Thread: Princess Cruises Special Needs Programs

Tahitian Princess




Operator................Princess Cruises
Phone...................800-421-0522
Phone2..................310-553-1770

The Tahitian Princess began her career in 2002. It is a smaller ship than most of he Princess fleet. It has 5 designated accessible cabins, 2 mini-suites, 2 outside and 1 inside. The cabin numbers are; 4052, 4056, 4035, 8044 and 8046. The doors are all 33" wide, there is no sill on the entry door but the bathroom door has a ramped sill. The bathroom has a roll in shower with grab bars, hand held shower head and adjustable fold down seat. The toilet is 18" high with grab bars. There is knee clearance under the sink and a distress alarm if the need arises.

All elevators have audio deck indicators and Braille numbers and service dogs are permitted, however it is the responsibility for the passenger to make any arrangements necessary for entry of the animal into foreign ports.

They have an abundant supply of "all-in-one" alert kits including telephone amplifiers, visual smoke detectors, door knocker sensors, text telephones and other aids for guests with hearing impairments. Please contact the reservations department to arrange theses facilities.

Island Princess




Operator................Princess Cruises
Phone...................800-421-0522
Phone2..................305-553-1770

The Island Princess is a new ship in 2002. There are 19 accessible cabins in a variety of categories. Cabins P506, P512, P516 and P535 are inside cabins. Cabins E502, E504, E501, E503,E505, E506 and E507 are ocean view (possibly obstructed view). Cabins C618, C620, C627, C633, B618, B620, B627 and B633 all have balconies. The doors are all 33" wide, there is no sill on the entry door but the bathroom door has a ramped sill. The bathroom has a roll in shower with grab bars, hand held shower head and adjustable fold down seat. The toilet is 18" high with grab bars. There is knee clearance under the sink and a distress alarm if the need arises.

All elevators have audio deck indicators and Braille numbers and service dogs are permitted, however it is the responsibility for the passenger to make any arrangements necessary for entry of the animal into foreign ports.

They have an abundant supply of "all-in-one" alert kits including telephone amplifiers, visual smoke detectors, door knocker sensors, text telephones and other aids for guests with hearing impairments. Please contact the reservations department to arrange theses facilities.

A lot of though has gone into make their ships easily acce

Grand Princess




Operator................Princess Cruises
Phone...................800-421-0522
Phone2..................310-553-1770

The Grand Princess was built in 1998 and has 26 accessible cabins. They are cabin numbers; Lido Deck L248, L252 - Emerald Deck E716, E717, E301, E302, E303, E304 - Caribe Deck C248, C252, C301, C302, C303, C304 - Baja Deck B248, B252, B301, B302, B303, B304 - Aloha Deck A248, A252, A301, A302, A303, A304. The staterooms range in size from 233-312 square feet. Both the cabin and bathroom doors are 35" wide and the bathroom threshold is ramped. The bathrooms have roll-in showers with seats, hand held showers and grab bars. The toilets are 20" high and have grab bars. As of 2002 the pool is equipped with a lift for mobility impaired passengers.

All decks are accessible as are the public restrooms which have distress alarms. The elevators have Braille numbers on all decks and the floor indicator is audio. Service dogs are permitted however it is the passengers responsibility to make prior arrangements for all ports. Animals may not be allowed to disembark.

They have an abundant supply of "all-in-one" alert kits including telephone amplifiers, visual smoke detectors, door knocker sensors, text telephones and other aids for guests with hearing impairments. Please contact the reservations department to arrange theses facilities.

I have pictures of Cabin B303 on the Caribbean Princess in a Special Needs Cabin. While my DH is not in a wheelchair, we did need this cabin as the walkways in the other cabins were too small for him to use his cane at night without his leg brace. Also at the time I wish I had thought of documenting the cabin for research purposes but didn’t, so I hope the few pictures I have here will help. This is the only Special needs cabin we have stayed in as my DH always feels there is someone out there more in need of those cabins, Holland America has plenty of room to walk with a cane in their balcony cabins. My DH has not been on any other cruiselines besides HAL & Princess.
I am available to answer any questions you might have thru email. Ziggysmoney@yahoo.com


Cabin bed was lower to the floor for wheelchair access but was not too low to make it uncomfortable to others. There is lots of space on both sides of this king bed for a wheelchair to comfortably fit. Night stand drawers were also lower, wider and easy glide open and closing.



There was also plenty of entry space for a wheelchair. Including a lower peep hole on the cabin door. Plenty of drawers and closet space!

We were most impressed with the Bathroom in this cabin! Ample moving around space, hand rails everywhere, 2 emergency pull cords, one in the shower and one next to the toilet, (funny story was my DH kept accidentally pulling the cord in the shower when he first pulled the shower curtain closed, the phone would ring immediately asking if assistance was required, he must have pulled that cord by mistake at least 8 times and never did the ship fail to call the cabin immediately!) There is no lip around the shower, and believe it or not, none was needed! The grates surrounded the shower and kept the water from traveling beyond them, we were very impressed with this! Also the floors were not slippery when wet, a major plus for my DH! There is also a sturdy pull down seat on the wall, and the shower head is removeable with lots of reach.











Lots of leg room under the sink and perfect height for a wheel chaired person to use!

Balcony access is a sturdy small metal ramp in the cabin and on the balcony; again I wish I had taken a picture of this. This balcony is one of the smaller balconies. This cabin is on the Baja deck, but appeared to have enough room to enjoy in a wheelchair.











This view shows the lower decks have much larger balconies, and it is my understanding to 2 floors below us are also special needs cabins.

The ship info, apart from the personal experiences posted by members of this site come direct from the company website and Hotmail.com and will be updated as and when refurbishments etc are made.

Its wonderful that all this information is made available to the public. I have to mention that I've read about the electric wheelchairs tearing down the hallways, but never have I witnessed this on a Princess ship are the hallways? wider?

Haven't been on Princess, But have been on Celebrity and Carnival with hubby in wheelchair and handicap rooms. Had needed ammenities to his type of handicap and had no problems, I assume most ships now have special provisions for the individual's needs. On second thought, the only problem we had on Carnival was the emergency button over the bed was so accessable, my hubby bumped it 3 times in the night, got medical responses all 3 times (quite embarrassing) until we found out why we kept having our night visitors.