HOW ACCESSIBLE IS THE ODYSSEY OF THE SEAS?

Is Odyssey of the Seas a wheelchair friendly cruise ship?

We will explore this question over the next few posts. Let's start with the basics; the room, #7668!

First, I want to start out by saying that Kimberly and I had a wonderful time on our cruise aboard Odyssey of the Seas in October. We will always recommend cruising as an awesome way to vacation for those in a wheelchair. For this review we want to focus on Royal Caribbeans Odyssey of the Seas and its accessibility. We booked an accessible room with an ocean view balcony and we were extremely happy with it. There was plenty of space in the room and Kimberly could get on and off the balcony with only a little guidance. The bathroom was also nice and roomy. The only thing about the room that wasn't quite right was the door. The door was automatic and would open and close with a push of a button. The problem was that sometimes it wanted to close too soon and it had a lot of pressure behind it. We had to be careful it didn't close on Kimberly while she was entering or exiting the room. Then other times it seemed like it would stay open forever, which was kind of awkward. I never could figure out the pattern or what triggered it to shut quickly.

One thing that I noticed on this cruise was that they didn't have any of the special accommodations I had requested prior to the cruise. Royal Caribbean has you fill out a special needs form where you can tell them all about your special needs and what accommodations you will need. Usually, the requested items are waiting in the room for us. This would include distilled water, an extension cord, and a raised toilet seat. Our room attendant came by pretty quickly once the rooms were opened and when I asked about the items, it seemed like it was the first time he was hearing about them. He quickly got us what we needed and was very friendly about it; I just feel like the communication prior to us boarding wasn't there.

Prior to the cruise, I had asked if there was any way they could have one of the beds raised and I was told they could put a mattress topper on one. Unfortunately, that really wouldn't make a big difference, so I brought our yoga blocks that I use as bed risers. This definitely helped, but the bed was still lower than what I needed. So, when I saw our attendant later that second day, I asked if he could put another whole mattress on the bed. By that night, it had been done. So, if the guys at RC tell you one thing, just ask your attendant; you might get a different answer.

Overall, we were very happy with our accessible room on Odyssey of the Seas. Our next post will cover CocoCay and accessible excursions (or should I say, lack thereof ).