San Juan & St Thomas - scooter vs. wheelchair

[xrae]

Cruising with my dad and other extended family in a few weeks via Disney Fantasy to San Juan and St Thomas.

 

Dad has some mobility issues, not being able to walk long distances without a cane and can't do more than 1-2 stairs. He has a smaller mobility scooter for travel and we can also bring a manual wheelchair. I have been to St Thomas before and am sort of familiar with the lay of the land, but it was 2003. Dad has been to San Juan around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in one of President Kennedy's ships. :D

 

We are looking for cultural experiences. In both places we would like to take an island (St. T) / city (San J) tour and would especially like to see the forts in San Juan.

 

We will have 4-5 adults and 1-2 children, both age 9.

 

I see that San Juan has the free trolleys, but it seems that the availability of the accessible trolley is iffy. Would the scooter be able to go on that trolley? I figure if we took the wheelchair we could fold it up on a regular trolley, but then we would have to push it around the forts and on the streets/sidewalks, so that may not be the best option.

 

For St. Thomas, I'm thinking of hiring an island taxi tour when we get in port and just taking the wheelchair. I did something similar previously that dropped us at a beach for a while. We might not be interested in beach this time, but haven't made up our minds yet. I know St. Thomas has a lot of those tall tour jeeps and I would be concerned about my dad stepping far up and out of those vehicles. But I like those because you can see out of them so well.

 

I'm also looking at the website AccessibleCaribbeanVacations.com, so if anyone has personal experience with them I would appreciate hearing about it.

 

Thanks.

[DisneyKidsDad]

Old San Juan is a little difficult with a wheelchair. It is very hilly and alot of the streets are cobblestone. There is a free trolly that takes you to the forts. One of them has a wheelchair lift on the back. But be warned, there are NO tie-downs. If he can transfer at all, there are many taxi's that are full size cargo vans that will take you on an island tour. Hope this helps.