Welcome to Accessible Cruising!

The goal of this blog is to share the best tips & tricks I can find, to make cruising (whether it's on a ship or a motorcycle) the best possible experience for people with mobility issues.

My husband and I are about to embark on our first cruise as bloggers. I have limited mobility, and have cruised several times on Royal Caribbean using a manual wheelchair & one short cruise with a rented scooter. This cruise will be a whole new experience - on Carnival using my own small, motorized 4 wheel travel scooter.

We are heading to the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Magic and have booked a Cloud 9 Interior Spa Room that is not modified. My scooter is 19" wide (at it's widest point) and I have been informed by Carnival that the access door to a "normal" inside cabin is 21" wide with no lip. There is a 4" lip into the bathroom and a 6" lip to access the shower. I have some mobility, so this should not be an issue for me. Once in the room, I should be able to stow the scooter & be able to get into the bathroom & shower - although I may need some assistance from my sweet hubby.  Upon request, Carnival is placing a shower chair in the stateroom for me, since I cannot stand for any length of time.

The Carnival Magic has a total of 85 cabins in the Cloud 9 Spa category on decks 11 & 12 - six of those are accessible. There are 40 cabins on deck 12 - 4 Interior and 36 Balcony - none of which are accessible. That leaves 45 cabins on Deck 11. There are 20 Interior cabins (2 are accessible), 4 Walkway View cabins (all 4 are accessible), 17 Balcony cabins (none are accessible) and 4 Spa Suite cabins (none are accessible).

I know...a LOT of details & numbers...but I wanted to paint an accurate picture, because I was REALLY hoping for a Cloud 9 Spa Balcony or Suite. I was unable to find an accessible Suite or Balcony cabin anywhere on the ship. There may be a reason for this...I'll do some research while I am onboard & get back to y'all on this.

Please check back in early February for pictures & videos of our first cruise as a blogger.  I'm looking forward to getting some information out to everyone regarding the best possible cruise experience for folks with mobility issues, based on first-hand experience from a mobility-challenged cruiser. And of course I can't wait to do LOTS of research on as many cruises as my budget will allow. :)

Until then...Here's to accessibility-filled dreams and cruise-filled experiences!