Motorized wheelchair on Crown Princess leaving Ft Lauderdale

Going on the Crown Princess for 10 nite leaving Ft LauderdaleGoing Nov17th. We are travelling with another couple (driving) from Canada. She is in a wheelchair from sunup to sundown, no use of her legs at all. Can anyone tell me the procedure at the pier. Since we are driving, we will be parking at the pier in a wheelchair parking space but I have read that where we leave from my not be where we arrive back to as far as piers. Just wondering how that works.

Also looking for wheelchair accessible tours (vans) for shore excursions on the islands. She is okay with not going but it would be nice if she could do something on at least one island. All our tours for wheelchair accessible are full

First of all, do not worry about parking in Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale). The various cruise lines have assigned areas. Princess sails in and out of Terminal 2, northern part of the port. Driving there take Federal Highway (US 1) to SE 17th St. and turn east. At Eisenhower turn right (south). The port guard will be a little way ahead of you. Have your travel documents ready.

This place will provide some info regarding accessible tours. https://www.accessiblecaribbeanvacations.com/ I have not ever used them because we created our own tours. Also, I felt they were rather pricy. However we did require transportation anumber of places and I normally would write to the various local transportation companies (taxi, bus, what ever I could find). Or, if there was a particular place I wanted to go or sight we wanted to see, I would write to them asking about possible sources.

If she is using an electric wheelchair, she will probably require accessible transportation. If she is using a collapsible wheelchair, I would assume she can get in and out of taxis.

If she just wants to wander around the various ports, most are accessible to a certain extent. Some may have rather bumpy surfaces (cobblestones or something similar) and curb cutouts may be limited.

In Barbados there is normally an accessible taxi in the taxi line. However, if she is using an electric wheelchair, it is an easy ride on the sidewalk into town. If someone is pushing her, these distances could add up. To my knowledge, this is the only port on your cruise that offers an accessible taxi at the same rate. I only used it once,many years ago.

In Antigua you will dock right downtown. Most of the sidewalks in town are accessible and you can get to the Cathedral without any problems. However one of the east/west streets south of the Cathedral did not have cutouts at every corner. Just went a couple blocks further south and did not have any problem.

St.Thomas downtown is over a mile from the docks and is doable all the way. At the edge of town, a couple of the sights are on a rather steep hill. The Danes would build anyplace.

Martinique does have a few things down town. I'm thinking about going to the fort on my up-coming cruise. It is about the only thing I have not seen.

St.Kitts had some rather high curbs, but I think there areutouts at almost every corner.

GrandTurk is one of Carnival's private islands type port. In the port area there are many of the conventional shops, a pool and the space landing landmark.

I'm going on a couple cruises in January and have put together small maps of the port area with minimal port info. Even though I have been to all the ports, it is easy for me to get turned around, the maps usually get me back to the ship. They are not for accessibility, just directions. I do have one for Barbados, Antiqua, St. Thomas and Martinique. If you are interested, just email me at bettysworldnow@yahoo.com and I can send them to you. Please include “Cruise Critic” in the subject so I read it.

Have awonderful cruise,

Betty

Princess doesn't always depart and return to the same pier - though the piers they use do tend to be close together. We had this issue last November when cruising on the Caribbean Princess. My dad will usually go and get the car while I wait with my mother and the luggage (my mom is also a full time wheelchair user); he'll come and pick us up from the port area. We've found this easier than getting my mom to either the parking lot or the garage in Port Everglades (most ports actually - the DCL garage at Port Canaveral and the surface lot parking at Baltimore being exceptions).