Help Pls Luggage ? Canada Place Quadriplegic

[Vanisle]

Me and Mike who is a quadriplegic are cruising on the 27 th of April out of Vancouver .

 

We will have our normal luggage as well as a hoyer lift , a manual chair , a commode chair and all sorts of other medical stuff...air mattress , chair charger ect.

I will be parking underground at Canada Place.

How do I get all that to the ship by myself ? Yikes

Thanks all

Brenda

[uppitycats]

Me and Mike who is a quadriplegic are cruising on the 27 th of April out of Vancouver .

 

We will have our normal luggage as well as a hoyer lift , a manual chair , a commode chair and all sorts of other medical stuff...air mattress , chair charger ect.

I will be parking underground at Canada Place.

How do I get all that to the ship by myself ? Yikes

Thanks all

Brenda

I'd suggest you pull up as close as you can to where the ship is docked (waving your handicap parking permit, assuming you have one) and offload Mike and all his equipment. If you have a cell phone, call your ship ahead of time letting them know when you intend to arrive (or that you're there!), and hopefully they'll have a person or two there to help. Then go park, come back..and by that time Mike and his stuff...or at least his stuff...may be safely on the ship already!

[xxoocruiser]

It's very important that all luggage and each piece of equipment is clearly tagged with your Names, the name of your ship , Date of sail , and cabin number.

[PennyAgain]

That is very early in the season for Vancouver so you won't have the high summer croweds and etc. I would either have your travel agent do the calling or call your cruise line yourself and lay it all out as you did here.

 

they should be able to have staff and porters meet you to help out with the unloading.

[Splinter]

You do need to be as organized as possible. Our travel commode chair packs into a suitcase, and our travel lift folds pretty compactly. When we arrive at the pier, we park at the curb and unload everything, and my mother guards stuff while I go park the van. She of course is in her power chair. I check the well labeled lift, commode, and our two large suitcases with the porters at the curb. Our carry-on bags get stacked on the manual wheelchair and bungie corded in place. Medications and some supplies are in the manual wheelchair backpack, along with the compact (for travel) wheelchair charger (this was well worth the purchase). My mother drives her power chair, and I push the manual chair loaded up as we check in and board the ship. When my father was alive and it was 3 of us, he used to push the manual wheelchair and I pulled the lift along, but now that there are just two of us, the lift gets checked and we have not had a problem with either damage or loss. We don't take a mattress, but always get 2-3 blue eggcrate overlays from the ship for my mother's bed and stack them, which provides sufficient pressure reduction for her. One of the carry-on bags is filled with Chux, catheters, and bowel care supplies.

 

At least you are driving...flying adds an additional complication when you have to load all of that and deal with justifying liquid or gel medications and supplies as well via physician's letters, etc.

[Vanisle]

Splinter THANKYOU so much for the info. It is what I had imind. No one realizes what kinds of luggage we are talking about unless youve been there. LOL Mie matress will fold into a suitcase and I will look to buy a travel charger if I can . The hoyer doesnt fold compact , but road trip in the van I would load all the suitcases and stiff onto its legs and push into and out of the hotels everyday! I didnt have the manual chair to contend with and The comode I could come back for . I am confident this wont be hard . Its Mikes first cruise and my 2nd so am excited. Just like to have all the facts worked out in my head before hand. And yes Mike doesnt fly ..its too much work. He iss 6'3 and a quadriplegic and lifting him to transfer ect is not an option .

Thans again

[Splinter]

Actually embarkation is easier than disembarkation for us, since we must hold onto the lift and commode chair for the last morning, so cannot check that for disembarkation with our major luggage.

 

Last trip I took two trips from the cabin to the special disembarkation lounge for the disabled passengers, parked our luggage, lift, etc. there, then we went to the dining room for breakfast, and got an escort off the ship. It was a little tricky, since the escort is really only supposed to push a manual wheelchair (not your luggage or lift) so I had them push the manual wheelchair stacked with luggage plus the travel commode chair, and I pushed the lift, and they were not allowed to take us onto the pier...just off the end of the gangway. Fortunately I found another person who was able to assist is the rest of the way through Customs, etc. or I would have needed 4 hands!! (this was in San Pedro).

[Amy from Delaware]

Splinter gave you great info, as usual!

 

One thing I just want to stress is to make sure each piece has at least two luggage tags. With the manual chair, if you turn your back, someone might "assume" it's one from the cruise line for anyone to use. (This holds true at the pier and on the ship too, like leaving it at the entrance to the restaurant.) Just make it obvious that it is "yours".

 

We purchased a folding travel hoyer, and to be honest it's more trouble than it's worth. It's very heavy to push/pull when it's folded and only rolling on two wheels. I wind up keeping it unfolded, and regret spending the extra money for the folding model. (We also don't fly, and it fits easily in the van opened up).

 

I also agree that a travel charger for the wheelchair is a great item. Much smaller than the one we have for at-home use. I guess it depends on the make and model of chair, of course. My DH's old chair only needed a "computer" power cord and plugged right into the wall! Anyway, the travel one we have is small enough to keep in his wheelchair pouch, and we take it when we know we're going to be out for a long time or in conditions that tend to wear the battery out. (i.e. lots of stopping and starting, like at a museum...or very warm temps).

 

Enjoy your cruise!