Handicapped and Boarding

[parmus]

We will be travelling out of Miami and a member of our party is handicapped (wheelchair-bound). Does anyone know the procedure for boarding in Miami?

[pelletib]

Email or call Carnival. They have a customer service area for passengers that need special services. Only ONE person will be allowed to board with this passenger. The rest of your party embarks and disembarks like the rest of the people. We were set in a small area to await embarkation (some of the 1st on ship) and we were also sat in the lounge by the door to get off the ship at disembakation. My husband and I were the second couple off the ship and the first thru customs in San Pedro 2 years ago. I had the email from Carnival that had the procedure on it. On board, we were also greeted with a letter from the purser's desk, ackowledging the situation and that any assistance required during the cruise, please ask. My husband is fully capable of walking short distances but cannot stand for any length of time. Our muster station had a few chairs available for passengers with special needs. Apparently, the list for each station lists the cabin # and it is easy for them to match it with the cabin # stencilled on the lifevest. Very nice way to protect that passenger's privacy.

[parmus]

Thanks so much. Your experience will help tremendously!

[marvholly]

My late hubby also had difficulty being on his feet for any length of time and walking any distance. We traveled Carnival, NCL and Celebrity over those years. Celebrity was the MOST difficult to work with. For both Carnival and NCL we just told the first cruise line rep we saw that he needed a wheel chair. Carnival provided service much more quickly than NCL but that may have been due to a sanitation.coast gurad inspection on our NCL ship that day that did delay everything. Both were great about debarking.

[dsm711]

My wife uses a wheelchair. I can only speak for the 3 NCL cruises that we have done but we never made any prior arangements and were always brought to the front of the line and allowed to board first with our entire party. Hopefully Carnival will be the same. We will be taking our first Carnival cruise on the Victory in April.
Also for those folks driving into Miami. If you have a handicap Tag on your car you park for free. That saved us $80.00 for the week,

DSM711

NCL SKY 01/2002
NCL Norway 04/2003
NCL SUN 01/2004

[RWolver672]

Here's another thread that dealt with handicapped people. It doesn't deal directly with boarding in Miami but there are some useful things in there as to what to expect. [url="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=64413"]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=64413[/url]