eisco17

This is for Pack My Bags post in Feb 2011 -

You brought tears to my eyes reading your post. My husband uses a scooter and is apprehensive of the crowds onboard. Most times, people are nice, but we met up with several rude people on our last cruise (Nov. 2007). I loved hearing your story of how wonderful the staff is - can make up for the rude passengers.

Hi - What cabin were you in? We are in 1328 which is a Junior suite on Deck 10 on the 2/10/08 sailing. Any helpful hints would be great. Do you have any pictures? I can't wait!!!

Thanks.

Nadine:)

Sorry for the delay in replying Nadine - I've been busy making up for the time I was away from work while on the cruise.

:)

We were in 8620 - a regular D2 (not handicapped) balcony cabin. It was sufficient since we folded the wheelchair at the door and my dh was able to hold onto furniture and walls in the room to get around.

Most of the tips I can think of are in my review, but here are a few more. If you have other specific questions, please ask.

In regards to traveling with a wheelchair, especially if it is your first vacation with one:

1. PLAN

2. Don't expect to be able to do everything such as the parades and most of the excursions.

3. Wherever there is a crowd, it is best to stay out of it. Coming out of a show was a little difficult, but just take your time.

4. Ask questions on this board

We sailed a couple of weeks ago on the 11/11/07 sailing to the Western Carribbean on the RCCI Freedom of the Seas. My husband can walk short distances with a four-prong cane, and only uses a wheelchair for trips to the doctors in NY. This was the first vacation we planned since he became disabed. I lost a lot of sleep worrying whether we would enjoy the vacation since we didn't know how easy it would be to get around the ship. We wanted to be prepared.

After much discussion, he decided to bring the lightweight/small-wheel WC we borrowed from a friend. We thought the regular sized WC might be too wide for the narrow hallways.

Our trips in the airports (Newark and Miami) were great - the airlines knew ahead of time we were coming and they did everything they could to get the best seats for us and boarded us early.

We had early boarding on the ship also. RCCI put us in a lounge area in the port with plush seating near the elevator we would take when check-in began. We were ushered ahead of the line for check in.

On the ship, we quickly realized we brought the wrong chair. My husband wanted to control the WC so he wouldn't bump into anyone. I immediately went to Guest Relations and asked if they had a regular sized chair, thinking that if they didn't have one for him, I could quickly call a rental service since we weren't sailing for several hours. I had to sign a release to pay $250 if it was damaged and they delivered it to our room within 2 hours. We had both chairs in the room the whole week, but only used RCCI's. Guest Relations made recommendations for each port concerning the WC. Labadee Haiti had sand-WC's waiting for passengers, so we did not take one off the ship. The other ports, we were allowed to take RCCI's WC off and on - no problem. If we were tendered, the staff folded it and loaded it on the boat for us.

We used it every where we went - the ship is so huge, that to be without it, my husband would have tired very quickly. We stored it in the back of the shows and off to the side in the dining rooms, as my husband wanted to walk to his seat each time.

Everyone at the elevators were polite, held the doors going in and out, smiled and let us go first most of the time. Only once was someone rude by moving ahead of us, but they went ahead of everyone else waiting at the elevator also.

The staff was exceptional. If we wanted help, they were right there for us.

If you act like you know what you're doing with your chair and don't block traffic, they leave you alone or make paths for you.

We got to the shows before the lights went down, but since there was usually room for everyone anyway, we never lacked for a seat, even on the end of an aisle.

There were about 8-10 other passengers with WC's - some were mobilized, others were manual like ours. We were all welcomed every we went.

If you have any questions, please ask.