The Fun Ship: Part Three/Onboard

Cruising is a favorite means of travel for people with disabilities due to the relative ease of the experience. Your hotel room travels with you, and meals are easily found and abundant. I’ve listed below seven accessibility issues to consider as you book your next cruise.

Water Areas The Fantasy boasts 4 hot tubs, one large pool, 3 water slides, and a splash and play toddler area. However, it cannot boast that it offers a transfer lift at any of these stations at the time of this post. Sadly, if you cannot perform your own transfer or be lifted by another individual, you will be unable to access the water areas. Hopefully this oversight will be corrected soon and newer ships will include pool accessibility as part of their original design.

Dining Both Fantasy dining rooms are located on the Atlantic Deck and have multilevel floor plans. Ramp access is available to make all tables accessible for wheelchair use. Breakfast and dinner are served in the formal dining rooms with buffet dining available on the Lido Deck for all 3 meals. Pizza and ice cream are offered 24 hours a day. Room service is also provided and complimentary with room fare.

Muster Stations Every cruise departing from the United States is required to complete an emergency evacuation drill prior to leaving the port. Carnival Cruise Line refers to this as the Muster Station drill. Your assigned muster station is located on your Sail and Sign card, and is determined by your room location. Guests requiring special assistance are required to report to the muster station during the drill but are asked to remain in the gathering spot when the other passengers practice lining up for the life boats. The instructor assured us that we would receive assistance accessing the life boats from the special needs crew during an actual evacuation. I strongly prefer to never have the opportunity to review their proficiency at evacuating passengers with mobility impairments.

Medical Center Each Carnival Cruise is equipped with basic medical facilities. They are staffed by a licensed physician, although licensure may not be held in the United States and hours are limited. The medical center is designed to serve as a triage unit for more serious illnesses and a comfort station for basic needs such motion sickness and first aid care. If you require more major medical care, you will be required to depart the ship at the next port to seek treatment inland.

Bathrooms Accessible public restrooms can be found on three of the seven decks with public gathering spaces; the Atlantic, Promenade, and Lido. Restroom locations as well as accessible paths on each deck can be found on the ship’s ADA deck plan.

Elevators While the ship can be maneuvered with relative ease, wait times at the elevators can get to be a bit annoying depending upon the time of day. As you can see from the deck plan, the Atlantic Deck cannot be traveled from the forward to the aft of the ship due to the location of the dining rooms. Therefore, you want to make sure you travel on an elevator that puts you on the correct end of the ship if your destination is located on the Atlantic Deck. Also, I know that staterooms on higher decks are more popular and thus more expensive. However, I personally think it is easiest to access the elevators from the Riviera Deck, the lowest deck, since you will be able to board an empty elevator.

Sun Deck In addition to lack of access to water areas, the Sun Deck is unavailable to people using wheelchairs. The Sun Deck contains a jogging track and miniature golf course, but it does not contain an elevator. The Carnival Fantasy launched in 1990, the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted, and is one of the oldest ships still in the Carnival fleet. Hopefully newer ship designs eliminate this lack of access.

Carnival provides additional information about its special needs policies as well as further contact information on its website.

ACCESSIBILITY WINS: Relative ease of travel to multiple destinations; general ability to maneuver the ship

ROOM TO IMPROVE: Lift availabilty for pools and hot tubs; access to the sports deck

Previous posts in this series: The Fun Ship: Part One/Cabin Features; The Fun Ship: Part Two/Bahamas Ports of Call