Below is a summary of a trip my friend Nancy enjoyed in the Eastern Caribbean. Nancy has difficulty walking long distances and used a ship wheelchair when needed. Nancy uses an INR machine and both she and John use CPAP machines and lots of medications. Cruising on the Ruby Princess. Sharon, I’ve included some pictures of the cabin which show the ADA features fairly well. You are welcome to use any or all of the photos and or any part of my narrative in any way you choose.
Cruise was Nov 2010 to the Eastern Caribbean on the Ruby Princess. The Ruby is a relatively new ship of the Princess line, I believe commissioned in 2009. We had an ADA Mini-suite. My brother had same level suite, same deck, a few doors down. Our ADA cabin was twice as large as his regular cabin, if not larger. Also we had more closet space than he did. We did not feel at all cramped. I highly recommend a room with a balcony so that one has a full ocean view. We loved it and spent much of our time on the balcony. If we were in the room, we were usually on the balcony. “Ocean View” rooms usually only have a porthole and they are often over the bed so if you are handicapped, you can’t really see the view. We were not able to reserve an ADA room online. I had to call direct to request one, but had no trouble with the request. There was no additional cost. (This insures they are only booked for people with legitimate disabilities).
As an aside: Travel and Medical Insurance: With the travel agency we used, if you paid for your trip in full within 30 days of booking, all pre-existing conditions were covered. Normal payment was 50% down with balance 30 days before sailing. But, with my heart condition, it could have caused us to have had to cancel. Any traveler should consider the travel interruption and medical insurance carefully and be sure you understand the options.
Cruise Boarding: I had requested wheel chair boarding. At the end of each ramped line they had a steward. When we inquired, he directed us to bypass the line. At each point, this continued to happen until we cleared security. (Basically, we were directed to go to the head of the line). At that point, there was a waiting area with seating. A steward came with a wheel chair and took me all the way to our room When we disembarked, we were directed to a specific common area, provided with a wheel chair, and again, taken to security, then to the end of the entrance ramp.
Pluses: Cabin door, bathroom door, balcony door were all comfortably wide enough for a wheel chair or scooter. When you opened the balcony door, a small metal plate fell into place over the slider tract turning it into a ramp onto and back inside the room off the balcony. When you closed the slider, the plate raised back up out of the way. The balcony, while not huge, was adequate to have turned a wheel chair around on it. There is a solid Plexiglas apron below the rail so one does not feel insecure. Bath had plenty of room to transfer either onto the shower seat or the toilet. There was certainly room enough in the cabin to store and or charge an electric wheel chair or scooter. There was room beside the bed to have a wheel chair and transfer to the bed.
Outside the cabin: ADA cabins are directly by the elevators. Halls are wide. Every restroom I entered had at least one ADA stall if not more than one. If there was a one stall restroom, it was ADA and generously sized. I, as you know, do not use a wheel chair, but steps are very difficult for me. To my memory, the pool at the spa level had multi-level steps with no ADA entrance, but there were several other pools that were deck level. I didn’t seek it out, but it seems I remember reading that there was a pool with a sling or lift access. The casino had only steps coming in from one side, but a hall led around to the other entrance which had a ramp. I did everything I wanted to do on the ship and had no problems with access. A time or two, access was not obvious and I had to ask, but access was always available. At the ports, all but one had docks. I found the docks to be a very long walk from the port areas. No barriers, but a very long hot walk. One port had no dock and had “tenders” to carry one into the port docking. The Ruby had tenders with lifts to place wheel chairs onto the tender boats, but they warned that the conditions of weather or water might cause them to not be able to offer access with the lifts.
If we go again, I may well rent a scooter so that I will be able to explore the ports.
Problems: There is one electrical outlet per cabin and in this cabin it was at the far end of the room beside the sliding glass door. Both my husband and I have CPAP machines that we use for sleep apnea. We must have them at night to sleep. We both carry heavy duty drop cords with us in our CPAP carry bags. Problem was there was no way that we could safely string two drop cords all the way around the bed and across the room all night. Too much chance of tripping on them when one of us got up. We told the room steward immediately. Later I called the purser’s office. They informed me that the steward had explained and they were working on the problem. Within about 90 minutes and electrician entered the room with an invention he had created for us to use. He pulled out the beds intending to plug it into a hidden outlet under the beds. This thing was an electrical box with room to plug in several items attached to a short, very heavy duty cord and plug. The problem was that his invention was all US plugs and the receptacle under the bed was a European plug. Luckily, as he stood and scratched his head, I had purchased a travel electrical adaptor kit and had it with me. He used one of our adaptor plugs and we were set. It was scary, but they did solve the problem, and I was certainly given every impression that they would have worked until they had solved any problem, whatever it took.
As an amendment to the above, I’m not sure about the charging facilities for a scooter or electric wheel chair, but I am unfamiliar with their requirements. Each room has a safe for which you set your own combination. We used ours to store all our extra medications….smile. One of the tips I found especially useful was to print many extra copies of your luggage tags that contain your cabin number. Place them in and on any and all of your belongings: purses, cameras, carry on bags, pockets of your jackets, use as bookmarks. If you misplace anything on the ship, with this info, it will be returned promptly to your room. Another tip is to take a travel alarm clock with you and if you need medicine reminders, take a wrist watch with an alarm. I knew that my cell phone would not be able to make calls, but the cell company told me it would keep time and alarm for me. That was not true. Most of the time, we were out of reach of a tower, and my cell phone would not alarm. I had problems keeping up with timing my medications. {No doubt if you had called the desk, they would have called with reminders. Strange there was no alarm clock in the room??
Other difficulties: The cabin phone would only ring twice before hanging up. I never made it to the phone while it was ringing. Thankfully, it had caller ID and one was able to return the call. Also, unless the “do not disturb” sign is on the door, the stewards knock, hesitate only very briefly, then come in. Since we move slowly, and though it never happened (mainly because I learned to keep the sign in place any time we were in the room), I was always concerned that they would walk in with me only partially clothed, etc. The general announcements made over the ships intercom only broadcast into the common areas. I kept running to the door only to reach it after the announcements finished. It would have been nice if they had run the announcements on the bottom of the TV screen and/or also broken into the TV programing for the announcements so we could have heard them in our room. Our cruise was a delightful adventure and we enjoyed it thoroughly. By reserving the ADA room, we were very comfortable. Without it, we would have had a lot of difficulty.
Flying: We drove to Raleigh, NC and flew Southwest Airlines into Fort Lauderdale, FL. I requested a wheel chair at both airports as I am unable to walk long distances. There was curb side check in in Raleigh and a wheel chair was waiting. A steward pushed me all the way to the gate and onto the plane. We had priority boarding because of the wheel chair. When we disembarked, additionally, we were offloaded first, and a wheel chair was provided to the baggage claim area. We had the same experience on our return. Without this service, I would have had a painful struggle. With it, my trip was easy.
There is now in almost all air ports three security lines. One is frequent/ business travelers, one is….I don’t remember the designation, and now there is a “family/medical” line. Both the travelers and the security personnel in the family/medical line are used to slower travelers nor does one hold up the business/frequent travelers who want to move quickly. The family/medical examiners are familiar with medical items in carry on baggage. We had no difficulties. I had CPAPs, blood pressure machines, an INR machine (works like a blood sugar testing device), lots of medications, a back brace containing metal stays, and my cane. I did take all my medical devices out of their fancy carrying cases and placed them in clear zip lock bags so that the examiners could see the entire contents at a glance. Really enjoyed seeing you and talking with you again.
Bright Blessings, Nancy Wheeler Thanks for your feedback. I’ve cruised and done ship inspections for several cruise lines. They have really gone the extra mile to make a wheelchair user’s experience beyond the ordinary! It is most important to contact special services with each cruise line by phone and explain in detail your specific needs. You will be amazed with their accommodations. Sharon