Help with a strange situation please

[Tanner]

We are able bodied and have travelled on Royal several times.  We booked an accessible balcony room on an upcoming sailing as my wife will be coming off of a surgery and may require a wheel chair OR if recovery progresses well enough maybe only crutches.  

All I know is that if she does not require a rented wheel chair we do not want to take up an accessible room.  But we likely won't know until a couple weeks before sailing.  Does anyone have any similar experiences or know what happens if we try to give up the accessible room, such as what type of room will we get, is there any price reductions/increases we may face??

Thanks for any advice 

 

[Jamesszy94]

14 minutes ago, Tanner said:

We are able bodied and have travelled on Royal several times.  We booked an accessible balcony room on an upcoming sailing as my wife will be coming off of a surgery and may require a wheel chair OR if recovery progresses well enough maybe only crutches.  

All I know is that if she does not require a rented wheel chair we do not want to take up an accessible room.  But we likely won't know until a couple weeks before sailing.  Does anyone have any similar experiences or know what happens if we try to give up the accessible room, such as what type of room will we get, is there any price reductions/increases we may face??

Thanks for any advice 

 

I'm not an expert or anything, but your best bet is to probably call/email Royal Caribbean and explain the situation to them and see what they say, or wait until you get on the ship and go to Guest Services and see if there's any unoccupied rooms they can swap you to? 

[WAYNO]

First of all, this is only my experience, and my opinion...

I have pretty severe arthritis.  I have some not-so-good days, and some better days.  I don't know when or why some days are so totally different than other days.   I don't use a wheelchair or scooter, but I have to be deliberate with every step I take.  On my last Navigator cruise, I asked for a cabin 'closer'  to an elevator, and explained the reason.  The rep put us in an accessible cabin.  When I attempted to argue out of it, he insisted and said that's exactly what accessible rooms are for. 

And once in the cabin, although I did not need the extra room, I surely appreciated the absence of thresholds to step over. 

 

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I agree with @WAYNO.  Keep the room.  Even if your wife is fully ambulatory, she will still be limited in how far she can hobble.  Staying closer to the elevators will be a blessing.  Don’t worry about Royal “taking the room away”.  It won’t happen.

[Tanner]

50 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I agree with @WAYNO.  Keep the room.  Even if your wife is fully ambulatory, she will still be limited in how far she can hobble.  Staying closer to the elevators will be a blessing.  Don’t worry about Royal “taking the room away”.  It won’t happen.

Thank you.  I do want her to be comfortable.  We just both cringe at being able to "walk" into the room and hope no one is missing a sailing because of us.

[ScottD]

I think you should take the room and not feel guilty...just because she may not be in a wheelchair doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to be in a more accessible room to make her walk to and from the elevators a little easier. She will still, at least, require a little assistance getting around or not able to walk long distances in one shot. Go for it, enjoy the extra room and the lack of steps to get around the room..even the one getting IN the room, which I have tripped over a few times myself!   

[Ditchdoc]

Too many IFs or MAYBEs ..... communication is hard .... Contacting RC, explaining, hoping that one of a hundred 'cruise specialist' trying to manage tens of thousands of rooms gets their notes right and its understood by whoever and risking the loss of the room when you may need it ..... nah .... I would not try to be accommodating, though it is a nice gesture. Keep the room. There are several on a ship. If RC really needs one, they will figure out how to make it work.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

[tingtang]

10 hours ago, Tanner said:

Thank you.  I do want her to be comfortable.  We just both cringe at being able to "walk" into the room and hope no one is missing a sailing because of us.

Thank you for those unselfish thoughts.  Refreshing!  

[smokeybandit]

I don't think that it's strange. You booked the room because there's a chance you need an accessible room.

Seems more than logical to hedge your bets on ensuring your cruise is as enjoyable as possible.

 

[Sharla]

Plenty of people that can walk need accessible rooms. This is not something you should worry about. No one will really even know from the outside that it is an accessible room unless they are really looking at your door and/or peering into your room.

"Accessible" does not just mean "wheelchair" and there are definitely plenty of reasons people need those rooms.

IMO you're using it correctly. You did not book that room just for a bigger room. That is selfish. That's not what you did. Happy sailing, guilt free!

[Fuzzywuzzy]

On 3/6/2024 at 7:01 PM, Tanner said:

We are able bodied and have travelled on Royal several times.  We booked an accessible balcony room on an upcoming sailing as my wife will be coming off of a surgery and may require a wheel chair OR if recovery progresses well enough maybe only crutches.  

All I know is that if she does not require a rented wheel chair we do not want to take up an accessible room.  But we likely won't know until a couple weeks before sailing.  Does anyone have any similar experiences or know what happens if we try to give up the accessible room, such as what type of room will we get, is there any price reductions/increases we may face??

Thanks for any advice 

 

I admire your honesty and forethought. I've seen too many jerks on other sites offering "cruise hacks" suggesting that healthy able bodied people book an accessible cabin strictly to get a larger room at no extra cost. I'd go to sea with you anytime.