Carnival Freedom Review

Not So Wheelchair Friendly

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Freedom
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kaycee59
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jun 2016

My mom and I went on this cruise with my daughter and her husband. My daughter is in her mid-20's and in a wheelchair. So first, I want to write about her experiences. She found it difficult to navigate around the ship in the wheelchair. On our way to breakfast, the hallways were full of cleaning supplies and towels, and it was very hard to get down the hallways. But the very worst problem was getting on and off the ship when we were in port. The gangway was very steep. My son-in-law tried to take her down going backwards, since he was afraid what would happen if he was behind her pushing her. But even going backwards, it was too steep, and the chair knocked him down. He got a very nasty bruise. The staff didn't help them out. Normally the staff is very friendly and helpful. I can only think that they might have been afraid of liability. We saw another man struggling in a wheelchair, but at least his was electronic. My daughter was so disturbed about what happened to her (and her husband) that she wouldn't get off at any other ports.

On the first port where she did get off (Nassau), it was a long long walk in the heat to the taxis. And there was no real organization to getting a taxi. The man that was somewhat in charge had my daughter wait in the street (on the side) while he moved the taxi to get to her, and she almost got hit by a bus there. It was just chaotic. Then on the way back to the ship, one of the wheels on her wheelchair broke. Carnival was nice enough to loan her another wheelchair for the rest of the trip, but as I mentioned earlier, she didn't get off the ship again. I did talk to guest services to see if there was a safer gangway to get off the ship for people in wheelchairs, but she told me that was the one that they used for people in wheelchairs. My daughter also found it very difficult to go through the food lines on the LIDO deck. A couple times, one of the wait staff would accompany her thru the line, and that was nice.

My daughter was in a handicap room, and it wasn't bad. Bathroom was nice and roomy. The room was just crowded, and there was no chair or couch for sitting. And very little storage or closet space. But again, the bathroom was very roomy.

Cabin Review

Cabin Handicap

I plan to upload a video on YouTube of our room. We had a "guarantee" room and ended up with an interior handicap room. The room was nice enough. We needed more closet space. The bathroom was very roomy. Great for someone in a wheelchair.

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