Queen Mary 2

4 night cruise - accessible inside stateroom (cabin) 5013. The Queen Mary 2 is an amazing ship and the world's only ocean liner. I use a powered wheelchair (Invacare Fox) and was able to access virtually everywhere in my wheelchair, the exception being the outside bow deck area where the spare propellers are kept due to the high bulkhead. I have a low curb stepper fixed to the chair and needed this to get back inside through some of the doors in promenade deck 7. Everywhere inside the ship I found easy to navigate, including lifts, venues and restaurants. There are no automatic opening doors on the ship and this was a pain, particularly entering and exiting the accessible toilets. I was glad that paper towels were provided and not hand driers that leave you with wet legs. Notify Cunard if you need/want to stay in your wheelchair for meals and they will arrange a regular table location. The swimming pools have hoists but the hot tubs have steps to get access. The stateroom (cabin) 5013 was spacious with space to transfer from chair to bed with ease. I do not need a hoist but these can be pre booked. There was sufficient space to move around in the cabin and the wardrobe had a drop hanging rail. Sadly the electric power sockets are at the back of the dressing table, 2 UK and 2 US style, this meant trailing cables to charge the wheelchair unless it was parked next to the dressing table, blocking fridge and drawer access. The bathroom has level access but has a thick flexible lip to the shower area, not really roll in but it did have a fold down seat and handrail. Shower space was tight and you legs touch the shower curtain when using the chair. The shower head was in a riser rail and could be removed for use. Unfortunately the shelf for shower gel and shampoo was being you in the corner when using the chair. Folding handrails are in place for the toilet, which is not high level. Sadly the sink is not a rising level and the storage shelves are in the rear corner, but there is space around the sink. Overall I accepted that this ship and stateroom are over 20 years old and managed fine. Emergency cords were located above the bed and in the bathroom, and a telephone on the dressing table. The biggest issue for me was the lack of automatic or push button for openings and I generally needed help with these. I hope these will be added during the next big refit. I don't expect the QM2 to be brought up to the accessibility levels of newer ships such as the amazing cabins and public toilets on P&O's Iona but the doors world help dramatically. Despite the negatives I had a wonderful experience sailing on QM2 and would love to do so again. For those with medical diets the food, staff and safety precautions were excellent. I have Coeliac Disease, and severe fish and celery allergies. No problems whatsoever. P&O Iona could and should learn from QM2. I used CPS kCruise Parking Services) car parking and drove to the terminal where my luggage was unloaded by a porter and my car parked for me. The car was waiting on my return, at a different terminal to departure and only 50 or so meters away. As at departure a porter collected and loaded or luggage into the car, a excellent service.

I am mobility impaired and usually use a wheelchair and so a lot of this report relates to the accessibility aspect of our (my husband and I) two way Atlantic crossing on the QM2. We checked in about one hour early and that did not cause a problem. Embarkation at Southampton was easy and efficient. We had pre-booked parking and from arrival in our car to getting into our state room took about 40 minutes, the longest queue being security. We were directed to a special check-in area to one side of the terminal with low desks suitable for those in a wheelchair. Getting from quayside into the ship involves a lift and a bridge similar to that in airports with quite a few difficult to negotiate ramps. Staff (at both ends) on the way out seemed to have been instructed not to help those in a wheelchair manage the ramps and it was annoying to have to struggle to get the chair over the ramps with someone in uniform standing watching from a few feet away. Our cabin (6108 – not an accessible cabin) was larger than we had imagined. The shower / bathroom had a reasonably low step into it and the shower stool we had requested was already in the shower. We brought with us a couple of suction cup hand rails to affix to the shower walls (purchased on-line for under £10) and these worked very well. We stored our folding wheelchair (and our walker) out of the way adjacent to the window – it is an “18 inch” wheelchair and thus too wide to go through the cabin door. We did have the opportunity to see an accessible cabin on the same deck and this had a wide door, a wet room and a lot of floor space although a porthole window (we had a sheltered balcony). We will try to get one of these next time because of the extra space. Our cabin steward lent us a very large rubber floor / door wedge to hold the cabin door open whilst we negotiated entering and leaving– we will bring our own on any future voyages. There are numerous lifts throughout the ship (A and D are larger than B and C and there are also quite a number of smaller lifts that you have to use to go from Deck 3 to Deck 3 Lower. Most of the ship is disability accessible although some of the doors need holding open and there is one area on the very top to which a wheelchair cannot get. Immediately following any of the lectures, all of the lifts were very busy and it was difficult to get one with sufficient space left for me (in the smaller lifts I took up about half of the lift floor area). We found that the best way to go up was in fact to get in a lift going down and then come up again. The crew were always willing to offer help with carrying trays, opening doors or patiently standing to one side as we progressed down corridors (unlike some of our impatient fellow passengers who behaved in an insensitive and / or disability blind manner). We learnt where the best (marked) spots in the presentation venues were for wheelchairs. You should note that these places in Illuminations are very good but some of those in the Royal Court on the upper level can very poor with a restricted line of sight. It was disappointing that some of our able bodied fellow passengers were unable to read the signs indicating certain seats were reserved for those with mobility issues. We had no problems eating in the Britannia Court Restaurant, the waiters moved chairs out of the way and ensured I could easily get into a seat and also stored my wheelchair nearby if I chose not to sit in it during the meal. The same positive comments apply to all other eating venues. We disembarked in Brooklyn for a few hours, the ship arrived on time at 0600 and disembarkation started around 0730. It took us 40 minutes to get from our cabin to outside of the terminal (note that there are few facilities within the terminal and no WIFI – it is really a large shed used for arrivals and departures and other things). Before arrival in Southampton a note appeared in our State Room saying that we had been registered for wheelchair assistance on arrival – I am not sure if we did something to initiate this but it was very welcome and solved my worry about managing the wheelchair and our luggage out to curb side – it took only 15 minutes from being collected in the QM2 to leaving the car park. Overall I would say that staff and most of our fellow passengers did practically everything they could to minimise the challenges of caring for a companion in a wheelchair, often without being asked. In summary, we enjoyed our two way Atlantic crossing and would happily (and intend to) join the QM2 again. One just has to accept the very few negative aspects and enjoy the many positive ones.

SINCE BECOMING DISABLED I HAVE FOUND CUNARD CRUISES IDEAL AS THE BATHROOMS IN THEIR DEDICATED DISABLED CABINS ARE SUPERB AND PUT HOTELS TO SHAME. THERE ARE LOTS OF RAILS, INCLUDING DEVON RAILS FOR TOILET, AND A SEAT BUT NO STEP IN SHOWER. WITH LEVEL SURFACES, LIFTS AND HELPFUL CREW IT IS AN EXCELLENT HOLIDAY. THANKS TO CUNARD I HAVE, IN MY WHEELCHAIR, TOUCHED THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA AND ENJOYED CARMEN AT SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE.