Sailing with accessibility issues

[cinderellen]

My husband and I sailed on the Celebrity Apex in March of this year. It was our first cruise since February of 2020 and our first since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Because of this, we changed our standard balcony room to an accessible Aqua Class IV stateroom. The room was wonderful at approximately 300 square feet. There was plenty of room to park his scooter to recharge and loads of room to move about with a rollator. The roll in shower was awesome. There were so many great things about this cruise from service to food. But…there were some accessibility failures. I would have never even noticed these things previously.

 

First item was the main pool deck. You get off the elevator on deck 14 and make your way to the main pool-which is about 6 steps up from the actual deck. There’s a small elevator lift for scooters and wheelchairs that was out of order for our entire cruise (and I understand the cruise before as well). Even if it were working, the only way into the pool itself is by ladder. The solarium pool does have a lift but my husband has never cared for the inside pool. The cabanas were another issue. We booked a half cabana prior to the cruise. The only cabana that is accessible is the full cabana.

 

Next up is the Sunset Bar on deck 15. There is a ramp you can take up there, which merges into the running track. I truly felt bad for people who came blindly around the corner, and ran smack into a scooter or wheelchair. I can’t even imagine who looked at those plans and thought it was a good idea.

 

Previous to our cruise, I had watched a video a lady posted who uses an electric wheelchair. She was showing how easy it was to use the tenders. Unfortunately, a scooter is not allowed on a tender. So of the 4 ports, only 2 were docked. We did get off in Cozumel and the staff was amazing in getting my husband down the gangway safely and back up again when we returned.

 

I did go to Guest Services and met with a lovely lady to discuss these issues. Unfortunately the pool elevator was waiting on a replacement piece to be repaired. They offered to “assist” my husband up the pool stairs but he was not comfortable with that idea. They did swap cabanas so that we had the accessible one for the price we paid for the ½. The running track/accessible ramp was deemed an epic failure. In the future, I will pay very close attention to avoid tender ports if possible. I hope this is helpful for anyone who is cruising for the first time with someone with accessibility needs. Happy Cruising!

[Kiran]

Will doublecheck our next tender port,

presently on Carribbean princess

 

my mom has a push wheelchair and a 45 pound mini 3 wheel  travel scooter

 

she can totter about 10 feet these days if she has a cane and a forearm to lean her hand on

 

we have never had a problem with her mini scooter on tenders across several cruise lines

 

heard from a fellow passenger this trip that his wifes electric wheelchair wasnt acceptable for tender because of weight limits

 

offered to let him borrow push wheelchair or travelscoot so they could go off ship in fuerte amador

 

two years ago in january on Emerald, my mom did tender ports easily and we went through the canal in the small boat excursion

 

this year she is just not up to getting off the ship at all, especially with the heat and humidity of a May transit

 

Mom also not up to swimming or even laying outside by pool

 

oh well

glad my mom got to enjoy those things on earlier cruises

 

SIL who has parkinsons is traveling with us but not up to driving a scooter so my brother will use walker / and walker as a push wheelchair in a pinch for her