Wheel chair assistance with MSC at Port Canaveral

[smart_alec]

Hello all,

 

My wife needs wheelchair assistance with embarkation, and our last experience at Port Canaveral was less than ideal. Fortunately there was absolutely no line, so she managed, but the main issue was that there was no wheelchair assistance prior to passing through security screening. The wheelchairs were all the way in the middle of the building. She managed, but if there were any sort of lines outside of the building it would've been horrible for her. Short of taking our own wheelchair (we normally avoid doing that because she can walk a little with her cane), is there any way to get wheelchair assistance outside of the building? I've seen pictures and videos of long lines of people waiting to board, and having experienced that last year with NCL (after which we decided not to ever cruise with them again, but that's a separate story), I really want to avoid that at Port Canaveral. I am able-bodied and don't mind either standing in line or pushing my wife's wheelchair, as long as she has one available. Is there any way to ensure that? And if so, should I contact MSC or Port Canaveral cruise terminal staff? 

 

Thanks,

Alex

[Silver Sweethearts]

1 hour ago, smart_alec said:

I am able-bodied and don't mind either standing in line or pushing my wife's wheelchair, as long as she has one available. Is there any way to ensure that? 

 

We have found the best way to make sure we have a wheelchair is to bring our own.  Folding, lightweight travel wheelchairs are relatively inexpensive and have made our life easier.

[smart_alec]

Thank you Silver Sweethearts! You are probably right, though we would hate to drag it with us since normally my wife manages to get around the ship with her cane and the railings, so it would probably just take up space in the cabin. We are not planning on going on any shore excursions on this short trip. I contacted MSC and will see what they have to say. We had great experience with Royal Caribbean so far, good experience with Carnival, and horrible experience with NCL. The jury is still out on MSC. 

[smart_alec]

FWIW, I submitted a special assistance request with MSC and they were only marginally helpful. They will have wheelchair personnel only inside of the terminal. They said if my wife needed help outside of the terminal, I'd have to go in and find them myself, or talk to MSC staff posted outside of the terminal and have them call wheelchair assistance. This is definitely a lot worse experience than on our cruises with Royal Caribbean earlier this year. I provided that feedback to them. I will update this thread with our actual experience this Sunday. 

[Essiesmom]

I think in many ports the cruise line employees are not allowed to assist outside of the terminal.  EM

[kokopelli-az]

18 hours ago, smart_alec said:

FWIW, I submitted a special assistance request with MSC and they were only marginally helpful. They will have wheelchair personnel only inside of the terminal. They said if my wife needed help outside of the terminal, I'd have to go in and find them myself, or talk to MSC staff posted outside of the terminal and have them call wheelchair assistance.

Maybe someone on this board who was on a MSC cruise and had wheelchair assistance at Port Canaveral might be able to answer whether the port personnel provided wheelchair pushing outside of the terminal (from where you drop off your luggage with the porters) to inside the terminal where the MSC pusher takes over.   @Essiesmom is correct.  There is some invisible line at many terminals that the port personnel are not allowed to cross over and vice versa (ship personnel do not cross over).  This is how passengers often end up with two different wheelchair pushers (the port personnel and the ship personnel).   PS:   The pushers appreciate a tip.   

 

And Plan B, as@Silver Sweetheartsmentioned, would be to take your own wheelchair.   Ships are huge and there is a lot of walking so your wife might appreciate using it on the ship occasionally.    They really don't take up much room in your stateroom when folded up.    If you are flying, wheelchairs fly for free.   

 

Since you're leaving so soon, you might post this question on the MSC board.    

[Benthayer Gonbak]

On 11/26/2022 at 10:20 AM, Essiesmom said:

I think in many ports the cruise line employees are not allowed to assist outside of the terminal.  EM

In Alaska, juneau, we were docked with a huge ramp to go up.  Think one that transports vehicles etc.  it was wet  so we asked for help but we’re told that the port didn’t allow them to push.  Hubby tried to push me up the ramp but his feet wer slipping and I caught the handrail to keep him from slipping further back.  The crew came running and easily pushed me up the rest of the way.  I made sure that supervisors etc knew that it was nice to know that the crew believed in safety first and decided to abandon the rules!  I wanted to be sure they weren’t in trouble but I also believed they needed to be commended for being sure we were safe.