automatic door openers on rotterdam accessible cabins

[avltc]

Hello All,

 

We have booked a handicapped vista suite on Rotterdam next year in may. We cannot find any information if this cabin has a automatic door opener so you can easy acces and leave the cabin in a wheelchair.

if anyone knows could you inform us we had the automatic dooropeners on celebrity apex and that made it very pleasant to acces and leave the cabin

 

kind regards arno & thea

[510picker]

I am a full-time wheelchair user due to a spinal cord injury. I have not sailed on the Rotterdam, but I have sailed on the two other ships in the same class, the Nieuw Statendam and the Koningsdam, and they do not have automatic door openers on the accessible cabins. 
 

I suggest you email the Holland America Access and Compliance department to find out a definite answer. The email address is HAL_Access_&_Compliance@HollandAmerica.com.

[RuthC]

I've never been on the Rotterdam, but have been on the next youngest ship, the Nieuw Statendam. 
I know that the accessible cabins on that ship do not have automatic door openers for the cabins, nor have any of the other HAL ships I have sailed on. I don't know if the Koningsdam has them, but since that ship is older still than the Nieuw Statendam, I doubt it or the Nieuw Statendam would have them, too. 
I have never heard of automatic cabin doors being on the Rotterdam accessible cabins. 

I have some mobility, so have my steward give me a door stop, which I keep with my scooter. When returning to the cabin I get off the scooter, prop the door open, get back on the scooter and drive in, then get up again and close the door. This system, obviously, won't work for someone who can't get up and move around and is alone. I can get out of the cabin by myself, but then, a scooter is a bit easier than a wheelchair. 
My stewards would jump to it to open the door for me and hold it open when they saw me coming, but one can't count on them being there always. 

One thing the Nieuw Statendam does have, that many of the other HAL ships do not is electric eyes on some doors to the outside. Someone alone in a wheelchair, or scooter, can get outdoors without looking around for help! I would expect the even newer Rotterdam would also have this feature, too. 
There was one (unfortunate) area indoors on the Nieuw Statendam where someone in a wheelchair or scooter could get stuck. On Deck 4, forward of mid-ship there is a line of glass doors that separate the Lincoln Center/BB King lounge and the Billboard Onboard and Rolling Stone Rock Room areas. Those doors do not have electric eyes, so if they are all closed, to prevent 'bleeding' of sound from one set of lounges to the other, someone alone in a wheelchair or scooter has to sit and wait for help to wander by. 

[cunnorl]

I am currently on the Noordam and they do have automatic door openers on the entry and bathroom door. 

[FinnishFun]

I would contact HAL directly as suggested. My mother and I were on the Konigsdam in February of this year and our accessible cabin did have automatic door openers. We were on the Main deck and were pleasantly surprised. My mom uses an electric scooter and/or a walker. They have also added automatic door openers to the accessible public restrooms on at least the pinnacle class ships.

 

Patty