RC and disability

I would just like to commend RC on their treatment of their disabled customers. My husband is paralyzed from the neck down and drives a wheelchair with his chin. As his wife, you cannot imagine how many times I am automatically assumed to be his nurse, the number of times people address me instead of him, when servers in restaurants ask ME what HE wants, and hardly ANYONE ever brings us a menu for him (like he somehow has it memorized??), and how he was injured.

On Oasis, two years running now, I can tell you that NOT ONCE did ANY of that happen. Never. Either they have some seriously AWESOME training on how to treat people with disabilities or they happen to pick 2400 awesome staff! :)

OH, and no one said to me the old "You are so .... SPECIAL .... " (because no one seems to consider that I personally get a lot of this marriage too!). That one drives me NUTS!

I too have had great support from crew and staff on RCCL ships, including the Oasis.

My daughter was allowed to zip line on the Oasis and the Sports Deck Manager made sure she was safe and assisted us to get her wheelchair down to the bottom for her after she zip lined.

When my wife was alive, we were on 6 RCCL cruises. She was in a wheelchair, and all the cruise were fabulous in helping take care of her without us feeling we were putting anyone out.

I have a progressive form of MS and walk with forearm crutches. The crew members on Royal Caribbean ships always offer assistance but never push it or are condescending.

Prior to becoming disabled I regularly cruised on HAL. 99.9% of my cruises since being disabled has been with RCCL. Been on various HAL ships and have traveled with a large group of other disabled individuals. Each time RCCL has done an outstanding job with regards to how they treated us. I think the fact that RCCL partners with the "Make a Wish Foundation" is reason that their staff seems to be more sensitive to this matter.

FYI my group took a HAL cruise a year and never again ! Makes me question now why I loved HAL when I was abled bodied.

I would just like to commend RC on their treatment of their disabled customers. My husband is paralyzed from the neck down and drives a wheelchair with his chin. As his wife, you cannot imagine how many times I am automatically assumed to be his nurse, the number of times people address me instead of him, when servers in restaurants ask ME what HE wants, and hardly ANYONE ever brings us a menu for him (like he somehow has it memorized??), and how he was injured.

 

On Oasis, two years running now, I can tell you that NOT ONCE did ANY of that happen. Never. Either they have some seriously AWESOME training on how to treat people with disabilities or they happen to pick 2400 awesome staff! :)

 

OH, and no one said to me the old "You are so .... SPECIAL .... " (because no one seems to consider that I personally get a lot of this marriage too!). That one drives me NUTS!

That is so awesome to hear, I teach students with severe special needs, and I have zero tolerance for people treating people with special needs like they do not exist. I always tell people to error on the side of treating them normally, and then adjust from there. I am pretty sure your husband would rather a waiter try to hand him a menu, even if he cant reach out and grasp it, then smile and open it to somewhere where he can see it, rather than just pretending he dost not exist.

As a long time Disney cruiser, I have had amazing chats with cruise staff on the Disney Wonder about people with disabilities in the kids club. They said it is very very rare they have trouble with kids interacting with other young people with disabilities, it is always the parents/adults who make comments or act a fool.

They told me a story of an afternoon where they were having Princess story time, and about 20 little girls were all dressed up like princesses while Cinderella read to them and they at cookies. The kids club staff are not allowed to touch the kids, so they could not help a young girl, about 8, who used a wheelchair, get in her dress. Several kids asked Cinderella to stop reading so they could help her get her dress, and would not let her start the story till she had a dress on also. Apparently Cinderella had to step briefly off stage because the entire scene brought tears to her eyes. It was magical.

I am rather new to Royal so it is great to hear they are dialed in!

That's great to hear. We also had a bad experience on HAL, which was completely unexpected. :(

In 7 weeks, my family of four will be taking our 2nd cruise on Oasis of the Seas. My son-in-law is disabled with muscular dystrophy, and drives a power wheelchair. He can hold a menu, and manages his tableware with a little help from my daughter. He needs a straw to drink any beverage - including coffee.

When we sailed in November 2012, we had MDR, so we had the same wait staff every night, and they were superb! This time we were assigned to My Time Dining, so we will probably be served by a variety of people. However, considering how nicely he was treated by everyone last time, I think we will have another wonderful vacation.

We were delighted to find how great the accessible balcony cabins were. They are cleverly designed so that the inside floor slopes up slightly, and a small outside ramp drops down to the balcony when the door is opened. My SIL spent many happy hours out on the ocean-view balcony. In fact, I don't think he would ever agree to another cruise that didn't have that benefit.

This is so encouraging to read as we are going on Oasis with our disabled son in three weeks. :D We have the accessible loft suite so we are very excited indeed! Our son will be 28 when we travel, and has cerebral palsy with additional communication and learning disabilities but he loves travelling and we've been pretty adventurous over the years. It's interesting to see how different cultures react to our son too.

This will be his 5th cruise all of which have been great with one exception (Celebrity Constellation) where the jacuzzi hoist broke when our son was using it and we were less than impressed with the response. On all our Royal trips we've had good experiences even when there was a hiccup with the stateroom on Splendour. That's why we've booked with Royal again so are really hoping it will be as good!