Having travelled on a P & O ship last year, I was very dismayed to find an electric scooter being left in the corridor every evening. This, to me, is a H & S hazard, and in the case of an emergency, could prove very dangerous. The daily news sheet asked for such machines to be kept in the cabin (as did the pre-cruise info) but it was still there, night after night. If a couple both have wheelchairs or scooters, where will they keep them? The corridor is not the place, and I wouldn't imagine the cabin would be, either.

Not sure about the moral issues or rights and wrongs of P&O's but their website is quite clear so Mr & Mrs cox shouldn't feel too hard done by. "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."

Anyone disabled should try Royal Carribbean.They cater for the disabled from square one by providing over thirty adapted cabins.We sailed on Independence last year and it was wonderful.Common sense should be used regarding going on any excursions just the same as in the UK. M&B Wallace,Liverpool.

I think that Paul and Shiela were a couple whom we met on the Queen Victoria Geysers and Glaciers cruise in July (with a friend of theirs who was also in a wheelchair) and seemed to have no troubles. We had a long chat with them on the harbour side at Alesund and at other times on board. This is rediculous. Good luck to you both. We hope to meet you again on another cruise.

I agree it is discriminatory ,I too have complained to P&O about a similar issue ie.the shore excursions for the disabled they charge twice the price for those people who have much less choice than the able bodied and I suggested to be fair a pound on the price of everyone else's trip would be fairer but they would not consider it.It's about time the disabled were treated fairly

Like Mansfield, I have a disabled wife who, before we married, travelled alone around the world on her scooter. Airlines were superb in transporting her and her scooter. We have since been on three cruises, MSC, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity X, and have found that, as long as you are sensible a full enjoyment of a cruise can be had. The rub is that I am fully mobile and able to carry out my official role of carer and that on board my wife could get about the ship on her scooter as well as the fully mobile. When we had to get ashore by tender, two hefty crew lifted my wife and scooter onto and off the tender, but as an example of common sense, we decided that an excursion to Petra was unwise for my wife . The situation IMHO for two disabled persons on wheelchairs is totally different; alone they MAY be able to get about the ship, but for any emergency they would have to call upon the use of at least two crew, who at this time would be extremely busy. One may not like to have one's activities limited by H&S or Insurance considerations, but this is the real world, where cruising is extremely cheap and very competitive at less than £90 pp pd and the cruise companies have to be VERY careful about not transgressing H&S etc to maintain their profits. I would humbly suggest that this couple swap their wheelchairs for scooters. My wife uses a model that folds up so that it can be carried in a car boot and the battery takes off and is dry. We have travelled the world on many airline and not one has refused to take the scooter. This would not overcome P&O's objection, but it would make their holiday travelling much much more enjoyable.

It is right to afford disabled persons every consideration. However, the difficulty arrises not so much on the ship as when they participate in excursions. I have been on a cruise when, despite being advised otherwise, a disabled person went on a 'Difficult going' excursion only to be 'rescued' by fellow passengers and literally carried back to the coach drop off point - The crew would or could not assist in such a way since they claimed that company and insurance considerations did not allow them to providing help that may not have a happy ending. I know this is regretable but until the policies are changed it is unfair that the onus is placed on other passengers; who in the case cited above had their whole [very expensive] trip spoiled. The disabled person in this case refused to heed the crew and insisted on her 'rights'