Wheel Chair Assistance

[cruisinfanatic]

Mother will need a wheel chair for getting on and off the ship. She'll be fine without during the cruise.

Will Royal provide one for this little time?

Do wheel chairs get off earlier or just mixt in with crowd?

Specifically Serenade in Port Everglades next month

Thanks

[Clarea]

Yes, the cruise line will assist with embarkation and disembarkation.  Don't know about the timing.

[Grandma Dazzles]

As far as getting off the ship, you need to register at guest services and will be told to go to a certain place (usually a lounge) at a certain time. I have done this on the Navigator and Serenade and both times procedure was the same.  

 

At the lounge there there was a staff member with a list and clipboard. Your name is called and you are pushed off the ship to baggage claim/customs/immigration. Did not get to circumvent some lines other than using elevator rather than escalator. Was taken to the shortest customs line with suite guests. 

 

Can depend on on how many people require a ride. The wheelchair pushers then return for the next person on the list. 

[cruisinfanatic]

4 minutes ago, Grandma Dazzles said:

As far as getting off the ship, you need to register at guest services and will be told to go to a certain place (usually a lounge) at a certain time. I have done this on the Navigator and Serenade and both times procedure was the same.  

 

At the lounge there there was a staff member with a list and clipboard. Your name is called and you are pushed off the ship to baggage claim/customs/immigration. Did not get to circumvent some lines other than using elevator rather than escalator. Was taken to the shortest customs line with suite guests. 

 

Can depend on on how many people require a ride. The wheelchair pushers then return for the next person on the list. 

Does this procedure start early?

 

[stevea36]

1 hour ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Mother will need a wheel chair for getting on and off the ship. She'll be fine without during the cruise.

Will Royal provide one for this little time?

Do wheel chairs get off earlier or just mixt in with crowd?

Specifically Serenade in Port Everglades next month

Thanks

contact the special needs department as soon as possible to get this set up as you are already past their notification window.  You can contact them at 866-592-7225 or special_needs@rccl.com (note, there is an underscore character between special and needs in the email address).

[Grandma Dazzles]

Not sure. I think around 9:00. I use luggage valet so I wasn’t concerned about timing.  Definitely had to wait and was amongst the last people off the ship. 

 

If if you are asking and thinking of doing early walk off I am not sure if you can request assistance. I thought if you did self disembarkation that you were on your own. 

1 hour ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Does this procedure start early?

 

 

[cruisinfanatic]

20 minutes ago, Grandma Dazzles said:

Not sure. I think around 9:00. I use luggage valet so I wasn’t concerned about timing.  Definitely had to wait and was amongst the last people off the ship. 

 

If if you are asking and thinking of doing early walk off I am not sure if you can request assistance. I thought if you did self disembarkation that you were on your own. 

 

9 would be way too late

We seem do be in a dilemma.

 

We have a 10:30 flight from FLL back to Tampa. Would have booked a later one, but that's not until 3:40.

If wheel chairs were taken after self assist, we'd probably be fine

 

We could change to the 3:40 flight now, but if we are going to be put on that anyway, why bother.

 

We could also have a rental reserved in case nothing works out. Not a huge deal to drive 4 hrs if we had to

 

Edited December 15, 2018 by cruisinfanatic

[agslc5]

15 minutes ago, cruisinfanatic said:

9 would be way too late

We seem do be in a dilemma.

 

We have a 10:30 flight from FLL back to Tampa. Would have booked a later one, but that's not until 3:40.

If wheel chairs were taken after self assist, we'd probably be fine

 

We could change to the 3:40 flight now, but if we are going to be put on that anyway, why bother.

 

We could also have a rental reserved in case nothing works out. Not a huge deal to drive 4 hrs if we had to

 

I personally use this service for myself. They start to take wheel chairs off at 7:30 AM. You need to get to the meeting place By 7 because its first come first serve. Also you need to make sure you get a #1 or #2 luggage tag if you need to get off right away. Its first come first serve based also on your luggage tag number also. 

[Grandma Dazzles]

Not to disagree with you as I know RC can vary from ship to ship and week to week, my comments were relative to my personal experience on the Navigator and Serenade.  They definitely didn’t start that early and stuck to their list - not first come, first served. As always, probably differs based on numbers and staffing. 

 

As as far as luggage tags, yes if you plan to put your luggage out the night before the early tagged luggage is put out first. It’s been my experience it’s no use getting off when number 1 or 2 is called if you have a higher number.  Your luggage will be put out with its correct tag grouping. You are wasting your time if you get off with 1 or 2 and you have 5 or 6 (example).  If you want to get off early you need to do self disembarkation and keep your bags with you overnight. 

1 hour ago, agslc5 said:

I personally use this service for myself. They start to take wheel chairs off at 7:30 AM. You need to get to the meeting place By 7 because its first come first serve. Also you need to make sure you get a #1 or #2 luggage tag if you need to get off right away. Its first come first serve based also on your luggage tag number also. 

 

[agslc5]

31 minutes ago, Grandma Dazzles said:

Not to disagree with you as I know RC can vary from ship to ship and week to week, my comments were relative to my personal experience on the Navigator and Serenade.  They definitely didn’t start that early and stuck to their list - not first come, first served. As always, probably differs based on numbers and staffing. 

 

As as far as luggage tags, yes if you plan to put your luggage out the night before the early tagged luggage is put out first. It’s been my experience it’s no use getting off when number 1 or 2 is called if you have a higher number.  Your luggage will be put out with its correct tag grouping. You are wasting your time if you get off with 1 or 2 and you have 5 or 6 (example).  If you want to get off early you need to do self disembarkation and keep your bags with you overnight. 

 

I understand. I have done this on the following ships: Allure, Harmony, Oasis, Enchantment, Mariner. Every time I have done the exact same thing. I think your right each ship does it differently and to be safe the OP should probably take the later flight. My experience has been like I said that I have got to the meeting place right at 7:00 AM put my name on the list and by 7:30 right when they started taking people off I was one of the first they took. 

[agslc5]

34 minutes ago, Grandma Dazzles said:

Not to disagree with you as I know RC can vary from ship to ship and week to week, my comments were relative to my personal experience on the Navigator and Serenade.  They definitely didn’t start that early and stuck to their list - not first come, first served. As always, probably differs based on numbers and staffing. 

 

As as far as luggage tags, yes if you plan to put your luggage out the night before the early tagged luggage is put out first. It’s been my experience it’s no use getting off when number 1 or 2 is called if you have a higher number.  Your luggage will be put out with its correct tag grouping. You are wasting your time if you get off with 1 or 2 and you have 5 or 6 (example).  If you want to get off early you need to do self disembarkation and keep your bags with you overnight. 

 

Also you misunderstood what I was saying about the luggage tags. I was trying to tell the OP to GET tag 1 or 2  not get off the boat if they didn't. I have always been able to go down to guest services explain I need to get off right away and they give me tag #1 or #2. I agree with you if you have #5 and they call #2 you can't get your bag but that's not what I was suggesting to do. 

[MaritimeR&R]

23 minutes ago, agslc5 said:

Also you misunderstood what I was saying about the luggage tags. I was trying to tell the OP to GET tag 1 or 2  not get off the boat if they didn't. I have always been able to go down to guest services explain I need to get off right away and they give me tag #1 or #2. I agree with you if you have #5 and they call #2 you can't get your bag but that's not what I was suggesting to do. 

7:30 to 8:00 is usually when they start, but I have sailed Serenade for the last five years for 3 and 4 consecutive cruises at a time and what I have noticed is that luggage tags 1 and 2 are red tags, typicallt given to Suites and Pinnacles on Serenade and on other ships. All other tags are now green.  There has been a tendency in the last year to somewhat disregard D+ and below status in favor of when people must make their flight, bus, etc.  when assigning disembarkation numbers.   I use a wheelchair only for getting on and off the ship and have seen firsthand that when they are shorthanded, the pushers will typically start with those wheelchair assists that are with the concierge (he oftentimes comes to the general area and tells the person with the clipboard how many pushers he needs before they start letting people off the ship and those pushers go with him to the area where suites and Pinnacles who need wheelchair assistance are gathered.} After those are done, the pushers report back to the general wheelchair disembarkation point and start taking those passengers off by luggage tag number AND first come/first serve.  If your luggage tag has not been called, they will not take you downstairs to customs no matter how early you get to the wheelchair disembarkation point or how many people came after you and have a lower number.  Occasionally, there are enough pushers to meet the needs of the concierge and the general disembarkation person but usually the general area is limited to one or two (at best) until those assisting the concierge are done. I hope, like Grandma Dazzles experience, RC is accommodates your needs.

[cruisinfanatic]

Thanks for this information so far

[PhoenixCruiser]

There was a notice stating that wheel chair assistance took approximately 45 minutes on the Symphony last week.

 

Valet Luggage was still not available.