handicapped lifts on Royal Caribbean??

[CruisinOnWheels]

Howdy...can anyone share with me the current status of the so called "pool" and "tender" lifts that RCL advertises they have on their ships?

 

My wife and I are trying to decide between the Splendour or the Rhapsody out of Galveston, early this December.

 

This is our first cruise and we want to be sure the accessibility they advertise is real.

 

Also, can anyone tell us how difficult it is to enter and leave the solarium indoor pool...if they do not have a lift, and the person has limited knee flexion due to arthritis? Will their stff assist you, if asked...in entering and leaving the pools? Do they provide "lifeguards" at pools?

[Splinter]

IF there is a lift and IF it is working, you will most likely have this type of pool lift:

 

 

 

Getting in and out of pools without a lift is difficult, indoors or out, because of the usual bench or 12-18" ledge that is designed to keep the pool from sloshing out over the deck when there is a sea. Usually this means that in addition to stepping over this ledge (or sitting on it and swinging your legs over) there are another couple of feet and then steps into the pool. The staff will run the lift, but they will not help you in or out of the pool otherwise. There is no life guard.

 

On RCL, the tender lift is an elevator that takes you down to the level of the tender, and then it is just a short steep ramp or lift into the tender. They will pick the person up in a manual wheelchair but not a power chair or scooter.

 

I assume you have an accessible cabin. You won't be able to get a wheelchair into a regular one, and will have a step up into the bathroom unless you get one.

[DEL67]

We have been on RCCL ships 3 or 4 times since they equipped all their ships with tender lifts and never been able to use them. Once, the ship personnel was not even aware that thye had a lift. Another time it was broken and twice we were told that the lift was on the other tender exit (the one not being used that day.)

[Queenie2]

pool lifts are the same way. You have to ask staff for them and they just may not be operable. In fact they may be out of service for the entire cruise. They don't keep them there all the time cause the kids and the drunks play with them. And no I've never seen a solarium pool with a lift -- it's always the outside ones.

 

Candy