Choosing the Best Cruise Line for Travelers with Disabilities

Going on a cruise is an excellent option for travelers because you get your accommodations, transportation, and multiple destinations all in one. However, if you are traveling with a person who has a disability, you will need to choose your cruise line carefully. Most cruise lines are ADA compliant. But a few cruise lines go above and beyond for any travelers with disabilities. Today, I am going to share one traveler’s experience on Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean’s ADA Spacious Balcony Room

Royal Caribbean offers ADA-compliant rooms on their ships. Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas has an amazing spacious balcony room. The layout of this room allows for plenty of space to move around in a wheelchair if needed. Above the nightstands on each side of the bed, there is an emergency push button.

One of the closets offers a pull-down bar, so travelers can reach their clothes from a wheelchair if necessary. The floor of the room is slanted to make it easier to wheel out to the balcony.

Entering the bathroom is simple too because there are no steps to deal with. The fold-down bench in the shower, plus a detachable showerhead, allows for a better showering experience. And the emergency pull cord in the bathroom ensures help is available if needed.

One Traveler’s Experience While Cruising with Royal Caribbean

The traveler I am sharing an experience about today was concerned about traveling with their G-tube. There were certain items, like drinking water and Ensure, they needed to have available for the duration of their time on the cruise. While they could have arranged to bring all those items on board on their own, that would have added to the amount of luggage they brought.

Instead, a simple request was sent to Royal Caribbean to determine the best way to handle this situation. Royal Caribbean really went above and beyond for this traveler by providing them with their Ensure and drinking water. This meant the traveler did not need to pack either of those items and did not need to worry about whether those items made it onto the ship.

Choosing the Best Cruise Line for Travelers with Disabilities

Now, I am not saying that Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line that offers these extras for travelers with disabilities. Most other cruise lines will do the same if they are asked. However, some cruise lines will make the entire experience seamless, while others may have you jumping through a few hoops to get the results you desire.

If you are looking for the best cruise line for travelers with disabilities, I recommend considering these things:

• Are accessible rooms available? A view of Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas ADA balcony room can be found here.

• Is the ship ADA accessible?

• Are there ramps and other accessible options at the ports of call? You can check out the accessibility of different ports in the Caribbean by visiting this blogger.

• Does the cruise ship offer support services to travelers with disabilities?

• Are accessible tours available at each destination? (These book quickly)

If you are traveling with a person with a disability, I recommend working with a travel advisor like myself. I can advocate for the traveler with a disability to ensure they have everything they need while they are on vacation. Click here to contact me today to get started with the vacation planning process.