Question About Cruise Vacation

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friedgold1

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My mother has ALS and is thinking about going on a cruise, however, she has never been on one. We have seen that a number of you have really enjoyed going on cruises and were hoping some of you could share a few of your thoughts about them and what you enjoyed so much.

Some of her concerns include what she would do outside of seeing shows on the ship and if many cruises have excursions that would be wheelchair accessible. For a little information on how she's doing: she is mainly getting around in a wheelchair but is able to transfer with assistance and stand for short periods of time with the use of a walker.

Thanks to all of you for sharing!
 
I have gone on two long cruises and greatly enjoyed them. I would recommend the American based Cruise companies. Royal Caribbean is my favorite and I did not like MSC at all and would never take them again. The ships on Royal Caribean have bigger hallways, elevators, etc and are easy to get around and the staff is helpful.

We did quite a few excursions when going to sandy places or when you have to like in Russia and for the most part it works out with the handicap excursions. Most of the time though we just went on our own. The buses that take you into the cities are always wheelchair accessible and are very inexpensive or free. In any of the cities we visited I used my power chair to go where I wanted. Sometimes curbs could be annoying or cobblestone streets but it was all worth it for me. I should also say that I liked to sit on the sidewalk in the chair and watch people go by while my wife shopped or looked at small castles.

When I took my trips I did not need all the support used by a larger wheelchairs so I used a collapsible power chair. Having my own way to get around was key with a manual chair and relying on someone to push me the trips would have been boring.

You can google best handicap cruise lines and you will find some good suggestions.
 
We just went on a cruise with Royal Caribbean three weeks ago and it was a good experience. There is a lot to do on the ship itself and my partner was able to go on excursions to the beach. We had a folding wheelchair and they were able to put it in the van with no problem. We were never bored - being out in the ocean was entertaining by itself, and needless to say the people watching is fun too - there were about 3000 passengers so you can imagine.

The handicapped access cabin was great. We got one with a balcony and it was really worth it. I will treasure forever the look in his eyes every time I opened the curtains in the morning and he saw a new island from his bed.

Distances on the ship can be long and pushing the wheelchair on the carpeted areas is a little more difficult. In retrospect I wish I had rented an electric wheelchair so that he would have had more independence.

Since he is on enteral nutrition exclusively I brought about 35 cans of Jevity and no one questioned it.

I think that as the disease progresses, ALS patients become more isolated from others. Being in a place with so many people was a good way to be distracted from the disease itself and to feel part of something lively, as everyone is in a good mood on vacation ;)
 
Make sure to get a handicap accessible cabin, like everyone has mentioned. They are great. Cruise Critic is a good site to do some research. I haven't been there in a while, but they have an area on the forum just for disabled cruising. Lots of great information there, including pictures inside cabins.

I can only speak for my husband, but pre-ALS, whenever we traveled, we did sporty or beachy excursions. Now, he would hate sitting on the beach. Now, we would go for the type of excursions that are more sight seeing in nature. Most cruise lines have detailed information about their own excursions on their web site. There will be an indication listed as to accessibility.

A lot of times, a power chair can't be accommodated on a tender, so check your itinerary for those types of ports..

Most of all, have fun!
 
We just returned from a Oceana cruise through the Panama Canal. It was on a smaller ship with around 600 guests. There were a couple of wheelchair guests and a lot of walkers. There are always quite a few activities on he ship during the day. Bingo, trivia, card games and guest speakers to name a few. We did have 3 stops that were tendered via lifeboats that would have been difficult in a wheelchair as the seas were pretty rough. The cruise publishes plenty of info on excursions to include level of difficulty etc. As others have pointed out, Cruise Critic website has all kinds of helpful information.

Bruce
 
Just finished a cruise. My ALS is moderate at the moment, so not too much to add to above. The rocking ship and showers were the only issue. I did not have a HC room.
 
Some cruises in addition to excursions have educational speakers or celebrities-in-residence that come on board to point out or discuss destinations/sights/themes-- depending on her interests, she might enjoy that as well.
 
Definitely get an accessible cabin, unfortunately there are not a lot of them, so they sell out way in advance. I've been on Royal Caribbean twice - one good experience and one horrible - and Norwegian 3 times. Norwegian seems to have better shows. I would recommend that you rent a scooter on board ship, if you can manage one of those. Its easier than having someone push you and gives you a little more independence. If you use a travel agent, they can arrange that for you. Special Needs At Sea provides scooters - and wheelchairs. I use a travel agent who specializes in disabled travel and as she is also "disabled" and travels extensively, she is very familiar with various ships, ports and excursions.
-Dianne
 
My wife and I have been looking into cruises and wonder how long in advance you need to make bookings (as Dianne recommends), esp. to get an accessible cabin. I realize it depends on the popularity of the cruise and time of year as well as other factors, but is there a rule of thumb someone can recommend. We've found several cruises that appeal to us for late spring through early fall (we'd likely cruise from the east coast of the US to Europe, or fly to Europe and cruise in the north (Baltic)), but the sites seem to show the more desirable cabins already sold out. I assume the situation for accessible cabins is worse.

Ed
 
We never had a problem getting a handicap cabin. On the other hand, we always booked pretty well in advance and always used a travel agent. They would know of upcoming specials as well.
 
Hi Statius@,

In talking with some of the cruise companies, it sounds like handicap rooms start booking up 6-9 months in advance. This was surprising to me, but apparently there's just a small number of them and a high demand.
 
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