Cruise accessibilty

LindaDVC

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 19, 1999
My old thread about w/c 's on the magic are on the old board. The information has been requested again so I will try to remember our experiences!!

We sailed two times. We took the fourth sailing back in 98 and then sailed again in 2000. Most of the ship problems were corrected by the time we sailed again.

The cabins were great. Beds were a little low but we could manage. The shower had the typical water problems with water everywhere which was even worse one day when the boat was ROCKIN' ! Luckily on the 7 day our bathroom had a roll in shower and a tub with shower which I used.

On the four day we had an inside cabin with 2 single beds -- not enough room for a chair to get next to the beds so DH used the fold out couch. Son and I used the single beds.

The second cruise we had an outside room with verandah! It was a great room with huge deck. We had a double bed and a fold out couch. Pictures of this room should still be on www.photopoint.com under the email address DVCLinda@netscape.net

Problems on the first cruise were some on the elevator areas were not accessible. There were HUGE lips to cross over at some exits. You could get to each deck but had to remember which elevator to use! Now they are all accessible. The elevators are tiny and at times very crowded! We often walked down and met DH after he squished on an elevator. They often did not have room for me!! I don't mind the exercise and was eating so much it probably helped!!

Another problem was they had wheelchair seating in the theatres but had n't thought about companion seating. I had to request a chair to sit with DH rather than each of us sitting alone at shows. Son was always with the kids! Now both theatres have folding chairs in addition to w/c spots next to a few standard seat locations.

The rest of the ship- shops, decks, dining areas were all accessible. You did have to go in the back door at Lumieres which was not much of a problem as long as they saw you knocking at the locked back door!

Castaway has paved walkways and beach chairs available. I would suggest a tented paved area for wheelchairs to sit in the shade since all the umbrellas are in the sand. DH is unable to transfer from his power chair and gets easily overheated. It is beautiful place and I wish we could stay there longer!!

On the first cruise they had a short ramp for the gangway and it was dangerously steep. This has been corrected! However the tendors are not accessible. We ran into great difficulty finding out if we would be docking or tendering. Each time we called we got a different answer which was VERY frustrating!

In Nassau none of the excursions in '98 were accessible.
We did not like the area around the ship at all. Besides the extreme August heat we saw drugs being used right on the street and very pushy sales people. The city had no curb cuts and the cars don't slow down --rather honk expecting a w/c to hop onto the high banked sidewalk!! We were miserable and returned to the ship!

St Martin we tendered and hubbie was not able to leave the ship. Friends with a child in a manual chair were able to tender but had difficulty even on a calm day.

We docked in St Thomas and Disney insisted nothing was w/c accessible. Luckily we found a company that did indeed have wheelchair vans and we took a 4 hour tour. It was WONDERFUL! They took us to Mt Top and for a tour and then we stopped at Megan's beach. They had a ramped bar where DH could sit while son and I swam. We had a lovely time. Hopefully Disney is now offering options for the disabled. We provided them with all this imformation.

In summary the ship is pretty accessible these days and the biggest problem is the islands! They need to offer more accessible transportation and excursions. If I forgot anything I will try to add it on!

Linda
 
Thank you Linda....

I really appreciate your doing this once again! :)

I'd been asked and I knew YOU would be the woman of choice to speak to so I reffered them to you!! :)
 
To both Wheelsie for pointing me in Linda's direction and to Linda for taking the time to type all of that out again!

Lisa
 

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