Anyone Travelled on Sun Princess in a wheelchair?

[scooterrach]

Hi All,

 

I am considering traveling on the Sun Princess in August 09. Its currently in Australia and we live in Western Australia. My husband and I both have physical disabilities and are confined to electric wheelchairs. I have been on Pacific Dawn before (aka Regal Princess) and found it incredible. Had a ball and found everything to be very accessible.

 

If any of you have been on Sun Princess can you please give me some opinions on it? Even photo's would be great. Thank you.

 

Rach

[Splinter]

Since the recent change in the Princess policy about not allowing anyone in a wheelchair to leave the ship in their own wheelchair, and not tendering anyone in a wheelchair, we have sworn off Princess. Of course if you don't care about going ashore, I would assume that a Princess cruise would be fine, but keep in mind that the Sun Princess is an older ship and may not even be as accessible as the Regal (also older).

[WEELYNCRUZER]

I have been on the Ocean and the Dawn . They are sister ships to the Sea and the Sun. I stopped cruising on Princess 12 cruises ago other than a14 day cruise to Alaska on the Sapphire Princess last year. I have never had a problem getting off the ship in my own power chair. I have to qualify that.The gang way has little ridges or mini steps and they were teeth chattering. It wasn;t until the sapphire that were ramped all the way down. They had 2 steps at the bottom. How dumb was that. I don't know if they corrected that problem on the older ships. I was platinum plus cruiser on Princess and I took my last cruise with them.

[WEELYNCRUZER]

I also remember having ny manual chair hooked to a degradind stair climber when they had the little stairs. Talk about being put on display.Then I had to use my manual chair and have to depend on my wife. I agree with Splinter thats no way to run a cruise line.

[NJCruiserBoy]

That's an interesting policy. When did Princess change this? I would have never known this had I not read this board!

[Splinter]

Can't find it in writing anywhere, but from reports on this forum:

 

1. Policy went into effect February 2008.

 

2. You MUST transfer to their manual wheelchair which is attached to a stair climber for any gangway transfer. Your chair will be brought to you on the dock for use ashore (without you in it). You have to repeat this process when returning to the ship. They will lift you. Not sure how much training the staff have had in how to do this with the least pain, risk of dropping you, or in a way that maintains your dignity.

 

3. No one is being allowed onto the tenders if they cannot walk on/off the tender under their own power, and no one is being allowed to ride in a wheelchair on the tender. Not sure about the policy of separately transporting you and your chair on the tender (manual or power).

 

Most people did not know about this policy until they saw it announced in the Princess Patter (on-board daily schedule newsletter). They were not notified prior to their cruise.

 

Since Princess is one of the few cruise lines with no Special Needs or Disability Services department, it is very difficult to get the "straight scoop" from them. If you call 6X, you get 6 different stories from 6 different people.

[cjh]

I was checking my personalizer and this was listed -Feb 09 2009 PRINCESS CAYS, BAHAMAS 09:00AM 04:00PM TENDER REQUIRED

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS LIMITED -Since it doens't say no wheelchair access maybe there will be access.

[WEELYNCRUZER]

I am 6'2 and weigh around 220. The ships chairs are big clunkers without remove able arms. The crew is not trained and they man handle you. It is scary and dangerous. Even for the crew. It is much easier for a little person but if your frail it would still be scary, As I said before you are the center of attention, They tip you back about 50 degrees and the climber slowly goes up or down. I decided that I would stay on board if I couldn't go down in y own power chair. I was able to do that on the Sapphire but it was teeth chattering and my FINAL cruise on Princess.

Staying on board is not a bad thing but none of the shops or the casino are open in port. Some of the bars are,

[DEL67]

We were on the Sun Princess in June '06 for an Alaskan cruise. My husband who had physical disabilities used an electric chair with relatively few problems, expecially given the ship's age. However the bathroom was smaller than on newer ships; therefore, he needed more assistance. And although the cabin was more than big enough for one chair (as long as we separated the beds,_ two chairs would have been very tight.

[scooterrach]

Thank you everyone for your responses, I'm seriously freaking out about having to get out of my chair. Its my comfort zone, why do they do this to people its disgraceful.

 

I'm getting my cousin who is a travel agent to look into it. And ask them why they have such a policy. Its degrading and not to mention dangerous to have people who don't know you lift you. I'm very fragile, only weigh 38kg and need to use my specialised hoist to get out of my chair, so once im in it I'm in it for the day.

 

Please keep posting on your experiences, I'll let everyone know what my cousin comes up with.

 

Del, what cabin where you in?

 

 

Rach

[DesrtDrmr]

We have been on both the Sun and the Dawn Princess with my scooter and a manual wheelchair for shore excursions. The last cruise, on the Dawn (identical to the Sun) was in April 07, so I am not aware of any new tender requirements. I will say that the ships themselves were comfortable and the crews were wonderful. We had a handicapped mini on the Dawn, and the bathroom was very well thought out. The room had plenty of space to turn. When we were on the Sun, we had a regular balcony cabin (R551, I think) and I had to either leave my scooter in the elevator lobby to charge it, upon instructions from our steward, or take it apart to bring into the cabin. There was no room to turn around in a regular cabin, and the regular cabin had a step up bathroom, but was do-able for me at that time, as I could stand and take a few steps. There was a shower seat in the mini, but not in the regular cabin. I don't think I could use a regular cabin any more. There was plenty of help in the buffet, and the maitre'd and waitstaff were very accommodating in the dining room. There was wheelchair seating in the main theater with a companion seat next to each wheelchair space. There was no special wheelchair seating in the lounge theater, but there was room to park and watch the show. The only real difficulty we had was getting over the (I think it's called combing)big humps at the doors going outside. The only real accessible doors were between the buffet and the pool deck. At every other outdoor exit, I needed help.

I'm sure you'll manage well if you have a handicapped accessible cabin, or if you can stand and walk a bit.

Bon Voyage...............the Sun is a very comfortable ship!