gluecksbaer

The attendants do not stay with you at the gate. They will take you to the boarding area. The good ones will also check in with a gate agent to let them know that you are there. There is sometimes a closet that can hold folded wheelchairs/walkers, but they will usually be gate checked. Gate checked items are placed with the baggage in the cargo hold. They are the last items loaded so they are the first items off (and can easily be brought to the gate). You will need to let the customer service agent at your gate know that you need a gate check tag. If you gate check the walker, you will leave it at the door to the plane. If you have a connecting flight, you can choose whether to check it through to your destination (where it will go to the regular baggage claim) or claim it at the gate (where you will pick it up as you get off the plane and take it yourself to your connection). If you use the airport wheelchairs, you may want to check your walker through either at the counter at your origin city or at the gate. It can sometimes take a while for gate checked items to make it up from baggage so that's some unnecessary waiting for you if you have a connection. In the US/on a US carrier your medical device can be checked free, so the walker won't count against any baggage allowance. (When I put my walker in a bag to check it, I was warned that it only counted as a medical device if that was the only thing in the bag. That is airline dependent, but they only have to exempt the medical device.) If you want your walker available at the gate when you get off the plane, make sure the customer service agent at your gate knows that. Usually you will get a second tag that says "claim at gate" so the baggage handlers know to bring it up for you. I also tip $5-10, sometimes a little more, depending on time spent and general care/concern shown.

I like to go right before boarding to avoid using the bathroom on the plane, that's why just asking an attendant to stop on the way isn't helpful. They always have attendants again when it's time to board, or the airline employees help, but I would be worried about missing preboarding if I asked them to take me then.

Make sure you have a back-up plan for what to do if you show up at the rental counter and they have no car seats or only offer you an infant seat or a booster. (This is a thing that's known to happen. There's a picture that goes around car seat groups with a high chair style booster sitting with the car seats at a rental agency. You just don't know what you will be offered until you get there.)

For our next family trip I want shirts that say "I don't do matching t-shirts" "But I do" and for the kids "Mom made me"

I have had trouble on Southwest and Delta with wheelchair attendants not being available when I disembark. They will push everyone up to the gate area and then say that someone will come back, but sometimes no one does. Luckily, when that has happened to me I've had a family member able to help. We just had to figure out the baggage that they were carrying (and couldn't while pusing the wheelchair). Sometimes there are places on/under the chair for a carryon, but not always. I've also been pushed to the gate in a transport chair and left there to wait for my plane, which made going to the bathroom before boarding complicated. I'm fairly ambulatory though, and that trip I just had a backpack, so I put it on the chair and used the chair like a walker to get to and from the restroom.

Most car seat safety experts recommend a minimum of 5 years old for a booster because 4 year olds really aren't mature enough to stay in position for even short car rides. That will be more true for a child going from a harnessed directly to a backless booster. Travel may be a little different because an adult can sit in the back and remind the child to stay seated, but it still requires the parent's constant attention. A booster is better than nothing, but for a family willing to bring harnessed seats, that makes more sense than misusing a booster. As someone who bought boosters more than 2 years before I planned to use them (when everyone except Harmony and Cosco went to 40lb minimums several years ago), I wish they would raise the age minimums and emphasize that on the box instead of raising the weight minimums. There's no evidence a small 8 year old is less safe in a booster (it hasn't been studied), but there is evidence that a larger 4 year old is less safe. Instead of using that evidence about age to raise age minimums, it's used to raise weight minimums.

The Harmony Youth has a 40lb minimum in the US now. As far as I know, all boosters in the US have gone to a 40lb minimum. It's not by law like it is in Canada, but manufacturers have been raising the minimums for years. The last I knew with a 30lb minimum was the Cosco rise and that's 40lbs now too. The only other option would be a ride safer travel vest which are pretty expensive. I missed the Vancouver part somehow until you mentioned Canada. That would make the vests even less of a good choice since they would only be able to use them in the US. Kesstral: Here is the Transport Canada Advisory, but I understand it carries less weight than FAA advisories, so it would be best to check with the individual airline unless you are traveling with a US carrier. Transport Canada Advisory Circular

I haven't traveled with another disabled person or cruised by myself, but from traveling solo I would guess it's very doable. Get a bag that hangs from your rollator to keep in anything that can't be checked/left with the porters (prescription medications, etc). If you are flying, I suggest requesting wheelchairs through the airports. The wheelchair assistants will help you manage any carryon luggage as well. You can also request wheelchair assistance when boarding the ship. Plan to leave everything you don't absolutely need with the porters. If your wife also typically does things that require walking a longer distance while you wait, then consider renting scooters for your cruise. The Pearl is not so large that I would think you would need one for sure, but they can make getting around on the ship easier.

But it may have caused the confusion. If the rule that those under 21 had to have an "adult" in the cabin and the 20 year olds were not considered "adults" in that sense was not well explaine, it may have led Tiff to believe that they considered the 20 year olds "minors" in general and not just in terms of booking a room.

Our waiter already had my son's allergy noted and ask who he was (by name) to make sure he double-checked everything didn't have his allergen. Our regular room requests. like opening connecting doors and splitting the beds, were not met, but were taken care of quickly.

Radians are FAA approved, as is nearly every harnessed seat on the market (as long as it's not a swivel seat). It's not the width of the seat that matters, although wider seats are harder to install and sit next to. Not all car seats undergo or pass inversion testing which is required for FAA approval. Kesstral, it is a good idea to know where the approval sticker is on whatever car seat you use on a flight. It won't actually say FAA approved anywhere. The wording you are looking for is “This restraint is certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft” This is the FAA page on flying with children: https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_children It can be helpful to reference if you run into a confused flight attendant like kitkat did

I once bought a wheelchair on Amazon, had it shipped directly to my hotel, and then had a local charity pick it up as a donation before I left. I don't know how well would work for you because shipping to Hawaii can be more expensive and I was on a longer trip so it was easier for me to arrange the donation for the day before I left.

When my kids were 4 we took a cruise to Alaska and brought car seats for them both. We used them on the plane too, because I wanted them to be as safe as possible. I know some people get the diono car seat backpacks and truck them through the airport that way, but those are heavy seats and I wouldn't want to do it. Radians are pretty narrow for getting down a plane aisle and installing. I didn't even want to bring our Graco seats. My kids are tiny so we had cosco convertibles that your kids will almost certainly have outgrown. The Cosco Finale is similarly lightweight and I've read that they also stack well (the convertibles we had stacked nicely in the bottom of the closet while we were on the ship). We brought two umbrella strollers with stroller hooks. We stacked the car seats in one and then had the kids trade off walking in the airport. My husband grumbled a lot, but it worked. One of us carried the seats (stacked) on the plane while the other managed kids and carryons (stuff we needed to bring on, we checked most of it). Also, even though she's short overall, my daughter is mostly legs. She flew in a harnessed seat until she was 7 because she was also too small for a booster. She never had an issue with leg room on the plane. The only non-harnessed seat currently available for kids under 40lbs is the ride safer travel vest and they're definitely more expensive than the bus.

It is possible to fall off the ship. You just have to be doing something you shouldn't be doing before the fall.

While this is a good idea, I just want to mention that the scooters you rent are a little easier to maneuver than the ones at stores. They will still help you get the basic function of going forward and reverse. Plus, if you start practicing when you go to the store, it will make the rental scooters seem easy peazy.

This is how it was when we were on Allure. My daughter tried twice and then refused to go again. My son went for the video games despite constant bullying by an older teen. I've since seen that Carnival has an entirely separate area for 12-14 year olds, so I may start exploring options for sailing with them if we cruise again before my kids are at least 15.

I second this. You may want to bring a transport chair that folds small for ports, but renting a scooter or electric wheelchair on the ship will give your husband much more independence. I bought a lightweight folding scooter before my most recent cruise and it's been very freeing.

Royal "preferred providers" are scootaround and special needs at sea as noted above. This means that Royal allows them to deliver the scooters to your stateroom. You may also want to contact special_needs@rccl.com They can provide wheelchair assistance during boarding and departure.

For excursions try accessibleexcursions@rccl.com or shorexaccess@rccl.com. It takes forever to get a reply, but they will check with local operators on excursions to see if you they can accommodate you. I was originally told by them that the accessible excursions are only for people who cannot walk up the stairs in a motorcoach or are full-time wheelchair users, but in later emails they offered one of the accessible tours in one of the ports we visited so that appears to be somewhat negotiable.

I would recommend bringing pre-packaged snacks for port days. Fruit is especially problematic but sealed packages are more likely to be allowed off the ship than even other snacks in baggies. I agree with bringing baggies and saving some snacks for later on the ship too. Littles frequently need snacks and you don't want to be searching out something he likes/wants between meals.

I was able to get our family of 12 in group pictures. We just gave my cabin number for any photos. Sometimes the photographer would insist on adding other cabin numbers, but I just told them that I was the only one who was buying any pictures and they would usually just add one or two. I even had a few pictures that didn't include me or my children that got put in with my pictures and I was then able to include in my package. That note about minors means that you can also have pictures of them that you are not in. For example, my son wasn't in my cabin but I was able to have them add a picture of him and his aunts to my photos to include in my package.

Teens group for teens and not pushing preteens in with the teenagers (or at least allowing families with 12 year olds to choose the more appropriate grouping for them).

I do think that may be it. Thanks!

It did also have inflatables. I never saw people over there so I'm not sure about snorkeling excursions or what you mean by a "fury" beach. Their inflatables were much closer to the shore than the big ones at Playa Mia which is partially why my family members decided to swim to those before someone told them that it wasn't part of Playa Mia and they were not allowed there.

Does anyone know the name of the resort with blue umbrellas next to Playa Mia. If you are facing the water at Playa Mia, this would be on your left side. (The same side as the inflatable play areas at Playa Mia.) I'm hoping to contact someone about an item lost in the water on their side, so if you happen to also have contact info that would be great, but knowing the name would be a good start.