Question for Ruth C or others on the use of mobility scooters

[mamaofami]

What about transporting the scooter from home to the port of embarkation? Do airlines charge?

 

I drive my scooter right up to the gate and down the ramp to the plane where the steward takes it from me. When the plane lands, they have it right at the door when you deplane. They don't charge anything. And it's great when going through security since they take you right to the front of the line.

[PhoenixCruiser]

For a scooter?

The doorway itself is probably wide enough, but not by much. Those doorways look to be about the same width as my inside cabin, and the scooter fits through that.

The problem is space once you pass through the doorway. If there is a hallway heading down to the main part of the room, then it can be tough to manage that narrow space for any distance.

 

And then, once in, where do you store the scooter? On Vista and Signature ships, there isn't any place to put it that isn't in the way---unless some furniture is removed. Turning it around to leave is going to be a real challenge, and I wouldn't want to try to back it in a Neptune Suite.

Based on my memory of S- and R-class ships, there may be more room to store a scooter.

 

Thanks for the additional information Ruth!

 

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[KruiserKat]

I drive my scooter right up to the gate and down the ramp to the plane where the steward takes it from me. When the plane lands, they have it right at the door when you deplane. They don't charge anything. And it's great when going through security since they take you right to the front of the line.

 

This is correct!

[Crew News]

Ruth, it sounds like only certain cabin types work with the scooters. Is this the case? And if so, would our cruise consultant know the cabin types and locations that work on a given ship?

Thanks

 

We have discovered that any Neptune Suite will have sufficient room to park a scooter inside the room. My stateroom photos show that a Spa Suite also has enough room. The one SS stateroom that we have occupied was also large enough to park a scooter.

[jakkojakko]

I drive my scooter right up to the gate and down the ramp to the plane where the steward takes it from me. When the plane lands, they have it right at the door when you deplane. They don't charge anything. And it's great when going through security since they take you right to the front of the line.

 

Is this on a U.S. domestic flight?

When carrying anything that has a battery, it must be disconnected before loading.

I am a retired airline pilot, not U.S. , and never had passengers ride up to the gate with scooters. You can take them with you on the flight, but properly prepared and not for free. It would be checked in and you would get assistence in getting to and from the aircraft.

[serendipity1499]

What about transporting the scooter from home to the port of embarkation? Do airlines charge?

 

Is this on a U.S. domestic flight?

When carrying anything that has a battery, it must be disconnected before loading.

I am a retired airline pilot, not U.S. , and never had passengers ride up to the gate with scooters. You can take them with you on the flight, but properly prepared and not for free. It would be checked in and you would get assistence in getting to and from the aircraft.

 

I'm also retired from the International airline field & some things have changed.. Apparently on domestic airlines & on some International airlines it depends on the battery type..

 

In my day batteries had to be disconnected, but it seems that now if you have a dry cell battery in your scooter, that is no longer the case on some airlines..I would suggest that when using a scooter you check with your individual airline..

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/disability-travel/1030136-mobility-scooters-international-flights.html

 

Quote that it is a dry cell cell (so they don't have to take out the batteries) and attach the key to the machine and instruct the grounds worker who is going to move it. I ride it all the way through TSA inspection right to the door of the plane and they gate it check it and give it back to me at the other end of the flight. In Paris you can pre-arrange for G7, a taxi company to send a special unit to pick you up.Unquote

 

/SIZE]

Edited May 14, 2016 by serendipity1499

[mamaofami]

I have no experience with international flights but flying Jet Blue to Florida I do take the scooter right to the door of the plane for free. My battery is sealed and I have no problems, but I do let the airline know I am bringing it on board.

[Fouremco]

Is this on a U.S. domestic flight?

When carrying anything that has a battery, it must be disconnected before loading.

I am a retired airline pilot, not U.S. , and never had passengers ride up to the gate with scooters. You can take them with you on the flight, but properly prepared and not for free. It would be checked in and you would get assistence in getting to and from the aircraft.

 

I have no experience with international flights but flying Jet Blue to Florida I do take the scooter right to the door of the plane for free. My battery is sealed and I have no problems, but I do let the airline know I am bringing it on board.

I'm wondering if there's some confusion over the type of scooter and the preparation required. Mamaofami, I suspect that the preparation required for your travelscoot would be very minimal compared to a "normal" mobility scooter, and that its very minimal weight and ability to fold up would facilitate taking it on virtually any flight. Very practical!

[pinnaclegirl]

Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful responses. I've been investigating a portable scooter that folds up called a "luggie". Does anyone have experience with this one. It looks narrow enough for most doorways and easy to take "door to door"

[Mary Ellen]

We have a Solax Mobie folding travel scooter. It weighs 54 lbs (25 kilos) with the battery. DH drives it up to the door of the plane (including international flights to both Asia and Europe). I remove the lithium battery to take in the cabin with us and fold the scooter. The gate agents and baggage handlers have been quite impressed with how easily it folds/unfolds along with the size and weight. On arrival we can either have the scooter delivered to the plane door or to baggage claim. We do need to let them know our preference when we gate check it. As a mobility device we've never been charged for flying with it, nor does it count against our baggage limit.

 

As our scooter folds to the size of a suitcase, we haven't had any problems storing it in any of our regular HAL inside cabins (don't need a HC cabin, but we require a shower stall). The large, square inside cabins on the Vista and Signature ships are great. There is plenty of room to move around in those even with scooter unfolded. On the R class ships we do need to fold scooter, but it easily fits out of the way next to the end table cabinet by the sofa. We do prefer Princess cabins though as their closet arrangement is such that scooter tucks away nicely in the closet.

 

Last year on the NA we did have the wife of someone who uses a Luggie approach us to learn about our scooter. Apparently they weren't happy with the Luggie and were interested in other options.

 

We usually take private tours in ports so we can go at our own pace. When arranging those, we let the company know about our scooter. This has never been a problem. If we have a sedan, the folded scooter has easily fit in the trunk. If we have a mini van the drivers usually haven't even bothered with having me fold the scooter. They just lift it up as is. The only time we've had a problem was when we took a "panoramic" HAL tour. This was a tour geared to those with mobility limitations. You would have thought we wanted to make a special stop or something when we asked the Shore Ex people (several days prior to that port) about being able to put the folded up scooter in the baggage area under the bus. We haven't bothered with a HAL tour since then.

 

Having our own scooter has been wonderful. DH was reluctant to admit he needed a scooter, but is SO glad he has one now. It makes travel easier - for both of us. ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have a Solax Mobie folding travel scooter. It weighs 54 lbs (25 kilos) with the battery. DH drives it up to the door of the plane (including international flights to both Asia and Europe). I remove the lithium battery to take in the cabin with us and fold the scooter. The gate agents and baggage handlers have been quite impressed with how easily it folds/unfolds along with the size and weight. On arrival we can either have the scooter delivered to the plane door or to baggage claim. We do need to let them know our preference when we gate check it. As a mobility device we've never been charged for flying with it, nor does it count against our baggage limit.

 

As our scooter folds to the size of a suitcase, we haven't had any problems storing it in any of our regular HAL inside cabins (don't need a HC cabin, but we require a shower stall). The large, square inside cabins on the Vista and Signature ships are great. There is plenty of room to move around in those even with scooter unfolded. On the R class ships we do need to fold scooter, but it easily fits out of the way next to the end table cabinet by the sofa. We do prefer Princess cabins though as their closet arrangement is such that scooter tucks away nicely in the closet.

 

Last year on the NA we did have the wife of someone who uses a Luggie approach us to learn about our scooter. Apparently they weren't happy with the Luggie and were interested in other options.

 

We usually take private tours in ports so we can go at our own pace. When arranging those, we let the company know about our scooter. This has never been a problem. If we have a sedan, the folded scooter has easily fit in the trunk. If we have a mini van the drivers usually haven't even bothered with having me fold the scooter. They just lift it up as is. The only time we've had a problem was when we took a "panoramic" HAL tour. This was a tour geared to those with mobility limitations. You would have thought we wanted to make a special stop or something when we asked the Shore Ex people (several days prior to that port) about being able to put the folded up scooter in the baggage area under the bus. We haven't bothered with a HAL tour since then.

 

Having our own scooter has been wonderful. DH was reluctant to admit he needed a scooter, but is SO glad he has one now. It makes travel easier - for both of us. ;)

 

 

 

DH is thinking I should buy a scooter of my own.

But he no longer can lift 54 pounds. I make certain that all 4 pieces of luggage weigh no more than 40 pounds.

How do you get your scooter to the airport/hotel?

I am presently using a walker but many of HAL tours are now using the smaller vans that do not have anyplace under the bus to put my Rollator and they will not place it in the mini van even though it does fold up.

[Mary Ellen]

Either of us can lift 54 lbs., so getting our scooter in/out of our SUV isn't an issue. It is lighter with the battery out, but not down to 40 lbs. Taxi/shuttle drivers and hotel personnel haven't had a problem either. Everyone who's had to deal with lifting it has been impressed. We decided on this particular scooter due to DH's height. He's about 6'6" and the Solax Mobie fits him well. I'm more than a foot shorter and still find it comfortable if I have to drive it to him. The TravelScoot, mentioned earlier, is quite a bit smaller and lighter (well under 40 lbs.). For DH's height, it would have been quite uncomfortable as his knees would be up near his chin. In the Venice airport I saw a much shorter man on a TravelScoot. He looked like he was riding a clown tricycle. No way would DH have been comfortable riding that around the Forbidden City on an earlier cruise. A short woman would have been fine.

 

We considered quite a few different scooters. I'd suggest anyone looking to buy one to use their favorite search engine to look for 'folding travel scooter'. Things we took into consideration were weight, ground clearance, battery type, maximum slope (the Mobie had the best for that), if it had keys (we go to Disney World and didn't want it to 'walk off' with someone else), and size. Different things are going to be more important to others.

[PhoenixCruiser]

We have discovered that any Neptune Suite will have sufficient room to park a scooter inside the room. My stateroom photos show that a Spa Suite also has enough room. The one SS stateroom that we have occupied was also large enough to park a scooter.

 

We have a Solax Mobie folding travel scooter. It weighs 54 lbs (25 kilos) with the battery.

 

Thank you both for the additional information, much appreciated!

 

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[Krazy Kruizers]

Either of us can lift 54 lbs., so getting our scooter in/out of our SUV isn't an issue. It is lighter with the battery out, but not down to 40 lbs. Taxi/shuttle drivers and hotel personnel haven't had a problem either. Everyone who's had to deal with lifting it has been impressed. We decided on this particular scooter due to DH's height. He's about 6'6" and the Solax Mobie fits him well. I'm more than a foot shorter and still find it comfortable if I have to drive it to him. The TravelScoot, mentioned earlier, is quite a bit smaller and lighter (well under 40 lbs.). For DH's height, it would have been quite uncomfortable as his knees would be up near his chin. In the Venice airport I saw a much shorter man on a TravelScoot. He looked like he was riding a clown tricycle. No way would DH have been comfortable riding that around the Forbidden City on an earlier cruise. A short woman would have been fine.

 

We considered quite a few different scooters. I'd suggest anyone looking to buy one to use their favorite search engine to look for 'folding travel scooter'. Things we took into consideration were weight, ground clearance, battery type, maximum slope (the Mobie had the best for that), if it had keys (we go to Disney World and didn't want it to 'walk off' with someone else), and size. Different things are going to be more important to others.

 

 

Thank you for your information.

We don't have an SUV as I am not able to get in and out of them.

[pinnaclegirl]

Either of us can lift 54 lbs., so getting our scooter in/out of our SUV isn't an issue. It is lighter with the battery out, but not down to 40 lbs. Taxi/shuttle drivers and hotel personnel haven't had a problem either. Everyone who's had to deal with lifting it has been impressed. We decided on this particular scooter due to DH's height. He's about 6'6" and the Solax Mobie fits him well. I'm more than a foot shorter and still find it comfortable if I have to drive it to him. The TravelScoot, mentioned earlier, is quite a bit smaller and lighter (well under 40 lbs.). For DH's height, it would have been quite uncomfortable as his knees would be up near his chin. In the Venice airport I saw a much shorter man on a TravelScoot. He looked like he was riding a clown tricycle. No way would DH have been comfortable riding that around the Forbidden City on an earlier cruise. A short woman would have been fine.

 

We considered quite a few different scooters. I'd suggest anyone looking to buy one to use their favorite search engine to look for 'folding travel scooter'. Things we took into consideration were weight, ground clearance, battery type, maximum slope (the Mobie had the best for that), if it had keys (we go to Disney World and didn't want it to 'walk off' with someone else), and size. Different things are going to be more important to others.

 

Thanks so much for all the information, there is a lot to consider and your sharing of all this knowledge is appreciated.

[Jim Avery]

Thanks for a wealth of information on this subject. We have a holiday cruise on Oosterdam booked with our 90yo Mother. She does not own a scooter but we are thinking one on board would enhance her cruise a lot. Unless I missed it, I did not see what these companies charge. We are on a 7 day over Christmas round trip San Diego. Any ideas on what scooter rental for that would be? Thanks.

[RuthC]

Unless I missed it, I did not see what these companies charge. We are on a 7 day over Christmas round trip San Diego. Any ideas on what scooter rental for that would be? Thanks.

I don't know the current price, as I rarely do a 7-day cruise. But the last time I did a 7-day, beginning and ending in the same port (Vancouver) it was about $175 for the week, IIRC. That was in 2014.

 

I recently rented a scooter for an upcoming 4-week cruise, and it cost $428, so that price is consistent with the one three years ago.

[Jim Avery]

Thanks Ruth. That gives me an idea what to tell her.

J.:cool:

[retafcruiser]

Thanks Ruth. That gives me an idea what to tell her.

J.:cool:

Special Needs at Sea - $208 for 2 weeks July 2017 from Seattle.

[GUT2407]

I saw a lady on Star Princess with a small electric wheelchair. Just got a glimpse, but it looked like it may fold up. Just saw it the one time when the seas were so rough.

 

We had a woman in our knitting group that actually had her scooter taken while at dinner. Fortunately, she learned someone else took it thinking it was his. So, it all worked out. She knit a huge bow to put on her scooter so people wouldn't mistake it for theirs.

 

 

I had a wheelchair very similar to what you describe, looked pretty much like a normal wheelchair, folded down the middle, like a normal wheelchair so could get into cabins easily.

 

Unfortunately it eventually died and can't get another like it so far.

[sapper1]

Thanks so much for all the information, there is a lot to consider and your sharing of all this knowledge is appreciated.

Hi there. I haven't seen you posting in a long time. It's good to hear you are considering cruising again. We would love to see you both on another cruise.

[RuthC]

Hi there. I haven't seen you posting in a long time. It's good to hear you are considering cruising again. We would love to see you both on another cruise.

Her post is from a year ago, Sapper. The old thread was resurrected.

[sapper1]

Her post is from a year ago, Sapper. The old thread was resurrected.

Ah yes, the old resurrection trap. Fell right into it, I did. :):D

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks for a wealth of information on this subject. We have a holiday cruise on Oosterdam booked with our 90yo Mother. She does not own a scooter but we are thinking one on board would enhance her cruise a lot. Unless I missed it, I did not see what these companies charge. We are on a 7 day over Christmas round trip San Diego. Any ideas on what scooter rental for that would be? Thanks.

 

California is more expensive than any other port.....

For Mexican Riviera 7 days $ 246.

I pay $175. per week (7 day cruise) R/T Caribbean/Panama Canal and also for Alaska cruises beginning in either Seattle or Vancouver..

4 day Pacific Coastal San Diego $277. + $150. one way fee to Vancouver R/T Alaska 7 days (Price was merged for the 4 day and 7 day)

No matter the price, the scooter is the best thing to do for your mother and for you. If you get a wheel chair, someone will be stuck having to push her around. A scooter she has freedom to go where she wants, when she wants:)

Joanie

[GUT2407]

Yet another service we don't seem to have offered in Australia.