Special Needs at Sea provides mobility services for thousands of travelers aboard Carnival Cruise Line ships each year!
Carnival Cruise Lines is like no other when it comes to delivering fun, memorable and affordable vacations to travelers. Onboard their “Fun Ships,” guests are treated to a variety of onboard entertainment, dining and other activity options while Carnival’s friendly and attentive hallmark staff attend to their needs. Carnival strives to ensure that guests with special needs and using motorized scooter rentals are also able to have a relaxing and enjoyable experience. As Carnival says, fun for all, all for fun!
With this mantra in mind, Carnival has made substantial modifications to enable travelers in wheelchairs, power scooter rentals and other mobility devices to move about their ships. Carnival Cruise ships have three types of staterooms on their handicap accessible cruises: (1) fully accessible, for guests with limited or no mobility and regularly use a wheelchair or electric wheelchair scooter; (2) modified cabins, for guests with limited mobility who use a wheelchair or electric scooter rental for distance; (3) standard cabins.
In the fully accessible and modified cabins, the closet rods, shelves, safe and desk are all lowered. Also, the bathrooms have grab bars, a fold-down shower seat, and an accessible lavatory. Exclusive to the fully accessible cabins, are a widened entry doorway and bathroom doorway, which are both 32″ in width. They also have a full turnaround space of approximately 60” x 60” in the cabin and bathroom. In the modified cabins, the cabin entry measures approximately 29″ while the cabin bathroom entry ranges from 22″ to 29″. Onboard the Carnival Ecstasy cruise ship and Carnival Fantasy ship, the bathrooms in the modified cabins have a lip ranging from 3.5″ to 8″; the fully accessible cabins have no lips and the modified cabins on the other ships have no lips either.
Most decks are accessible through automatic doors and all public rooms feature entrances with gradual inclines. Carnival Cruise special needs features also include accessible dining tables, accessible gaming tables, cruise transfers utilizing wheelchair accessible vehicles, boarding and departure assistance and accessible seating in their theatre.
For guests who are deaf or hard of hearing, closed-caption televisions are available in all guest rooms. In-cabin alert systems that include a bed shaker, smoke alarm, and door alert are available upon request. In cabin telephones are equipped with an amplifier.
For guests who are blind or have low vision, the ships feature accessible elevators at each elevator bank with audible signals. Braille Signage is available onboard some ships. Braille and Large Print format is available with advance notice for the following documents: In-Cabin Directories, Cruise Ticket Contract, and Welcome Aboard Booklets. Carnival also provides audio format for Carnival Capers®, their daily newspaper, with advance notice.
Carnival welcomes children with special needs to participate in the following Carnival Youth Programs: Camp Carnival, Circle “C” and Club O2. Children with special needs have the option to move down one age group if this will help them better adapt to the environment. And parents of children with special needs will be provided with a beeper or phone (if applicable.
Carnival does not provide wheelchairs or handicap scooters rentals for their guests. For wheelchair rentals, electric scooter rentals or other special needs equipment rentals, contact Special Needs Group at (800) 513-4515. To learn more about each of the ship’s accessibility, email Carnival’s Accessibility Department at specialneeds@carnival.com.