Last year, I made arrangements for a cruise holiday which will depart in a few weeks. During the booking process over the phone, I made it clear that my mother required an accessible room due to her limited mobility. We completed all necessary paperwork and forms regarding her special needs. However, upon receiving our boarding information and room number recently, I decided to search online for a picture of the room. To my surprise, I discovered a forum post mentioning that the room was only partially accessible, a detail that had not been communicated to us at any point. Despite numerous phone calls to P&O over the months, during which my mother asked many questions and expressed her concerns, this critical information was never disclosed. I would have expected it to be brought up in some form of communication, even if it was just an email notifying us that the room was only partially accessible. This morning, I contacted a member of the customer service team who confirmed that indeed, the cabin is only partially accessible. It appears that there may not be enough space to manoeuvre a wheelchair around the room comfortably. The reason given for assigning this room was because the form indicated my mother was a part-time wheelchair user. While this information is accurate—she can walk short distances without her chair—the fact that she uses it part-time does not mean she can navigate tight spaces within a room. We booked an accessible cabin and were provided with a "partially accessible" one instead. How is such a practice deemed acceptable? A room should either be accessible or not at all. There is no in-between being disabled. We selected it because my mother needs a wheelchair to be in the cabin and requires space to move around freely.
