Carnival - Award For Most Unknowledgeable Guest Access Cruise Support

And the award for the most Unknowledgeable and Insensitive Guest Access Support Department goes to...Carnival Cruise Lines!!!

Following recommendations from friends who are familiar with our situation (11-yr old son in a wheelchair), we booked on the Carnival Splendor for July 25, 2010 to the Mexican Riviera. A coworker who was on this ship just about a month ago said there is even a tender platform area specifically for people with disabilities and those who cannot take the 12 stairs of the regular tender area. It is located more toward the rear of the ship, aft of the normal tender platform.

Weeks of calls and emails to Carnival's "Guest Access Support" department have me so frustrated that I'm not even looking forward to the cruise.

I have been very clear and concise with my questions about tendering in Cabo San Lucas. I have asked for photos of the unadvertised more accessible tender platform, requested a route map to get to it, and even told them where it is located.

Here is a quote from her last email, "In order to get on the tender boat you will have to be able to take approximately 9-10 steps. We have attached some photos. Please note this may differ on your particular cruise."

I don't know what has me more upset, the fact that I repeated myself about what I was asking for to the same representative, or the last sentence of the quote which shows that she didn't even read my question stating numerous times we are booked on the Splendor. For goodness sake, she has my booking number. Couldn't they just pick up a phone, call someone, and get the details about one of their own ships?

I cannot share the photos they sent me because they are embedded in a protected spreadsheet and not individual photos. I did count the stairs though and there are 19, 9 on one staircase and 10 on a second staircase.

The cruise is paid for. The only things my party has decided we can do to get back at them is: not buy alcohol, cancel all excursions, and stay the heck away from the art auctions. Yes, we saw the show 'Cruise Inc.' We will however not deprive our son of the soda card.

I would like to hear from anyone who can change my opinion of Carnival.

YMMV - we have found Carnival the best for accessibility and assistance. At least Carnival requires proof before you can get a handicap cabin - that means (unlike Princess and Celebrity), we have a chance at one rather than some healthy couple who just wants a bigger room. Carnival also has seating for handicap in the show rooms - we aren't shoved to the back of the room as with Princess.

As far as Cabo, I know of no access on the Tender for handicap. Not sure what your co-worker did, but even if you could use the door of which you speak, if the water turns rough, how do you transfer to or from the tender. Let it go; Cabo isn't that great anyway. Go to Puerto Vallarta and remember this: if you have seen one Mexican city, you have seen them all.

 

Here is a quote from her last email, "In order to get on the tender boat you will have to be able to take approximately 9-10 steps. We have attached some photos. Please note this may differ on your particular cruise."

 

 

 

 

I would like to hear from anyone who can change my opinion of Carnival.

It's unfortunate that you have received incorrect information from your friends. It's generally standard policy for most cruiselines that the person must be able to walk onto the tender . People that must remain in the wheelchair or scooter will not be allowed to be boarded. It's for the persons safety due to the tenders not having a roll in entry , not having locking stations for the chair/scooter, the design of the tender loading station and unstable & unpredictable water conditions. It's also for the safety of the crew as they would have lift the person in the chair onto the tender. The wheelchair is minimum 250-300lbs than add the passengers weight. It's a very tricky manuver under very unstable conditions. The cruise line does not want to place the passenger in harms way or even possibly drop them into the sea attempting to get them on board the tender. It's not that the the Cruise line isn't understanding of the situation.

From time to time people confined to wheelchairs/scooters have been allowed to board the tender but that varies from ship to ship and Captain to Captain . The Captain always has the final decision. The booking agents will never know what ship's Captain might possibly make an exeption as it depends on many factors on the specific day of tendering. This is what your co-worker probably saw.

I don't want to get you hopes up but to increase the possibilty of your son being able to be boarded on the tender, wait until the crowds have dyed down. If the tender is less full or even near empty and the seas are calm it might just be allowed but you can't count on it. It's probably unlikely due to the number of steps but it's always worth a try. So I would suggest not to prebook any shore excursions that day and leave it open. Those of us who are experienced cruisers in wheelchairs/scooters always book the cruise knowing that it's most likely we'll not be able to tender and if we do than that's just an added bonus

For future reference HAL ships have one tender on each ship in the fleet that allows for the a wheelchair or scooter to be rolled onto it. I do not know of any other cruise lines that have these special accessible tenders. Nor are the cruises lines required to have such special tenders.

This really isn't something that should be held against Carnival. It's a good cruiseline and it values the safety of their passengers that's why the policy is in place.

Aggie, please ignore much of what xxoocruiser said. Cruise line policies are not nearly as consistent as some think. (... quite apart such lack of accommodation being unfair and illegal.) I don't know which is more frustrating to see, the inaccuracies in those comments or that someone here would actually seem to agree with the lousy excuses the cruise lines use. You've paid for the same cruise as everyone else and you deserve to go ashore at every port if you wish.

It's even more pathetic that Carnival is not providing you proper information on your ship and its facilities, but I'm not surprised, as RCCL is just as bad.

It is sad that most cruise lines (HAL being the exception) don't bother to have a ramp for their tenders. For the sake of a $5 piece of board, the whole process would be much simpler and safer.

The blanket statement that "People that must remain in the wheelchair or scooter will not be allowed to be boarded" is simply rubbish. I've been on 3 cruises (1 HAL, 2 RCCL) with a disabled friend who can't walk. We've tendered on every cruise, twice at Cabo San Lucas. Sometimes they've been reluctant, but a bit of perseverance and they've been fine.

Having not been on Carnival, I don't know what their ships are like. The ships we were on had good, stair-free access to the tender platforms at the ship end, so the only issue was the docks. Note that the dock at Cabo is low and the tender boats use a steep ramp for wheelchairs. (Roughly 30 degrees.)

The ramps at Cabo dock are solid wooden items which don't vary with tides, etc. Therefore, lining up the tender with the ramp may be easier if they let some passengers on/off before you. (If the tender is near empty, the staff will have fewer other passengers to attend to, but won't have much leeway for such weight redistribution.)

Xxoocruiser, I must disagree with you. Up until last year, we never had any difficulty tendering with a manual wheelchair except in those rare situations where the waters were indeed rough,on any of the cruise lines we have been on and we have been on Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Disney, Holland America, and Princess (as well as some other cruise lines that are not considered mainstream cruise lines. We are Elite on Celebrity, Elite on Princess, and Diamond Plus on Royal Caribbean, so we have cruised many times (as well as having cruised several times on each of the other cruise lines except for Carnival, which we only did once, but not because of the tendering but because of many other negative experiences on the ship (including their terrible customer service) which convinced us that Carnival was not for us.)

Then last year Princess changed their policy to require you to be able to walk onto the tender and apparently Carnival must be following suit, based on the conversation that the OP has had with Carnival. (Most interesting is that this new Princess policy is not in their FAQ for accessible onboard services on their website).

We cruised on the Mexican Rivera cruise in March and April of this year, with a ten day cruise on RCCL Radiance and a seven day cruise on the Sapphire Princess. The Radiance had a trained 4 person crew who specifically handled wheelchair and scooter tender transfers on both ends at Cabo and at one other port where we tendered. There was a lift which went down to the platform and then they transferred those in the manual wheelchairs with the occupants seated in the wheelchair (and even transferred scooters, although the two transfers we witnessed the persons on the scooters walked onto the tender and the scooter placed on the tender.)

Our experience on Princess was different. There was a lift which went down to the tender platform and the person in a manual wheelchair could ride on the lift to the tender. Then they wanted the person to walk on the tender. In our case, our family member does have feeling and strength in his legs to stand, but has minimal balance ability and cannot balance while walking. So we used a walker and two crew members actually held him on both sides while he walked on. The wheelchair had been placed on first and he went down the steps and into the wheelchair, which was secured between the two sets of tender steps. We did not see any scooters brought onboard. When I questioned the Officer in charge at the tendering, especially since the waters were quiet, he said the reason for this policy was to prevent crew injury. So rather than installing proper equipment such as a ramp and implementing proper crew training and safety measures to properly lift and assist passengers in wheelchairs, Princess has decided to put this policy in place.

What I find so disingenous is that there is no warning to disabled passengers before/during booking of this policy. I certainly understand where the weather does not permit safely tendering, but a general policy such as Princess has goes far beyond that and should be conveyed up front. I also believe that such passengers should be properly compensated for the loss of the port--at a minimum those port charges refunded if they are not going to be allowed to tender as a matter of policy (versus weather situation).

To the OP, it is a shame you could not take Royal Caribbean instead of Carnival for the tendering. However, regardess of what the customer service representative says, you may actually be able to tender when you get on the ship. If there is a lift to the tender platform and your friends saw it being used, then it may be permitted to be used on your cruise. You can talk to the shore excursion desk if you are going to book an excursion or the front desk (guest services/purser) if you are not.

After our experience on Carnival, I would not try to change your current opinion of Carnival--I would just say welcome to the club of those of us who share your opinion that the Carnival customer service is terrible. However, I would not give up on the tendering--just pursue it once you get onboard.

Kremmen and MontgomeryFamily

You both can certainly disagee with what I said as your experiences have obviously been different from mine. However, what I stated is from my experience and what I had been advised by the ships personnel at the time of attempting to board the tender. The same information was told me when I went to a higher source. Even with being nicely persistent, I have yet to have only cruiseline that I have traveled allow me to board the tender with my scooter. This includes HAL ( prior to their having Accessible tenders) RCCI, and Carnival. Each time I was told I had to be able to walk onto the tender and not drive my scooter on board. My posting did state that there are exceptions.

There are many prior postings that have posted the same information as I have posted . At the same time there are just as many past postings that state the same as you both have experience.

The bottom line any one traveling in a wheelchair has to be prepared If they are able to be board than it's a plus.

I believe that it is possible the difference in our experience and yours is that in our case, we use a manual wheelchair and apparently you are using a scooter.

We don't have any experience dealing with a scooter. However, as I explained in my last post,even on our last cruise on the RCCL Radiance of the Seas, while the scooter was placed onboard the tender, the person did get off and walk onboard the tender. They were permitted to take the lift to the platform and only then got off the scooter and boarded the tender. (We saw two different scooter situations being handled with way). But everyone in a manual wheelchair, including our party, was lifted on to the tender while remaining in the wheelchair.

So you might want to bring a manual wheelchair for your excursions involving a tender (except on Princess, where it won't matter with their current policy :mad:). I would also suggest that the OP's son use a manual wheelchair for the tender to maximize his chances of being allowed to board the tender while seated in the wheelchair.

I am not sure if your child is in a manual w/c or some other kind because yuo didnt say but my child is somewhat mobile by crawling not walking so we take a manual wheelchair/special needs stroller and he weighs only 65 pounds so we pick him up and one of us carry's him onto the tender and the ship staff usually hangs onto the one carrying him while we walk onto the tender then we fold up the w/c and they load it on then when we get ot the dock they help us off the same way and we are good to go and most excursions will do the same for you although the ship excursion desk will not tell you this. I will be glad to help you with any other questions you have about this particular question because we were very frustrated on our first cruise as well but we are about to take our 5th with our disabled child. Please dont get frustrated it is not Carnival's fault they are doing what theya re doing for your and your son's safety because it is not as easy as you think getting onto those tender boats and they are just trying to make sure you get on and off them safely. if you want to private message me or email me please do I would be glad to help you.

Just to follow up on some of the responses.

Our son is in a "power-assist" Quickie 2. There are small motors in the hubs of the wheels, but otherwise it looks like a manual chair.

This will be our 5th cruise on Carnival and have tendered twice before in Cabo. Our main concern is this newer ship, the Splendor, and the bad vibes we're getting about tendering from the Guest Access Dept.

In the past, I have carried him on to the tender and some nice folks have always helped my wife carry the wheelchair onboard. It was that easy. I even have a photo of Zach steering one of the tenders into port (well, not all the way.)

Anyway, I think I am just frustrated and need to get onboard. Thank God we have an accessible cabin on the Spa Deck.

You wont have any problem on the tenders just like before the newer ships arent any different than the older ones as far as getting onto the tenders from them. You will still be able to carry him onboard and the wheelchair as before. The only time they wont allow you to go would be if the seas are really rough and it is dangerous.

Did you notice that both our son's names are Zack?

I hope you guys have a Wonderful Cruise!

I am a double above the knee amputee ( full time wheelchair user) I have tendered off of Royal Caribbeans Sovereign of the Seas in 2005 to Coco Cay - wheeled straight on to the boat. I have tendered off of Royal Caribbeans Freedom of the Seas to Labadee, Haiti wheeled straight on to the tender. Never had any problems with accessibility or anything that I need on either Royal Caribbean ship but this year we are going on Carnival's Fantasy & I have heard every excuse under the sun from them about their accessibility. I have been told that I won't be able to tender on to Half Moon Cay. So I will have to let you guys know. This time I am taking my electric chair so hopefully it will be easier!!!!

I am a double above the knee amputee ( full time wheelchair user) I have tendered off of Royal Caribbeans Sovereign of the Seas in 2005 to Coco Cay - wheeled straight on to the boat. I have tendered off of Royal Caribbeans Freedom of the Seas to Labadee, Haiti wheeled straight on to the tender. Never had any problems with accessibility or anything that I need on either Royal Caribbean ship but this year we are going on Carnival's Fantasy & I have heard every excuse under the sun from them about their accessibility. I have been told that I won't be able to tender on to Half Moon Cay. So I will have to let you guys know. This time I am taking my electric chair so hopefully it will be easier!!!!

I don't know if the ramp system on Maasdam is different than on Fantasy. The tenders used are docked at HMC so they are the same ones for every ship that stops there. The day we were there was very calm so I don't know whether HAL would have allowed wheelchair passengers off the ship if the seas were rough.

A couple years ago my mom and I had a stop at Coco Cay on RC's Sovereign. The seas were rough that day so they were not allowing wheelchair passengers to get on the tenders. I decided to stay onboard with my mom since I'd been to Coco Cay before with my husband. After we watched them loading the tenders from our balcony, I understood the decision not to allow wheelchairs on the tender. The tender was rocking considerably so it really wouldn't have been safe for my mom.

A thousand kudos go out to Juan Z. of Carnival Guess Access Support (GAS).

We received a voicemail from GAS while out of town on July 3rd. I called back and spoke with Juan. He was very friendly and asked if he could help me because he did not see the voicemail logged so he didn't know why I was called. I asked for confirmation of an accessible tender area on the Carnival Splendor and he put me on hold.

After about 2-3 minutes, he returned and confirmed that the Carnival Splendor DOES HAVE AN ACCESSIBLE TENDER PLATFORM aft of the two regular tender platforms. I was shocked! I asked, "how did you find in less than 5 minutes, what I've been asking for for almost a month?" I think he said he just knew the right person to ask and was looking at the photos. PHOTOS, I GASPED! Yes, we just received them at 10:56 this morning, he replied.

I will try to upload the photos. If they don't work, email me.

Thank you so much for the photos. A picture IS worth a thousand words in this instance. I'm so glad you contacted Juan.

All is well that ends well!

Glad to know that your son will have the opportunity to have the full cruise experience, including the ports of call.

I have found that the CSRs for most of the cruiselines just don't have all of their information straight. Many times I have been told one thing, only to discover an entirely different reality once on board!

Have a happy cruise!:)

All is well that ends well!

Glad to know that your son will have the opportunity to have the full cruise experience, including the ports of call.

 

I have found that the CSRs for most of the cruiselines just don't have all of their information straight. Many times I have been told one thing, only to discover an entirely different reality once on board!

 

Have a happy cruise!:)

I totally agree with you. I don't really blame the guest representatives, I blame the cruise line for not giving them the information they need to do their job. I originally found out about this platform from my boss who went on the ship two months ago. And I know the cruise line had the information about this platform for a while because the properties of the photo files are dated March 26th. Interestingly, I received the call relatively quickly after I started this post. It is good to know, or at least presume, that the cruise lines are monitoring this website. I give them kudos for that at least.

I do believe that some of the cruise lines do moniter CC. Glad you finally got the info you need so you can enjoy your cruise.

A thousand kudos go out to Juan Z. of Carnival Guess Access Support (GAS).

 

We received a voicemail from GAS while out of town on July 3rd. I called back and spoke with Juan. He was very friendly and asked if he could help me because he did not see the voicemail logged so he didn't know why I was called. I asked for confirmation of an accessible tender area on the Carnival Splendor and he put me on hold.

 

After about 2-3 minutes, he returned and confirmed that the Carnival Splendor DOES HAVE AN ACCESSIBLE TENDER PLATFORM aft of the two regular tender platforms. I was shocked! I asked, "how did you find in less than 5 minutes, what I've been asking for for almost a month?" I think he said he just knew the right person to ask and was looking at the photos. PHOTOS, I GASPED! Yes, we just received them at 10:56 this morning, he replied.

 

I will try to upload the photos. If they don't work, email me.

I am so amazed that is wonderful I hope the new ships are built with these as well!

I was on Liberty of the Seas a year ago and tendered twice with a power w/c (althogh small) without anybody saying I can't.

I was on Carnival Splendor on Sept 5, 2010 and used the fabulous ramp to the tender. The first time ever to ride my scooter directly from the ship onto the tender. I rode down a switch-back ramp to the tender platform and right onto a small board ramp to span the platform and tender boat crevice. The Cabo San Lucas port authority used a small boat for w/c, scooter tendering and a large catamaran for tendering the masses.

Judging from the photos posted here, it appears that the ramp can also be positioned to access the upper deck of the catamaran. Although I do not know first hand if that is the case.

An officer on Carnival Pride attempted to prohibit me from tendering to Cabo in 2008, but finally allowed it if assisted by my party. Fortunately we were with another couple who helped me down the steps and carried my scooter down. The crew on the platform helped me board and put my scooter on the tender. On the return trip, the crew carried my scooter back up the stairs and helped me.

The only other ship that I have had problems with was Disney Magic. They apparently have the proper means of tendering in Cabo but were not using the w/c platform that day. I did not persist that day and stayed on board.