Manual or power chair?

I just booked my wife's first cruise (my fifth) and while she is ambulatory for short distances on forearm crutches, her limit is about 15 minutes (T6 paraplegic) before she needs to hit a chair. We can take a manual or power chair with us, and each definitely has pros and cons. I'm likely to push her most of the time if she's in a manual (because carpet is a killer), so she'll be more independent in a power chair. But a power chair isn't nearly as easy to maneuver in cramped corners and will take up A LOT more room in the cabin.

Any tips?

Have you booked an accessible cabin? If so you should have more than enough room for the power chair. My wife uses a scooter and can manage short, level distances with her cane and this is the only way we can cruise.

BTW the shower in most accessible cabins is a roll-in with a fold down seat. If need be you can contact one of the rental

companies, Special Needs at Sea or Care Vacations, to rent a shower chair.

Yes, we have an accessible cabin. We had to get an able-bodied party bumped from it since they'd already booked all the Cloud9 accessible cabins (yet still had standard Cloud9 rooms available). We are in what is probably the worst room on that level (though accessible rooms almost always suck, we're used to it), but it's modified, not full out "accessible" (I don't know exactly how they classify these two, but because she can walk with assistance, modified was deemed appropriate by their staff.)

She will not need a shower chair, she can shower standing with shower bars.

The other option would be to rent a scooter. I'm not thrilled with that idea because a) extra cost, and b) perception. In a manual or power chair, it's obvious the person is disabled. In a scooter, most people assume someone is just lazy. The few times she's used a scooter has been much more difficult in terms of society's treatment of her. Also, holding her arms out like that for a prolonged period of time isn't really feasible.

Modified inside stateroom you think is large enough for a power chair and still move about the cabin?

I think you had better check on the tender situation before you decide. If you are stopping at a tender port, there is no way they're going to let several people carry a power chair onto the tender boat if the waves are tossing it around very much. I think most cruise lines require that the person actually be able to walk onto the tender boat, then the crew can bring aboard the chair, scooter, whatever. I believe the Capt. has the last say so. Take into account the terrain of wherever it is, you're going. If you're going ashore and you plan on walking long distances pushing a manual chair, you're going to get tired, especially if it is up and down hill. There's no sense in overdoing it physically and then be too tired to move the next day, take whichever chair is going to make it easier for both of you to get around.

Yes, we have an accessible cabin... but it's modified, not full out "accessible" (I don't know exactly how they classify these two, but because she can walk with assistance, modified was deemed appropriate by their staff.)

She will not need a shower chair, she can shower standing with shower bars.

 

...

 

Modified inside stateroom you think is large enough for a power chair and still move about the cabin?

Most likely a power chair will NOT fit through the door of the modified cabin.

And if it would, most likely the cabin is not big enough for a power chair.

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For future reference, here is our experience. My husband is also a para but as a wheelchair user for over 40 years, his arms are wearing out. When we cruise from ports that we drive to we take both his motorized and manual wheelchairs. If we fly, we take only his manual wheelchair. We always book the accessible cabins and preferably the accessible mini suites. Either cabin has plenty of room for both chairs. We would never book a cabin that is not fully accessible. We primarily cruise on Princess. We have found that the accessible cabins are far more accessible than any accessible hotel room.

You need to find out some more information, I'm thinking. Call up the cruise line and talk to their special needs department or whatever they call it, and find out exactly what they mean by a modified cabin. If you can't find a diagram anywhere showing how many inches wide the door is, how much room there is in the cabin, that type of thing, then you need to ask. Do a search for pictures of that exact cabin, you never know, there might be some out there. Do your homework now, that way you won't have any surprises. I went on my 1st cruise last year, we went on Royal Caribbean and we had a Junior suite. I took my power chair, my manual chair as backup, and a shower chair. Even with an additional rollaway bed in the room, we still had plenty of room to move around. And I called up the cruise line several times before we left, verifying information, double checking that we would have a roll in shower, any and all questions I could think of we wrote down and I asked them. And you know what? We had no problems whatsoever.

The key word is modified.

Measure your chair.

Call the line and ask for door width.

Yes, we have an accessible cabin. We had to get an able-bodied party bumped from it since they'd already booked all the Cloud9 accessible cabins (yet still had standard Cloud9 rooms available). We are in what is probably the worst room on that level (though accessible rooms almost always suck, we're used to it), but it's modified, not full out "accessible" (I don't know exactly how they classify these two, but because she can walk with assistance, modified was deemed appropriate by their staff.)

She will not need a shower chair, she can shower standing with shower bars.

 

The other option would be to rent a scooter. I'm not thrilled with that idea because a) extra cost, and b) perception. In a manual or power chair, it's obvious the person is disabled. In a scooter, most people assume someone is just lazy. The few times she's used a scooter has been much more difficult in terms of society's treatment of her. Also, holding her arms out like that for a prolonged period of time isn't really feasible.

 

Modified inside stateroom you think is large enough for a power chair and still move about the cabin?

You are either cruising on Holland America or Carnival as those are the only lines with modified cabins.

A modified cabin will NOT be large enough for a power chair to move about in the cabin. Nor will the bathroom be able to accommodate a power chair . Modified Accessible cabins are just standard size cabins that have had a few minor additions such additional grab bars and a shower seat. The bathroom will have step up into and there will be step over rim into the shower.

Re: Holland America http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-planning/PlanningAndAdvice.action?tabName=Shipboard+Life&contentMenu=Health+%26+Medical&contentSubMenu=Accessible+Travel#

Re: Carnival http://www.carnival.com/legal/guests-special-requirements.aspx

My husband has MS and uses a power chair. He had a standard chair that was power assisted on our last cruise but a full power chair this time. We had an accessible balcony cabin on NCL and it was lovely, large with room for the chair to go past the bed and out on the balcony with a ramp on the balcony. A huge roll in shower in the bathroom too, very nice.

A standard room that has been adapted will not accommodate a manual or a power chair the doors are typically barely wide enough to walk through. we always book well in advance and get our cabin assigned on booking to be sure we will have what we need. If there was no accessible cabin I'd chose another cruise.