Princess Cruises Dining Questions

[ORDPLATAA]

We will be on the Caribbean Princess in February. Currently, we have late seating dining with a waitlist for the early seating. If the waitlist does not clear, do you think it would be better to stay with the assigned late seating or should we switch over to Anytime Dining? The reason for the question is that my mother has some mobility issues (she will have her scooter on the trip) and likes the security of knowing exactly where she has to go, how far of a walk it will be to the table from the entrance plus the comfort of knowing who our server will be. However, she certainly is not an eat dinner at 8:00pm kinda gal! I am concerned that she will not like that late of a dinner and we are thinking of doing the anytime dining so we could eat earlier. The next question is really how well Princess handles mobility impaired folks in their Anytime dining rooms.

 

I know, this is a rambling post (haven't even finished my first cup of coffee!). I would really appreciate anyone's suggestions on this one!

[canuk05]

My husband & I always have Anytime Dining. The first night of your cruise talk to the maitre'd(???) and explain your situation. He will help you any way he can. If it is a good table just reserve that table for every dinner.

[robseat]

We just returned yesterday from Eastern itinerary on Caribbean. DH is fulll-time wheelchair user. We had anytime dining, and never had a problem getting a table near the front. He has a removable motorized attachment for his manual chair, which we unhooked and left outside the dining room. Several scooters were also parked there most of the time. Most of the time had the same table, but we didn't bother reserving it (we are fairly early diners -- before 7, usually). We always used the Palm Dining room, as we had heard it was less crowded, and that is what other on board told us. We ate with different people every night -- we enjoy that. The only way to get there (if you have mobility issues) is by using the aft elevators. One night, only one of the elevators was working we had finished dinner, so we had quite a wait before leaving. If you have other questions about this ship, please let me know.

[ORDPLATAA]

robseat - thanks for the response. There will be 4 of us on the trip and I think that we might go ahead and go with "Anytime" dining (really not into dinner at 5:30pm!!!).

 

We are in cabin A303 for this trip. Were you in an accessible cabin? If so, I would like to know your thoughts. Also, how easy was it to get around St. Thomas and St. Martin?

[robseat]

We were in E301, which was a wheelchair accessible obstructed ocean view. The room was QUITE large, as was the bathroom. There was a fold-up seat in the shower. My husband brings his own rolling shower chair, which easily rolled into the shower, and there was plenty of room for the two of us, as I assisted with his bathing. There was plenty of storage for all our things, including his "scooter" attachment. We were very close to the forward elevators which was very handy. We never had to worry about housekeeping carts blocking the halls. The bed was WAY too low, but they were able to provide an extra mattress which helped a lot. Another couple we met on board had a balcony but we never saw it. They SAID it was fairly difficult to get the wheelchair onto (and back in!) from the balcony. The wife was very small, and her husband in wheelchair was quite large! We found the ship as a whole pretty accessible. There were some automatic doors and fairly flat threshholds into buffet areas on Deck 15, but also lots of difficult entrances. We like to sit out on the Promenade deck (#7). It had quite high bumpy threshholds (there is probably a nautical term for that but can't think of it-- bulkhead??). One man we talked to who was on a large scooter, said he was not able to go out on Promenade deck because of low clearance on his scooter. Come to think of it, I don't believe we ever saw anyone else on a scooter or in wheelchair out on that deck.

 

St. Maartin - we were unable to transfer into any taxis (all were large vans). Don't know how they would handle a scooter, but MAYBE could if seats fold down. We just "walked" into town -- maybe 15 minutes at the most -- curb cuts all the way. There were a few slightly bumpy places, but we were pleasantly surprised. We were unable to get inside the majority of the shops, but some we could. Crowded! Again, plenty of curb cuts. I understand there are some nice tours of the island (just driving around) IF you can get into a taxi.

 

St. Thomas - Going down the gangway was a problem here -- maybe too steep because of tides? Finally made it after disconnecting motor from the manual wheelchair. We had signed up for the "accessible adventures" tour. They had some mechanical difficulties with the lift, but eventually we were on our way. A little disappointing -- just up to the top of the mountain, a 30 minute shopping break, then back down. Beautiful views, but the people who had to stay in their wheelchairs didn't have a great view, and they were holding on for dear life, going up and down those curvy mountain roads.

 

Princess Cays - amazingly, our favorite stop. Getting onto the tender was fairly easy (I can't remember seeing any scooters, though). There was a pretty little pavilion that went out over the water, and we could see the tropical fish on the reef below. (Had to roll over about 10 yards of sand to get there, but it was hardpacked) Lots of places of sit and relax -- both in and out of the sun. Nice lunch and lots of fresh fruit. We just relaxed and watched other people snorkling, kayaking, etc. A very pleasant day, and we had perfect weather -- calm, and warm but not too hot.

 

All in all, we had no complaints with the accommodations, service, and facilities. We eventually found all the unisex bathrooms! The crew was very helpful, including the tour desk folks, so be sure to talk to them about excursions.

 

Hope you have a wonderful time.

 

Rob and Carol

[selltile]

you made me feel much better about this wheel chair adventure