Tender with Wheelchair

My physical therapist just came back from a cruise on Voyager of the Seas. He said he did not feel comfortable with a wheelchair patient being lifted, chair and all, to and from a tender.

Comments?

My husband does not particularly like being lifted down the stairs and into the tender in his chair, but nothing has ever happened to him. And, hopefully, nothing has ever happened to the crew members who carried him.

Royal Caribbean now has tender lifts on all their ships, but we have never used one. Either they have been broken or they were using the "other" exit door.

I have been lifted many times into the tender from a w/c. Its always young strong yound men...3-4 of them. Its a little scary but I always feel safe. I have seen them refuse to lift a very heavy person on to the tender. So if you are of average weight, it should be no problem. I am an above the knee amputee (with a prosthesis) but I use the w/c for long distances...the crew felt it was safer to lift me and the w/c that for me to try and get on a moving tender. We will be on RCCL next june and I will see what the w/c lifts are all about...

It makes me very nervous too, but even on the ships with tender lifts there is often some lifting of the chair needed, even if only a foot or two. This is why they rarely will allow a power chair or scooter if you are riding in it. We take my mother's manual wheelchair specifically for this purpose.

We find it works best if 1) I use a seatbelt to secure my mother in the chair, as they often tilt the chair and can throw her balance off, and 2) to be VERY specific about where the chair can and cannot be lifted, and not allow the chair to be lifted until you have spoken to an officer about this and demonstrated if necessary. My mother has a Quickie 2, and both the leg rests and armrests are removable. Unless I show specifically where to lift the chair, they try to lift by the armrests and leg rests. This could result in her (and the chair) ending up in the drink! I sometimes have to really yell "STOP" until they get it right. In South America I got very good at pointing and saying "Aqui, si" and "Aqui, no!". I have considered learning the same for Tagalog and other languages. We are going to experiment with some stickers on the chair for our next trip.

The other thing that makes me nervous is that often the wheelchair is sitting on the tender right by the open doorway. Although some tenders have wheelchair tiedowns, they are rarely used, and sometimes they don't even have a crew member holding the chair. I have insisted on someone (even if it is me) holding the chair (it can tip in a rough sea) and standing between the chair and the open doorway when underway. I tell my mother than if she goes overboard, she is going straight to the bottom as the weight of the chair would pull her under...she just laughs and says going that way (on a cruise) would be fine with her!

P.S. Tell your PT that I am a rehabilitation clinical nurse specialist with nearly 30 years experience in this field, so I understand their anxiety! It doesn't stop us from traveling this way though. Life if full of risks, and you need to take some if you want to enjoy it fully!

When on Princess the Golden as it happens we tendered into St. Thomas and I was told to wait to last to board then they did not board us on that boat at all and had to wait to last on next boat they then had five crewmen lift me backwards in my chair so I was on my back feet in the air head tilted down and they carried me down the gangplank to the tender in this position in front of a boat full of laughing and gasping passengers.

Now I just found out that the cruise I am on Feb 4 on Norwegian, the Sun, is going to tender at ALL ports. UGH!!!