The Traveling Wheelchair

– June 2009 visit.
- July 2011 Addendum (see below)

350 Quaker Road
North Falmouth, MA 02556
Phone: 508 540-9400
http://www.seacrest-resort.com/

In June 2009, my friends and I headed to Sea Crest Ocean Resort in North Falmouth to visit my Mom, Aunt Nancy and good friend Kim. They made reservations for a two night ‘get-a-way’ and invited Jamie & Crew and Kenny & Company to visit for the day!

Sea Crest Ocean Resort is absolutely beautiful! It’s situated on a private beach with soft white sand on Nantucket Sound and located right next to Old Silver Beach my favorite Cape Cod Beach. The resort is partially wheelchair accessible and easy to wheel around with only a few obstacles YET it does NOT have a wheelchair accessible room with a ‘roll-in-shower’; therefore it is NOT accessible for us wheelers who can ONLY shower in a roll-in-shower.

There are plenty of handicap parking spaces in the large parking lot close to the entrances at the main building and two guest room buildings; all buildings are connected and easy to access for there is a wide glass enclosed walkway. The main entry door to the lobby is not automatic so my friends opened it for me. The lobby is spacious and easy to maneuver my wheelchair around. The customer service counter where you register is not wheelchair accessible for it is way too high. The concierge counter is not accessible either for it is again too high.

Located right off the lobby is a Piano Bar and Lounge with a big beautiful piano. This area is not accessible for there are two steps leading to it. Even if you could access this lounge, the bar is too high and not accessible. All the meeting rooms, banquet rooms and the main dining room are spacious and wheelchair accessible. The tables in the dining room are all accessible and all of a good height.

The restrooms located off the lobby are wheelchair accessible and  ADA compliant except the pipes under the accessible sink are not covered which is ADA required.

The Sea Crest Ocean Resort has 250 Guest Rooms. Only 3 guest rooms are wheelchair accessible. The wheelchair accessible guest rooms are standard rooms located in the main building of the hotel. The standard rooms do not have a patio or ocean view. Even though there is access to all the other guest rooms, NONE of the other guest rooms are wheelchair accessible for they all have entry doors and bathroom doors that are too narrow to fit a wheelchair.

The 3 wheelchair accessible guest rooms feature a wider entry door; wider bathroom door; large bathroom; an accessible sink; the pipes under the accessible sink are NOT covered as is ADA required; a bathtub with a chair for a disabled person to sit on; safety grab bars located on the side and rear wall of the toilet and wall inside the tub. The bar to hang your clothes on in the closet of the wheelchair accessible rooms is NOT accessible.

None of the 3 wheelchair accessible guest rooms have a roll-in-shower. I find this very disappointing for many wheelers need a guest room with a roll-in-shower because transferring to a chair in a seat in a bathtub is NOT safe for many of us!!

We continued on our way to the guest room my mom, aunt and Kim were staying. On our way, we saw a beautiful spacious courtyard that is easy to get into as the deck leading to this courtyard has a sloped walkway and a wide entrance. Inside the courtyard are plenty of picnic tables but NONE  are wheelchair accessible for the side benches are permanently mounted to the table and do not move out.

My mom, aunt and Kim were staying in 2 adjoining oceanfront guest rooms that overlooked the private beach; their guest rooms had two entry doors; one front entry door from an inside hall and one rear door leading to their patio. Sadly, neither door was wide enough to fit Jamie nor my wheelchair for it was way too narrow. We couldn’t even access their patio for it had a 3 inch lip!

If we were able to access their room, the beds are set much too close together for a wheelchair and there isn’t a lot of room to wheel around in so a person in a wheelchair would have a hard time wheeling in these rooms. Plus the bathroom door is too narrow to fit a wheelchair. Jamie and I were able to sit outside in front of their patio on a brand new vinyl/wood/no maintenance deck that is installed throughout the entire rear deck area of the hotel. I really enjoyed spending some time with Jamie!

I brought my Beach Wheelchair so I also enjoyed spending some time on the beach with my mom, aunt, Kim, Ric, Amanda and Justin. The wheelchair access to the beach is located on the far end where there is a sandy slope that is easy to wheel my beachchair on and off the beach. A standard chair would have a difficult time wheeling on this sand. Sea Crest Ocean Resort does not have any loaner beach wheelchairs available so Jamie, Beth and Jen enjoyed the sunshine while seated closeby on the deck by the ocean front patio.

We got our lunch from Oscars, a snack bar located on the deck by the outdoor pool and Cabana bar. Oscars is wheelchair accessible for the double entry doors open wide. The cashier counter is NOT accessible for it is a bit too high.

The outdoor Cabana bar is NOT wheelchair accessible for it is way too high to reach. Yet most of the tables located in this area are all wheelchair accessible and of a good height.

Beware of the Seagulls for they fly above and land to get grab food right out of your hand. And when you leave the beach, they take over the lounge chairs on the beach!

While we were here we checked out the outdoor pool. The deck surrounding it is wide enough to fit a wheelchair; there is no handicap accessible ramp or lift to help me enter this pool :<(

To access the large room where the indoor pool is located a nice accessible ramp; but the door is complicated to open so an attendant helped us open it; he placed his finger in a hole while he opened up the door at the same time; this is hard to do while seated in a wheelchair. It’s a nice ramp but a very poor design for opening the door. 

The indoor pool is NOT wheelchair accessible either for it doesn’t have a ramp or a handicap lift for a disabled person to use to access the pool.

The sauna and shower is NOT wheelchair accessible for they are located upstairs with no elevator or ramp to this area. There is a rest room located in the inside pool area that is spacious, wheelchair and ADA compliant, except the sink has a long front piece of wood that prevents my wheelchair from wheeling under it and the pipes under the sink are not covered.

My mom, aunt and Kim told me the view of the sunset here gets FIVE STARS for accessibility for you can see it so well!! Kim took this great picture.

Kenny & Company and Jamie & Crew give the Sea Crest Ocean Front Resort ZERO STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn all Five Stars, ideally they would need to install an automatic entrance door to their lobby; lower the customer service and concierge countertop; replace the 2 steps to the Piano bar and lounge with a sloped walkway; cover the pipes under the sink in the restrooms located off the lobby; cover the pipes under the accessible sink in the 3 wheelchair accessible guest rooms; place an accessible sink in the restroom of the indoor pool area; lower the cashier countertop at Oscars; lower a section of the outdoor Cabana bar; provide access via elevator to the sauna and shower room in the indoor pool area; install a handicap lift at both indoor and outdoor pool; and most importantly *** replace the bathtub in at least one of the three wheelchair accessible guest room with a roll-in-shower so there is at least one guest room that is wheelchair accessible to physically disabled persons who can only shower safely in a roll-in-shower. It would be great to extend the wooden ramp to the ocean so people in standard wheelchairs or mothers wheeling baby carriages can easily access the shoreline! It would be a PLUS ++ if they provided a loaner beach wheelchair and converted one of the ocean view guest rooms with a patio to a wheelchair accessible guest room that has a roll-in-shower so they too could opt to enjoy the beautiful ocean veiw from their room!!

JULY 2011 – ADDENDUM:

The Seacrest Resort at Old Silver Beach  underwent $15 million of major renovations which triggered the ADA. The new owners installed a roll-in-shower in some guest rooms and took 2 sets of rooms in Oceanfront and make them ADA compliant with a roll in shower in one of the two bathrooms.

My family friends and I stayed at the resort and reviewed it in July 2011. You can view pictures below. We were very pleased with the many improvemets yet disappointed the swimming pools were NOT accessible nor did the hotel have a loaner beach wheelchair. I broght my own but most hotel guests will not own a beach wheelchair.

Based on our review we give Seacrest Beach Reosrt FOUR STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the Fifth Star they would need to install a wheelchair accessible lift into the swimming pools and have available a beach wheelchair for hotel guests to use on the beach! The hotel staff, guest services and food were great!