Mobility scooter in cabin

[CountryGal]

Has anyone used a mobility scooter and had a problem getting it into and storing it in a regular balcony cabin?  Where do you put it in the cabin?  TIA

[cruisinmeme]

I have never ha a scooter but i dont believe you can cram it in the cabin. I can not imagine it being anywhere other than right as you enter the cabin and it will half block the bathroom .

[stinkyharriet]

I was on a Canada/New England cruise in October and there were a lot of people using mobility scooters and wheelchairs.  We saw so many scooters parked in the hallways and the landings by the stairs.  They would probably only fit in an accessible cabin but with the number of scooters on board there just aren’t enough of those cabins.

 

I don’t know if there are rules for parking them in hallways or certain times they have to be removed, because it was hard just walking by them.  I don’t think cabin stewards would be able to get their carts past the scooters.  That wouldn’t be an issue for the scooters parked on the landings.

[dobiemom]

You can’t park a scooter in the hallway. It’s a safety hazard. My mother is in a wheelchair. If there was a scooter parked in the hall, she would not be able to get by. 
You better believe I would be contacting the Safety Officer. 

[SplashOfWater]

We've brought a mobility scooter on a few Royal Caribbean cruises recently. We'll be bringing it on the Escape next week. The one my husband uses is a Pride Go-Go Sport, 3-wheel. It's 21-22 inches wide and fits through the regular cabin doors. 

 

We select a balcony cabin that has the sofa near the bathroom and bed near the balcony. This cabin configuration has the extra room to park the scooter next to the sofa during the night. It still leaves just enough room to get by the scooter to the bathroom and cabin door. If the bed is near the bathroom, there's not enough room to get the scooter into the cabin without blocking the entry way. The space between the bed and the wall is too narrow for the scooter to fit through. I guess you could disassemble the scooter every night, but that would be a pain.

 

On one ship, the hallways were pretty narrow and it took two or three tries to angle the scooter into the cabin. The newer ships have wider hallways which make it easier to maneuver the scooter into the cabin.

[JustAllie]

4 hours ago, CountryGal said:

Has anyone used a mobility scooter and had a problem getting it into and storing it in a regular balcony cabin?  Where do you put it in the cabin?  TIA

My disabled friend has used a scooter on many cruises, and she has always gotten an accessible cabin in order to ensure there is room to bring the scooter into the cabin. We have looked at other cabins (e.g. Haven upgrades), and it's often hard to imagine how the scooter could get through the door and into the cabin without blocking the way for anyone else to come in. 

 

Storing the scooter in the hallway is not allowed because it blocks access for other people (including disabled people and stewards with laundry carts). You can call the front desk and have someone come up and take your scooter somewhere for storage -- but then you have to call them to bring it back when you need it again. 

 

The best thing to do is to book an accessible cabin. Yes, this limits the cruises you can go on because you need to find one with an accessible cabin that's still available. 😞 

[stinkyharriet]

1 hour ago, JustAllie said:

 

Storing the scooter in the hallway is not allowed because it blocks access for other people (including disabled people and stewards with laundry carts).

They were definitely storing them in the hallway on my cruise in October.  My sister & I were in an inside cabin on the Escape and there was often a scooter parked right in the interior hallway (off the main hallway) that we had to turn sideways to get by.  Saw many of them in the main hallways.  There were just too many on the ship there were not enough accessible cabins to accommodate everyone with a scooter/wheelchair.  I suppose some of the balcony cabins were able to bring them inside at night but as I said, they were also in the interior hallways.  And on the landings at the top of the stairs.

[JustAllie]

9 hours ago, stinkyharriet said:

They were definitely storing them in the hallway on my cruise in October.  My sister & I were in an inside cabin on the Escape and there was often a scooter parked right in the interior hallway (off the main hallway) that we had to turn sideways to get by.  Saw many of them in the main hallways.  There were just too many on the ship there were not enough accessible cabins to accommodate everyone with a scooter/wheelchair.  I suppose some of the balcony cabins were able to bring them inside at night but as I said, they were also in the interior hallways.  And on the landings at the top of the stairs.

Yeah, that sounds like it was a real issue! 

 

On my last cruise my friend got a letter in her cabin about not storing scooters in the hallway and how to call for assistance in storing them elsewhere. I'm sure that both the number of people with scooters and the enforcement of any restrictions on where they can be stored varies from ship to ship and sailing to sailing. 

 

I've seen scooters that fold up in a way that would allow them to fit inside even a smaller cabin. But those are pretty rare! And I'm sure many people figure out a way to store them in regular non-accessible cabins, depending on the layout. 

Edited January 22 by JustAllie

[schmoopie17]

Lots of discussion/info on this board...

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/

 

And from yesterday on this thread...

 

 

Edited January 22 by schmoopie17

[graphicguy]

12 hours ago, stinkyharriet said:

They were definitely storing them in the hallway on my cruise in October.  My sister & I were in an inside cabin on the Escape and there was often a scooter parked right in the interior hallway (off the main hallway) that we had to turn sideways to get by.  Saw many of them in the main hallways.  There were just too many on the ship there were not enough accessible cabins to accommodate everyone with a scooter/wheelchair.  I suppose some of the balcony cabins were able to bring them inside at night but as I said, they were also in the interior hallways.  And on the landings at the top of the stairs.

I've actually seen security in the hallways knocking on cabins to get the guests to remove wheelchairs, scooters, etc out of the hallways and into the cabins.  Once those visits happened, I never saw those scooters in the hallways again.  I'll assume they either stored them in their cabins, or had them stored somewhere else on the ship where they had to go retrieve them.

 

As mentioned, it's a safety hazard.  Cruise ships in general are very cognizant of safety.

 

 

[stinkyharriet]

2 hours ago, graphicguy said:

I've actually seen security in the hallways knocking on cabins to get the guests to remove wheelchairs, scooters, etc out of the hallways and into the cabins.  Once those visits happened, I never saw those scooters in the hallways again.  I'll assume they either stored them in their cabins, or had them stored somewhere else on the ship where they had to go retrieve them.

 

As mentioned, it's a safety hazard.  Cruise ships in general are very cognizant of safety.

 

 

Yes, just walking by them was tough at times.  They weren’t in the way out by the stairs but I don’t think there was even enough room for all of them there.  We spent almost no time in our cabin, just to sleep and shower/dress.  We may have just walked by at times when many of the scooter users were just in their cabins briefly although the one in our interior hallway was definitely there late at night.

[schmoopie17]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

 

As mentioned, it's a safety hazard.  Cruise ships in general are very cognizant of safety.

 

But yet they want you to put your luggage outside your door the night before debarking.

[Asawi]

1 minute ago, schmoopie17 said:

But yet they want you to put your luggage outside your door the night before debarking.

Well, a suitcase is a lot less smaller than a scooter. And in my (admittedly limited, but still...) experience they get removed, if not quickly, then at least not left there for the whole night. But yes, it can be a bit tight if bothe sides of the corridor happen to have suitcases out.

[schmoopie17]

4 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Well, a suitcase is a lot less smaller than a scooter. 

Unless one is a solo traveler, there will be more than one suitcase. Maybe several.

[cruiseny4life]

37 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

But yet they want you to put your luggage outside your door the night before debarking.

And have giant housekeeping carts in the hallways almost 24 hours a day...I'm a fatty and sometimes have a hard time squeezing by the carts if they are in certain spots of the hallway. I'm not going to complain about it though.

 

I always love these threads.