Experience More of Summer With the Right Power Mobility Equipment
Summer has a way of filling the calendar. Neighborhood barbecues. Farmers markets.
Cruises can be a great way to travel when walking long distances has become difficult. Once you’re onboard, your hotel, restaurants, entertainment, and transportation to the next destination are all in one place.
But cruise ships are also big.
Getting from your stateroom to breakfast, heading to the theater, exploring the pool deck, and walking through a port can add up to a surprising amount of distance in a single day. If mobility is already a concern, bringing a scooter may mean the difference between carefully rationing your energy and actually enjoying everything you planned your vacation around.
So, should you take your mobility scooter on a cruise?
For many travelers, the answer is yes. But there are a few things worth figuring out before you head to the terminal.
It’s easy to underestimate the size of a modern cruise ship.
Even if you’re comfortable walking around your house or through a grocery store, a cruise can involve much longer distances. Your cabin could be several decks and hundreds of feet away from the restaurant where you’re having dinner. Then you may want to see a show at the opposite end of the ship afterward.
And that’s before you ever get off the ship.
A mobility scooter lets you save your energy for the experiences you actually want to have. You might still walk when you’re comfortable doing so, but you aren’t forced to make every activity dependent on how far away it is.
That can make a cruise feel much more like a vacation.
Before bringing a scooter, check your cruise line’s requirements and the dimensions of your stateroom door.
Cruise lines generally require mobility scooters to be stored inside your cabin rather than in hallways, where they could interfere with emergency access.
For example, Royal Caribbean says mobility scooters and other assistive devices must be stored and charged in the guest’s stateroom. Its standard stateroom doors are at least 23 inches wide, while accessible stateroom doors are at least 32 inches wide.
Carnival has similar requirements. Its standard and ambulatory-accessible stateroom entry doors are approximately 22 inches wide, and larger scooters may require a fully accessible cabin. Carnival specifically advises guests traveling with scooters to make sure the device will fit their reserved stateroom.
This is one reason a compact or travel scooter can be particularly useful on a cruise.
If you’re shopping specifically with travel in mind, we have many options to choose from that are designed to be more manageable when transportation and storage space matter.
Before booking, know your scooter’s:
Then contact the cruise line and confirm its current requirements for your specific ship and stateroom.
This is worth doing even if you’ve cruised with a scooter before. Ships and cabins aren’t identical, and accessibility requirements can vary.
Carnival, for example, says scooters that cannot fit safely inside the reserved stateroom may not be permitted onboard.Â
A five-minute check before your trip can prevent a very unpleasant surprise at the cruise terminal.
Your scooter isn’t going to be very helpful on day four if the battery isn’t charged.
Cruise lines generally require scooters to be charged inside the stateroom, so think about where the scooter will sit and how you’ll access the charger.
It’s also a good idea to start each morning with a full charge, especially on port days.
A day ashore can include a long trip down the pier, sightseeing, shopping, an excursion and another trip back to the ship. That’s exactly the kind of day when you don’t want to start wondering how much battery you have left.
For many travelers, the biggest benefit of bringing a scooter isn’t actually onboard the ship.
It’s what happens when the ship docks.
Ports can involve long piers, large cruise terminals and considerable distances before you even reach the town or transportation area. Once you’re there, you may want to explore shops, restaurants and attractions for several hours.
A scooter can turn that from an exhausting day into one of the highlights of your trip.
But accessibility varies considerably from one destination to another.
Cobblestone streets, curbs, steep hills, narrow sidewalks and older buildings can all affect where you can comfortably travel. Before booking an excursion, tell the operator that you’ll be using a mobility scooter and provide its dimensions if requested.
This is one of the most important things to check when choosing your itinerary.
Not every cruise ship pulls directly up to a dock. At some destinations, the ship anchors offshore and passengers travel to land aboard smaller boats known as tenders.
That can create limitations for scooters.
Royal Caribbean, for example, notes that power wheelchairs and mobility scooters generally cannot be taken aboard tenders unless roll-on capability is available.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring your scooter. It simply means you should look at your itinerary ahead of time.
If there’s a port you’ve been especially excited to explore, find out whether the ship is expected to dock or tender and what accessible transportation is available.
The biggest scooter isn’t always the best scooter for vacation.
A large mobility scooter can offer excellent comfort and range at home, but cruise travel introduces tight spaces, elevators, cabin doors and transportation to and from the ship.
That’s where a more compact scooter can have an advantage.
Some mobility scooters are designed specifically with portability in mind and can be broken down or folded for easier transportation.
If you’re flying to your cruise departure city, portability becomes even more important because you’ll need to consider both airline and cruise-line requirements.
Sometimes people carefully plan how they’ll use a scooter onboard and forget about everything that happens before embarkation.
How are you getting to the port?
If you’re driving, will the scooter fit comfortably in your vehicle?
If you’re flying, have you checked your airline’s mobility-device and battery requirements?
If you’re taking a hotel shuttle, can it accommodate your scooter?
Think through the entire trip:
Home → airport or car → hotel → cruise terminal → ship → ports → ship → trip home.
A scooter that works well through that entire chain will make traveling much easier.
If you don’t normally use a scooter at home, buying one just for a vacation may not make sense.
Renting can be a practical option when you’re cruising, traveling, recovering from surgery or simply expecting to do significantly more walking than usual.
A scooter rental can also give you a chance to see how much difference power mobility makes during a trip before deciding whether you’d benefit from owning one long term.
At Access Medical Equipment, we can help you think through how you’ll be traveling, what kind of scooter makes sense and whether renting or purchasing is the better fit.
Bringing a mobility scooter on a cruise isn’t about limiting what you can do.
It’s usually about doing more.
Instead of skipping dinner because the restaurant is too far from your cabin, you can go.
Instead of watching everyone else explore the port while you stay near the ship, you may be able to join them.
Instead of spending the afternoon recovering from everything you did that morning, you can save your energy for the things you actually enjoy.
If you’re planning an upcoming cruise, you’re welcome to visit our Seattle showroom or Renton showroom before your trip. We can help you look at scooter size, portability and other practical considerations that matter when you’re traveling.
And if you only need a scooter for your vacation, you can reserve a mobility scooter rental online and have one less thing to worry about before you set sail.
Summer has a way of filling the calendar. Neighborhood barbecues. Farmers markets.
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