I spent abut 6 months in hospital after another, and I thought a cruise might be a good reward. Also I'm in a wheelchair. But watching an ancient rerun of "Sea Hunt", I got sea sick. I had to change the channel. So I'm wondering about how susceptible I am to seasickness. Strangely, I spent 4 years in the US Navy, but I never step foot on a ship. What about seasickness? How are cruises for the handicapped? On board should be OK, but what about in port?
I've seen a lot of people in wheelchairs on cruises. There are "handicap accessible" cabins on every ship but their numbers are limited.
Ships have elevators to get you to every deck but they tend to be crowded. A person in a wheelchair has to be somewhat aggressive to get on the elevators as people will step in front of you to get on. Also, you can seldom walk the entire length of the ship on one deck, so getting around involves traveling a way, then taking stairs or an elevator to a lower or high deck, walking a while more and then taking an elevator or stairs back up to the original deck. There are also quite often "lips" at the bottom of doors (to keep water out) and sometimes it's difficult to get a wheelchair over without help.
Seasickness? Just depends on the weather and your inner ear. The bigger the ship, the less movement. Some people have no trouble in the worst of seas; others are sicker than dogs the minute the ship leaves the dock. There is medicine for that; some can take it, some can't.
Ports: If the stop is a docked stop, it's just a matter of riding the elevator down to the embarkation deck and rolling off onto the pier. There are tours that advertise "handicapped accessible". Quite often, they're not really easily accessible. Port days are nice to stay on the ship; not much going on, but much quieter and less crowded. There's still lots of food and probably movies being shown. If it's a "tendering" port, it could be a problem getting a wheelchair down a gangplank onto a small tender, especially in high seas. The cruiselines shy away from opening themselves to liability by handling wheelchair-bound passengers in that case.
There are plenty of places to charge electric scooters and wheelchairs. In some accessible cabins, it's possible to keep scooters in the room. In others, they have to be kept in the hallway.
It just comes down to how much you want to accomplish on a cruise. If you would be greatly disappointed not to be able to do a lot of active shore excursions, then a cruise probably wouldn't be your best choice. But if you want to sit on deck with a drink in hand and admire the water and the passing islands, if you enjoy eating and meeting your fellow passengers, if you like to see shows and do a little gambling, if you enjoy sitting at a piano bar listing to music, then cruising would be your cup of tea.
Cruising can cost you as little as $100 a day. Where else can you get a room that's meticulously maintained, eat 12 times a day - LOL, see magic shows, stage shows, comedians, and have the world come to you for that little?
