Wheel chair availability

[sciencemom45]

My 15yo daughter had leg surgery in March, which we thought would be totally healed by our cruise on June 27. She is still using a cane. I thought it would be good to have a wheel chair available in case she needs one on the very port intensive Med itinerary. Do you know if Celebrity had ones available for occassional use.

[rfbdorf]

The cruise line may have wheelchairs for use at boarding and leaving the ship. Do not expect to be able to take one of their chairs away from the ship at a port. Bring your own (should not be expensive for one good for only occasional use - check Craigs list) or rent one from a company like CareVacations.com, who will arrange to have one waiting for you on the ship.

- Richard

[WEELYNCRUZER]

If your going to rent one rent it locally. Then you know it fits and it's a lot cheaper to bring it with you than to have to pay care vacations or any other company to deliver it to the ship and pick it up. There is no charge to fly it with you.

[kitty9]

Celebrity does have wheelchairs, but they are for emergency purposes only, and to be honest, many of them aren't in great shape. You need to bring your own for your daughter. You can rent them from many local places in your town or you can rent one from CareVacations, where they will deliver it to your cabin and take it away when your cruise ends.

[GRBlizz]

A regular poster on the Celebrity board is telling this OP that wheelchairs are easily available for passengers who need them. Apparently she showed up with only a cane, and they "forced" a WC on her and let her use it for the duration, on and off the ship.

 

I have no personal experience with this, as we have our own chair, but I have certainly read enough on here to believe that her experience was an anomaly.

 

If anyone does have personal knowledge of how this works, it might be good to explain what seems to be a contradiction in the advise this Mom is getting.

[Queenie2]

Basically what everyone has said is true -- if need a wc full time (other than for boarding) you need to bring your own to be assured of getting one. I talk with hundreds of readers and get comments form all, and the thing is, every now and again someone will be able to snag a wc for the duration, and then they make it seem like this is standard operating procedure. Not so at all. Like others have said, the rule is the ship wcs are for boarding and emergencies only. So I expect this is what is happening. Generally speaking you need to go by the policy laid out by the cruise line, because they can always fall back on that and say "it's our policy not to provide wcs -- read it here". Plus, it really costs very little rent a man wc, or even buy one second hand. Not worth the worry at all.

 

Candy

[kitty9]

I agree with you Candy. The person on the Celebrity board is not giving the best advice. Despite all of us who are telling the OP to bring their own, she seems to be leaning more towards the advice of the ONE person who says Celebrity will give her daughter a wheelchair. I just hope this person isn't going to be disappointed.

 

When I've called Special Services for X, they've always told me not to rely on having their wheelchairs available for passenger use. They've said they cannot be in the business of providing equipment for the disabled because there are so many more cruising now.

[SkiRacer]

ScienceMom, I don't know where you live, but in many areas senior centers have plenty of wheelchairs donated and they will loan them out even if you are not a senior. I just went on a cruise through the Panama canel with a cast I had a great time.

[sciencemom45]

Thanks for all the info. I contacted Celebrity and they said they would have a wheelchair waiting in her cabin when we arrive!

[drabdavid]

You need to check with your travel agent as I believe that Celebrity may want to know the wheelchair's details. Though I am not sure on this!

 

Slightly off track, I did just read this about Mobility Scooters on cruises at Cruisegle, apparently P&O Cruises may be cutting down the number they take on a cruise.