Your questions answered

Mobility - Fly-cruises

If you registered your wheelchair with us, you will automatically be sent a mobility questionnaire requesting details of your wheelchair and any flight requests. Please note that we are unable to allocate any flight seats in advance, although any requests will be taken into consideration. Most UK airports are able to provide assistance from the check-in desk to your flight.

Mobility - Cabins

Each of the ships in our fleet has a number of wheelchair accessible cabins. The positions of these cabins are indicated on the deck plans which can be found in the back of our current brochure. All of our wheelchair accessible cabins feature wide doorways into the cabin and bathroom, as well as sufficient floor space for wheelchair manoeuvrability. All wheelchair accessible balcony cabins feature ramped access to the balcony. The bathroom in all of these cabins is a wetroom style shower room with a flush threshold into the cabin and grab rails for shower and toilet.

Are you able to provide wheelchairs for passenger use?

We have a number of wheelchairs on board each of our ships, however, these are for medical emergency use only and can not be allocated to passengers for day-to-day use.

Mobility - Booking your cruise

In order to receive the best possible service and advice, please contact our Reservations Centre on 0845 3 555 333, or contact an ABTA registered travel agent or cruise specialist. We require all passengers bringing a wheelchair and/or scooter to travel with a personal assistant / travelling companion in order to assist in any day-to-day tasks and in moving around the ship, as a ship is not always the easiest environment for using a wheelchair and/or scooter.

When booking your cruise, you will be asked if you have any mobility or requirements. Please note that we are unable to provide wheelchairs for passenger use, as all ship’s wheelchairs are for emergency use only. For this reason, we will require any passengers who will need the use of a wheelchair and/or scooter during the cruise to supply their own. If you require the use of a wheelchair and/or scooter in order to move around your cabin, you will need to book a wheelchair accessible cabin. You can book a non-adapted cabin if you have some independent mobility and do not use your wheelchair and/or scooter full time. Please note that our non-adapted cabins have narrower doorways and raised thresholds to the bathroom/shower room,and are not suitable for full time wheelchair use.

If you have any other special requests or requirements, please notify us at the time of booking and we will do our very best to fulfil them, but please be aware that we may not able to cater for all requests.

If you have advised us that you have a mobility requirement, a questionnaire will automatically be sent to you, which you must complete and return at your earliest convenience. The questionnaire will include questions on your type of wheelchair and/or scooter use along with weights and dimensions. Once returned, our Mobility Team will check all details to ensure that the cabin booked is suitable for your requirements. Should our Mobility Team find any potential issues that may impact on the enjoyment of your holiday, you will be contacted for further advice.

Mobility - Southampton cruise terminals

When cruising from Southampton, the effortless experience of your P&O Cruises holiday starts before you have even reached the ship. You can rest assured that all of the cruise terminals used by P&O Cruises in Southampton are fully accessible for passengers using wheelchairs. All Southampton terminals have a dedicated check-in desk and accessible toilet facilities, with the majority of cruise terminals featuring lifts and high-level linked walkways to the ships, including P&O Cruises’ very own Mayflower Terminal.

If you are bringing a wheelchair and/or scooter on board with you, you must notify us at the time of booking. We will then be able to ensure that our dedicated Mobility Assistance Team will be on hand to offer boarding assistance should you require it.

We can also offer assistance for passengers who are not bringing a wheelchair and/or scooter, but may need wheelchair assistance in order to board the ship. If you do require boarding assistance, please call our Reservations Team on 0845 3 555 333 to register you request. This will help us to ensure that we have adequate staff available on the day in order to keep check-in times to a minimum.

Mobility - Shore excursions

We will send you a shore excursion brochure around 8-10 weeks before your cruise departure date. The brochure descriptions set out to offer practical advice based on our operating experience. We strongly recommend that you read the brochure descriptions in order to make sure that your chosen excursions are suitable for your individual personal requirements.

If you have registered with us that you are a full time wheelchair and/or scooter user, you will also be sent a separate guide, approximately 4-6 weeks before your cruise, detailing access at the various ports of call, as well as information regarding fully accessible vehicles where available. If you are a full time wheelchair and/or scooter user and require further information about going ashore, please contact our Shore Mobility Advisor.

Are passengers who are bringing wheelchairs and/or scooters on board able to travel alone?

As a ship is not always the easiest environment for using a wheelchair and/or scooter, we require all passengers who are bringing a wheelchair and/or scooter on board to travel with a personal assistant / travelling companion. Although our crew are always happy to help, they are unable to assist you in moving around the ship, or in any other day-to-day tasks.

Are wheelchair users able to travel in a non-adapted cabin?

Our non-adapted cabins are not suitable for full time wheelchair and/or scooter users due to their narrow doorways and raised bathroom threshold. If you are do not use your wheelchair full time and are able to negotiate the cabin without it, you will be able to travel in one of our non-adapted cabins, but please note that you will need to bring a collapsible wheelchair and/or scooter which must be stored in your cabin when not in use.

Do you provide storage for wheelchairs, scooters or mobility aids?

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide storage for wheelchairs, scooters and other mobility aids. These must be stored in your cabin when not in use.

I’m not fully mobile - is a cruise for me?

You will be pleased to know that all of the ships in our fleet cater for passengers bringing wheelchairs and/or scooters. With lifts and wheelchair accessible routes to the vast majority of public areas on board, as well as a number of staterooms adapted for wheelchair and/or scooter users, including wide doorways and bathrooms featuring wheel-in showers, we aim to make your stay as relaxing and comfortable as possible.

Please note that on board we are unable to provide wheelchairs and/or scooters, walking frames, or other mobility aids for passenger use. Before making a booking, please familiarise yourself with clause 9 of the Booking Conditions. Please be aware that a ship is not always the easiest environment for using a wheelchair. Although our crew are always very helpful, they are unable to assist in moving you around the ship, or in any personal day-to-day tasks. For this reason, we require passengers who use a wheelchair to be accompanied by a personal assistant/travelling companion to provide these services.

Standard staterooms (i.e. not adapted) are not accessible for full-time wheelchair users because their doorways are not wide enough for most wheelchairs to pass through and the bathrooms have raised thresholds. Part-time wheelchair users who wish to travel in a standard stateroom must bring a collapsible wheelchair and negotiate the stateroom without assistance from the ship’s crew. For the safety of the ship and everyone on board, all wheelchairs and other aids to mobility must be stored inside your stateroom at night and when you are not actually using them.

Mobility - Going ashore

Due to the extreme tidal nature and the gangway configurations required to cope with large varying height differences between the quay and the gun-port doors, there is a strong chance that full and/or part wheelchair users may not be able to go ashore in ports including, but not limited too; Bilbao, Brest, La Coruna, Le Havre, Le Verdon, La Rochelle, Lisbon, Zeebrugge, Canary Island ports, Hamburg, Boston, Halifax, Portland, Quebec, Darwin, San Francisco & Mumbai. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause but we are sure that you will appreciate that this is in the interest of your safety. We would advise you to contact us to discuss your requirements if you are considering travelling to these destinations.

At ports where the ship is unable to dock at the quayside and where conditions permit, passengers are taken ashore by the ship’s launches (also known as tenders). Every effort will be made to offer access to the shore by the ship’s launches, but you must have some independent mobility in order to step in and out of the launch. For Health and Safety reasons, our crew are unable to lift passengers into and out of the launches. If no individual part of your wheelchair weighs more than 23kgs when disassembled, our crew will be able to transfer it to the launch as appropriate. You or your travelling companion will be responsible for assembling and disassembling your wheelchair, although if requested, our crew will be able to assist you where safe and practical to do so.

Occasionally, at certain terminals at which the ship berths there are specific access issues and we aim to provide information wherever possible in advance of the cruise.