pushing manual wheelchair around the ship

[enyliram]

my husband uses a manual wheelchair, it weighs 30 lbs , but i must do all the pushing. he is unable to move it himself, nor can he use one with hand controls. we are taking this chair on the navigator of the seas and have a HC room. any suggestions for easier transport while on the ship? i am 66 and he is 70 yrs old and maybe the carpet on the ship will prove too much for me to manage.

[cusyl]

The carpet is a low pile so shouldn't be too hard to push. It is sometimes hard to get down the ramp getting off at the ports however. The crew will assist you as they are very helpful. Would it be possible for you to rent a scooter for him to use? There are companies that will take it to your stateroom for your arrival and pick it up after the cruise.

[enyliram]

a scooter would be wonderful, but he is not able to mentally manuver it.we tried it at our local supermarket decided he could not use it. we are going on the cruise under any circumstances and will adapt to the carpet issue as best as we can. thanks for your suggestion

[cusyl]

I'm glad you are going to experience your cruise. I am sure you can hardly wait. Another alternative, if you could afford it is to take along a sturdy relative that might assist you.

[Oceanwench]

I was going to say the same thing -- a grandchild or someone who could push the chair would be wonderful, if you can afford it!

I am thankful DH can maneuver his powerchair. Before we bought it, I had to push him in his manual chair and it was pretty hard.

But we have always had the powerchair when on a cruise.

[petro772]

My daughter uses a travel wheelchair when we cruise. Going into the dining room, the assistant waiter would run over to us, grab the wheelchair and push our daughter to the table. He seemed so proud!

[l2c]

Enyliram: We are in the same situation. My DH 65 cannot manipulate hand gears. So we have a manual chair. Right now he can manage to walk most of the time (although slowly) in the ship but we use the chair off the ship. It is hard to push sometimes. I am the 70 year old one! Since his disease ALS is progressive he may be in the chair more and more as time goes on. But we are like you. We are determined to do as much as possible for as long as possible. Can't keep a good couple down...Right?

[broberts]

You might want to consider a "transport wheelchair". They are usually 8-12 lbs lighter than the one you have. Plus they are typically narrower and have brake handles at the back making it easier for the one pushing to control the chair. Many models are of the folding variety and are designed for compactness. Look for one with larger wheels at the back. I'm familiar with this one http://www.invacare.com/cgi-bin/imhqprd/inv_catalog/prod_cat_detail.jsp?s=0&prodID=ALB19HBFR, but I'm sure that there are lots of other ones around.

[l2c]

broberts is right. This is the kind of chair we have. I can fold it and lift it into the trunk of the car pretty easily. It has larger wheels in the back which make it easier to handle also.

[eks1954]

I resently cruised with two family members in wheel chairs.I can tell you I found the transport chair to be much easier than the regular chair. I am taking my disabled son again and I am usung the transport chair.

[enyliram]

regarding the transfer wheel chairs, i am going to look at the medical supplier show room. what size rear wheelswhat size should i be interested in.?

[l2c]

On our chair the front wheels are about 7 1/2 inches across and the rear one are about 11 inches across.

[CruisinMK]

I noticed the last cruise it was way harder to push the wheelchair on the carpet than previous cruises. Pride of Hawaii had thicker carpet. I did ok but someone less energetic would have had problems. We used a wheelchair with big rear wheels, usually that is great.

 

I don't know much but if you pick the right tire type it would help a lot (pneumatic tires?)

[Splinter]

You can purchase attendant-driven power wheelchairs, but they are expensive and highly customized. I know of none that can be rented.

 

What is the brand/model of the manual wheelchair you are using?

 

Another option would be to book a cabin for 3 and take a young friend or family member who would be the "pusher" in return for a nice cruise.

[Joanniebop]

New to this area on cc, but just my 2 cents on the wheelchair..I also push DH and sometimes find it to be quite a work-out, make sure that the tires are fully pumped and you might want to bring a pump with you just in case. Much easier to push.

He is blind as well as other problems so he can not operate a chair himself, but I will look into the attendant driven chairs. I suspect that they might be a lot heavier but if we are dropped at the pier with the chair I'm sure I can have someone get it on the ground for me.

I have a question about the use of HC cabins but maybe I should start another thread? Other than being able to bring the chair into the cabin and into the shower, are there any other advantages? I usually leave the chair outside the cabin and assist him into the cabin and request a shower seat for the shower. As I stated before, he is blind and also suffers from a few other ailments that prevent him from standing or wallking for any great length of time. The big bath tubs are useless and take up a lot of room. Would I be able to wheel him out on to the balcony?

Thanks for your help.

 

Joannie

[katisdale]

I think you do need a wheelchair accessible cabin. These cabins do not have tubs but do have roll in showers with seats. Would that not be better and safer? These cabins have ramps to get out to the balcony if you choose that level of cabin.

[Joanniebop]

katisdale, thank you for your quick response and your advice.

Safety wise I probably should request the HC cabin.. I just didn't want to take it from someone that might need it more than us. We always do go for the balcony and usually suites because unlike most folks, we DO spend a lot of time in our cabins and like it to be as comfortable as possible, but the last couple cruises it was really difficult to get my DH on to the balcony and it just shouldn't be like that.. he should be able to enjoy the beautiful sea breeze even if he can't see the majestic ocean.

I have a guar. on the Noordam , cat SC ( deluxe suite)for Oct.14, but I think I will call on Monday and request the HC. I'll let you know how I make out. They have a lot of availability so I don't think it'll be a problem, but who knows, I've never asked for one before. In fact, I've never had a guar. before.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Joannie

[Starr Mtn]

katisdale, thank you for your quick response and your advice.

Safety wise I probably should request the HC cabin.. I just didn't want to take it from someone that might need it more than us. We always do go for the balcony and usually suites because unlike most folks, we DO spend a lot of time in our cabins and like it to be as comfortable as possible, but the last couple cruises it was really difficult to get my DH on to the balcony and it just shouldn't be like that.. he should be able to enjoy the beautiful sea breeze even if he can't see the majestic ocean.

Joannie

 

You really need the handicap accessible cabin - and deserve it !

There will be grab bars, a walk-in shower, with a built in bench seat.

Or you can request a separate shower stool. The toilet will be higher.

You will have more room to maneuver in the cabin also. And there will be

"emergency" buttons for assistance.

[Joanniebop]

We2cruise, thanks for your encouragement.

Never thought about the toilet seat on a cruise, he does have an elevated one at home. The bars in the shower seemed to have been on the last few cruises in reg. cabins so I assumed that they are standard in all cabins, but if we wound up in one without the bars it would be quite a struggle. I have not had a problem getting the shower bench/chair on other cruises. I have a built in seat at home, got rid of the tub and have a really large shower stall, but he still has to use the shower chair. You really have me thinking. I think I should have tried for a HC room 4 cruises ago. duh!

 

Thanks again,

 

Joannie

[enyliram]

we are back from the navigator of the seas where i did use a transfer, called a companion chair, for the trip for the first few hours HOWEVER it was still difficult to move about the ship.i did use a royal caribbean wheel chair which has their logo on it for a 200 refundable deposit for the rest of the cruise.it was obtained from guest relations. it was better than the companion chair and i never had any difficulty even with the tenders as ALL the navigator staff were so helpful.i could move the chair about the ship without difficulty i dont know what manufacturer they use but it was perfect.

[ILoveScotland]

we are back from the navigator of the seas where i did use a transfer, called a companion chair, for the trip for the first few hours HOWEVER it was still difficult to move about the ship.i did use a royal caribbean wheel chair which has their logo on it for a 200 refundable deposit for the rest of the cruise.it was obtained from guest relations. it was better than the companion chair and i never had any difficulty even with the tenders as ALL the navigator staff were so helpful.i could move the chair about the ship without difficulty i dont know what manufacturer they use but it was perfect.

 

I didn't know any of the cruiselines had wheelchairs you could use except for embarking and disembarking. We'll be on the Brilliance of the Seas, and I've just bought a transport wheelchair to take with us since DH cannot walk long distances.

[Joanniebop]

Hi Everyone,

 

It's been a while since I posted when I was airing my concerns for DH in our guarantee cabin. We were assigned a cabin the other day ( btw, my own fault, but the HC cabins were all gone) and it had to be the worst cabin for his problems.

I am trying to get it changed and have enlisted the help of HAL access and compliance desk. My agent sent a fax and I sent a follow up fax with a detailed explaination of our concerns. ( he is blind and has difficulty walking, but will walk around on his own in the cabin, once he becomes familiar with the layout)

For one thing the cabin is what they call a hump/angled cabin which will be very difficult for DH to get around and we paid for a category that features 510 Sq ft. most of these cabins are around 400sq ft. w/balcony around 100. This hump cabin is around 250 with a 250 balcony.

Now that balcony would be wonderful if we were able to take advantage of it but as I've said before DH will hardly be on the balcony. We prefer the space indoors with straight lines, more boxy, since we will spend so much time in the cabin.

Any how we will just have to wait and see if they are able to make a change for us.

 

Have a good day!

 

Joannie