Cruising in July 2016 and need advice on mobility

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

For Christmas I talked to Silvia and my sister Heather and discussed the possibilty of taking my Grandmother on a cruise. I grew up with my grandmother and her and grandpa took us to almost everywhere I ever went including Disney World while growing up. I thought it would be nice to give her a cruise which is something she always wanted to do but my Grandfather wouldnt do. 

 

With that said Grandma will be 86. She doesnt walk as good as she used to and gets tired so I want to get ahead of that a little bit. 

 

I know Dave and Linda have rented and ECV and I am hoping they will chime in with some advice. I am going to book her a handicapped accessible cabin so she wont have to worry about thresholds.  

 

I am not sure how she is going to do with an ecv or if I should get a regular wheel chair or something else all together to help her get around. 

 

The plan is one room for her and my sister and another room for me and Sil. 

 

Soo any advice on this stuff. What about excursions. I want hr to at least go onto Castaway Cay and enjoy herself there. I think I remember the trams have a loading section for a mobility device like that. 

 

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated. If you have a trip report to share with examples that would be good too. Sil's is less than enthused about this and I would love to show her how its been done. 

 

Jason

[Beckers 1,136]

Has your grandmom ever used a ECG? What about taking her to the grocery store or somewhere she could try it?

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

How are your grandmother's cognitive abilities?  Using an ECV takes some getting used to for the sake of others around you.  To use one she needs to have relatively normal reflexes.  They don't immediately stop, and you have to be constantly aware of the other people around you and anticipate their moves.

 

If you do go the ECV route, please get her a four-wheel version.  I rented a Pride Go-Go from Walker Mobility and was very pleased with it.  The four wheeler is much more difficult to tip over but does have a somewhat larger turn radius. The turn radius shouldn't be a problem on a cruise ship.

 

I've cruised in a handicap accessible room with my disabled best friend.  That will be a big help and also afford you the room to maneuver her around either in a wheelchair or an ECV.

 

Take her to Walmart or anywhere that has ECVs available and let her try one out.  And observe how she handles it before you make a decision.

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

Glad to "chime in". We rented the PC cruise ECV thru Scoot-around. They partner with Care vacations and have the ECV on the ship when you arrive or just shortly after if you get there early. Since you are not going to end the cruise at a different port as we did they may provide it themselves.

Castaway Cay is a piece of cake since they do have the trams with ramps. As to many of the other excursions most do not accept ECVs, some do however accept wheel-chairs. IIRC DCL has wheel-chairs that you can "borrow" when you go off the ship to use on those excurions that can accept them. They also have beach wheelchairs to use, at least at the adult beach on C.C. If she can handle the ECV that is what I woud recommend since it may give her a little more freedom on the ship. She won't feel like she is relying on one of you to take her place to place. Also for the ship the 3 wheel is much more manuverable. Linda has used both her personal 4 wheeler and the rented 3 wheeler.

Not sure which ship you are going on, but the Wonder still has a small threshold which the EVC will go over with no problem. Can't remember if we had one on the Fantasy and the Dream, but there was probably a small one due to possible water intrusion.

Also we would recommend that she has a cane to use in the room, especially to and from the bathroom at night.

No matter whether you go with the ECV or wheel-chair the crew members won't be able to do enough for her. They would always grab Linda's tray if we went to the buffets, or take and retrieve the ECV in the regular dining rooms. (They had fun driving it). If our room steward or one of the others would see us coming they would run down the hall and have the door open for her.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I have nothing to add except I love that you're considering this! So sweet!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Thanks guys. I love the idea of taking her to Walmart to try out an ECV. she is really pretty with it. She only gave up driving last year by her own choice. Will have to see how she does and the fact that we can adjust the speed control will be a help to her too. 

 

If anyone else has input feel free to chime in. We might be able to turn my hunt for info into a reference for others. 

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Oh the plan is for the Disney Fantasy doing the Eastern Caribbean 

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

The accessible cabins on the Dream and Fantasy are awesome!!!

 

We had 5552 and it was HUGE

 

Rick had his ECV on the ship. We did an excursion that was not accessible, but managed it no problems.  We did not have a good experience on Castaway Cay, but we didn't know about the ramps on the trams. Rick rode the ECV out to the adult beach and I walked it. HOT!!!

 

On the accessible cabins, when you swipe your room key, the room door opens automatically. There is a button inside the cabin to open it automatically as you exit. (Much nicer than the resorts where you still have to manhandle the door). There are also nice touches such as a clothes rod that pulls down to reach it from a wheelchair. The roll in shower drained really well and did not spread water all over the entire bathroom floor.

 

The forward and aft elevators tended to be less crowded than the central elevators.

 

In the balcony of the main entertainment theater there are some seats that are easy to get to without stairs (Entrance on Deck 4)

[jlf 7]

Definitely get the accessible room. Just the door alone makes it worth it. We have taken 2 Dream cruises. The first one we had a stateroom with veranda. I use crutches 24/7, and even though getting around the cabin could have been worse. My husband had a hard time holding the door open and me trying to exit. Not to mention I had a hard time getting in and out of the tub. The second cruise in 2013, I requested an accessible room and we were on the back of the ship. The room was wonderful. Especially the door is large and I believed opened automatically. In March, we are going on our 3rd Dream cruise. We have requested the same room but settled for one deck down. My suggestion if she is having trouble with ECV, rent one of the lightweight wheel chairs that fold up and weigh practically nothing. Also at Castaway Cay they have beach wheelchairs with big tires for the sand. Whatever you decide, you can bet Disney will be there to help in all your needs. I hope when I am in my 80's my grandchildren will take me on our 20th cruise.