Cabin Review

Accessible Family Inside cabin 10153. This room provided ample storage space for the belongings of three passengers, a collapsible wheelchair and a mobility scooter. The closet was accessible for a person seated in a wheelchair and the rack could move up or down as needed. As the third person in the cabin, I opted not to actually pull out the convertible queen-sized sofa-bed in order to conserve floor-space. I was very comfortable and simply put sheets and a silk sleeping bag on the couch and used the pillows and blankets provided.

The room's flat-screen TV was mounted on an adjustable arm so that it could be angled in such a way that the occupants could see it from bed and the person on the couch could see its reflection in the mirror on the wall. Clever design!

The bathroom's size was typical for an accessible cabin and had some of the extra features such as an adjustable mirror and safety handles. The zero-entry shower drains did a terrific job keeping the floor dry which was initially a great concern. One additional improvement could be extra hooks for towels and clothing. The room-steward tended to forget that the handles were for the purpose of supporting the weight of a disabled person. We would always find towels hanging on these which made them unstable for my mom to support herself. It was hard to find a place to hang up our used face-cloths and towels for re-use because though there appeared to be many towel racks, these were not good places to put wet towels.

My mom commented that the door was not wide enough to easily make the turn into the cabin from the hallway using her scooter and that because there was no automatic door opener, she needed help to get in by herself. Luckily, there was always a friendly room-steward to assist.

I found that the lighting in the room was very dim and maybe my mom was particularly demanding but it seemed that every time I got comfortable, she would need me to turn on or turn off a light that she could not control easily from her bed. In an eventual technology upgrade, voice-controlled smart lights or perhaps a hand-held remote with dimmable bulbs would be my suggestion.