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Ship ramps with a scooter


kokopelli-az
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Will be on HAL's Oosterdam with a scooter (Special Needs at Sea says it's a Go Go Sport). If the ramps on and off the ship seem too steep, how hard is it for someone else to get it up or down the ramp? Could I (the wife) do it? It weighs 110 lbs. (The person using the scooter would walk up/down the ramp.)

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Will be on HAL's Oosterdam with a scooter (Special Needs at Sea says it's a Go Go Sport). If the ramps on and off the ship seem too steep, how hard is it for someone else to get it up or down the ramp? Could I (the wife) do it? It weighs 110 lbs. (The person using the scooter would walk up/down the ramp.)

 

Your wife does not have to push the scooter. HAL's crew will handle everything as they're responsible for getting you off and on the ship safely.

 

If the incline is too steep for the scooter the crew will assist you. What ever you do not allow the crew to force push the scooter. It must be placed in freewheeled mode so as not to damage the motor. Being a rental if the motor is damaged you're responsible for repair or replacement cost if you did not purchase the insurance.

 

There's a yellow lever on the rear wheels below the seat. Move it to the "unlocked icon" for freewheel mode and to the "locked icon" for drive mode. If you're able to walk down or up the ramp and are comfortable with that while the crew assists in getting the scooter up/down that you may want to consider it. HAL will also transfer the passenger to a wheelchair and the crew will move the scooter up/down the ramp if you're more comfortable doing that.

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how hard is it for someone else to get it up or down the ramp? )

 

I had a rented scooter on a Med trip on the NA.

 

When I had troubles on the ramp, the crew was there to assist me.

 

Used the scooter everywhere including Florence, Olivento, Naples erc.

However, you might have to make arrangements in a private tour (taxis, vans etc( to make sure that the scooter is transportable as tour buses usually will not accomodate your scooter.

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I had a rented scooter on a Med trip on the NA.

 

When I had troubles on the ramp, the crew was there to assist me.

 

Used the scooter everywhere including Florence, Olivento, Naples erc.

However, you might have to make arrangements in a private tour (taxis, vans etc( to make sure that the scooter is transportable as tour buses usually will not accomodate your scooter.

 

That's interesting because we are planning a cruise next fall that includes Florence and Naples. After much research I am almost considering purchasing a lightweight foldable travel scooter just for the Europe trip. It seems like the foldability of a scooter, especially on excursions, would be a huge bonus. Not to mention, it sure would be handy to not have to take it apart to put it in the trunk of a car.

 

 

PS: In Florence and Naples were you on private tours? I'd be interested in hearing what you did there.

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For Florence, I'm assuming you dock in Livorno. There was just one accessible shuttle from the ship into town and the train station in town was fairly close to the drop off point. However, it might be safer to take a taxi to and from the train station since only one of the buses was accessible. Also, do not know where the current drop off point is. The train station in Florence (Firenze S.M. Novella) is right in town. Get out your Google map and you can identify all the sights to see. http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en When purchasing your round trip ticket, they may send you to Salsa blu. They do want you to get to the train station early.

 

Naples is doable if you wish to take out on your own. Here you can also use Google maps to find the sights and map out your route.

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PS: In Florence and Naples were you on private tours? I'd be interested in hearing what you did there.

 

Being a "walking wounded" so to speak, my greatest concern is holding up a group, say in a bus or the like. It is more expensive to get a private car - a taxi or a van - but there is also peace of mind as for example, in Civitiavecchia, the taxi (a Mercedes sedan) picked us up right at the dock.

 

These taxis are not guides per se - they just take you to spots within the city as to get into a city proper, you have to be a licensed guide. (This is only in Italy). In Florence, the taxi took us to the city square. We wantted to see specifically the Accademiia and Ufritiz (sp?) museums and spent a couple hours there. In both museums, they would let you in a separate door, even put a ramp down for you. In the Ufitzi, they even had a small lift to help wheelchairs or scooters to get from one level to another. The taxi would meet us and take up to other places in Florence to see the various Cathdrals such as San Lorenzo. (we by-passed Pisa as Florence was our main goal).

 

 

We went to Olivenieto (sp?) also by taxi and were dropped off by the main square. The Taxi people recommended that Sienna was not a great place for a scooter The Cathedral there is a must.

 

 

We did several ports in Spain including a trip to Granada where again a scooter was a definite must!

 

This trip on the NA was not our first trip to Europe and we had an idea what we wanted to see in the various ports. I used a rollator in tendered ports.

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