handicap accessible rooms

are handicap accessible rooms bigger than regular rooms? are they more expensive? do you have to prove you're handicapped?

Yes they are a lot bigger. We got a handicap junior suite for my Mother in law on our last cruise. We did not have to prove anything ahead of time. The bathroom is big enough to wheel a wheel chair in and turn around, and the shower has no lip on it. Also the threshold on the balcony door had a little ramp so we could wheel her out on to the balcony.

i mean i do have a handicap card but if you look at me you wouldn't suspect that i could legitimately have it. some days i could use all of it and some days i'm fine. and i don't like to let people see it anyway so i just suck it up most times but i was wondering if you actually had to have a wheelchair to get the room. i was actually considering renting one of those scooters that i see people in because the walking that you do is unbelievable you know.

Pat, we booked thru a TA and they did not ask us to prove anything. I don't know if booking thru the cruiseline, would be different. But if having a handicap cabin would make your more comfortable than you should book one and try it.
My Mother in law, is not totally wheelchair bound, but she is very unstable on her feet, and needs the grab bars and the shower seat etc... We pushed her around the ship in a wheelchair, because we were afraid to let her loose with a scooter! lol!

oh jen the first knee operation i used those scooters at the food store. my husband would only take me when it was late and i ran into almost every aisle, i knocked over displays. i not only ran stuff over i put it in reverse and ran it over again. i was deadly. not only that but everytime i hit something it shook the scooter and i hurt myself. i couldn't tell if i was going forward or reverse 1/2 the time.

I know, that was what I was afraid of with my MIL! But pushing that dang wheel chair was not easy!

when we went to hawaii we went to polynesian village. not 1/2 way into my knees give out. so my poor husband was forced to walk back, rent a chair and push me the whole way. we were with a group of 12 or i would have just left. and i was 100 pounds heavier. i felt so bad for him.

Depending on the cruise line, you might have to provide documentation to show your handicap. Each cruise line has a different policy so when you book, make sure and ask what will be needed. If you use a TA, they should assist you in this process. When I book a client in a handicapped cabin, I make sure what the requirements are a time of booking.

Vickie

The handicapped cabins are huge compared to the regular cabins with wider door ways and no lips on the doors or into the bathroom.

There are very few ADA cabins available on the ships and in the past, the guest had to provide a doctor's note or other types of documentation in advance as to what type of handicap they have to warrant this cabin. Since the HIPA laws of a couple of years ago, the cruise line technically can't ask but we still need to qualify our clients to make sure that they do need this type of stateroom.

I have a client with a neurological problem that makes it difficult for him to navigate steps- even a small one into the shower. Many days he will be perfectly fine- some days not so fine. Doesn't look handicapped at all but I have been able to get him handicapped rooms in hotels and on cruises.

They are not any more expensive than the cost of a regular cabin in the same category but since there are only a couple of categories of cabins on the ships with these ADA cabins, you might have to upgrade to a category that you might not have necessarily wanted in order to get one.

Carnival the HC cabins arent bigger. All Fantasy class HC cabins in fact still have a small step up into them. If you are in a wheelchair you would have to have someone pull you up each time into the bathroom.

Im guessing when someone says yes they are all bigger, they are talking about RCL or another cruiseline and not about Carnival?

We got a HC cabin on Ecstasy in January and did enjoy the pull down shower seat and all the bars, well my sister did, but the cabin was not any bigger than a regular cabin.

Flowers, good to know about CCL. Never saw the handicapped cabins on Carnival and it is odd that the showers are not wheel in but instead have a lip.

I have seen the cabins on RCCL, Celebrity, HAL and Princess and all fully accessible and larger.

I can personally vouch for Princess, RCCL and Celebrity being larger....don't know about Carnival.

I only know how to post from photobucket, but anyway, these are pics of the lip on the bathroom and why Fantasy class (Carnival's oldest class of ships) is not fully HC if you were in a wheelchair. The newer ships dont have this lip on the bathroom.

Those pix don't look like ADA rooms to me.

Wonder if CCL had to "make" some ADA rooms and converted a standard cabin on the Fantasy class ships. I'm pretty sure their newer ships have the true ADA rooms with the roll in bathroom (with out the lip), roll in shower, wider doors.

Thanks for the info and pix Flowers. I know not to recommend these ships to clients that need a true ADA cabin.

mpg1226 wrote:

Those pix don't look like ADA rooms to me.

Wonder if CCL had to "make" some ADA rooms and converted a standard cabin on the Fantasy class ships. I'm pretty sure their newer ships have the true ADA rooms with the roll in bathroom (with out the lip), roll in shower, wider doors.

Thanks for the info and pix Flowers. I know not to recommend these ships to clients that need a true ADA cabin.

Conquest class has both regular full HC cabins and modified HC cabins. The modified ones are almost HC, but might not have as wide of doors or a little lip like you saw, but its not like the regular cabins which has a big step up into the bath that we hate. That big step up for us is a accident waiting to happen.

Its just Fantasy class that has that little lip on the bathroom. Sure had nice bars all around.

The Fantasy class ships ADA rooms might work for guests who are not wheel chair bound since it is only a small lip. For those with walking difficulties, it might work.

I have seen the ADA cabins on other lines and they are completely wheel chair accessible with the nice bars as well.