NCL Jewel - Handicap Experience

[shedew]

I just returned home from a cruise out of New York on the NCL Jewel, and why memory is fresh, thought I would share a few things that might make it easier for future Handicap travelers on what to expect and relieve some of the anxiety.

First, we drove the 3 ½ hours to the port. Being from a small town, this alone was sort of scary decision for us to drive into the big city. The normal way we would have done this is by taking the “cruise” bus out of Boston from Providence RI with the round trip costing $100 per person. Parking cost at the terminal is currently $30 a day, so on our 9 day trip, parking totaled $270. Almost a wash or even slightly higher when you added in fuel cost. However, I just couldn’t see how Mom was going to get on the bus and be comfortable, or how to handle it if she needed frequent bathroom breaks. The drive worked out perfect, even with the morning commuter traffic as we left on a Tuesday.

I deviated from the GPS directions on 95 South and headed toward the Tappanzee Bridge at exit 21 (in New York, not Connecticut) and followed the Hudson South right to the cruise pier. My GPS made the “re-calculating” and followed my intended “avoid downtown” route. The exit for the Cruise Terminal is clearly marked and we avoided all, what we would consider city traffic. A ramp titled “Parking” appeared before passenger drop off so we went with that. I did not see another ramp, so I will assume that was the only one. We made a mistake and turned into the first parking lot and asked if there was parking on the roof of the pier the ship was tied up to. He waved me around his toll booth and was able to park within 100 feet of the NCL Jewel. There are around 6 Handicap spaces on each side of the pier. Only about half of them were taken.

A word of Caution on the parking – Its CASH ONLY so be prepared so you don’t have to hand over your secret gambling stash before you even get onto the ship. There is an elevator (the size of a bus) that goes from the roof parking, 2nd floor Cruise Departure terminal, to the First floor luggage pickup and Customs hall. You will need to take the elevator to the first floor sidewalk for a porter to take your bags, then to the second floor in order to be processed in. When leaving the ship, Porters will take you from luggage pickup, thru Customs and deliver and load your luggage into your vehicle at the roof parking. – Easy! On leaving the garage, there’s a stop light that allows an easy left turn to head back the way we came following the Hudson river.

We were booked in two handicap cabins, 10644 an outside balcony and 10653 an inside across the hall. This gave us a good comparison of cabin HC accommodations.

10644 was 1 ½ times the square footage of a standard outside cabin. It had wide entrance and bathroom doors. The bathroom was well outfitted for the handicap with plenty of HC bars throughout, a fold down bar between the toilet and shower, tilt mirror, folding shower seat. You could roll under the sink, however be careful as there is no scald protection on the piping. Although you could roll a wheelchair to the balcony, there is a 6” rise to get out onto it. A portable ramp was stashed behind the couch but in all honesty, the balcony is way too narrow to take a wheelchair out there. The deck above extended about two feet further out so it provided good shade. On the outside of the door is an aluminum ramp from door sill height down to the balcony floor with no level area to change direction. The sliding door handle would be almost impossible to operate from a chair, and moved very hard. There is not enough room between the bed and couch to turn a wheelchair around so you would need to back out. There is a steel column at the location a normal cabin size wall would be. (I told my mother it was a stripper pole and she paid extra for it.)

10653 as stated was an inside cabin, at least the size of 2 regular cabins. I would estimate overall about 18 feet by 18 feet or 325 sqft. The bath outfitted the same as 10644. It has plenty of room for a wheelchair to maneuver and turn anywhere within the space and bathroom. However, for the semi-disabled, who normally might attempt to walk (or waddle) from the bed to bathroom, there’s a good six or seven steps with nothing to hold onto. This would not have been a good choice for mom particularly with a rolling ship. In addition, all inside cabins are really really dark, all the time, bring a nightlight.

All the thresholds on the ship rise abruptly from the carpets and flooring with no taper. I was not use to pushing a wheelchair, and almost snapped one of the front casters off the first day. I damaged it, but was able to nurse it thru till day nine when my wife got Mom hung up at an automatic door to the promenade. The wheel finally failed. We parked mom and went to the front desk to see if I could borrow one of the ships chairs for the last 12 hours of the cruise. The response was almost comical, as they said I could rent one at ten dollars a day, but I needed to rent it for the whole nine days of the cruise! They did remind me that I could call room service to move mom around the ship, but would not leave me with the chair. We did do this for the last few hours of the cruise, and I was amazed at how fast they appeared when we called. It worked out just fine. Although the carpets seemed low, it was pretty tough pushing the chair thru it. I don’t think any person other than a true athlete could wheel themselves around. I used the promenade and deck 12 as highways to get to where we wanted to go then dove inside to get to elevators and public rooms. On deck 7 the starboard side photo galley had a vinyl floor, easier than the carpet thru the Internet café on the Port side. Forget about going from the stern to the bow on passenger cabin decks as you will need to get every cabin steward to move their carts.

In general, everyone seemed to be courteous. The exception being it was a real mess during lifeboat drill. Assembly station for perhaps a third of the ship was the Tsar dining room including both these cabins. Only one elevator goes to deck 6. People got very impatient and rude as it was a slow process to get everyone who needed or wanted to take the elevator out of the drill. If I were to go again, I’d blow it off and go to the makeup drill the next day if they caught me.

One added note. On talking to the maître to the Tex-Mex, Mr. Edward Gonzalas, about our busted wheelchair. He made a valiant attempt to get it fixed for us thru unofficial channels. With only a few hours till our arrival to New York every staff member was flat out. I have no question, given more time he would have succeeded. His final words to me were that if I had any problem reaching room service to disembark, to call him direct and he would be happy to push grandma himself. A comforting statement to us and a genuine above and beyond offer.