If you have been thinking of going on a cruise, but the question “how accessible are the ships?” is keeping you from taking the plunge and booking, then I hope this post can put your mind at ease, and answer that very question we have all had at one time!
I’ve only been on a cruise twice, and am booked for another in November. Carnival Cruise Line has been the only cruise line we have ever sailed and they have been amazingly accommodating each time! I do not have any experience with other cruise lines except Carnival so this post will be about the Carnival Liberty and how accessible she is!
This past October, my grandparents and I embarked on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas that was porting out of Port Canaveral in Orlando. My neany has been on I know 5 different Carnival Cruises, each time she has explored a whole new ship. For my second cruise in October, the Carnival Liberty was calling our name once again, and it didn’t disappoint. We booked the cruise while we were disembarking my first one in October of 2018, and so we had a full year and a half to plan. Needless to say however, we worried for nothing! Once we got on board, we immediately met with guest access on the first floor of the ship who went over all of our notes from previous calls to make sure they did not miss any important details such as: needing a fully accessible cabin since there is a huge difference between a “fully accessible” cabin and an “ambulatory” cabin, making sure our request for bottled water and whole milk was still okay since both of those items get put through my g-tube on a regular basis, as well as other notes that were before we boarded the ship.
After guest access went over the notes in their system, we were asked if handicap reserved seating was something we needed and due to my vision, and the fact that I use a manual wheelchair full time, we accepted. I’m not sure how handicap reserved seating works on other Carnival ships, but on the Carnival Liberty, handicap reserved seating is marked in the front of the each theatre (The Garden Atrium, and The Venetian Palace). After we went over a little more details, we went up to explore our cabin — and the balcony view is one I will never get tired of seeing! Our cabin was a fully accessible cabin, meaning that the door automatically opened and closed, there was no lisp or “hump” to get out onto the balcony, nor a lisp to get into the bathroom. There was a curbless shower, and handrails to help getting around the bathroom much easier for those who need a little extra assistance.
There are some areas on the Carnival Liberty however, that are not handicap accessible such as the mini-golf course, and some areas are only accessible by stairs. Carnival Cruise Line informed us of these areas by posting the non-accessible areas on their website, as well as on a questionnaire we received in our email before sailing. We typically stayed away from the non-accessible areas and mostly enjoyed ourselves on the lower part of the Lido deck whenever there wasn’t a show in each of the two theaters, or music in the Flowers lobby.
The staff on the Carnival Liberty are not only some of the nicest people I have ever met, they also take the initiative to remember you by name, whether they are your room stewart or your waiter/waitress in the main dining room, which is another place we found extremely accommodating! We rarely ate dinner on the Lido deck (except when we craved pizza at 3am) and instead, ate dinner every night in the Main Dining Room. Each night, we sat at the same table and had the same waiter, who was an amazing individual. In the MDR, if you are in a wheelchair, the staff pull a chair out for you so that your chair can fit under the table in a way that you, nor your chair, are cramped in a tight space. The same way goes for Sea day Brunch and breakfast.
On disembarkation day, and port days, certain elevators were closed for use. This means that there tends to be more chaos than usual. There were less elevators and a lot of individuals who could not use the stairs. The staff seemed overwhelmed with trying to direct so many people at once, but handled the situation with such professionalism and grace that showed that they were trying their best. When we asked where we were supposed to go to get off the ship, we were either directed personally, or told with a smile and kindness, which goes a long way, especially in hectic situations!
I have fell in love with cruising and could not believe how accommodating this particular ship was, especially since it is one of Carnival’s older fleets. The staff aboard this ship have went above and beyond for us to make sure we have an amazing experience, and we couldn’t thank them enough. Before my first cruise, we were extremely worried about going. Not because I was in a wheelchair, but because we were not sure just how accessible cruise ships were: looking online could only tell us so much. Once we experienced it for ourselves, we realized that we worried for nothing! We cannot wait to travel and cruise again (hopefully in November!) when the world is a safe place again!