Cruise Line Private Island Princess Cays Emerges From Renovations

Instead of renovations that included enlarging the channel to making tendering easier, they should have built a dock so that those passengers using wheelchairs can actually enjoy Princess Cay.

Princess' current policy is that if you can't walk onto the tender, you are not allowed to tender. So wheelchair users can't go to Princess Cay but instead have to stay on the ship. Ironically, Princess Cay actually offers beach wheelchairs on their beaches.

It is a shame that for Princess Cay, Princess didn't follow that practice/ example of their competitor, Royal Caribbean, who builds docks or uses roll on tenders at their Bahama and Caribbean ports.

Instead of renovations that included enlarging the channel to making tendering easier, they should have built a dock so that those passengers using wheelchairs can actually enjoy Princess Cay..

I don't think the underwater geography around princess cay would allow a pier to be practical.

Princess' current policy is that if you can't walk onto the tender, you are not allowed to tender.

Princess used to lift people in their wheelchairs on and off tenders.

In the past, I have ridden in a tender at pricess cay with people in wheelchairs.

I'm sure some lawsuit stopped the practice.

So, who's at fault for that? Passenger or cruise line?

We were there twice this past November and both times there were handicapped passengers.

I think what their rule is is that they don't allow scooters and you have to be able to get on board the tender without being in the wheelchair and they stow the wheelchair onboard on the way to the cays.

Lovely PR announcement.

The Medallion WIFI etc should be the biggest thing. Many might appreciate.

But, as far as any 'sprucing up'.... WE NEED PHOTOS!!!!!

Doesn't this piece mention the 'bungalos'.

Aren't these some of the smallest and most rustic in the industry.

I wonder if they did anything to improve them?

Have not been to their private island. Is Disney the only cruise line that has a dock for their private island. Thanks for posting this info

I don't think the underwater geography around princess cay would allow a pier to be practical.

 

 

 

 

Princess used to lift people in their wheelchairs on and off tenders.

In the past, I have ridden in a tender at pricess cay with people in wheelchairs.

 

I'm sure some lawsuit stopped the practice.

 

So, who's at fault for that? Passenger or cruise line?

I'm sure something happened a while ago to force them to stop loading people in wheelchairs onto the tenders.

On a rough day it's hard enough for some of the older people who can walk to board without assistance.

The boats they use at Princess Cays do accommodate wheelchair passengers. We saw several in December and they did not have to get out of their chairs.

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Nice that Princess renovated the area. I imagine the hurricanes had something to do with it. I don't know how shallow the water is just off the cay. Princess ships have a 28 foot or so draw and need a fairly deep port. To build a pier for the ship may require a very long structure out into the water. It may not be practical to build one. I do sympathize with the mobility impaired however in not being able to go to shore. I need a cruise now to check it out.

I'm sure something happened a while ago to force them to stop loading people in wheelchairs onto the tenders.

On a rough day it's hard enough for some of the older people who can walk to board without assistance.

There has been at least one time where it has been too rough to bring (some) people back to the ship.

We watched a puke-fest on golden where they started bringing people back, and it became too rough

to bring the tenders alongside.

One tender waited just off the ship for about an hour -- I guess the captain just wanted to make sure it

had rolled enough for everyone to be sick. It then went back to shore, and waited for better weather.

Somewhere I have a picture of the pontoon completely underwater, as the ship rolled.

You could feel it even in the lido, where the thrusters running full tilt boogie (trying to maintain a lee)

and were shaking the entire aft of the ship, including everything off the tables in the lido.

(And, the worst -- these kids had never heard of Janice Joplin. Sheesh.)

Royal Caribbean has a dock at their private beach in Labadee and is building one at their private island in the Bahamas, Coco Cay. Carnival has a dock at Grand Turk. Disney also has a dock at their private island.

There are several docks already on the island of Eleuthera, including Cape Eleuthera and four Government docks. So, it is likely that a pier could also be constructed at Princess Cays.

Royal Caribbean also uses large roll-on tenders at their Caribbean ports of call and at Coco Cay (at least until the dock is finished). This accommodates wheelchair users who can just stay in their wheelchair and roll on the tender. It also accommodates those who use electric wheelchairs, which have always been too heavy to lift even with the four man teams that Royal Caribbean uses (as did Princess until about six years ago). There was no reason that Princess could not have used roll-on tenders at Princess Cay except that they wanted to save money and use their own small lifeboats as tenders. The large tenders are also much more stable in the water.

It is possible that Princess is now using these large roll on tenders as Azbirdmom reported that wheelchair users were using the tenders in December. I hope that this is the case and that Princess has finally begun giving wheelchair users access to Princess Cay after so many years of denying them access with no compensation (while still collecting the port charges).

We have been cruising with Princess for over 30 years (since before Carnival purchased them) and never heard of any incident or lawsuit which would force Princess to cease their practice of team lifting wheelchairs onto tenders. I am an attorney and keep updated on various areas of law, regulation, and government policy, including that related to the disabled access, especially for wheelchair users. I believe that it is shameful that several on this board automatically blame the passengers for the unfair treatment they receive from Princess, without any knowledge of the actual reasons or circumstances.

Princess first began this restriction several years ago but not with the written policy they have now--instead they would post it in the Patter the night before the call at Princess Cay. We even reserved the wheelchair accessible bungalow several times with the accessible shore excursion office, who knew of no restrictions on tendering of wheelchair users, only to have to go to the shore excursion desk for a refund the morning of our arrival at Princess Cay after being refused on the tender. In fact, almost three years ago we sailed at the same time as a very large cruise agency had a large "Agency" cruise, with the owner of the Agency on the ship. Her son was a wheelchair user and was refused on the tender at Princess Cay and she was outraged and addressed this extensively with the senior mgt on the ship. It was shortly afterward that Princess established their written policy.

So the press release from Princess announcing the extensive renovations and improvements Princess has made, with not one word on anything they have done to provide access to the small group of passengers they refuse to allow to board the passenger transport to Princess Cay, certainly sent the wrong message to us. I do hope that Princess is using the roll-on tenders now at Princess Cay and have sent an email to the access dept inquiring as to this. It usually takes three or four weeks to get a response from the access dept., and I'll post when I get a response.

Have not been to their private island. Is Disney the only cruise line that has a dock for their private island. Thanks for posting this info

Royal has dock at Labadee , and is building one for Coco Cay. Not sure about other spots like Half Moon Cay or such. Carnival has a pier at Amber Cove...

So, it is likely that a pier could also be constructed at Princess Cays.

I don't really think it is. It is a very long way to deep water, so it would be crazy expensive to build a long

enough pier, or to dredge enough to get a ship closer.

In the US, it would be impossible to get permits for that much dredging. But, the bahamas might put

tourism over environment.

Considering that there is virtually nothing at princess cay, it would be more practical to start over with

a location that would be more condusive to a pier than to try and build one at princess cay.

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