kokopelli-az

I hope I didn't miss this somewhere, but is Royal offering luggage valet on your cruise? PS: Your photos are perfect!

I think I'll do this. I'm interested in what their response will be . . .

We specifically have medical supplies that need to be kept with us and can't be checked. Additionally, we have a wheelchair that needs to be dropped off in the stateroom and a mobility scooter picked up from the room.

This depends on what cruise line you're on. My husband has been pushed to our stateroom by a Celebrity employee (to pick up his scooter) every single time (on Celebrity, prior to the rooms being available). However, I just learned that on Royal on embarkation day if you arrive prior to your stateroom being available - 1pm - you are not allowed to go to the room so you would in fact be taken to a public area of your choice. So, on Royal on embarkation day if you arrive after the rooms are available (1pm) the pusher should push you to your room. Where you rent your scooter from will tell you whether your scooter will be in your room or on the dock. Elevators: this is a hot topic and you will find many postings on this subject in this forum if you search on "scooter: and "elevators". Renting: check pricing on both Special Needs at Sea and Scootaround. We have rented from both and they are virtually identically with the scooters they rent. However, the pricing can vary greatly. I just booked a scooter for the Freedom of the Seas for 7 days departing Fort Lauderdale Sept 8. I checked pricing on both rental websites. Scootaround was $260 (this was after removing the cancellation and insurance fees) and Special Needs was $195. Booked with Special Needs ! Lastly, do you have an accessible stateroom? You have to be able to get the scooter through the stateroom door. You will also need to advise Royal you will have a mobility scooter. You will need to complete their Special Needs form, which can be found here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/mobility-disabilities

We cruise with Celebrity almost exclusively and always drop off things in the stateroom early. However, this time we will be on Royal . . . At least I hope they have luggage valet !

Wow. Now that's a bummer . . .

Unless someone knows specifically, you might opt for one of beach wheelchairs. They're free. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/are-there-services-for-special-needs-guests-at-perfect-day-at-cococay

Since I can't find this answered somewhere (but I suspect it has been) can I drop off items in my stateroom before it is ready (before 1pm). This would be on embarkation day. I just want to drop off stuff and leave...

Compare pricing on both Special Needs at Sea and Scootaround's websites. Be sure you are comparing apples to apples because insurance and cancellation is often added (which you can opt out of). We have rented many times from both companies and they have both been the same as far as service. The wheelchair will be in your stateroom (or at the dock) and you leave it in your stateroom your last day. Celebrity needs to know about the wheelchair so be sure to complete their Special Needs form. Have you seen this: https://www.celebritycruises.com/special-needs Have you considered purchasing a wheelchair and bringing it with you from home? You may find out when you price a rental that purchasing the wheelchair might be less money.

You might want to post this on the Disabled Cruise Travel board. Lots of people with mobility issues there. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/ And this might help: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2916914-accessible-pools/

You might check with Celebrity's Access Department (their email below) and ask if they can provide a nonslip mat. Plan B is to use a towel. Would a shower chair be helpful? (I assume you do not have an accessible stateroom...) You can request one of these through their Access Department and then still use a towel if necessary. special_needs@celebrity.com

Take the accessible sky suite. You'll be glad you did. Lots of grab bars in the bathroom and an accessible shower. You're lucky an accessible stateroom was available. They go quickly. And they are larger.

If you check the prices of renting a wheelchair through Special Needs at Sea or Scootaround, you may find it is less expensive to purchase one and bring it with you from home. If you bring a wheelchair from home, request wheelchair assistance (Princess has this for embarkation and debarkation). Someone will push your personal wheelchair (or a Princess wheelchair if you don't have your own when you get to the pier). You can typically get this assistance from the time you drop off your luggage with the porters all the way inside the ship. The same is true on debarkation day - there will be a special place for wheelchair people to meet and Princess personnel will push them (either in their personal wheelchair or a Princess wheelchair) to outside the terminal to your transportation. You might want to check out the tours that have been reserved ahead of time to see if they are wheelchair friendly. I wouldn't wait until getting on the ship. Hop over to the Disabled Cruise Board and do a search on wheelchair. People on that board have lots and lots of experience with mobility equipment. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/ And don't forget to fill out the Mobility Questionnaire and send to Princess. Link to this form is in @arizonaperson post above.

Also do an Internet search for "free samples incontinence products". Most of the big manufacturers will send you free samples.

Here's the other thread, appropriately titled Incontinence: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2849349-incontinence/page/2/#comment-66812895 Whatever you end up with, make sure you take plenty plus some. You cannot purchase them on the ship and depending on your itinerary, you may have difficulty buying them off the ship. I carry my husband's in my backpack. It's stuffed with them (just in case...). Plus extras in my carry-on and checked luggage (in case I lose the backpack). There is no problem traveling at all with incontinence products as long as you are prepared with extras. You also might take some plastic bags or small garbage bags so you will have some place to dispose of the item at the airport or in a hotel. You can also use your own bags on the ship but they will provide you with bags if you want. And don't worry, your cabin attendant has seen everything so they are used to seeing bags of used diapers/guards to be thrown away.

Depends underwear or guards/shields?

This place is highly recommended on TripAdvisor https://elitetransportclub.com/ Miami-Dade County has a list of taxi companies that have wheelchair accessible taxis. We took a wheelchair accessible taxi (Yellow Cab) from the pier to MIA. We didn't request one but the person in charge of taxis called an accessible taxi for us and it arrived in just a few minutes. It was just fine and better than that, the charge was the regular taxi rate so it was very reasonable. https://www.miami-airport.com/library/wheelchair-accessible-taxis.pdf

I don't have personal experience with this, but here is what Princess says about the Medallion and medical devices that might be helpful: https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/princess-medallionclass/ocean-faq

Shower stool: if you're in an accessible stateroom, there will be a fold-down shower bench and grab bars. If it's a non-accessible stateroom, you can request a shower chair from Royal (when you complete their Special Needs form - no charge). It will be in your stateroom when you arrive (if not, ask your room steward for it). To double-check if a shower stool will fit in your particular stateroom, I'd ask Royal's Access Dept to confirm. special_needs@rccl.com This lists what comes with an accessible stateroom: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/accessible-staterooms If you feel you need a grab bar (nonaccessible room) these have been recommended on this forum as being useful: https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Lifestyles-Safe-er-Grip-Shower-Handle/dp/B000S8O9ME/ I highly recommend a sturdy rollator. You will be very happy that you can sit down when necessary. You will be walking everywhere. I don't think you will need to velcro a tray to a rollator; at least I've never seen anyone do this. Either just put the tray on the seat of the rollator or put your plate directly on the seat. Another thing, if you bring a tray with you, it will be one more thing you have to carry (like at the airport). For your rollator on the plane, I'd suggest you walk with it to the plane door and then gate check it from there (you will need to notify the personnel where you wait for your plane that you need to gate check your rollator; they will tag it). You don't need to bag it. You will leave the rollator by the door to the plane along with other mobility devices, strollers, etc. It will be stowed during flight and then returned to you outside the plane's door upon arrival at your destination. PS There's another thread about using a rollator on the ship (and in the buffet) that you might like to check out:

What is your stateroom number? We can look at the deck plan and see how close you are to an elevator. Or there might be someone on this board who has been in your suite class who can address the elevators. Plan B is to post the question about the elevators on the Royal board and possibly there is someone currently on the Allure or has recently been on it in your stateroom class who can answer the elevator question. Are you talking about renting a walker / rollator or renting a tray? If you have a choice, I would definitely go with a stable rollator. If you get tired you can always use the seat on it. I've seen lots of people in the buffet with rollators who just put their plate on the seat of the rollator and fill it up from there. The two main rental companies for Royal are Special Needs at Sea and Scootaround. They can deliver directly to your hotel or to your stateroom. You will need to complete a Special Needs form for Royal. If you're thinking about renting a walker/rollator it might be less expensive to purchase one and bring it with you from home. Take advantage of the ship's wheelchair assistance for embarkation and disembarkation even if you have a walker/rollator. Royal's employees (and possibly the Port of Miami's employees) will push you (in Royal's wheelchair) from when you get to the ship to any public area in the ship or your stateroom. From where they leave you on the ship, they will take the wheelchair with them. This service is only available on embarkation day and disembarkation day. You will need to request that you want this service. You can either hold your walker/rollator in your lap while they are pushing you or they can hang it on the wheelchair handles. It sounds like you don't need accessible transportation. Does your hotel have transportation from MIA to the hotel and/or to the cruise port? Royal has transportation from the cruise port back to MIA (they use tour company size buses for this). And Uber works, too. Take a look here if you haven't already seen this: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/mobility-disabilities What is M&G? Post back with some clarification. People on this board can help.

My husband ended up with someone else's scooter after dinner. The waiter brought it to him at our table and it was identical to my husband's (including misc papers and the daily newsletter in the basket). It wasn't until we got back to our stateroom that I noticed it was not his scooter. I drove the scooter back to the dining room and told them about it and fortunately the person who the scooter belonged was still eating dinner. I just did an exchanged and that was that. Thereafter, I just took one of our Pom luggage tags and removed it from a piece of luggage and attached it to the basket of the scooter. No trouble getting the correct scooter now. Have to remember to remove the tag from the scooter on the last day and put it back on the luggage.... The rental scooters all look alike.

Absolutely, positively request wheelchair assistance. This is available for embarkation and disembarkation. However, if you get off at a port the ramp may have a steep incline to get back on the ship. There are Princess employees at the ramps all the time so even though technically they only have wheelchair pushers available for embarkation and disembarkation, they will most certainly assist pushing you up the ramp to get back on the ship. Wait for them at the bottom of the ramp until they come help you. For wheelchair assistance at embarkation (using either the ship's wheelchair or your own) there will probably be two different pushers. One will be a port employee and they can push you only so far and then there will be a ship employee to push the rest of the way. To any public area on the ship or even to your room. The same is true at disembarkation - you will have a ship employee to push so far and then a port employee will take over (they can push you to your transportation, like a taxi). If you want a wheelchair pusher for disembarkation there will be a meeting place for the wheelchair people waiting to be pushed off the ship. Don't forget to tip the pusher(s). If you drop off your luggage with the porters, ask if you can have wheelchair assistance and they will get someone. This way you can have wheelchair assistance all the way to the ship. Bonus: the wheelchair pushers know all the short-cuts to get where you need to go. You need to complete Princess' Mobility Questionnaire and submit it to them ahead of your cruise. If you haven't already seen this, here's a link about accessibility (scroll to Health & Accessibility). https://www.princess.com/en-us/faq/pre-cruise And here's another thread you might be interested in: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2965408-check-in-and-boarding-assistance/

The short answer is no. But . . . in the event something happens to your phone, you will be very happy if you have a hard copy.

He can drive the scooter right up to your table if he wants. So make sure you have a table that has plenty of space around it so it's easy for the scooter to navigate in and out if he wants to drive to the table. If the scooter is at the table, the waiters will take it and park it out by where you enter the restaurant. There will be plenty of other mobility devices parked there, too. When he's ready to leave the restaurant, the waiter will go get the scooter and bring it back to the table. We have done this many, many times. If he can walk a little, he can leave the scooter himself near the entrance to the restaurant and walk to the table. They will tell him where to park it. While technically there may not be scooter parking locations around the ship, there are lots of places to stow a scooter out of the way (like up next to a wall). My husband takes his scooter say, to the casino, gets to his machine and then I drive the scooter to a safe spot and park it. The theater may have designed spots for scooters and other mobility devices. I don't know how big Dad's scooter is, but do you need/have an accessible stateroom? Scooters must be parked inside your stateroom when you're there and not left in the hall. Check to be sure his scooter will fit through your stateroom door if you don't have an accessible room. Make sure Princess knows Dad will be bringing a scooter. They have mobility forms on-line that he will need to complete and submit. Let us know if you need a link for the form. There are lots of threads in this forum on the topic of scooters (especially scooters vs elevators). You will find lots of information if you do a search on scooters.

If you read the fine print on the rental agreements from both scooter rental companies, they offer very little protection to the renter. We never take the rental insurance. Here's an excerpt from the Scootaround agreement regarding cancellation (from Nov 2024): 1. If seven (7) or more days’ notice is provided before the scheduled delivery date, the Customer may cancel and receive a partial credit for a future rental. Scootaround will hold a $60 cancellation fee for motorized equipment and $35 cancellation fee for non-motorized equipment, per item, plus applicable sales tax. This includes either full or partial cancellations. 2. If less than seven (7) days’ notice is provided, but before the scheduled delivery date, the Customer may cancel and receive a partial credit on the order. Scootaround will hold a $110 cancellation fee for motorized equipment and $60 cancellation fee for non-motorized equipment per item, plus applicable sales tax. 3. Any cancellation on or after the delivery date is non-refundable and no credit will be issued. 4. “Credits” are placed on file with Scootaround and are not eligible to be refunded for any reason. They can be applied to any type of rental and do not expire