We enjoyed a 5-night cruise on the Carnival Triumph from the Port of New Orleans. We organized our trip to stay at WorldMark New Orleans before and after the cruise.

On the cruise, we booked a Standard Accessible Stateroom. Their standard staterooms seem to be larger than what we experienced on other cruise lines. The pictures do not adequately show the large extent of room we had. It was very spacious for our needs. There was not an automatic door entry into the stateroom which meant that I was dependent on others to gain entry and exit to and from the room. The bathroom was spacious and larger than other cruise ship bathrooms that I have experienced. The only issue was that the sink was very close to the shower, which meant that transfers onto the shower bench took more effort on our part. The toilet was not ADA height, which also was an inconvenience. We had a king sized bed, but there was little to no space on either side of the bed. So in our case, I had to transfer from my wheelchair to the foot of the bed and then crawl up, with much assistance, to the head of the bed. To get out of the bed, my caregiver had to grab my ankles and drag me down to the foot of the bed so I could then sit on the edge of the bed. The room had some other unique features. The couch was a daybed, allowing a bed for the caregiver. Underneath the couch, they had extension cords for wheelchair charger, CPAP, etc. Additional outlets had been added to the room. The safe was at wheelchair height and so was the desk.

Throughout our cruise we enjoyed several performances and great meals. We purchased an excursion from a third-party company in Cozumel, Mexico, www.accessiblecaribbeanvacations.com (This company caters to individuals in wheelchairs worldwide, www.sagetraveling.com) This allowed us to see the city via an accessible taxi. We went to “Discover Mexico” which offers a fantastic guided tour of Mayan history. We also went to a chocolate factory where we made a chocolate bar from scratch and used traditional methods by crushing the cocoa beans and mixing ingredients. Based on the country the passengers were from, the ingredients were different. For us, our goal was to meet United States Food & Drug Administration requirements upon re-entry. (For example, the U.S. version allows more sugar as compared with the Australian version.)

We enjoyed a great trip overall. Carnival Cruise Line caters to families and people that want to party! For those that don’t want to spend a lot of money on a cruise and need a larger stateroom, Carnival may meet your needs knowing that you will be with a much younger crowd.

Banner Photo Credit. Photo courtesy of Carnival.com