Accessible Cruises
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Cruise lines and wheelchair accessibility
Cruise lines and wheelchair accessibility
My wife and I have done cruises to Alaska and the western Mediterranean since one of us has become wheelchair dependent. In both cases we traveled with Princess and the travel was very enjoyable, although we did use private tour guides at each port in the Mediterranean as the excursions offered by Princess which were interesting to us did not have wheelchair options. I am wondering whether anyone has found other destinations and cruise lines they would recommend for the wheelchair traveler. Thanks in advance!
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Kandl, I’m a wheelchair user and have used a Cunard Line Cruise ship and a P&O Cruise ship once and found both of those are excellent for wheelchair users (of course my arms got tired (as I prefer to use my manual chair rather than my power chair) because of the thick carpets😀). We cruised the Norwegian Fjords with Cunard for 7 nights with great success, my late husband and I don’t like dressing up so we were able to eat at the casual restaurants every evening. At the end of the cruise the Captain auctioned the trip log (which we thought was inspirational as I’m sure they raised money that way (it was for charity I’m pleased to say 😁). We disembarked only once as we didn’t take anyone to assist with my care (I’m the one in the wheelchair) so we decided to take an assistant with us when we did the Iberian Peninsula a couple of years later, it was a BRILLIANT cruise, I only got off in Gibraltar for an extremely joyous tour of the Peninsula. Hope this assists you and your wife
Thank you for your reply. It sounds like you both had great adventures!
Very curious about your experiences. One, how did you find a travel assistant and can you elaborate on those arrangements?
Two, it sounds like on both of the above trips, you mainly stayed on board and watched the scenery from the ships? Is this the case or did I misunderstand? Thank you
We didn’t feel confident in getting off on the shore excursions on the Norwegian Fjords trip as it was just my late husband and I but with the Iberian Peninsula trip I was able to go ashore in Gibraltar for the day with the companion I’d taken with us, the other ports that the ship docked at the companion went ashore and loved all the experiences 😀. I enjoyed seeing Gibraltar with her as we had a wonderful tour up the Rock to the Caves where the soldiers during WWII hid and did such a lot of damage to the Nazi ships and submarines from their hideout in the Rock. They have models in uniform with the canons they used and I wouldn’t like to be the person lighting the fuse as they had no idea if it would backfire or not (therefore creating more carnage to their own troops😣). We also enjoyed walking down the main street in Gibraltar where there was a sign saying Gum and Butts i.e. chewing gum and cigarette butts, which in some places blight the pavement 😠. They really anger the Spanish as they sell duty free fuel to all the tankers that sail through the Straits of Gibraltar and I couldn’t believe the number of ships waiting patiently out at sea, of course it does cost to come into the Harbour so they wait outside the Harbour walls until it is their turn for refueling😁. We both adored the Barbary Macaques and how they just have taken over Gibraltar as their own 😀. They do have a runway that cuts across the country and the road needs to be closed whenever a plane takes off or lands so it is a magical country to visit
My Husband and I have done both the western Mediterranean and Scandinavian cruises with Celebrity on the Edge Class ships. Currently I believe there are only 4 of those, but when we tried the other Celebrity ships that had been recently retrofitted, we were disappointed and could not get to several areas of the ship. The Edge Class ships are flawless. The only problem is how far in advance you have to book to get an accessible room. Highly recommend these ships. One note— they offer several accessible shore excursions. It has been our experience that most of them get canceled , presumably due to lack of participation, so we still book all of our own shore excursions.
Thanks for sharing of your experiences!
do you have a port that you prefer to leave from?
Ideally we like to be able to fly directly from the US into the an airport near the port (typically we fly Delta) so as to not risk missing things with a layover and so as to reduce the number of times there is a transfer to/from wheelchair. More broadly, we really are open to traveling anywhere “safe” and have no specific region or location other than not cruising the US as we’ve done, and continue to do, a lot of traveling in other ways there.
We are considering Holland American or doing another on Princess, which we’ve done twice before with wheelchair and both were great. We’ve also cruised with Viking to China and that was amazing, but that was before the wheelchair and they don’t seems to allow for wheelchair which, frankly, is quite disappointing, particularly given a big segment of their “target audience” seems to be people who are likely to have mobility concerns. It certainly made me rethink my impression of them.
While I have only done Caribbean cruises with them, for the ships themselves, I went on newer ships for Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Line and found both to be accessible! Royal is more affordable and has more options for destinations as well.
Much thanks!
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