Carnival Magic and 1st Time Disabled Cruiser Anything we should know?

I am taking my best friend on a cruise in January on the Carnival Magic and wanted to check here to see if there is anything in particular anyone could share that we should watch out for on the Magic.

I am taking my best friend on a cruise in January on the Carnival Magic and wanted to check here to see if there is anything in particular anyone could share that we should watch out for on the Magic.

Can you please provide a little bit more information about your concerns? Is your friend in a wheelchair, uses a scooter, have limited vision, deaf, etc? We could probably provide a little bit better information for you then.

Also, spend some time in this forum. There is a ton of excellent information here.

Sorry guess that would help. She has limited mobility so will have a walker and her own scooter. She has flown before with her scooter so it somewhat used to traveling (somewhat). After reading on here, I had her measure it and it appears it is of standard size and will fit through cabin the door way. Looking at the stateroom pic, I see we can probably store it at the end of one of the twin beds. I'm hoping it will fit on the side that is not the desk. We will ask for a shower seat. Just any other advice you might give to a 1st time limited mobility cruiser. Especially related to this particular cruise ship.

What type of cabin do you have, and for how many? I realize there are only two of you, but if you booked a quad cabin the configuration light be different. EM

Sorry guess that would help. She has limited mobility so will have a walker and her own scooter. She has flown before with her scooter so it somewhat used to traveling (somewhat). After reading on here, I had her measure it and it appears it is of standard size and will fit through cabin the door way. Looking at the stateroom pic, I see we can probably store it at the end of one of the twin beds. I'm hoping it will fit on the side that is not the desk. We will ask for a shower seat. Just any other advice you might give to a 1st time limited mobility cruiser. Especially related to this particular cruise ship.

In general, Carnival ships are fairly easy to navigate. You may have to remove the arms on the scooter to fit through the doorway. Although they measure 22", that does not allow for the door itself, which reduces the actual available space to somewhere right around 20".

If you have any tender ports, chances are she will not be able to take her scooter off the ship and will need to make due with her walker.

Are there no accessible cabins available? If she has any sort of balance issues at all, they will be exacerbated by the movement of the ship and she may find the grab bars in the bathroom to be necessary.

Don't wait until you board to ask for the shower seat. Contact Special Needs now to ask for one as well as to let them know that she will be traveling with a scooter. They will assign her to the Special Needs muster group, as well.

Elevators can be challenging. Get on the first available, no matter which direction it is going. Eventually, you will get where you need to be. If at all possible, ask that people allow the scooter to board first, then they can board around it. That way, you protect everyone's toes :)

People don't watch for scooters, so y'all will have to watch for them. They will stop in front of her, cross right in front of her, and do all sorts of really dangerous things around scooters. DH once had a man literally walk over the front half of his scooter to beat him to something at the buffet!

We have a cabin on the Panarama deck of the Magic. In a mobility accessible room.

What can we expect at check-in? Should I try to get a FTTF ticket? Are disabled people with scooters checked in any differently than the general public? We will probably need help with her luggage to start with since I'll have my own to deal with.

I have only used FTTF, so I can't answer your last question. If you have a disabled room booked, there should be a built in shower seat and hand held shower head. Ask to be seated near your scooter during dinner.....there was a mother who was putting her toddler on people's scooters to play. Fortunately, I was close to mine and told her to take her child off mine because it wasn't a toy! The child threw a fit and she wasn't happy, but too bad.

1oldcrone

Thanks for the pointer.

Right now we have Late seating for dinner but I'm thinking about changing it to Your Time. Does anyone have a reason why I should not do that?

Right now we have Late seating for dinner but I'm thinking about changing it to Your Time. Does anyone have a reason why I should not do that?

It may be personal preference, but since dinner takes about 90 minutes, you may find that unless you are night owls, late seating dinner means you finish eating shortly before bedtime! Not so great for your body.

What can we expect at check-in? Should I try to get a FTTF ticket? Are disabled people with scooters checked in any differently than the general public? We will probably need help with her luggage to start with since I'll have my own to deal with.

Check-in is one of the only perks of being disabled. They see you coming in your scooter or wheelchair and direct you to special lines that bypass all the able-bodied folks standing in line. Since you are rooming with her, you will go with her, as they process everyone sharing a cabin at the same time.

There will be porters to handle your luggage when you arrive at the port; tip them $1 for each bag they handle, starting with what they pull out of your vehicle. If they'll be pulling her scooter out of the car/van/bus, tip them extra for that. I hope she can use bungee cords to attach her walker to the back of her scooter, since she'll probably need to use one hand to pull her carry-on (on wheels I hope!) as she uses the other hand to steer and press the GO lever.

Have fun!

Check-in is one of the only perks of being disabled. They see you coming in your scooter or wheelchair and direct you to special lines that bypass all the able-bodied folks standing in line. Since you are rooming with her, you will go with her, as they process everyone sharing a cabin at the same time.

At some port there is still a special check-in line for Special Needs passengers; however, Carnival no longer has the Special Needs boarding group. You will board with whatever group you are assigned.

OP ... If you can get FTTF, I recommend it. Being able to get into your stateroom right away is a huge benefit for us, I believe that you would find it to be so as well.