Renting a wheelchair or scooter in FLL

My friend who is traveling with us just found out she will need to use a wheelchair or scooter to be able to go on this cruise. She is having surgery about two weeks before the cruise. The doctor thinks she will be able to go but will need to use a chair to get around the ship. Is there a rental company that will be able to deliver to our FLL hotel and pick up from the ship? or maybe airport to airport?

Don't know about hotel or airport but the two most recognized companies that cruisers use are: carevacations.com and specialneedsatsea.com. You can contact them via their website or call them directly for a faster response.

Good Luck and, by the way, you will LOVE the Equinox.

Read the "Tell Me Pros/Cons of Scooter vs 'Chair'" thread on this board.

My friend who is traveling with us just found out she will need to use a wheelchair or scooter to be able to go on this cruise. She is having surgery about two weeks before the cruise. The doctor thinks she will be able to go but will need to use a chair to get around the ship. Is there a rental company that will be able to deliver to our FLL hotel and pick up from the ship? or maybe airport to airport?

Contact CareVacations http://www.carevacations.com/cruiseshipassist/ as they should be able to assist you. I used CareVactions just last November and had their midsize scooter delivered to the Hotel. I than arranged for a wheelchair accessible taxi to pick me up at the hotel and take me to the ship the next day. On debarkation day I just left the scooter in my cabin and than used my wallker to go to the waiting area for wheelchair assistance.

Airport drop off-- really not certain if any of the rental companies will do that.

If your Friend can do some limited walking you can also consider just having the scooter delivered to the ship and have it waiting in your cabin the day of embarkation. Once at the pier the cruiseline offers wheelchair assistance with boarding the ship and also when you depart the ship.

Called Care Vacations. They can deliver a scooter to our hotel and then either they can pick it up and have one at the ship or we can take it with us in an "accessible" cab. Okay how does one get a taxi or van that can take the scooter from the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood tothe Fort Lauderdale port?

I continue to be amazed at how helpful everyone is. Thank you.

I used care vacations and they delivered a wheelchair to our hotel and we then arranged transport to ship.

I hate to bring this up...but if your friend is suddenly in need of a scooter, do you have an accessible room booked ? Depending on the size of the scooter, it may not fit through the cabin door. Read other postings in this forum regarding scooters.

I hope all goes well and you have a wonderful cruise vacation with your friend.

Okay how does one get a taxi or van that can take the scooter from the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood tothe Fort Lauderdale port?

See if your hotel offers a shuttle service and if not, ask for a few reputable companies that either they will call for you or you can call yourself. Not knowing what size scooter you rented, most of the time(based on personal experience) Care Vacations rents the Go-Go, or the GO-Go Elite which are smaller, lightweight travel scooters. They can easily be lifted into the back of a shuttle van by two people.

Like Huggs said, you need to be aware that some scooters will not fit through standard stateroom doors. If you don't have an accessible room at least request that the arm rests be removed from the scooter prior to delivery. That will lessen the width of the scooter.

If you have a standard stateroom and the scooter does manage to fit into the room, you can ask the cabin attendant to remove the table in the room to allow for more room.

Called Care Vacations. They can deliver a scooter to our hotel and then either they can pick it up and have one at the ship or we can take it with us in an "accessible" cab. Okay how does one get a taxi or van that can take the scooter from the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood tothe Fort Lauderdale port?

I continue to be amazed at how helpful everyone is. Thank you.

You have 3 possible options

1. Check to see if the hotel has a shuttle with an accessible lift and offers transportation to/from the cruise terminal.
   
2. If the Hotel offers free shuttle transportation to/from the cruise terminal and the hotel shuttle does not have an accessible lift than the Hotel is obligated under ADA law to make equal arrangements free of charge for an accessible vehicle for anyone using a scooter and or wheelchair .
   
3. If option 1 and 2 do not exist you can have the front desk call to arrange for an accessible taxi . Suggest you do this the night before and re-confirm with the front desk in the morning about 1 1/2 hours before the scheduled pickup time. Of course you will have to pay for this taxi.
   

Actually there's a 4th option... Depending on the size capacity of the scooter required and if you are able to rent the MidSize Pride Go Go Elite Traveler throught Cavevations than you can arrange for the hotel to order a standard van taxi that does not have an accessible lift because this particluar scooter easily breaks apart. refer to link for disassembly video http://www.pridemobility.com/gogo/video/gogo_Elite_disassembly.html This is what I do when I have it delivered to the hotel as it's faster to get a standard van taxi than it is to wait for an accessible taxi. In fact because it's weighs about 95 lbs the driver and I just lifted it into the van and did not have to disassemble it.

She doesn't have an accessible cabin since when we booked this cruise last year this was not an issue. Care vacations said the light type scooter would fit through the door. We can't even book anything until she has the surgery and makes sure she can still take the cruise. The doctor thought she would be able to go but will need some help getting around on the ship and getting off in ports. The scooter seems to give her more freedom but not having anyone with mobility issues before I'm trying to do the ground work and keep up her spirits that this is doable.

She doesn't have an accessible cabin since when we booked this cruise last year this was not an issue. Care vacations said the light type scooter would fit through the door. We can't even book anything until she has the surgery and makes sure she can still take the cruise. The doctor thought she would be able to go but will need some help getting around on the ship and getting off in ports. The scooter seems to give her more freedom but not having anyone with mobility issues before I'm trying to do the ground work and keep up her spirits that this is doable.

The CareVacations light weight scooter will fit through the standard cabin doorway provided that the armsrests are not fully extended. I usually just take them off and replace them on debarkation day when the scooter has to left in the cabin. There will either be a silver pin below the back of the seat for each arm rest that you just pull out so the armrests can be released. Or there will be black knob that turns a screw located in the same postion as previously mentioned. Just remember to place the pin or black knob back into the armrest so it doesn't not get lost while storing the armrests in your cabin. You don't want to be charge for any damaged or missing parts.

Depending on the cabin you might have to make some minor adjustments like moving the coffee to the end of the sofa or having it totally removed from the cabin. I also remove the desk chair and just park the scooter next to desk. The scooter seat turns by releasing a lever beneath the seat so it can double as a desk chair. This is very doable as I'm not always able doabled as I am not alway able to get an accessible cabin. Please encourage her that this is all easier than she thinks.