first cruise, first post..

hi everyone. i will be going on my first cruise early next year. i will be on royal caribbean freedom of the seas. i am 21 (will be 22 on for cruise day) and i will be going as part of a group of people who have a similar disability i have (i have something called spina bifida and i am in a wheelchair) do any of you have any cruising tips for someone in a wheelchair? we will be going to cococay bahamas, st maarten, and st thomas. does anyone know how wheelchair friendly those places are? i know im not going to be in the u.s. so i wont be surprised if i have somewhat of a hard time getting around. i just really wanna know what to look forward to. thanks in advance for all your help.

Cruise Critic has a Disabled Travelers forum where you can get assistance on the wheelchair stuff.

With regards to Cococay, that is Royal's private island, which I believe is a tender port. I would expect to enjoy a nice quiet day on the ship.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Since St. Thomas is a US territory. It should have similar facilities to what you are used too.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Here is the link to the Disabled section:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=190

You can also get information on the RCI board here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

I don't know if you would be interested in joining your Roll Call -- just scroll down until you find the date of your cruise here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=261

Cococay is a tender port.

St Thomas and St Maarten -- very easy to get down the gangway and visit the ports.

Sand beaches are extremely diffcult in a chair.

Elevators on the ship can be crowded and not everyone has patience.

If your chair is more than 23" wide you would be better off in a handicapped cabin. Those also have roll in showere. And other amenities like lower rods in closets and even lower phones.

If you can walk a little ask to be seated close to the entrance in the dining room then park the chair or let the waiter park it.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Since St. Thomas is a US territory. It should have similar facilities to what you are used too.

Actually, as a U.S. territory St Tom is subject to the same laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that the rest of the country must comply with. However, there is quite a bit of the infrastructure that pre-dates the passage of the ADA. There are still some of the older areas of Charlotte Amalie that do not have curb-cuts for mobility devices and the stores in this area are accessible only through a narrow doorway with two to three steps.

The more newly built areas like the shopping district around the cruise pier is fully compliant with the ADA for path of travel and clear passage standpoints.

The biggest challenges on board that I have witnessed is a lack of courtesy shown by a small set of fellow passengers into and out of the elevators and the buffet court.

Coco Cay has BEACH wheelchairs for use by passengers!! And they are great -- big tires to go in the sand. You can take it right down to the water. And put a beach chair in the water to sit on. Wonderful.

We have taken my elderly mother 4 times and never had any problems. The crew helps her onto the tender boat and she rides up front i her wheelchair on the deck with a crew person. The beach wheelchairs are available as soon as you get off the ship and we just leave her wheelchair at the dock (private island so it is safe).. We put the beach lounger in the water and she had a great time. She is not able to get into the water other places so we love to take her to Coco Cay.

The only problem I see is that there may only be a couple of beach wheelchairs there. However, you can take a regular wheelchair on the paved paths all the way to the main beach area where the food, music, and beach loungers are.

Dont stay on the boat!!!!!!!

Welcome to Cruise Critic and upcoming Happy Birthday!

We took my mother in law who has mobility issues on an Alaskan cruise. We discovered that if the seas got rough, she was more stable in her wheelchair with us assisting rather than her using her walker. If you do get into rough seas, expect the ship to move both fore and aft and side to side. The ship should have stabilizers that will help to calm the movement, but it will still be moving around under you. Under calm conditions, you will hardly notice any movement at all. Just be prepared if it gets rough.

We tendered (took a small boat from the large ship to the shore) at one port. She was worried that she might not be able to do it. They had an elevator that took her right to where we boarded the small boat. She has limited mobility, but with the crew's assistance, she was able to comfortably get onboard. They did almost forget to load her chair, but my wife quite verbally made them aware of their mistake and the chair was loaded.

My mother in law had almost no issues with getting around and we had a great trip. It was so good that very recently she insisted on taking another cruise. We leave in 12 days.

I most seriously hope you have a wonderful time. You should!

Regards

John

Welcome to CC and your first cruise

St Maarten dock is a flat surface into the port area where there are many shops. To get to the main area, there is a water taxi but It is a step up and in narrow entrance so you will be better placed getting a cab - there are many large cabs there and the people are great and will assist you.

St Thomas dock, is also all flat with lots of shops - to get into town means a cab ride - there is a guy who lines people up into the next cab and they should be able to sort something out for you no problem - we have seen them call special cabs round for you.

All the ports are used to cruise ships which are kitted out for assistance and so are many of the ports.

Welcome!! Congrats on your first cruise. I am sure your gana get hooked ;) these ports are quite beautiful :)

Coco cay - this might be the ONLY port on your trip I see issues with for yall. They have what are called tenders to take you from ship to shore. There basically little boats. If I remember (I was on freedom on that same itinerary 2 years ago) there's no ramp to get into them. You might have to walk or y'all might have to be carried into the tender. The other issue is there are no cement walk ways there all sand.

St Thomas n at marten - both ports are ramps off the ship n normal towns with cement walk ways n loads of shops. I don't see a problem at these ports.

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Coco Cay has BEACH wheelchairs for use by passengers!! And they are great -- big tires to go in the sand. You can take it right down to the water. And put a beach chair in the water to sit on. Wonderful.

 

We have taken my elderly mother 4 times and never had any problems. The crew helps her onto the tender boat and she rides up front i her wheelchair on the deck with a crew person. The beach wheelchairs are available as soon as you get off the ship and we just leave her wheelchair at the dock (private island so it is safe).. We put the beach lounger in the water and she had a great time. She is not able to get into the water other places so we love to take her to Coco Cay.

 

The only problem I see is that there may only be a couple of beach wheelchairs there. However, you can take a regular wheelchair on the paved paths all the way to the main beach area where the food, music, and beach loungers are.

 

Dont stay on the boat!!!!!!!

That is good to know. Haven't been to CocoCay in a long time. Do you know if othe lines have the beach wheels?

any ship that goes to coco cay will have access to the beach chairs, if that;s what you mean. I will be there on Tuesday this week, Anything I can check out for you? I will post again after we are back

The picture shows a beach chair at Coco Cay this week. We saw 5 more sitting there. The path is not paved -- it is very hard sand from the tender to the beach. Hope this helps

I wanted to welcome you to the world cruise cruising and to cruise critic.

Keith