If you don't
have good sea legs, beware. Because staterooms that are adapted
for wheelchair use tend to be more square in shape than regular
rooms, they are all situated at the bows and stern (at least on
the Magic), where they are easier to fit in. These are the parts
of the ship that move most. I wasn 't especially troubled, but
my wife had a bout of mal de mer one evening. If you need to make
a 'side transfer' to move from your wheelchair to sit on the toilet,
be sure to ask for details of your bathroom when you book. Every
adapted stateroom exists in left and right hand versions depending
on which side of the ship it is located. I was the wrong side
of the ship and had to remove my 'joystick' armrest to transfer.
Note also that housekeeping will be able to provide a bed-board
and second mattress if your bed is too low, raised toilet or shower
seats and other aids if you need them. Ask when you book, just
to be sure.
My cruise
(16th - 23rd December), was the first Magic cruise to dock at
St Maarten rather than tender in. I was therefore able to go ashore,
which was an unexpected bonus. Although you can see the town across
the bay from the dock, most people take a ferry across. This ferry
is not wheelchair accessible unless the chair and occupant can
be lifted up a three-foot flight of steps, then down six into
the boat. If, like me, you have a power chair or scooter and are
willing to take your chances on the highway, you can ride into
town. I would guess the ride to be just over a mile. Traffic isn't
too heavy of fast but you need to take care. A sidewalk is under
construction but not completed, so your companions would want
to take the ferry. From what I could tell as I rode past, there
won't be any dropped crossings anyway, so it will not be of any
use. I was told that a new bay-side walkway from the dock into
town is planned (someday). St Maarten has all the usual duty free
jewellery and tee-shirt shops, plus an open air market. The main
shopping street is partially closed to traffic and I had no trouble
riding up and down. Most of the shops have steps into them so
you will need a companion to shop for you. I didn't investigate
the beaches because my wheelchair and soft sand do not mix. There
was an ATM in the centre of town next to the pier, plus some (allegedly)
wheelchair accessible restrooms. I guess a manual chair user might
have been OK, but I couldn't close the door behind my electric
chair and had to ask someone to 'stand guard' to give me privacy.
Most of the restaurants that I checked out were upstairs or had
steps leading to them. The one right next to the pier though had
tables on the street and a good lunch menu.
Our next shore
trip was at St Thomas. A word of caution here. Although we docked
at the pier as expected, I was told that this is not always the
case. Because there are a limited number of 'slots' at the pier,
some cruise liners have no alternative but tender in. Most of
the year is no problem, but once in a while, at peak times, the
Magic fails to get a slot. The run up to Christmas and the New
Year is one of those peaks. I was able to get ashore but if you
use a wheelchair too, there is just a chance, a slim one maybe,
that you might not.
A couple of
days earlier, I had enquired of guest services about the availability
of shore trips for wheelchair users. I was told that nothing was
set up officially, but they would investigate with their shore
agents to see if anything could be set up. Chad, of the pursers'
office came up trumps. He managed to arrange a 'Round the Island'
tour for my wife and me, on a wheelchair adapted bus. Ours was
the first trip that had been officially arranged by Disney, though
I understand travellers on earlier cruises had made their own
private arrangements. The trip was not perfect - I would have
liked to get off the bus more often than the single time that
I was able to, but I can understand the driver's reluctance, considering
the time it took to load or unload me. I did get off though at
the top of the mountain, an obvious tourist spot with lots of
shops, a bar and an outside viewing platform. Too bad that the
viewing platform was down a flight of steps, so I only had a restricted
view through the windows of the bar. Chad told me that my trip
was a prototype, and that Disney intended to develop this ride
to the point where Disney organised shore trips for wheelchairs
would be regularly offered.
Just a few
yards from the dockside on St Thomas was a shopping mall. If you
aren't going on a bus trip, this is about as far as you will be
able to get in a wheelchair. I didn't spend much time looking
around, but concluded that broadly, the shops we similar to St
Maarten but without the charm.
Thirty-six
hours later we arrived at Castaway Cay. As we left the ship (mid
morning), we were met by people wrapped in 'Mickey' capes, getting
back on. It was our first taste of the colder weather that was
to come. The shower didn't last long, though it remained too chilly
for all but a few hardy souls to swim and sunbathe, though I did
see a full 'banana' being towed behind a speedboat later on. While
my wife read a book on a chilly, windy beach, I took a ride down
the cycle path to the end of the island and back. Once beyond
the adult beach, the path is just packed sand, though firm enough
for an electric wheelchair with large tyres. Its an OK ride if
you like scrub, more scrub and then even more scrub. Beware of
cyclists however. More than once, I had to remind them that they
were in the Bahamas and therefore riding on the wrong side of
the track! For those of you with someone able to push, there were
quite a few wheelchairs with oversize 'balloon' wheels available
to borrow that you could take onto the sand. The sand on the beaches
was however far to soft for my powerchair. If you want to use
a restroom, or buy a snack, do so before going down to the adult
only beach. Facilities down there are separated from the main
paved paths and roadways by twenty feet or so of soft sand.
St Maarten
and Castaway Cay are not US territories, so you have to pass through
US immigration both on the morning you arrive at St Thomas, and
again at Port Canaveral. For US citizens this process is painless
(just fill out a customs declaration on return to Port Canaveral).
This is not so for not US citizens like my wife and me from the
United Kingdom. We have to show up in person early in the morning
(6:30 am and 7am) collect our passports and report to immigration
on board. Now assume you are 'disabled' and need between an hour
and 75 minutes to get out of bed, dressed, leg braces strapped
on and boots laced. This means you have to set your alarm for
sometime between 4:30 and 5am, not something I expect to do, especially
on vacation.
One of the
joys of vacationing with Disney is that everyone is so friendly.
I was not surprised then when a fellow passenger on the cruise
approached me on deck on morning and asked me how I was enjoying
me trip. I told him about my unexpected trip ashore at St Maarten,
which had been an unexpected bonus and said that we were enjoying
the cruise very much, except for having to get up at the break
of dawn. He pressed me for details. I explained my problem regarding
getting up so early. I pointed out that had I not been able to
take a shore trip at St Thomas, I might have decided not to leave
the ship at all and that it wasn't worth while getting out of
bed at 5am just for the benefit of others (no-one can go ashore
until all non-US citizens have cleared immigration). I reassured
him that in all probability I would have got up rather than confine
everyone else to ship but that I might have been a little resentful.
Surprisingly he said he would do something about it, and I came
to suspect he was more than just a regular passenger. A couple
of days later we were eating at Palo's when he came over from
his table to ask us how we had gotten on. We explained that, on
his instructions the pursers' office had arranged an extension
for us with immigration on our return to Port Canaveral and we
now had an extra hour in bed. Curious as to his influence over
the crew, my wife asked him who he was. He introduced himself
as Matt Ouisnett (sp?), President of Disney Cruise Lines.
