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Celebrity Cruise
Hi there! I am not mobility challenged, but my future BIL is. He is a paraplegic in an electric wheelchair. We are looking at doing a cruise to Alaska for our wedding, and I’m trying to find out if Celebrity is a good, mobility friendly cruise line. I BELIEVE the ship would be the Celebrity Edge, which I think is the Ocean line? I’m new to cruising, sorry!
The family takes a LOT of cruises, and usually chooses Norwegian. We actually just got back from an NCL cruise to Alaska, which was with the entire family, BIL included. Some frustrations they expressed were that they paid $800/person for the therapy spa with the pool and he could only use the hot tub, as there were no lifts. The main dining area, with the buffet was crowded a lot and it didn’t seem like there were that many ADA tables.
I’ve looked at Royal Caribbean and while it looks fantastic, it is just way out of our budget for the wedding. How is Celebrity in terms of electric chair friendly? Are there lifts for the pools/spa?
If anyone has any pros/cons for Celebrity, please let me know.
Thanks so much 🙂
5 Comments-
Hi –
I have multiple sclerosis and need to use a scooter to get around. My wife and I did a land/sea Alaska cruise several years ago on Princess and they were great. A lift was used to get me on and off the very comfortable train, which took us from Anchorage to Denali Park. A two days later we continued on it to the dock in Whittier. The train was on one side of the dock and the ship on the other. The cruise, itself, was excellent and we had to accessibility problems.
Within the past several months we were on a Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Beyond! It’s a new ship and we had a wonderful accessible cabin. It’s larger than most ships we’ve been on but that was ok. I found it accessible but didn’t use the pools. I can get in many without needing to use a lift but, because of the pool layouts the only way in for me was the lift.
Important – You need an accessible cabin and the Edge had more with balconies than some cruise ships. But, they go fast so book early
Suggestion – Check the forum section of http://www.cruisecritic.com. It has forums for cruise lines, ships, and disabled cruising. Also, most lines have departments for passengers with a handicapped. Check their websites for that.
Finally, I’ve written about some of my cruises on http://www.themswire.com.
Hope this helps.
Ed
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@daniellevates any thoughts?
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@tabifolk sorry for delay! Unfortunately, I haven’t tried Celebrity yet so I wouldn’t know
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Hi @BurningLilacs78,
First, congrats on getting married! Are you planning to get married on the cruise? My husband and I did that and it was wonderful!
My first recommendation would be to find a travel agent/advisor that specializes in destination weddings AND accessible travel (there are several of us around). Especially if you are getting married on the ship – they will partner with the wedding coordinator and make this one of the easiest things you’ve ever had to plan. And it shouldn’t cost you anything extra.
Second, cruising is generally a very accessible way to travel, but each person’s needs are unique so some cruises may suit one person and not another. My husband (who is quadriplegic and uses a power wheelchair) and I just had a wonderful sailing to Alaska on the Celebrity Solstice, but I couldn’t pay him to get in a pool so for him, the spa pool wouldn’t matter. Deciding what ship is best for your BIL is really going to come down to what is most important for him. Which brings me to my third point…
Third, remember that when you are planning a wedding or a group trip (or both, you your case), you will never make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time. This is your wedding, and no one else’s. You are already thinking very inclusively about your trip and making sure that it will be accessible for everyone. I really applaud that. Since you have already decided on an ocean cruise to Alaska, you have selected an incredibly inclusive way of having your wedding. Now, just choose the cruise that is going to be the best for you and your fiancé. Let the travel agent work directly with your BIL to make sure that his needs are met on the trip. You can keep your focus on your future spouse!
And, FWIW, it doesn’t sound like the things you mentioned were deal breakers for your BIL. When traveling with disabilities, there are MANY things that can ruin a trip – or make it impossible to do at all. It sounds like your future in-laws are pretty savvy when it comes to cruising. It’s a shame they didn’t know the limitations of the spa before making their purchase, but the buffet table thing is easily overcome.
Best wishes on your upcoming wedding!
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I can’t speak to Celebrity but will second my recommendation for Princess. We have taken a number of cruises with them and have had very enjoyable experiences. We have tended to book our own excursions but will do the cruise line excursions sometimes if we feel we can navigate the terrain. We travel with a manual wheelchair. They do have excursions that are designated as wheelchair accessible but we’ve not tried those and I can’t say whether this means electric wheelchair or not. But as for the ships themselves, we have felt them to be quite accessible and the staff to be amazingly helpful. Unfortunately they do not always have accessibility for pools or hot tubs, or only have them in one or two spaces, but we also rarely use that. The Sun Princess did have access that we used. Hoping your trip is as great as ours have been!
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