Navigation Advice for Wheelchair Travelers

Sometimes well-meaning travel agents and even cruise lines, eager to encourage travelers in wheelchairs to take an easy and enjoyable cruise vacation, fail to correctly assess the accessibility of a ship or a cabin. And some wheelchair travelers have boarded with unrealistic expectations.

As a result, a few members of each group have been known to get into irate discussions about the other’s ignorance of details, even muttering about litigation, without taking a moment to consider the situation and what can be done about it.

Most cruise ships, particularly those launched before the mid-1980s, contain built-in problems for the mobility-impaired: door sills with raised rims that are designed to keep water from flowing between bathroom and cabin or between decks and interior hallways; few or no elevators to some public areas such as upper decks or discos; narrow hallways on lower decks where most cabins are; narrow doorways into cabins and bathrooms; oddly shaped bathrooms with fixtures too close together to allow wheelchair mobility; stairs leading into dining rooms or movie theaters.

Closets, Elevators

Common inconveniences include closet hanging racks and elevator buttons that are too high, doors that are too heavy, even elevators that don’t stop flush with the floor.

On some ships the only fully accessible bathroom on your deck is a public facility; on others, such as Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess, the accessible facility is across the hall from cabins designed for wheelchair travelers. In those instances, you must decide between having a companion assist you into the private bathroom, or going on your own to the facility down the hall.

The best arrangements we’ve seen for wheelchair passengers are on Admiral’s Stardancer and Sitmar’s Fairsky. On the Stardancer, cabin 957 on Main Deck near the purser’s lobby has been converted into a large inside stateroom from two smaller cabins. It has two bathrooms, one of which will accommodate a wheelchair, and two bedroom areas, one at each end of an L-shaped room.

Fairsky boasts six specially equipped cabins, each with its own large bathroom without raised sill, and seems to be the No. 1 favorite with travel agents who specialize in cruises for the disabled.

Some Ships Adapted

While some ships offer cabins adapted for the mobility-impaired, not all have cabin bathrooms with low or no sills. Ships that provide both include Admiral’s Emerald Seas; Bermuda Star Line’s Bermuda Star; Cunard’s QE2, Vistafjord and Sagafjord; Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam, and Norwegian Caribbean Line’s Norway.

Royal Viking Line provides a Special Services Desk--ask for them at (800) 422-8000--that can answer detailed questions about door widths, ramps and cabin accessibility, but the line does request that disabled travelers be accompanied by a non-disabled companion to assist them, because bathrooms are the raised-sill type.

Similarly, Royal Cruise Line requests that passengers take collapsible wheelchairs with a 23-inch base and a companion to assist them, because all ship bathrooms have raised sills. The company has designated certain cabins as more difficult for disabled persons than others, so your needs should be spelled out at the time of initial booking.

Make Your Needs Known

In general terms, when you’re choosing a cruise, look for a newer, larger ship, book the biggest cabin you can afford, preferably in the middle of the ship, and ask for a bathroom with tub if possible, because it will be more spacious.

Try to get a cabin near the elevators, with a door that opens directly onto the main corridor rather than a cramped side aisle. Insist on a specific cabin assignment that meets your requirements when booking rather than letting them put you into a general category, with assignment to be made later.

In the dining room, ask for a table near the doorway so you’ll have less distance to negotiate, and make sure they allow extra space at the table for the wheelchair.

And finally, plan on traveling with a non-disabled companion; virtually every cruise line requires or strongly requests it.

People who normally use a walker will find that it works fairly well on a cruise ship, but those who rely on crutches should plan on using a wheelchair on board, as ship motion could make navigation on crutches difficult.

The important thing to remember is that with a companion to help you, you can travel almost anywhere on almost any ship, as long as you’re willing to make some adjustments or put up with a little inconvenience in exchange for the trip of your dreams.

Curtained Bathroom

Some ships, if requested, will remove a bathroom door from its hinges and replace it with a fabric curtain to facilitate access. Or you could take along a portable commode and small washbasin if the ship bathroom is totally inaccessible for you.

You should also be prepared to cooperate with a deck officer who may request that you stay on board in a port that requires passengers to go ashore by tender, especially if the seas are choppy.

Cruise Lines International Assn. has recently released a “Cruise Guide for the Wheelchair Traveler” that has a ship-by-ship breakdown of 50 major cruise vessels belonging to member lines. For a free copy, mail a stamped, self-addressed No. 10 envelope to the association at 17 Battery Place, Suite 631, New York 10004.