mlbcruiser

My husband has a Pride folding travel scooter. It only weighs about 50 pounds and folds up. It looks like a medium sized rolling suitcase when you fold it up into its vertical position. He has brought that onto Coco in the past. Usually parks it somewhere near the walkway and takes the key. No one bothers it. That is when he can make it closer to the water.  There is a long paved walkway around to many of the areas on the island. Your problem would come when you got to the actual beach. If you cannot walk at all, and wanted to get near the water, it would be more difficult. I'm not sure if Royal Caribbean has any of those  large beach wheelchairs with the huge wheels that can get through sand. I'm sorry that I can't recall seeing one but that doesn't mean they don't have one or some They have those at various places in Florida at some of the beach resorts. If you could call & find out from Royal Caribbean's accessibility department if they do, you should be able to arrange for him to be taken down to the shore area by Royal Caribbean staff. I'm not sure how disabled your husband is, but there might be a problem with him being able to get off and get into a beach chair, and get back up. My husband can barely get onto a chase lounge. Especially more of a problem getting up, but he eventually manages to. He has begun avoiding then more, though. He does much better with a regular sized, more normal looking chair that is not so low to the ground. 

Sorry, but I can't really answer the question about which beach side cabana area is the best. I just know that we were allowed to bring our husband's scooter onto Coco Cay. 

Good luck! I know having the role of advance man or woman can get very complicated and difficult when you trying to plan activities and/actually more or a vacation.

We were on the Jewel of the Seas on a cruise to Norway this past  summer. Interestingly, spaghetti Bolognese was offered on a number of nights. I would say at five or six times. Even in consecutive nights once or twice! I just remember thinking it offered pretty frequently at the time!  Desserts were very repetitive. I would say the food options, taste, variation offerings have gone in the wrong direction for years, but most especially this past year. We usually cruise with them at least once most years. Not to say it hasn't gone downhill on most mainstream cruise lines as well. 

Thanks SO much for this info! Seems like ships under both the Royal Caribbean Corp and Carnval Corp, especially, are going to their own private islands more and more. In searching for itineraries, On the short causes under a week these may be the only destinations. In the near "olden days" you would at least go to a private island and possibly Nassau, Key West or Cozumel. 

Thanks again!

Looking at a couple of short cruises departing this fall. Have cruised a lot but never to Grand Turk or Progresso.  Friends were in Grand Turk a few years ago and though it was a bunch of nothing. Said it was packed at a beach by Margaritaville and smelled foul in the area. .(I was surprised they never tried to snorkel anywhere there, actually, but perhaps it wasn't easy to get to a place to do it that is good, or find an independent exursion to do it or perhaps the ship didn't offer any snorkeling excursions or was sold out - ?) 

As for Progresso, I doubt it's "all that" compared to Cozumel, Playa del Carmen or Costa Maya (Mayahual), but then we've never gone there.  IF we do, I think I'd like to visit the old colonial section of Merida.  However, getting there could be expensive. (I've read there is a public bus that goes there from Progresso but the ride is 2 hrs. each way due to stops and don't want to risk slow transportation on a cruise stop.)  I've seen private guides/rides recommended for tours of Merida and it's surroundings but too pricey for us. 

Just wonder what those who have been to those 2 ports think about them as compared to one another. 

Hoping for some quick replies. Thanks for any input!

My husband has a 50 lb Pride folding portable mobilty scooter. It uses a sealed lithium batteriy  l the battery must be in a sealed compartment. The airline wants to know in advance that you are bringing it along. It may be ridden up the jetway,  but when you get to the plane cabin door, you must turn it over to be stored in the cargo area. Or you can turn it over at the desk where the gate agent is and you can walk up the jetway onto the plane. However, YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT  leave a LITHIUM  battery in the scooter once it gets taken to the cargo hold!!!  You MUST remove it and take it into the plane's cabin with you.

My husband's scooter battery weighs 5 pounds. I remove it, and put it into what is actually a small nylon bag-type fabric cooler that has a little bit of padding. That way it's easier to bring on board. When we come off of the plane, the scooter is brought  to us on the jet way most of the time I unfold it and put the battery back in it. Some airports in some cities may deliver the scooter at the end of the jetway where you go into the terminal. That has only happened twice,  and it creates a bit of confusion.

The reason the lithium battery must be removed is because there have been fires in cargo holds from lithium batteries. I'm asduming if one caught on fire in a cabin overhead or stowed under a seat, they would know it quickly and it would get put out. If the lithium battery is sealed, I guess that is some protection but I can't really say for sure.

This is the rule for sure with regard to any mainstream major airline that allows scooters. The reason I say any mainstream airline that allows scooters is because Frontier Airlines does not. I doubt Spirit does. AmericanAirlines, Delta, United, Air France, British Airways, Southwest

& many other major airlines around the world, do allow them.  Usually those in a particular group that has deals to share frequent flyer miles and so on (like One World - American, British Airways, Air  Tahiti Nui, Iberia, and more) do, Although there are some models of airplanes of a smaller size on certain carriers (like Air Canada) that do not allow them. Maybe more (?), so it's always wise to call the accessibility number of the airline you are thinking of flying to make sure they take them.  

There are forms when you get to the gate that a gate agent will fill out and attach to your scooter. On that form they will want to know the specifics of the scooter: length width, height, weight what type of battery it has, and yes,  there is a certain voltage of wattage maximum but almost all travel scooters are within those bounds. There is a some way to convert to the "Wh" or whatever it is. You can look it up on the Internet or call the airline and tell them and they can usually look it up for you. I've done that with American Airlines a couple of times but now I keep a record of the number that they want to know. It's always good to call the airline in advance and some of them want to have all the information given to them over the phone but you likely will still have to have them fill out something at the gate.

My husband's entire scooter is one piece & about the size of a medium rolling suitcase when it is folded up. It weighs 50 pounds,  Nothing must be removed from it other than the battery. if one wants to bring a large heavy duty scooter that has to have handles or seats or whatever removed from it I don't know how that works other than if they are lithium battery powered, I'm sure they would not allow the battery portion into the cargo hold.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for the advice and recommendation. I may contact you later on if we do end up going to Progresdo. I appreciate you taking the time to share the information.

A couple of cruise lines including Carnival & Royal Caribbean show Progresso/Merida or list Merida on their itinerary when the ahip actually docks in Progresso. Wondering why there aren't many posts regarding Merida (at least on the first few pages listing these places under Ports of Call boards)?  We have almost driven to Merida a couple of times when staying in Cancun as I've heard it has a very nice colonial section. Do these cruise lines offer shore excursions to Merida from Progresso for plain ol' sightseeing? Of has anyone reading this been to Merida on an independdnt excursion there?   If the answer is yes to either, what did you think of Merida? 

Thanks for any input!

Oh thank you for that. Good news! I know people love to bring the magnetic hooks and cords for clothes lines in the cabin. Or they stick the magnetic hooks on the ceiling and bring some hangers to hang theit items to dry. Those hooks are way too heavy, however. I need every pound allowed in my suitcase without adding those. I can bring a couple of hangers because those are the closets hooked in into those circular things. They are not hooked up hangers. Any laundry that is done by the ship’s laundry service will go into  to an overly hot dryer. Fine for my husband, but any shrinkage of my things and I’m in trouble! 

Thanks so much for replying. I really do appreciate it.

Hoping someone who has recently been on the Jewel can tell me if this ship has the little pullout clotheslines in the regular shower stalls? 
 

Thanks for any replies.
 

Absolutely they will be happy to get as much as they can get. Probably human nature, but normally not so much the human nature in French Polynesia. More recently. I would say the two or three restaurants where we saw this probably did get a good number of tourists. Definitely not only American tourists. There were many French tourists and various other nationalities. British even, and they are known to be fond of tipping. These weren’t lavish restaurants - at least by American standards, and there were a few locals in them. Some ex pats plus locals probably a little better off than some. 

I wonder the same thing. It’s kind of like they are treating people that have a disability like second-class citizens or something. Sometimes, on some ships, there are better located accessible cabins.  If so, usually 2 or so. Most ships get some type of refurbishment every few years. Cruise lines love to squeeze more cabins in at such times, but it seems like they could easily redo a few cabins in good, mid ship locations and turn them into accessible cabins. Most especially since non-disabled people would generally not mind one bit being put into an accessible cabin for the extra room. So if they didn’t have enough people who qualify for those cabins during a slow time of year, I’m sure many people would welcome them.

Several years ago, we went to French Polynesia. Once we landed in Tahiti, we took a taxi to the ferry port to catch a ferry over to Moorea. I did a lot of reading before our trip and read that it was not customary to tip in French Polynesia. It even said that some would be offended if you tried to offer a tip. However, we had noticed a sign in the taxi cab that said tips appreciated. 
 

Once we got to Maria, we had a driver waiting for us to take us to our resort. I asked him about the tipping custom there. He said Americans were ruining the natural desire of French Polynesians to give excellent service and hospitality to tourists. He himself was born in France, but spent a tour of duty in Tahiti in the French military. After going home, he decided to move back to the Island of Tahiti. he said not to tip. That he never ever tips.  We therefore stopped automatically giving tips in that country. However, we did periodically go into a restaurant and there would be signs indicating tips, appreciated or signs that said please feel free to leave a tip.  
 

To those who like to overt, especially, I like to say you are the ones that have helped keep service wages solo in the US.  There are many professions where an individual must spend a lot of time with a customer. Even in a department store, a sales person could get someone that wants to try on numerous clothing items or hogs someone behind the jewelry counter because they want to try on about 15 different watches with other customers waiting. Or perhaps they have you call another store and have an employee there find something you want and hold it for you. Do you tip that person? No. For one thing they wouldn’t be allowed to except a tip. do you tip a flight attendant who maybe went an extra mile for you for some reason? No, you’re not supposed to. So why should I tip someone scoop of ice cream on top of an ice cream cone when that is their job? I’m not going to complain that Norwegians don’t expect tips. I’ll follow the advice above.
 

Thanks for the replies.

I read this thread with interest because I have noticed on some of the tours and excursions available online through certain tour providers mention the cost of the actual tour, plus any taxes or entrance fees, yet still state tips are not included in the price. This, to me, sounds like they are basically telling you to tip.  No mention at all of service fees as part of the tour cost. 
 

Thanks for all of these informative posts.

I have a friend who is a single man and he does not need an accessible cabin. However, a few years ago, he was given one. Under occasion, I guess they have one that hasn’t been taken or perhaps someone has to cancel at the last minute and there’s no one on any sort of a waitlist for one.
 

Another thing is sometimes we’ve looked at an accessible cabin because my husband does qualify, but so often they are way up in front of the ship (too much motion for me!) or in a less desirable location. That really  annoys me when I see that type of cabin only available in less desirable locations. 

Wow, that’s a tough one. Especially since you aren’t using folding scooters. 
Even with 2 folding scooters it would be tough to fit them plus luggage in most vehicles. I’d almost think you might need 2 separate vehicles - one for each of you and likely a van. Size of the scooters and the amount of luggage affects this, of course. 
 

Do you need the scooters to get around prior to boarding? I’m sure you could be transport wheelchair from the jetway to a taxi. So I’m wondering if you’d be better off renting 2 scooters for use on the ship and when you were off the ship in Port. Although again, if you need transportation in the port, that could be difficult.  If you rented scooters for a company that will have them waiting in your cabin, you can get assistance, be a wheelchair and be taken from the rival area onto the ship. I would call the accessible department of the cruise line to see how best to get this arranged. Or perhaps you just show up and then tell, a staff member that you need help getting to your cabin.
 

We travel with a 50 pound folding travel scooter that is about the size of a medium suitcase, but a little thicker. It’s not quite as easy as pulling a rolling suitcase because it stays straight upright, but it’s too hard to push it forward. Not really easy, dragging a suitcase along as well though.  It fits in the trunk of most cars stand up in the trunk of a minivan. We have had to put one of our suitcases into the backseat of a taxi before with another large suitcase and the scooter in the trunk.
 

Sorry, I don’t have more helpful information for you. Good luck getting this worked out!
 

Yes, we do have a morning flight. Plus we can use the Royal Caribbean transfer service. If your flight is after 10:30 AM, you can use it. It might vary according to port & airport location, I’m sure,  due to different distances and airports. Another thing that might enter into that is how many major airlines happen to be flying back to the US the day of debarkation that’s probably an unlikely reason. There are others on our same cruise who have flights at 11 AM and they were also told they could use it. In fact, I think the line has to work with people who booked their tickets through the cruise line, and if they were signed in early flight, the cruise line must know if they would be able to get them there or not.
 

Thanks for replying.

The problem with some of us on this cruise is we have quite early flights. Royal Caribbean will not guarantee to get someone to the airport if their flight is before 1030 am. There are pax with 10:55 & 11am flights so it’s cutting it very close. I’m sure wherever they deliver the luggage, we’ll have to take it through security, etc, ourselves and won’t have much time. 

Thanks for the info and you are probably right.
 

We have only used ship transfers from our ship to the airport on debarkation day once and it was quite a number of years back. We will be using them again for a morning flight out of Amsterdam. Saw a post that made me wonder if Royal Caribbean will put the luggage in the cargo hold under the transfer bus that the passengers are on or will they transfer that luggage separately? There Was a post about someone barely getting their luggage delivered to the airport before their flight took off.

It would be especially good to hear from someone that has experience when doing this in Amsterdam or other European cities. Thanks for any info!

Good to hear! Thanks. 

Ibis Amsterdam Center Stopera.  
 

better price than most and pretty good reviews. Certainly close to the center of things and transport, etc.  Plus not real far from the port.

I realize all hotels in 18 are not always of the same quality etc. but we stayed in an ibis in France less than two years ago and it was very good on all counts.

Thank you for the info.  We are already booked elsewhere but I know many people like the Holiday Inn Express. 

Taylor Swift is turning out to be the reason for the extreme pricing on the hotels in Edinburgh. I only found that out last night. The same thing happened to us in Edinburgh, which I’m not sure maybe I have mentioned. Our trip was originally going to start in Scotland. That is not the reason we are not going to be in the U.K. this trip now, though. However, at the time I had decided we were going to stay in Glasgow instead to Skye from either city.

I actually have found a number of accommodations that would be suitable. Booked something last night with the ability to cancel, if necessary and the total price is about $100 more in total than I wanted to pay initially. Base price is fine. It’s those extra fees….

The ideas of booking slightly outside of town are good ones but after thinking it over, we decided since we’d likely enjoy being in the center of things a bit more, we might as well,  since the price is very reasonable considering the situation.

Really appreciate all the advice and help!

Thank you!

Cotswold Eagle, yes,  that was one of the hotels I had seen. There were several others. I recall once started with XO in the name. There was a Mercure did the south and another modern hotel in that area but it sounded like there was a 10 minute walk for transportation. Something called the RAI is in that area. There are a number of others but the locations aren’t as great as being in the city center of course. I had planned to spend some time looking tonight, but too many things have come up and I haven’t gotten to it.

FreestyleNovice, thanks for the great link! It certainly names several areas. Sometimes hotel descriptions do not say the name of the community or area they are actually located in. I did get a Frommers Guide at the library and there is a great map yet simple map tucked into the back flap, as well as a number of maps on pages in the book, which are much more helpful than anything else I’ve seen.  However, I would never expect someone else to do that legwork for me! People on here are so good about sharing information that it’s all adding up together to help me get a better handle on finding someplace.

Thanks again!
 

I appreciate all of the information above and don’t have time right now to look up hotels that I saw that were more reasonably priced just to prove they are out there. However,I did realize that those were not that close to the city center based on travel time listed to the airport. Was hoping there were some in that range closer in, though.
 

We will have to take a cab from the airport to the hotel, but I was hoping we wouldn’t have to spend a fortune getting from the hotel to the port by taxi. I know a couple of those hotels were in the area marked Noord (so northern area I guess). I’m not really opposed to the southern district either, but just want to make sure of the names of the areas I should be looking at and to find an area that isn’t pretty “sketchy”. The only sightseeing I am hoping we get to do is possibly visit the Zaanse Schans (sp?) area and maybe do a late afternoon or evening canal cruise, though we have done one before. (Always a pleasant thing to do.) So staying in a place which would not be very difficult to get to where we can access those things would be helpful. 
 

As far as the price, I’m hoping not to spend more than necessary as the stay in Amsterdam is basically just to wait until time to embark on our cruise. Decided to do an extra night’s  stay just to adjust to the time a little bit before we get on our ship.
 

Thanks to everyone who took the time and made the effort to reply. Anymore suggestions welcome!
 

We’ll be needing a hotel for 2 nights in Amsterdam prior to an ocean going cruise.

Hoping not to have tp pay more than $200 per night in early July  and will need one with an elevator (which would be next to impossible to find in a B&B). 

Wondering about areas where other cruisers tend to stay (?). To qualify that, I mean not a $900 per night Marriott, for instance. (I actually saw that on the TA hotel list today) I’ve also seen other relatively nice looking hotels for under $200 a night  but they are likely far away from where we need to be. I realize I am a little late in search but the date of our mine trip just recently changed.
 

I’m having a little difficulty figuring out the names of areas that would be within a fairly short taxi ride of 10 -15 or so minutes from the port. It’s not always easy to tell what the name of the area is that a listed hotel is actually in. (The search features on this site do not list the port or Central Station).  We’d like to stay someplace where there are moderately price restaurants around that is considered a fairly safe area. We’ve spent a couple of days visiting this city before and did get around a bit by tram, so being not super far from it would be a plus. 
 

DH is somewhat disabled and will use a folding travel scooter. He can usually walk short distances and climb s flight of stairs (when there is a bannister),  but I’ll be handling our two 26”  suitcases & a carryon, lugging them myself. . Since the scooter fits into a car trunk snd can be folded like a rolling suitcase, that’s why we’re planning on getting a taxi to the ship instead of using some other method. 
 

I would love to hear some suggestions and get some input from those in the know or who have had similar hotel needs. Thanks for any helpful information!