Breakdown...

[Luv4dacruise]

Just wanted to give a little bit of advice to those who use power chairs/scooters. Mom and Dad just got of the Explorer of the Seas yesterday, 9 night Caribbean out of Bayonne. Normally i accompany them on there cruises, but vacation time from work was just not permitting me this year :(. Well, needless to say they had a wonderful time, met some great people at dinner, and Mom is still calling me telling me stories about the great time she had :), she so deserves it too :). One of the stories is when they were in St. Thomas, Moms power chair broke down :(. My parents always bring the good old manual chair with them for this reason, you cannot alway rely on the ship to provide you with one if the inevitable does happen. Thank goodness they always bring that as a back up, as a second use, it makes a great cart for carting around luggage getting on and off the ship, when you get on the ship just fold it up, toss it in a corner, and hopefully it would be the last time you think about your entire cruise, but if you did need it, im sure you'd be glad you brought it.

 

Just wanted to pass this on to everyone who travels in a power chair or scooter.

 

Happy Cruising!

[Splinter]

Thanks for the reminder. Power chairs have a habit of pooping out on you at the most inconvienient times, don't they?! We always travel with both (land or sea) just so we will have a back-up in cases like this.

 

We have found that cruise ship crews have mostly been very good about helping with repairs or finding places for repairs. We had a mechanical lift break on a Crystal Cruise (mid-Pacific) and their engineer even made a special tool that was needed to get it working for us again. We have had crew help fix a flat tire or help us find a bike shop ashore to help with this too (watch out for thorns in your path!). We always take a few key tools with us just in case.

 

A gait belt or two comes in handy for everything from strapping a wayward leg onto the footrest when pushing across cobblestones ashore to straping a ill-fitting raised toilet seat in place (Grand Princess) to using as a body support for lifting into a van for a tour. Bungie cords are great for strapping luggage onto the manual wheelchair to use as a luggage cart for embarkation or disembarkation.

 

S**t happens, so redundancy is always a good idea whenever possible.This is why we take extra meds and supplies too. We have found the ship's hospital staff always glad to take extra bed and incontinence pads off our hands at the end of the cruise so we don't have to haul these back-up supplies back home.