Please help---I think I may have unknowingly made a big mistake.

[vacationlover_mn]

Please update us after your trip!  Both my mom and MIL have hip and knee issues, and would work out best in one of these rooms.  However, neither are in wheelchairs.

[Anniversarygirl25]

On 3/1/2019 at 3:56 PM, TinkBellaMom said:

I called RC and the agent who, was not pleasant, said when we arrived at the pier without a wheelchair, we would be removed from the room and placed somewhere else.  He added it would probably be somewhere we wouldn't want to be.

 

 

I'm sorry you got an unpleasant agent. I am legally handicapped but I am not in a wheelchair. I use a cane and need the zero entry shower though so I book an accessible room. Your travel agent should be able to move you if you are worried about it, and if not it sounds as if you might benefit from some of the features. 

[Bloodgem]

We do need an accessible cabin, my son is confined to a wheelchair. Most people who need an accessible cabin tend to book their cruises 12-18 months in advance. As this cabin was available if you don't take it, it will be sold to someone else who is also not disabled. With your recent hip surgery you would benefit from this cabin. 

 

I'm not sure but if you read from post 17, of the thread below, this might help explain the response of the RCI agent.   

Basically a passenger wanted an accessible cabin. She found out, whilst on the cruise, that an accessible cabin had been booked by a non-disabled couple 18 months in advance of the sailing and that they had not filled in a special needs form.  She got her lawyer to get RCI to remove the couple from the cabin.  Firstly on the grounds that they had booked the cabin 18 months in advance, which meant that a disabled passengers had not be given a chance to book the cabin. Secondly as the couple had not filled in a special needs form, RCI were breaching their own T&C  which state that anyone in an accessible cabin needs to fill in a special needs form.

 

Enjoy your cruise. 

 

[ChollaChick]

As someone in a wheelchair who is unable to even get into a standard cruise room, let alone use the restroom, I am not of the mindset that just having achy knees or hips is a reason to get an accessible room.  I hope your travel agent resolves this issue and that someone who genuinely NEEDS it is able to book it.  There are very few wheelchair accessible rooms.  Please don't take them if you don't need them.  I support the idea of having additional rooms with some accessible features (raised toilets, lowered access steps, bars, etc) but it is so frustrating that I have to book all of my cruises over a year out not just because of price, but because if I don't I simply can't get a room I can use.  I will never get a beautiful aft balcony but I am okay with that if I can just get on the cruise.

[Btank]

25 minutes ago, ChollaChick said:

I am not of the mindset that just having achy knees or hips is a reason to get an accessible room.

ChollaChick, I can't begin to understand your frustration here - but please understand that it can be more than just aches and pains for people who are not wheelchair users.  I think the better position would be:

1. Is the occupant able at all to use the room and facilities, and
2. Can they safely use the room and facilities.

When my parents were still with me, both of them had "aches and pains" plus - Dad with arthritic knees and lumbar spine issues (from being a paratrooper in his younger days), and Mom with cervical and lumbar spine issues (from being a nurse).  They ran into the similar issues - if I couldn't find a room that could handle two walkers, and if I couldn't find a room with a shower (they couldn't raise their legs high enough to get into or out of the tub) and an an ADA toilet (they couldn't get up from the lower seat), they couldn't stay in the hotel.  The real answer is for properties (and ships) to understand that the senior population is rising, and more & more people will have mobility issues - so they need to provide more facilities.  Since this costs them more money / space than a traveler with normal utility... well, let's be charitable and say that they'll take it under consideration.  

 

      --bruce T.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Btank

[BecciBoo]

On 3/1/2019 at 8:51 PM, John&LaLa said:

We ended up with one several years ago as a result of a late booking.  We were not questioned at the pier.

The same thing happened to us a cruise several years ago.  I always book with the RCCL agents and after I paid my deposit I noticed the room was accessible.  I called back and told the agent I was not disabled, but she insisted it would be alright because the room was in open booking.  According to her this happens about 3 weeks out and if it's not booked they put it in open booking then.  There was no need to fill out the Special Needs forms as the room is then considered just another balcony. There were no comments made at check in and we would have gladly vacated it for someone who needed it.  But it does happen.  I agree the second agent was totally clueless, as some of them are on many occasions.  It's a training issue with RCCL phone reps.  Go and enjoy your good fortune.

Edited March 4, 2019 by BecciBoo

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, ChollaChick said:

As someone in a wheelchair who is unable to even get into a standard cruise room, let alone use the restroom, I am not of the mindset that just having achy knees or hips is a reason to get an accessible room.  I hope your travel agent resolves this issue and that someone who genuinely NEEDS it is able to book it.  There are very few wheelchair accessible rooms.  Please don't take them if you don't need them.  I support the idea of having additional rooms with some accessible features (raised toilets, lowered access steps, bars, etc) but it is so frustrating that I have to book all of my cruises over a year out not just because of price, but because if I don't I simply can't get a room I can use.  I will never get a beautiful aft balcony but I am okay with that if I can just get on the cruise.

Note that when these rooms are made available to "just anybody" then it's typically the last month before departure and/or no other standard rooms of that type are available.  

When I moved two regular insides to two accessible insides, it was on Monday or Tuesday with sailing on Saturday.  Any time I've seen accessible rooms available on any TA's website, it has been within a week or two of sailing.  

I wouldn't have booked the accessible rooms six months in advance, because someone who needed them might have come along.  But when it's a week or less until we sail, I have no problem taking the room if it's available at that point.

[Ocean Boy]

On 3/3/2019 at 2:25 AM, Bloodgem said:

We do need an accessible cabin, my son is confined to a wheelchair. Most people who need an accessible cabin tend to book their cruises 12-18 months in advance. As this cabin was available if you don't take it, it will be sold to someone else who is also not disabled. With your recent hip surgery you would benefit from this cabin. 

 

I'm not sure but if you read from post 17, of the thread below, this might help explain the response of the RCI agent.   

Basically a passenger wanted an accessible cabin. She found out, whilst on the cruise, that an accessible cabin had been booked by a non-disabled couple 18 months in advance of the sailing and that they had not filled in a special needs form.  She got her lawyer to get RCI to remove the couple from the cabin.  Firstly on the grounds that they had booked the cabin 18 months in advance, which meant that a disabled passengers had not be given a chance to book the cabin. Secondly as the couple had not filled in a special needs form, RCI were breaching their own T&C  which state that anyone in an accessible cabin needs to fill in a special needs form.

 

Enjoy your cruise. 

 

How does one gather that type of information while on a cruise and then get a hold of her lawyer to get the cabin's occupant booted out?

 

Never mind, I found the thread. I guess some people who skirt around the rules have just as big mouths on the ship as they do around here.

[Mikew0805]

40 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

How does one gather that type of information while on a cruise and then get a hold of her lawyer to get the cabin's occupant booted out?

 

Never mind, I found the thread. I guess some people who skirt around the rules have just as big mouths on the ship as they do around here.

This was my question as well. I guess I need to go read the thread. 

[Bloodgem]

15 minutes ago, Mikew0805 said:

This was my question as well. I guess I need to go read the thread. 

The poster claimed she overheard the couple talking to someone

[Mikew0805]

7 minutes ago, Bloodgem said:

The poster claimed she overheard the couple talking to someone

The part about getting a hold of a lawyer, to get them out of the cabin, while this ship was still at sea, is what I was referring to. Reading the thread now. 

[TinkBellaMom]

I am the OP.  Thought I would come back here and let you know what’s happened with our situation.

i reached out to our TA and she told me that this room had been made available by RCCL for open booking.  To alleviate my fears she checked to find out if there are still accessible rooms available.  She confirmed that there are still many available to the general public that have yet to be booked.

She also told me to fill out the form for RCCL and be honest regarding the aids in the bathroom that would be a help to me.  I did that, in the comments area I told them that the extra space in the room was really not as important and we would vacate the room for another if the room was needed for a wheelchair bound guest.  It’s only a 5 nighter I can make do.

Thanks for all the comments, I appreciate them.

Deb

[Btank]

2 hours ago, TinkBellaMom said:

She also told me to fill out the form for RCCL and be honest regarding the aids in the bathroom that would be a help to me.  I did that, in the comments area I told them that the extra space in the room was really not as important and we would vacate the room for another if the room was needed for a wheelchair bound guest.

Deb

Deb, that is the best you can do - and your willingness to move is great.  if they move you, I hope a cabin upgrade comes your way!

 

     --bruce T.

[voyager70]

On 3/2/2019 at 2:51 AM, John&LaLa said:

We ended up with one several years ago as a result of a late booking.  We were not questioned at the pier.

 

We had the same experience.  Felt a little guilty about staying in an accessable cabin but was told it wasn't needed by anyone else and we were fine.  Never questioned at the pier.

 

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, voyager70 said:

 

We had the same experience.  Felt a little guilty about staying in an accessable cabin but was told it wasn't needed by anyone else and we were fine.  Never questioned at the pier.

 

 

I learned to live with guilt years ago. 

 

Personally I didnt care for the bathroom.

Main cabin was just a bunch of empty space.

[voyager70]

21 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I learned to live with guilt years ago. 

 

Personally I didnt care for the bathroom.

Main cabin was just a bunch of empty space.

 

Agree about the bathroom, felt very "sterile".  

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On 3/1/2019 at 5:20 PM, suesnake2002 said:

First you don't need a wheelchair to book an accessible cabin. Rccl agent was very narrow minded. 

 I booked one for mom and dad in law. Mom had had a knee replacement, and will use a cane. So she has mobility issues. Not wheelchair bound. 

Me i book hotel rooms, accessible. I have arthritis in my knees. And sometimes tubs are high. The bars are so helpful. Also i will wait for a handicap stall, some seats are to low for my knees. I havent had any trouble yet myself with cruise rooms. 

That is me exactly.  Bad knees and one bad hip.  High bathtubs and low toilets are impossible.  Yet I can walk ok on a fairly level field.  So far I can use the ship bathrooms, but I do need to reach out to the sink to support myself to get up.  Maybe in a suite where the bathrooms are larger I would have a problem, but in my outside or balcony cabins the small bathroom size makes it work for me!

 

My friend is not in a wheelchair,  She uses a cane with a fold out seat so she can rest, but tries to get an accessible cabin.  She has never had a problem.  As others have sad, et your TA handle it.  That is what they are there for.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 3/1/2019 at 7:08 PM, Robo1098 said:

If your agent booked it without stating you were handicapped it was most likely open for booking. They will open up accessable cabins if they have not been booked close to sailing date.

it happened to us in 2014. A TA booked us into a HA room, and when we checked in for the cruise, we honestly marked that we didn't really need it. We figured if RCI needed it, they would move us. They didn't.

 

Ended up being a good room for us, because I had difficulty walking at that time, even though I didn't use the wheelchair and wasn't incapacitated to the point of needing one or anything.

 

P.S. I was grateful to have a large bathroom because we were sailing with our then 3 yo kid who couldn't yet take showers by himself. It was a lot easier for me to maneuver around a large bathroom to shower him. I cannot bend...

Edited March 4, 2019 by Itchy&Scratchy

[johnjen]

We were booked into a wheelchair accessible cabin before unknowingly on Empress. Never again, I always look to make sure it doesn't ever happen again, the room smelled like urine because the cabin attendant told us the previous occupants were peeing into bottles at the bedside, one tipped over....we were moved to a spare cabin thank goodness.

[Btank]

31 minutes ago, johnjen said:

We were booked into a wheelchair accessible cabin before unknowingly on Empress. Never again, I always look to make sure it doesn't ever happen again, the room smelled like urine because the cabin attendant told us the previous occupants were peeing into bottles at the bedside, one tipped over....we were moved to a spare cabin thank goodness.

Y'know, maybe it's just me... but I'd be more concerned about housekeeping on the Empress in general.  I'm sure plenty of non-accessible rooms have had more than their share of various bodily fluids.  As far as my own experience, I've never encountered an accessible room like that, have never left a room like that, and if we had the need (I only wish that we still did) wouldn't hesitate to get another.  But if you think every accessible room carries that risk and you need to be extra cautious, you be you...

 

      --bruce T.

[Issyalex]

Remember all disabilities are not visible. You don’t need a wheelchair to need an adapted cabin. 

 

You've had a recent hip replacement which means you DO need some of the adaptions in the bathroom, so please don’t fret. If you have a discharge letter from the hospital regarding your hip replacement take it with you, just incase.  

[vacationlover_mn]

8 hours ago, TinkBellaMom said:

I 

She also told me to fill out the form for RCCL and be honest regarding the aids in the bathroom that would be a help to me.  I did that, in the comments area I told them that the extra space in the room was really not as important and we would vacate the room for another if the room was needed for a wheelchair bound guest.  

Thanks for posting this!  If I ever cruise with my mom or MIL, we will do this 🙂. They can walk, but have a hard time with some things due to their hips and knees (both have had surgery on both)

[Gordo]

A while back we booked an OV guarantee, and were assigned an accessible room right before our sailing. When we checked in at the pier, we let them know we did not need it if someone else did. They said they would make note of this information, but we never heard back from anyone so we stayed in the cabin. 

[NCEMT]

We booked a interior guarantee lots of times and where given a handicapped room. I wouldn't stress over it too much. We never had any negative comments made to us. I would not be pleased with Royals customer service. Call and ask to speak to a supervisor if you get nowhere with your travel agent. 

[rt1092]

In the first place the Royal agent should not have even discussed it with you. You booked it with a travel agent and I have never seen anyone at Royal discuss one iota about any cruise that was with a T/A. They always tell you to contact your T/A.

You have nothing to worry about. I wouldn't do anything.

Edited March 4, 2019 by rt1092