It should be 100% on the cruise line to inform guests booking a handicapped accessible cabin of their company’s paperwork requirements. Further, selling handicapped cabins without the required safety equipment for that cabin onboard should be a violation of safety regulations.
In the UK, you can be disabled even if you don't need a wheelchair, scooter or any other walking aid. I am disabled because I have Type 2 Diabetes, but I wouldn't book a disabled cabin.
fortunately the US has ADA requirements enforceable by law.. unfortunately most other countries don't..AND no cruise ships are flagged in the US. Therefore no ADA to be enforced. I just watched Ben and David take their family (including 2 boys in wheelchairs) on a Mediterranean cruise. They detailed the challenges of wheelchairs in Europe, the transportation, the attractions, and just getting around. They were on Celebrity and gave everything on the ship, except the infinity balcony 5 out of 5. So apparently Celebrity does disability correctly.
I sail with a scooter and I have never seen or filled out an "evacuation form", but always complete a medical form. If you are approved for and book an accessible cabin then it should automatically be approved for a evac chair and not make us fill out more information.
The US forms want a weight with you on the scooter, and I think the height! I’ve always wonder who are they carrying on the scooters, and then I saw one for a gangway, in canada. Heavy scooter plus a good size guy being carried by at least crew. I have been asked by the room steward if I’ll need assistance in an emergency. My response is always how many flights of stairs between me and where I need to go, as one flight up is about my limit! I did come back from a tour only to find they were working on the electric for the elevators. They offered to carry me up the 3-4 flights of stairs, which I declined saying it isn’t an emergency and it’s a hassle for the crew. They told me I could order room service to anywhere on the ship so they did that for me and I ate in the area where we boarded at that port. In all of that no one ever mentioned there was a special chair that they’d be using, not that it mattered.
This is ludicrous. Next thing you know, they will be asking that a form be filled out to reserve a seat in the lifeboat if the ship needs to be evacuated..... "I'm sorry miss but I see that we don't have a form for you to evacuate the ship - please step aside so we can seat the others. I hope you are a strong swimmer." There should be at lease 2 evacuation seats for every accessible stateroom on the ship and a number of additional seats in reserve. If a cruise line is willing to spend BILLIONS on a new cruise ship, they can spend the money needed to equip the ship for its handicapped passengers.
Boo on Cunard, and P&O for cancelling their cruises, and then trying to withhold their deposit. What if the couple were cancelled at the cruise port? For the rest of us this would be bad, but for those who are handicapped travel arrangements can be way more trouble. If the cruise line sells a disabled cabin it should come with all necessary things required for the passenger, no questions asked. Even though I'm not disabled I wont be booking with these lines anytime soon.
Simply terrible management of the cruise lines. Managers and executives of the cruise lines need to be fired. All they need to do is buy more evacuation chairs. Just terrible. Lawsuits are needed now for this,
My US based travel agent was able to book Queen Mary for us, and I had to find another agent to book P&O, as she could not. On both Cunard & PO websites, there are forms, buried in the information pages about these special chairs for removing disable people from the ship in the emergency. It is a real black eye on Cunard & P&O to not have enough crew / special chairs for each mobility cabin.
Not all wheelchair users need an adapted cabin, some can manage in a mini suite or a suite. So some chairs will be allocated to those people. Clear notices for ALL people booked to inform them about those requirements.
@@barbaraauty9966Also not everyone that needs assistance is in a chair. I broke my ankles a few years ago (resulting in multiple surgeries) and while I’m fine walking on flat ground, I can’t climb stairs as my ankles don’t bend properly. I know a lot of seniors that use walkers but don’t need accessible rooms who would also need assistance with stairs. People need to stop thinking that the amount of aid a ship is expected to provide is limited to how many accessible rooms they have. It’s easy for there to be more people requiring aid than there are specialty rooms.
If the cruise line requires a document to be completed to book the handicap accessible cabin it should ask all the questions at once. There needs to be an acknowledgment that they received the document and another acknowledgment after review confirming the requested accessible cabin is confirmed, if additional information is needed or if the request is denied and why. All documentation, review and approval for denial should be completed at the time of booking and receipt of deposit. Ownership should then be on the cruise line to make sure they document the handicap person on the manifest for the specific ship and sail date. They could even set up a process to reconfirm the need at time of final payment which would also give the cruise line enough time to ensure that they are prepared.
Definitely on the cruise line. Why else would someone want an accessible cabin? They should give this couple a free cruise after all this. Have a great day Don. 🌞
The cruise line is totally responsible. They should have a least 1 evacuation chair per accessible room, plus a few extra chairs in case of more than one wheelchair user per room. The passenger deserved at the very least their full payment back. It’s very discriminatory. 😢😢😢
I remember a time earlier this century when the Canadian dollar was higher than the U.S. dollar. There are some stores other than Canadian Tire that take Canadian Tire money, and one of them had a sign in the window reminding people of this - pointing out that "right now, Canadian Tire money is worth more than the U.S. dollar!"
I've been cruising for @ 30 years, P&O and Cunard were often my go to companies, however, i suffered a stroke and lost the use off my legs, so a small scooter was required. Both of these companies are a pain in the arse to work with, they simply make bookings a cruise with them really difficult, to the point we never consider booking with them. They hate disabled people. Glad they did now, started sailing with RC, Celebrity and Princess, who also have red tape to complete, however isn't difficult and in my opinion provide a far better cruising experience.
I traveled on Princess 3 times with my Mom in a wheelchair and in handicap room. We had to fill out a mobility questionnaire form and that is all I had to do.
I could see a lawsuit being filed for this. They should refund their “nonrefundable deposit for this blatant act of discrimination. They should take this to the European court of human rights
❤Don this is 💯 the cruise lines responsibility. We can’t know about filing out a form that we have no way of knowing it even exists. Something is fishy here. Sounds like they may be doing what they’ve been doing with over bookings. Another way to get a premium for the cabin. It’s also starting to seem like the Druid lines do not want passengers who have disabilities. I want to cruise but I can not walk at the moment due to a femur break. They have so many regulations on chairs etc, that I’m out off from cruising. Hopefully I will be able to walk again. If not I fear my cruising days are over. I hope you are well and thank you for your enjoyable content. Hugs Denise❤
From the Cunard website: Any guest who is a full-or part-time wheelchair or mobility scooter must be registered for evacuation chair assistance. This should be declared at the time of booking and in the on board needs questionnaire so we can keep a record. Wheelchairs must be declared as soon as possible after booking via the on board needs questionnaire, or as soon as the need is known, otherwise your wheelchair will be denied boarding.
Thanks to you, Don and Tony. You saved us from being denied boarding on a Mississippi river cruise. We haven't cruised out of anywhere other than the States. But since my wife now relies on either a walker or collapsible wheelchair. We know to contact the cruise lines in advance. BUT, Yes, you need to follow up and make sure they (Cruise line) received you notice of sailing with a device, and it has been approved.
I would have thought that a ship would have as many evacuation chairs as they have accessible cabins. This is very worrying. Please let us know if you find out anything.
Hi.. p&o make you complete form on the cruise personaliser website. On this form is a box that you tick to say if you need an evacuation chair or not. This has always been the case and I have never known a separate to be required. Maybe this box was missed? Even so I would have thought it would be standard practice to have a evac chair for every accessible cabin.
The booking should boldly print that they need to contact the disability department to get the paperwork completed. They should give 100% refund! We had a back to back - for my mom a disability cabin- Port Canaveral - Caribbean with Royal Mariner- during the opening since the pandemic- they moved her cabin due to needed to block the cabin for new crew quarantine. When we returned to the ship after customs, came back to a balcony, not accessible, big distance from elevators, not near our cabin. They said no other cabins!! Told after they embarked, would get an accessible cabin. Nope!! Too small for her walker in the bathroom, could not fit a shower chair, etc! I had to be in her cabin 95% of the time to help her! Lucky she didn’t fall!! Did Royal care, that they broke the rules of the Disability Act?? Nope!! No guarantee to get your assigned cabin- must be on the fine print??
Definitely on the Cruiseline. I am having the same trouble with Holland America giving me one form after another saying the same thing. I scan to an email and send back as they keep claiming they don’t have it but it wasn’t returned as ‘unable to send’
Absolutely a massive issue regarding a person with disabilities. That issue is definitely the fault of the cruise line. They better straighten that out. I see so many disabled people on cruises or people who need the use of scooter or wheelchair's. Hope they fix this??? Best Jeff & Sandy Brooklyn NY
Looking more into it: One *assumes* that booking the special suite will automatically add the "wheelchair needed" flag. But what if it doesn't? Staff member reviewing reservations finds some abled bodied pax booked wheelchair suite and flags reservation as improper. Proper behaviour would be to move person and contact them. I have to assume that past a certain date, an accessible suite become available for anyone to book at which point the wheelchair check is no longer made and person assumed to be able bodied and no eva chair planned for them. So if that person actually shows up in wheelchair, then problem !!! In your example Don, you mentioned she booked through a travel agent. The travel agent should have known about whatever requierements for traveling with wheelchair.
If the passenger notifies the cruise line ahead of time regarding the need of wheelchair or scooter, it is absolutely their responsibility to make sure that they have the proper safety equipment on board.
I believe that the cruise line should be responsible to provide the traveler(s) all paperwork required to book a handicapped accessible cabin. The government overseeing this requirement should have written the needed forms into the legislation concerning the rule as well as the responsibility of the cruise line to provide them to the traveler(s).
At 01:44 you said they contacted their travel agent. I wonder if it's partially the agent's fault as well for not contacting the cruise about the persons' mobility problem. But even then, it's the ships fault. I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my mom who needed the disability able room. We had to send paperwork of her disability to them and proof in order to get that. I'm sure it's the same for other cruises as well. Otherwise everyone would try and book those rooms just for the increase of space.
I think the issue is w back office systems not being integrated. So the booking portal isn't linked with algorithm, which matches accessible cabins paired w evac chair inventory. It's like a real time inventory software but for cabins/passenger. Sounds like cruise line relies on manual processing of bookings and health and safety requirements. The two don't seem to cross. Backoffice systems are not integrated it seems.
I cruise exclusively on HAL. Every time I cruise, I have to fill out forms. They are sent to my TA, who sends them to me, and I fill them out and send it back to HAL. They acknowledge my needs.
If they have a travel agent/advisor and let them know, they can check with the cruiseline or they can also call the cruiseline themselves. The cruiseline should have this information accessible online also so that you can google what is required to book an accessible cabin if you have a walker, wheelchair and if you need to be counted for an evac chair. I just had to request a wheelchair be added to an invoice and also he needed to take his oxygen tank, they had an accessible cabin on Royal Carribean. It worked out but I had to keep checking with Royal Carribean to be sure that everything was set up right. One person could not go on the cruise due to illness so we will file the travel protection to get back his portion of the cruisefare, Royal Carribean is refundng the fees.Sorry to hear that happened to them twice.
The evac chairs should be standard equipment for accessible cabins and onboard whether they are needed for that particular cruise or not. Then this issue would never arise. ( they would also then have the chairs ready if someone is injured during the incident requiring evacuation who was fit when they boarded)
@princeofshadows2, you took the words right out of my mouth!! What if someone is injured during emergency evac? Then they might need that kind of chair!
We have an upcoming cruise in December and on our bookings for the 2 in our party that have mobility issues it states we require an Emergency Evacuation Chair. We are not in Accessible cabins and our booking agent asked these questions when we booked. We have also filled in the online required form. Many cruises that are not in Accessible cabins require assistance or an Evacuation Chair in the event of an emergency and if travelling with carer support not all cruisers in an Accessible cabin require an evacuation chair.
Well if they are cancelling a cruise last minute because they don’t have enough evacuation chairs to handle to match accessible rooms then they should refund the entire amount 🤷🏻♀️🤦♀️.
Why else would you book an accessible cabin?? Also, with that booking, they should be made aware of all policies and requirements the cruise line says are mandatory.
You are correct if they are having a reservation for a special cabin for handicaps, they should notify the customer of all documentation they need to fill out this common sense
Hi Don, we had a simular issue with MSC, we have been sailing with MSC for a while now, we are both Diamond members. My wife is partially sighted category handicapped in France at greater than 80%, thus myself as her carer receives normally a free carer passage. Well I myself I'm now have a disability a chronic back and neck fusion and heart failure, they now have said that I cannot be her carer, because I myself am disabled, we've now cancelled our MSC sailings - Keith
One more comment: if the booking system, upon selecting a acccessible suite, asked passengers "this suite is bigger and more comfortable, but is reserved for people with wheelchairs,. Do you require a wheelchair?", then unscrupulous passengers would just answer "yes" in order to get that suite. So I could see some logic behind requiring more "paperwork" to qualify you as wheelchair bound because of all that it triggers behind the scenes in terms of provisioning the evac chair etc.
Looked up evacuation chair on cruise ships. They are designed to go on stairs. Makes sense as the elevators could stop working . Would make sense to have one for every handycapped room BUT maybe if not enough staff trained on the use of one perhaps that could cancel some handicapped passengers.
My husband is renting a scooter and for the first time ..we have an accessible cabin. I reached out to Royal to see if we needed some kind of medical documentation...and apparently no. But your video.. made me think that I better have hard copy of their notification that proof was not necessary. I am not going to ask about emergency chair.. cause..don't want to look under that rock. It is totally on the cruise line to make sure people know what is required
What is an evacuation chair???????? If an accessible room is booked, the guest has to acknowledge the use. It should automatically take them to the form to fill out. If not, how are people suppose to know they have to fill out more forms???
Why isn't there an evacuation chair for each ADA cabin? I can understand if a regular cabin is booked then perhaps additional forms may be required if a passenger uses a scooter, etc. All ADA cabins should be automatically covered though.
Even for the US it's very difficult to work with people they have set aside for the disabled. You have to go through them for excursions and so on. Problem is their response time is very very slow. By the time they get to you everything is full. So Mom and I just wing it and hope for the best.😊
Don there IS a separate form which is required by Carnival UK to ensure they have an evacuation chair and the crew to operate them, for everyone who needs one. Cruise agents have to ensure everyone who needs to fills out those forms knows they have to do so and it should be returned to the cruise line by the agent. If a booking is direct, then everyone should be asked to fill in the form at booking if they use any sort of walking aids. Clear notifications about this are sent to ALL.passemgers booked and even someone who uses a walking stick has to fill out the form and the cruise line has to have a member of staff one to one to accompany each person who needs a stick in the case of an evacuation. It is apparently because of maritime legislation. If an evacuation chair is not available, someone who needs one cannot be booked on a cruise. Not everyone with a wheelchair needs an adapted cabin, but can book a mini suite or a suite. Problems have been encountered a fair bit with P&O as they have cut staff numbers more than Princess and Cunard - they no longer do evening turndowns for instance, using some cabin staff for other duties at that time.
We travel with a walker that doubles as a wheelchair as well, and we have never been asked for a second form. On all of these trips, we have received an acknowledgment back from the cruise lines (NCL and Carny) stating that they know we need an accessible cabin and that we have a walker. This includes cruises out of Italy, Hawaii and the United States so maybe this is just a UK thing?
I'm another one who feels that it's completely up to the cruise line to make sure that they provide everything that the handicapped passengers need so that there's no problems when it comes to boarding time. I can understand having a no refund deposit if the passenger cancels but to me when the cruise line cancels they're just stealing the deposits from the passengers. Maybe if they do that to enough handicapped passengers that they might be able to get a class action lawsuit if they have something like that in their country. Plus it's not very customer relationship friendly which it could actually make people choose another cruise line. I'm sure that most people don't like seeing handicapped people being taken advantage of.
You would think booking an accessible cable should automatically trigger the evac form as a requirement. This is a business process issue and it's on management
Absolutely they should refund that deposit!! Although I only travel carnival /US, I do have my own mobility scooter, but I know that fully accessible does not require me to use a wheelchair to qualify for that cabin. There are many disabilities that can qualify. So I understand them needing to specify the guest's reasoning for booking that type cabin, but the cruise line should be following up in advance for BOTH their sakes.
If someone at Cunard cancelled their reservation but didn't contact them, this is despicable. They were lucky to ask travel agent to check their reservation so they found out ahead of time instead of at the cruise port on day of departure. And unless you are booking last minute, a cruise line should make arrangements to have these chairs loaded on the ship to match how many have booked it. The fact that that staff member cancelled the reservation means the staff member knew the person would need an evac wheel chair which was not available for some reason. But not contacting the passengers is despicabe.
Discrimination at its worse. I don't know what anti Discrimination laws are in the UK but this would be illegal practice in Australia. Company policies cannot override laws.
Hi Don I think for these handicap people you should talk directly to the cruise line customer service rep who is actually in charge of this stuff,then there is no confusion,and get the person who is helping you with form to be accountable for this evac chair.this on line filling out forms is garbage,I never do anything that is important on line stuff,talk to people get your answer then.
