I'll be taking my daughter and 13 yr old grandson on an RCCL Western Caribbean cruise leaving Miami in Jan. 2009. Can anyone provide information on the following: is wheelchair accessible transport easy to find from airport to hotel and hotel to port?; can anyone recommend a good wheelchair accessible hotel in Miami?; we'll be staying in cabin 1628 on the Freedom of the Seas, is anyone familiar with that cabin?; will this be a good ship for my grandson?; are there any excursions for wheelchair users in Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Cozumel and Georgetown, Cayman Island?--if not, where would be the best and safest place for me to shop? I know this is a lot of questions, but would really appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

Although I can't answer your questions, I'd suggest that you check out the diabled cruising section of the message boards at www.cruisecritic.com. Good luck!

If the list of land cruises is available on RCCL website on your itinerary, check if any of them have the wheelchair sign.

If not, you can search by destination, they have sample tours usually provided in each port.

I can't help you with much, but I'll tell you a couple of things that I do know. In the Cayman Islands, all ships must tender, so it's unlikely you will be able to leave the ship unless the Freedom of the Seas has a wheelchair-accessible tender (possible but I'm not sure).

You'll be able to get to the Ocho Rios shopping center from the ship easily enough, but I'm not sure if any of the excursions there will be suitable for you. You can't get to Dunn's River Falls in a wheelchair, for example.

Sorry I can't help you more, but I think you really need to do some serious planning. Nothing is simple to arrange when you have special needs, including airport transportation, so you definitely need to plan these details in advance. I don't think you'll be able to use SuperShuttle in Miami, though if you can walk a little, you can probably do it. If you are completely confined to the wheelchair, then you'll need to arrange some more specialized transportation. You still have time, but try to get everything locked down by early December.

There are enough cruise passengers in wheelchairs that companies exist that cater to their needs, but I don't know much about these companies personally.

Doug: I am suprised to see the EDITOR label next to your name; to work as editor for such a strong advocate of independent travel as FODOR's you came off quite discouraging to the OP. Your advice to so do "some serious planning" is so condescending...hello? isn't that what he/she is doing by posting such detailed questions? Sorry about being so frank, but it is a forum...

I have cruised numerous times with a wheelchair-bound companion and we always have such a great time! Our experience is that every shuttle/taxi service always seems to have a vehicle/van suited specifically for wheelchair-bound passengers. A hotel can help you with this request, which brings me to the question of hotel. What is your budget? The ADA enforces handicap access and most hotels accomodate these needs; very few, but some have been "grandfathered" and may not have to comply with ADA. Strongly advice you repost with hotel budget info. Cruisecritic.com is an awesome recommendation.

I do agree that the Grand Cayman transfer to land is not an easy one; the employees will typically carry the wheelchair down the ladder. Wait for the last tender and take your time. Once at the island(s), there are typically local taxis, vans, etc... offering to take you for rides. There are always somebody who comes up with an accesible vehicle/van. You may want to negotiate a rate in advance for a ride around, if that is what you would like to do. Cozumel has fantastic shopping by the port. If you see something you like buy it early in the morning. Come the afternoon, prices go up as merchants know cruisers will be leaving and be pressured to buy something and more willing to pay higher prices. I found Cozumel's streets and shopping areas to be very wheelchair-friendly.

RCCL's ships overall have great accesibilty and so does Carnival for that matter. I'll be able to tell your about Holland America's accesibility next month!

Have the absolute best time ever!

I'm not trying to discourage the poster. I just want to be realistic. Traveling in a wheelchair takes a bit more advance planning than traveling without. It's not been my experience that the Caribbean is particularly wheelchair-friendly, which is why I advocate doing some advance research and making some plans.

I stumbled across a couple of sites when researching my upcoming journey and immediately thought of this post. Hopefully you can get some advice here:

http://www.flyingwheelstravel.com/

or http://access-able.com/graphical_index.html

or http://www.disabilitytravel.com/

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

(For some reason, when I preview my post the links are looking really weird. I'm not sure why. Hopefully they will work out for you.)

P.S. -- Doug, I think it is commendable that you posted a realistic response. That is ever so much more helpful (IMO) than a pie-in-the-sky, everything is going to work out answer! It seems that travel comes with built-in stumbling blocks and when a traveler has special needs removing (or being prepared for) as many potential problems as possible in advance makes the journey so much more pleasant.

You've gotten some great websites to check out for the information you need. Remember, ADA requirements are US regulations only. My handicapped parents enjoyed cruises very much, but didn't venture off the ship in many of the non US ports. This did not deter them from cruising extensively.

It is VERY, VERY obvious that the OP does not need a reality check; he/she already knows that there ARE difficulties. THAT IS WHY HE/SHE POSTED and asked very specific questions. To answer back to "better research this because it is difficult" is such a lame answer. DUH!

I posted from personal experience; beats pie-in-the-sky anyday! It also makes me the ONLY post with a REALISTIC answer. Thank you.

lcricha-- have an awesome time!

An important question is - is the person using w/c able to stand or walk at all? That makes a huge difference. Is it a manual or electric w/c?

If person is able to stand or walk a few steps and uses a manual chair, then transportation and folding up wheelchair into vehicle becomes much easier.

We did excursion at Grand Caymen and ship was able to assist w/c user onto tender. However, the excursion we took involved transport in old inaccessible mini-buses.

If w/c user is in chair 100% of time, I am a little concerned about 3 people sharing a cabin, unless it is a very large one. There is hardly room for 3 people to walk in most cabins, much less wheel. And storage of the chair may also be an issue.

Unfortunately, I do not have any first hand knowledge of any of the other ports, but as a rehab RN when you are doing your research my suggestion is not to ask if a place is w/c accessible - people say stupid things like "Yes, there are only a few steps". Ask - are there any stairs at all, inside or out. If you are going to someplace inside, like restaurant, ask if bathrooms are on same level as main restaurant - and do they involve any stairs.

You sound like a nice grandparent and I hope you have a nice trip.

My sister & I took our mother on an RCCL cruise to Alaska when she was 92! Mother could walk a little but very slowly and not long distances. First we made arrangements thru the airline, wheelchair in Houston to plane, in Chicago and then in Vancouver from plane to Hotel. Next we did a tour of Victoria Island thru RCCL and they had a wheelchair waiting at hotel for all day usage. Next boarded ship, she walked out of hotel tobus in front with help from hotel. At the cruise terminal there was a wheelchair waiting and used it until we boarded when RCCL provided one of theirs for our use on the ship. It stayed in room with us the enire trip. We never had to tender but they had an elevator sort of thing that took Mom off the ship while in the wheelchair. RCCL took excellent care of her. She would let us push her in the wheelchairto dinner, but left it at the entrance and wanted to walk to the table. Her dream was to go to Alaska before she died and because of the wonderful people at the airlines and RCCL she got her dream. We went in July of 98 and she passed in Feb.99. Check with airline and RCCL.