1horrie1

friends of our, aged, are travelling on Pacific Dawn - one person is restricted to a wheel chair and oxygen. They are first time cruisers, and they have been put on Deck 10 (inside) K Grade cabin.

Will they get a priority boarding? and does anyone have some photos of this cabin (type B270 series)

thanks

friends of our, aged, are travelling on Pacific Dawn - one person is restricted to a wheel chair and oxygen. They are first time cruisers, and they have been put on Deck 10 (inside) K Grade cabin.

Will they get a priority boarding? and does anyone have some photos of this cabin (type B270 series)

thanks

 

when the person in the wheel chair and their partner arrive at the terminal they have to register for wheel chair assistance and they will be taken onboard by p&o staff

friends of our, aged, are travelling on Pacific Dawn - one person is restricted to a wheel chair and oxygen. They are first time cruisers, and they have been put on Deck 10 (inside) K Grade cabin.

Will they get a priority boarding? and does anyone have some photos of this cabin (type B270 series)

thanks

yes to priority boarding, in facted they will recieve better then priority boarding.

The wheelchair assistance service does not ensure priority boarding - they do need to register at the assistance desk and wait their turn. There is a separate waiting area with chairs for partners. The organiser does take medical issues into account in sorting out the order. Very helpful staff in our experience. Your friends will also need to complete a questionairs from P&O where special needs can be identified and recorded if they have not already done so when making their booking. If they booked through a TA, s/he will send the form onto them. That's what happenned for us. Otherwise they contact P&O.The form alerts the pursers desk to special circumstances and you get a note during the cruise advising you of special disembarkation arrangements for people who need assistance.

 

On our last cruise (Pacific Jewel) we found the staff very helpful so your friends will be well looked after.

 

Colleen

yes to priority boarding, in facted they will recieve better then priority boarding.

 

how in what way can they receive better than priority boarding....they cant go on before anyone else

 

when we cruise princess we always get priority boarding and some wheel chair passengers come on with us but only a couple as they have to be taken on by staff

how in what way can they receive better than priority boarding....they cant go on before anyone else

 

when we cruise princess we always get priority boarding and some wheel chair passengers come on with us but only a couple as they have to be taken on by staff

for able body passengers priority boarding means you get to board the ship in the first boarding call. eg you have to carrie your hand luggage, find you own cabin, find the purses office.

 

If you have to be taken on board in a wheel chair for what ever reason.

priority boarding means that you will taken on board normly just before the first boarding call ( thats if you ready to board at this time)

The staff will take you and your hand luggage and who ever you are cruising with all the way to for cabin, most times they give a short tour on the way, and it does not hurt to ask.

The length of time you wait to board the ship after you register for wheelchair or assisted boarding depends on the number of staff on duty to provide assistance and how long each assisted embarkation takes. We have waited over an hour to board a cruise with many passengers needing assistance and less than 30 minutes on another with very few. The process is speeded up at embarkation and when you disembark because your minder will conduct you past the queues - in effect queue jumping - for customs etc. They do this so they can get back more quickly to the collection point and pick up another passenger. There may also be a special desk for checking in, where the desk is lower for wheelchair seated passengers.

 

Colleen

delete- double post. Sorry.

Passengers needing assistance have to check in at the normal counters and are then directed to the special area where they register (usually with a person holding a clipboard) and wait until one of the staff is available to wheel (or assist) them to board. On one cruise we had two 'much older' family members with us and we did the check-in for them as well as ourselves while they waited on chairs. I took the forms regarding on-board account over to them to sign. People who look frail or who use a walking stick are usually offered assisted boarding and one person (at most two) in the group accompanying them can board with them.

 

They don't all go before other passengers - some do but most don't. I have seen some 'wheelchair' passengers sit there quite a while until it is their turn. The staff (they are not from the ship) take them all the way to their cabin, then wheel the wheelchair back to the next people. By the way, these are not the passengers' personal wheelchairs, they are ones provided by the company organising the embarkation.

Thanks folks! You all are a great font of information and I really appreciate your help and have passed it on to the carer of the person concerned. You "sort of" know that everything will be OK but it is nice to reinforce the mind... Thanks again.

Having cruised most of my cruises with a person in a wheelchair I can tell you that each and every one of them has had a slightly different boarding processes. You do have to register for boarding and I have gone from here to being first on the ship to almost last. Sometimes they do order people by disability/needs, other times it has been those using P&O chairs first whilst we had to wait as we had our own chair.

 

So it is not really priority boarding as such more like assisted boarding. However, as the gangway can be steep it is best to register.

 

Enjoy your cruise. :)

As everyone has said it sounds like the boarding experience varies, however I am sure based on our experience they will have no probs and be treated well!

 

When we did our 2 nighter from Brisbane to Sydney in June, my daughter was on crutches and literally within seconds of arrival and prior to even entering the terminal we had a lovely gentleman (with a wheelchair in tow) come and advise, for safety, she needed to board using a wheelchair. We were travelling with my niece and her two daughters and the 6 of us where whisked to complete forms, check-in, security and then onboard - it had to be within 15-20 minutes we were in our cabin, everyone was absolutely delightful - sounds like we were very lucky. We had a note left in our cabin advising us we would be required to have assisted disembarkation, with time place etc - all without us requesting anything - we could not fault the service and communication!

 

Jane