoners.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it was the around-the-world cruise. If they have the time and money to do it maybe some people think they're better than us mere commoners.

Maybe they should go around the world and never come back. In all our prior cruises have never met any of those people and hope to not meet them in the future. We are the good one's, not them.

When we booked our 2018 cruise we were told there were no other cabins available in the category we wanted except handicapped ones. I was a little uncomfortable but my TA said that she told Oceania that we did not need an accessible cabin and they would move us if someone did need it.

I would never have booked it except that it would cost $400 more to get a regular cabin. I would be happy to move if need be.