Are motorized scooters allowed on the ships?

[pampaul]

I'm in the middle of a knee injury and looks like a motorized scooter will be in my future.  My husband just said that I might want to look up if they're allowed on ships because he heard they might not be.   What's the deal?

[pcur]

Yes, they are.  Contact Special Needs at RCCL: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs

 

[Caribbean Allan]

My wife had knee surgery and we had to do the same thing.  There are two private companies that rent the scooters for cruise ships.  We read the reviews and picked Special Needs At Seas”.  Humm….  Maybe it was because of the reviews, I don’t know, but of the about 20 scooters we saw at sea, 100% of them were from this one company.  They were wonderful.  They were staged outside in a covered area not too far from baggage-off.  Our Uber driver was able to pull up and drop us off right there.  (In Galveston for Radiance Of The Seas).  My wife was able do drive it right into the building for check-in, and then all the way into the ship.  That was so much nicer than the “scooter delivered to the cabin”, that we read about elsewhere, but never saw.  There are several styles to choose from.  We ordered the smallest size scooter that will carry a 240 pound person and we were able to get it into the door of our regular sized balcony cabin.  For the sake of this comment, I will call it “the medium sized scooter”.  They do call it a different name.  Please know that due to the skinny hallways outside the cabin, we could not simply turn the corner and drive it right in.  I always had to bring it in or take it out of the cabin for her.  It did involve slightly picking up one end.  But it really was no big deal as it’s not that heavy.  There are times that my wife wanted to go places on her own, and she did!  She was able to go every place on her own.  The Solarium, Viking Crown Lounge, and others.  If she wanted to go our cabin to grab something or take a nap, she parked it near the end of the short hall at the atrium, and walked the length of cabins to our room.  We found it amazing that there was ALWAYS a place to park it, if desired.  There were seemingly an endless number of nooks, crannies, alcoves, or wide areas in which to park it.  We did drive it into the main dining room once, and it was doable, but way too tight.  After that first time, she just parked out outside the entrance doors. We charged it only at night, even though some of those alcoves had electrical outlets.  In Falmouth, Jamaica, she drove it off the ship and all the way to a far-away parking lot where we met our private excursion company / taxi with whom we arranged a van. It really wasn’t that expensive at all, and was cheaper than Royal Caribbean’s offerings.  The driver and I easily picked up the scooter and put it in the back of the van.  My wife used it throughout the day.  We loved that scooter, and it made the cruise just as fun as cruises in the past.  Do not hesitate to rent a scooter.  Have fun!  

[Caribbean Allan]

The private excursion company that had the van and met us for or day in Falmouth was “Excursion Ocho Rios” and the driver was the owner, Richard Brooks.  A vey nice, pleasant and fun man.  

[SplashOfWater]

My husband uses a Pride GoGo Sport scooter on cruises. It's narrow enough to fit through the doorways on Royal Caribbean ships. It's the same model of scooter that Scootaround rents at the ports. 

 

The hallways on the older ships are narrow and it can be a bit challenging to get the scooter maneuvered into the cabin. The newer ships have wider hallways and the doors are inset somewhat making it much easier to drive the scooter into the cabin.

 

If you are booking a suite, you should have plenty of room to store the scooter in the cabin. We typically book balcony cabins and make sure we select a cabin where the bed is by the balcony door and the sofa is next to the bathroom. We park the scooter next to the sofa, which leaves enough room to walk by it to the bathroom and/or out the cabin door. If you get a cabin with the bed near the bathroom, it may be very difficult (or impossible) to get the scooter around the foot of the bed over to the other side of the cabin.

[Sunshine3601]

My DH had a recent back injury and we rented a scooter for our cruise from:

https://www.specialneedsatsea.com/

We found they had better pricing than others I shopped.    

They delivered the scooter to the cabin and we were able to get wheelchair assistance at the cruise terminal to get us onboard so he didn't have to do the long walk through terminal to the ship.     

I have heard they are able to arrange scooter pick up outside the cruise terminal but that seems to vary by cruise port.

It is not easy to turn the scooter around inside a standard OV

If possible book an accessible cabin it will be so much easier to maneuver the scooter than a standard OV.   Plus easier to get in and out of the cabin door if by yourself.   

Edited March 16 by Sunshine3601

[steveru621]

YES, don't park it in the hallway.

[bucfan2]

6 hours ago, steveru621 said:

YES, don't park it in the hallway.

Those that do so provide for late night entertainment, especially for the younger crowd (a friend of a friend mentioned there are 3 different keys that power them all....guess my fourth key is a duplicate). 

[toxicfairy]

10 hours ago, steveru621 said:

YES, don't park it in the hallway.

Yes this! I read an article that they are starting to Crack down on people parking them in the hallway. It's become a hazard. Both for getting out in an emergency and for the crew that need to get their carts through the hallways. 

[BecciBoo]

5 hours ago, bucfan2 said:

Those that do so provide for late night entertainment, especially for the younger crowd (a friend of a friend mentioned there are 3 different keys that power them all....guess my fourth key is a duplicate). 

Mine doesn't have a key at all, it has a removable battery.  But mine fits in any cabin, I would never leave it in the hall.

Edited March 17 by BecciBoo