Royal Caribbean does not care about disabled people

[yuvraj]

Choice of words in title is misjudged IMO. Probably because OP is feeling a little angry. Having to wait in the heat is probably the issue.

 

I have never sailed from San Juan but my view is that embarkation from different ports will offer different experiences. If you need assistance then you have to be prepared to wait and have a lot of patience. However, being made to wait in the heat seems unacceptable and it is worth highlighting this as a concern to RC.

 

In general, I find RC very helpful but things could be better. As one or two have said on this thread, a station where you can register for wheelchair assistance is better than having to stand in a line. There are many who cannot stand for a long time but are not in a wheelchair or scooter.

 

The experience for disembarkation can also be improved. Usually there is a big crowd waiting for assistance and I believe this could be organised better. For me it is about comfort and making the process smooth rather than how quickly they manage to get you on or off the ship.

 

There are similar problems at airports. Some are better than others.

 

Finally, have I seen a better system in operation for embarkation? Yes. With P&O (Southampton port), you go to a desk and register. You then sit and wait (indoors, not in heat or rain). A person with wheelchair then takes your through check-in, security, onto the ship and to your cabin. The experience is better but the negative is that they probably don't start boarding until cabins are ready.

[sfaaa]

I think some posters here should request that the post they made be removed before the site does this with a warning. Seems to me that personal attacks are happen here which is not allowed under the terms of use. No reason for personal attacks.

 

Fairness goes both ways. Slander and over the top accusation to bad mouth a corporation should also get the delete button treatment don't you think?

[Expat Cruise]

Fairness goes both ways. Slander and over the top accusation to bad mouth a corporation should also get the delete button treatment don't you think?

 

Never said it does not go both ways..... It seems nothing of benefit happens when threads go this way. If any thread does not provide information and remain civil it should be locked. Fight here (This Site) will not result in anything good.

[yuvraj]

Never said it does not go both ways..... It seems nothing of benefit happens when threads go this way. If any thread does not provide information and remain civil it should be locked. Fight here (This Site) will not result in anything good.

 

I am not sure why some posters respond to a provocative post (referring to OP) by acting like a pack of wolves.

[Mikew0805]

Fairness goes both ways. Slander and over the top accusation to bad mouth a corporation should also get the delete button treatment don't you think?

 

Nah, I think the poor little multi billion dollar corporations can handle bad word of mouth, just like every other company. If comments started to be deleted, then cruise critic would be worthless.

[grapau27]

I know there are sometimes delays since there are only a few wheelchairs on board with “pushers”. Does your handicapped elderly father not have his own wheelchair?

We brought MIL and her wheelchair on 6 cruises with us after FIL died and never had any problems.When i started to push her wheelchair onto the gangway crew would rush over and take over.

[grapau27]

I am not sure why some posters respond to a provocative post (referring to OP) by acting like a pack of wolves.

It is unjust but as a lot of posters are anonymous it is easier to do.

We have sailed 6 times with MIL and her wheelchair up till her 90th birthday.

She is 96 in a few weeks time and has later stage dementia so we have empathy with anyone who has health issues and people should be grateful they have good health and show more courtesy towards those who are not in good health.

Graham.

[Snit13]

Rent your own darn wheelchair or scooter!!! How do you blame a cruise line because you are too cheap to take care of your father? PS. I am handicapped.

 

And the rental wheelchair or scooter is waiting for us in our cabin. How are we supposed to get from curb to check in to ship? So sorry you are handicapped too.

[SRF]

1) Most of the port personnel are not Royal Caribbean employees. They are port employees.

 

2) Our experience has been exactly the opposite. We had my, at that time, 88 year old father. He had a walker. When we checked in, the offered, and provided a wheel chair. We did have to wait for a pusher, but not that long, and we were on board. They took him to the Windjammer and then came back and took him to the cabin when they opened up.

[mek]

Rent your own darn wheelchair or scooter!!! How do you blame a cruise line because you are too cheap to take care of your father? PS. I am handicapped.

 

Just not a nice response.

 

My DH is handicapped and we have our own transport chair - the only time we require assistance is to get on and off the ship because I can't handle the ramps. Occasionally, we have a short wait to get on the ship and there is usually delay disembarking the final day - but we find this to be across the board on all cruise lines.

[grapau27]

Just not a nice response.

 

My DH is handicapped and we have our own transport chair - the only time we require assistance is to get on and off the ship because I can't handle the ramps. Occasionally, we have a short wait to get on the ship and there is usually delay disembarking the final day - but we find this to be across the board on all cruise lines.

It wasn't,it would be much nicer if people were more respectful instead of being nasty.

It was particularly unusual when the person said he was handicapped himself.

[Thetrail]

It is unfortunate that I have to again complain about the way elderly handicap persons are treated on Royal Caribbean ships. Today we are sailing on the Adventure of the Seas and encountered a totally unorganized and uncaring handicap station while we waited to board the ship. We arrived at 12:18pm and it took exactly one hour for someone to arrive to take my 83 year old father on the ship. There were probably six to eight other people waiting for someone to assist them. After waiting outside in the hot humid weather of San Juan, I approached the Pier Coordinator--Virginia Davilla about the delay and was told twice that if you are tired waiting, you are welcome to walk on board. Uh, I am with my 83 year old disabled father and this is the response that I get from the Pier Coordinator--just walk onboard. If he could walk onboard do you think we would be sitting in the heat for an hour? Come on--what ever happened to showing compassion to elderly handicap people. I am totally disgusted with the treatment we received today.

Terrible and misleading title, don't generalize it makes you sound igno----!

[knittinggirl]

It may have something to do w/ the port.

 

In Seward, AK, I asked for a wheelchair due to a bad hip, and waited. Finally, I got impatient, and headed for the gangplank. Check in was in one building, and we had a few hundred yards in the open, then the gangplank. We passed a poor man in a wheelchair sitting right next to the gangplank in the rain. Definitely, not a good first impression for him.

 

I've seen crew pushing people in wheelchairs over the gangplank at ports of call. But on another ship, I saw a man trying to push his mother in the wheelchair backwards while dragging another wheelchair behind him. I quickly stepped in and took the wheelchair from him, because I could see an accident waiting to happen when he got to the steeper part of the gangplank.

 

When I needed a wheelchair for flying, we learned that the wheelchair assistants are supposed to turn around and back down the jet bridge so the wheelchair doesn't get away from them.

 

On the Radiance, I was hobbling w/ my cane and my carry-on at embarkation and a crew member took my luggage, and got me a wheelchair at the bottom of the gangplank. And DH has fallen on those gangplanks.

 

I've discovered the hard way that the further away from US we get, the less handicapped friendly it is. In Norway, the only bathrooms at one of the stops was via steps w/ no handrails.

 

In Tasmania, I'd booked a shore excursion to see the falls, and it turned out we didn't have enough time to make it to the falls with my sore hip. We had lunch with a couple whose wife was in a wheelchair. Her husband made sure she saw the falls.

Edited April 1, 2018 by knittinggirl

[aftop]

My wife is a stroke survivor and in a wheel chair. We have never had a problem. If your father was in wheel chair, could you have pushed him on board yourself?

 

My DW uses a "transport type" wheelchair. It's my understanding I am not permitted to push her up the ramp onto the ship or down the ramp if leaving the ship.

[Havingfun2010]

I always wanted to know why a person needs a wheel chair getting on the ship and the next 7 days they manage without it? My wife will s disabled and we have a scooter, a wheelchair, a transport chair and crutches to walk in the ship. Instead of being dependant on others buy the tools you need. A transport chair is only $125.00

[TEXASMUNK]

To those that said I lack empathy. No, I accept personal responsibility. No cruise line stocks a large supply of wheelchairs. It is a complimentary service. If you require that service, it is a matter of waiting until that service is available...and then say thank you, once the service is rendered.

[Synchronaut]

Oh no! My sincerest sympathies!

 

Was your empathy surgically removed or did it occur naturally?

.Perfect answer.n n Doubt if it will be understood./quote]

[LMaxwell]

I think it is unfair to say Royal does not care about disabled people.

 

I think it is a case of poor communications and staffing at the San Juan pier. That is something that can be fixed, and should be, with proper training and resources.

[grapau27]

I think it is unfair to say Royal does not care about disabled people.

 

I think it is a case of poor communications and staffing at the San Juan pier. That is something that can be fixed, and should be, with proper training and resources.

RC staff were always fantastic with my MIL when she came cruising in her wheelchair.

[HHFamily]

As a wheelchair user I've only experienced fantastic things with Royal Caribbean. Hopefully your onboard experience will be much better and Royal Caribbean staff can help you to see that what happened is not a company wide issue.

[actuarian]

When traveling with a disability if you don't want to have to wait wheelchair assistance from the cruise ship than you need to plan to bring your own wheelchair or mobility scooter.

 

Not every disabled person has a traveling companion who is capable of either pushing a wheelchair or of taking a scooter in or out of a vehicle. My wife and I are in our 70s and she requires a wheelchair/scooter to get around. I do not require one but I am also not capable of pushing a wheelchair while managing our carry on luggage that is full of medical equipment and medicines. I am also no longer strong enough to take her scooter in or out of a vehicle. Special Needs at Sea leaves a rented scooter in our stateroom for her but will not bring it to the point where we get off a taxi. Therefore, we cannot cruise except with the help of cruise line or port employees who provide and push her wheelchair. There are plenty of other cruisers in the same predicament.

[legaljen1969]

Sounds like a bad situation but that is hardly an experience that can be generalized to “the entire company doesn’t care about handicap people.”

Yes, that really is quite a generalization. It is definitely unfortunate, and I would certainly be unhappy about it. However, I would not say the entire cruise line does not care.

[Luminated67]

It is unfortunate that I have to again complain about the way elderly handicap persons are treated on Royal Caribbean ships. Today we are sailing on the Adventure of the Seas and encountered a totally unorganized and uncaring handicap station while we waited to board the ship. We arrived at 12:18pm and it took exactly one hour for someone to arrive to take my 83 year old father on the ship. There were probably six to eight other people waiting for someone to assist them. After waiting outside in the hot humid weather of San Juan, I approached the Pier Coordinator--Virginia Davilla about the delay and was told twice that if you are tired waiting, you are welcome to walk on board. Uh, I am with my 83 year old disabled father and this is the response that I get from the Pier Coordinator--just walk onboard. If he could walk onboard do you think we would be sitting in the heat for an hour? Come on--what ever happened to showing compassion to elderly handicap people. I am totally disgusted with the treatment we received today.

 

Yet to go on my first cruise so can’t comment on how RC are but from my many years going to America we have experience nothing but first class almost priority treatment with our son who has spinabifida and wheelchair bound.

 

With Royal Caribbean being an American company I would expect their treatment towards people with disabilities to be exceptional but as has already been mentioned not all disabilities are that obvious.

[Paulxyz2004]

Yet to go on my first cruise so can’t comment on how RC are but from my many years going to America we have experience nothing but first class almost priority treatment with our son who has spinabifida and wheelchair bound.

 

With Royal Caribbean being an Liberian company I would expect their treatment towards people with disabilities to be exceptional but as has already been mentioned not all disabilities are that obvious.

 

I fixed your mistake for you;p

[Goodtime Cruizin]

It is unfortunate that I have to again complain about the way elderly handicap persons are treated on Royal Caribbean ships. Today we are sailing on the Adventure of the Seas and encountered a totally unorganized and uncaring handicap station while we waited to board the ship. We arrived at 12:18pm and it took exactly one hour for someone to arrive to take my 83 year old father on the ship. There were probably six to eight other people waiting for someone to assist them. After waiting outside in the hot humid weather of San Juan, I approached the Pier Coordinator--Virginia Davilla about the delay and was told twice that if you are tired waiting, you are welcome to walk on board. Uh, I am with my 83 year old disabled father and this is the response that I get from the Pier Coordinator--just walk onboard. If he could walk onboard do you think we would be sitting in the heat for an hour? Come on--what ever happened to showing compassion to elderly handicap people. I am totally disgusted with the treatment we received today.

 

With the title of you subject line, there's a strong chance I would have told you the same. Such as it is. Exagerated.