Voyager - Family Bathrooms?

[Broons77]

Does anyone happen to know locations of family/accessible bathrooms on Voyager of the Seas?  I sent an email to the special needs desk at Royal but have yet to hear back so thought I'd ask here.  Thanks!

[flamingos]

I don't recall ever seeing one, on any ship.

[ONECRUISER]

11 minutes ago, flamingos said:

I don't recall ever seeing one, on any ship.

There is HC/Accessible on at least some Royal Ships I been on, but been over 22yrs since was on Voyager so came remember if/where on this Ship/Class

[Rubyfisch]

1 hour ago, flamingos said:

I don't recall ever seeing one, on any ship.

It's the sort of thing you don't notice until you need them. I haven't been on Voyager so I don't know for sure, but I feel like on other ships there were some on the pool deck. My mother uses a wheelchair, so I definitely have memories of looking for them and finding them, but it's been too long for me to remember specifics.

[flamingos]

15 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

It's the sort of thing you don't notice until you need them. I haven't been on Voyager so I don't know for sure, but I feel like on other ships there were some on the pool deck. My mother uses a wheelchair, so I definitely have memories of looking for them and finding them, but it's been too long for me to remember specifics.

We were on Majesty in late 2019 and the handicapped stall in the ladies' room was occupied. I was on a scooter for a broken foot, and someone knocked on the door of the stall, thinking they were helping me.  I was prepared to hobble to a regular stall when the door opened and a man pushing his wife in a chair came out. He was very apologetic, and the woman who was so impatient had the grace to look embarrassed.  A family bathroom would have been very useful there, and I'm glad the newer ships have them.

[Broons77]

I know there's a few on Anthem and I've also heard people speaking of other ships having them.  Since Voyager has had some work done, I was hopeful family bathrooms would have been one of the things they'd add.  At least one or two.

 

@flamingos - I've been the guy in the ladies room with his wife.  You've quite correct in that the family bathrooms are quite helpful, especially on a cruise ship.  As helpful as the women are, it's still an uncomfortable situation.

[Broons77]

@CatLadyFemme - Do you recall seeing any family bathrooms on your recent trip on Voyager?

[CatLadyFemme]

3 hours ago, Broons77 said:

@CatLadyFemme - Do you recall seeing any family bathrooms on your recent trip on Voyager?

I did not see any, and kept my eye open as a nonbinary disabled person. There *could* be some I didn’t see, but no where near any of the usual gendered multi stall options.

[CatLadyFemme]

I should be clear; most of the gendered bathrooms had an accessible room with grab bars and it’s own sink…but they were inside the men’s and women’s multi stall rooms, not in a gender inclusive or family labeled space.

[WisconsinFan]

Voyager does have a unique public men's bathroom with a waterfall urinal.

[Another_Critic]

42 minutes ago, WisconsinFan said:

Voyager does have a unique public men's bathroom with a waterfall urinal.

That was removed.

[joeyancho]

31 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

That was removed.

Too bad. It was a hoot.

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

I never saw any family bathrooms either in June. There were several stalls that were bigger than normal inside the different bathrooms that could fit wheelchairs but I never saw any family bathrooms.

[Broons77]

Thanks both, @CatLadyFemme & @UnregisteredUser.  The accessibility isn't the concern with us, it's just having to deal with the knocking, the announcing myself and all the rest of the nonsense that goes into the simple task of just helping my wife go to the potty.  I may actually spring to bring her PCA on the trip with is for that very reason.  Even though everyone tries to be gracious about it, it's just uncomfortable for all involved if either I take her into a (hopefully) empty men's room or taking her into a women's room.  Thankfully a promenade interior on our cruise is dirt cheap and I can swing an extra cabin, I feel for those that just have to figure it out.  Be they disabled, nonbinary or whoever would need these kinds of accommodations.

 

Now I'm extra curious to see what response I get from the special needs desk about this.

[brillohead]

I've never seen a Family Restroom on any Royal ship I've been on, however they all have an accessible stall with door openers.  

All of the stalls are well-enclosed, though, so nobody should have a problem with a male entering the female facilities for the purposes of assisting a disabled female.  It's not like anyone is going to see anything -- all that is viewable is people washing their hands or reapplying their lipstick.  

[Broons77]

16 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I've never seen a Family Restroom on any Royal ship I've been on, however they all have an accessible stall with door openers.  

All of the stalls are well-enclosed, though, so nobody should have a problem with a male entering the female facilities for the purposes of assisting a disabled female.  It's not like anyone is going to see anything -- all that is viewable is people washing their hands or reapplying their lipstick.  

 

They do have family bathrooms on many Royal ships, all of the newer ones have them.  I was hoping maybe Voyager got a few during a drydock, but seems not to be the case.

 

And no, I haven't run across anyone that has a problem with it when I have needed to take her in somewhere, but it's still nicer to have a single bathroom and avoid any fuss.

[brillohead]

10 minutes ago, Broons77 said:

They do have family bathrooms on many Royal ships, all of the newer ones have them.  I was hoping maybe Voyager got a few during a drydock, but seems not to be the case.

 

And no, I haven't run across anyone that has a problem with it when I have needed to take her in somewhere, but it's still nicer to have a single bathroom and avoid any fuss.

I haven't been on any Quantum-class ships, if those are the ones you've seen them on.  

And I agree, much nicer to have a single room available.  It's good that more and more organizations are incorporating family restrooms into their building plans (ships and land-based both!).  

[Broons77]

Definitely Quantum Class has them - we were on Anthem in March and I documented the location of all of them in a post I did about that particular trip.  I do believe that Oasis class has them as well.

 

Agreed it's nice that these things are now being thought of.  And quite frankly, I'm not going to complain too loudly about it.  After all, we are on a cruise.  If need be, we go back to the cabin.

[rudeney]

3 hours ago, brillohead said:

I've never seen a Family Restroom on any Royal ship I've been on, however they all have an accessible stall with door openers.  

All of the stalls are well-enclosed, though, so nobody should have a problem with a male entering the female facilities for the purposes of assisting a disabled female.  It's not like anyone is going to see anything -- all that is viewable is people washing their hands or reapplying their lipstick.  

 

I remember decades ago, a local woman was arrested for going into the men's restroom at our coliseum during a concert event.  Apparently, the line for the lady's room was too long and she couldn't hold it any more.  The charges were dismissed, but it was big news at the time.  These days, I don't think anyone pays attention to who is in which restroom, much less someone helping a disabled person.  

[CatLadyFemme]

4 hours ago, Broons77 said:

Definitely Quantum Class has them - we were on Anthem in March and I documented the location of all of them in a post I did about that particular trip.  I do believe that Oasis class has them as well.

 

Agreed it's nice that these things are now being thought of.  And quite frankly, I'm not going to complain too loudly about it.  After all, we are on a cruise.  If need be, we go back to the cabin.

I appreciated that post so much. I will be on Quantum in a few weeks. A bit older than Anthem, but will keep my eyes open so my partner and I can pee in peace. Your labor is much appreciated!

[CatLadyFemme]

2 hours ago, rudeney said:

 

I remember decades ago, a local woman was arrested for going into the men's restroom at our coliseum during a concert event.  Apparently, the line for the lady's room was too long and she couldn't hold it any more.  The charges were dismissed, but it was big news at the time.  These days, I don't think anyone pays attention to who is in which restroom, much less someone helping a disabled person.  

They sure pay a lot of attention if they read you as trans or nonbinary 😬 many of my friends have been screamed at or otherwise harassed.

[brillohead]

21 minutes ago, CatLadyFemme said:

They sure pay a lot of attention if they read you as trans or nonbinary 😬 many of my friends have been screamed at or otherwise harassed.

As Ron White says in his comedy act, "You can't fix stupid!"

I've never understood why we don't have more unisex restrooms, like the Ally McBeal tv show.  Put the urinals inside a stall, and then nothing "private" is happening where anyone can see anything.  Especially in a setting like Royal, where there aren't huge gaps in between the partitions and the doors for people to look through.  

Stupid to have settings like an arena/stadium (or airport!) where there are empty toilets in the men's room and there's a line of 100 women waiting for their turn.  

[CatLadyFemme]

1 minute ago, brillohead said:

As Ron White says in his comedy act, "You can't fix stupid!"

I've never understood why we don't have more unisex restrooms, like the Ally McBeal tv show.  Put the urinals inside a stall, and then nothing "private" is happening where anyone can see anything.  Especially in a setting like Royal, where there aren't huge gaps in between the partitions and the doors for people to look through.  

Stupid to have settings like an arena/stadium (or airport!) where there are empty toilets in the men's room and there's a line of 100 women waiting for their turn.  

Agreed. This is something I talk about to my (social work) students. All restrooms used to be unisex and then we decide to gender them…but SO many people benefit from either single stall or gender neutral multi stall; parents with kids of multiple genders, PAs/caregivers of disabled folks, disabled folks generally, trans and gender diverse folks, people caring for aging family members, folks in long lines at events, etc. Maybe one day! 

[Broons77]

8 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

I appreciated that post so much. I will be on Quantum in a few weeks. A bit older than Anthem, but will keep my eyes open so my partner and I can pee in peace. Your labor is much appreciated!

 

Hopefully they're in approximately the same locations on Quantum.  Please do share what you find, I'm toying with an Alaska cruise before everything melts 🙂.

 

One thing I didn't mention earlier is that we were on the NCL Pearl in May, which is of a class few years older than Quantum and there were several family RRs available.  So, it seems that NCL may have been a bit ahead of the curve on this particular issue.  That being said, my bet is that they got the extra space on board for all the family RRs but taking it away from the accessible cabins.  Those were just barely big enough to maneuver a wheelchair in the room and into the bathroom.  So Royal wins on accessible cabin size, NCL wins on family bathrooms!  😄