Fantasy to the Bahamas & handicapped passengers

[ErinFl2003]

I am thinking of surprising my Mother (76 years young) and my Aunt (66 years young and slightly handicapped) with a 4 night Fantasy cruise to the Bahamas in November 2005. They are both able to walk but not able to do too many stairs at one time. My questions are this:

 

1) Does the Fantasy tender in Freeport & Nassau?

2) Are there excursions that would be accessible to them and not too

difficult to maneuver? I know they would love the Atlantis Hotel.

Also, they love shopping.

3) Are there wheelchairs available on the ship if needed?

 

If anyone has any other suggestions for cruise selections, I would also love to hear them. I would prefer to embark out of either Orlando or Tampa Florida.

[beaming90]

My mom and I went on our first cruise on the Fantasy 4 day this past Feb. She was turning 75 this year and that is how we celebrated. She has bad knees and had a quadruple bypass in 2001, but she had no trouble with this trip. When we were there they did not tender at either port. Her knees got the best of her by the day we were in Nassau, but she still enjoyed it, though we didn't get to do much shopping because she needed to sit down so often. We will be going back in January of 07 on the Glory and plan to do the Atlantis on our own. We did the glass bottom boat in Freeport (which was a great excursion for her!!) and the dolphin encounter in Nassau, that was a lot of walking for her, but she greatly enjoyed it and got extra attention from Andy our dolphin and his trainer because of her age and her health problems. It was the highlight of our trip and the (gulp very expensive) video was well worth it to me, because some day, all I will have left are the memories. So take them, and enjoy them, and sit down and rest whenever, it will be well worth it!!!

 

PS my ta said there were wheel chairs available, but we never got one. This next trip we are looking into renting a scooter or something, but have not really started looking into it yet as it is soooooooooooooo far away!:eek:

[DEL67]

First of all, the Fantasy being an older ship (built in 1990) may not be as accessible as ships built in the last 5 years, but that may not be an issue if neither your mother or aunt are in a whelchair. They may; however have difficulty getting around due to the size of the ship so you may want to consider renting them scooters. If you do, you will need a handicap cabin.

 

1) Does the Fantasy tender in Freeport & Nassau?

 

Most, if not all, ships dock in both places

 

2) Are there excursions that would be accessible to them and not too

difficult to maneuver? I know they would love the Atlantis Hotel. Also, they love shopping.

 

I do not believe that Carnival offers accessible excursions so they would need to be able to climb on a bus. And the pace of an excursion might be too much for them so you might want to take a taxi to Atlantis and go at your own pace.

 

I have never been to Freeport, but I do not recommend taking them to the straw market in Nassau. Its crowded, hot and dirty and many vendors are very aggressive.

 

3) Are there wheelchairs available on the ship if needed?

 

To embark or disembark, yes. Otherwise, I would not count on getting one. You can sometimes, but most cruiselines do not provide a wheelchair during the cruise or for excursions.

 

Other choices: If you would consider a longer cruise, what about an Eastern Caribbean on the the Mariner or the Glory out of Port Canaveral. The shopping is much better in St Thomas and St Maarten than Nassau and both islands have some interesting things to see.

[ErinFl2003]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll talk with them about the trip instead of surprising them. Then they can let me know if they think they can handle it. Thanks again.

Erin

[LornaT]

I can only offer the information I have from cruises with my Mom (same thing, can walk but distances and a lot of standing don't work) on the Spirit, Glory and Legend.

Carnival will rent yo a wheelchair starting a embarkation and even out to the pier for a %50.00 deposit on your S&S Card which will be refunded on the last day. You (or your TA) need to contact Carnival's Guest Access Services at (800) - 438-6744 x70025 (or Voice Phone at 305-599-2200) they will send a SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS INFORMATION sheet that needs to be completed and returned, they will arrange to have a wheelchair available for the duration of the cruise, just ask a porter at the pier, they know who to grab to get one.

As to tendering...........as long as walking and some stairs are possible no problem.............Mom had one crew member fold up the wheelchair and take it down the steps to the tender ramp and even but it on the tender, while two other crew members actually got one on either side of her and walked with her down the stairs into the tender and made sure she was seated comfortably. Same treatment coming back to the ship. Talk about service and care for the passenger.

On the ports we docked a crewmember (usually a Security person) wheeled her off the ship to the pier and back onto the ship when we got back, only problem was Nassau, the Glory was so tall to the pier that the gang plankes were almost straight up and down, so when it got time to reboard the ship, one Security guy came down to help, looked up at the angle, looked at Mom and asked if she could walk at all.................of course she said yes........so he called up to another guy to come down and with one in front of her and one behind her they walked with her all the way up helping steady her when needed.............somehow I got stuck bringing the wheelchair back up........luckily it was empty.

Carnival staff go out of their way to help..................must be why by soon-to-be 80 year old Mom is already packing for our 12/25 sailing on the Pride and wearing our the brochure planning for 2006 and 2007........I created a monster!