DISABLED CRUISING
TRAVEL TIP
Look for ships that offer free 24-hour room service, which is a real boon for those times when passengers don’t want to have to dress and go down to the main restaurant or buffet alternative for a meal.
The position of cabins is another key element and should be checked for closeness to lifts, restaurants and other main public areas. The itinerary also needs to be studied for any ports that use a tender, which often makes it usually impossible for wheelchair users to access. For pre-booking, Cunard have a special six-strong Disability Team as part of their Customer Services department, which links customer and ship. Via a questionnaire, the team checks
whether the accommodation booked is suitable for the disability and liaises with the passenger to ensure they have the information and equipment they need prior to travel; for example, making sure the guest’s wheelchair will fit in the cabin.
26 WORLD OF CRUISING I Summer 2011
Cunard is currently also working on a questionnaire system to help those with sight or hearing problems.
F
rom UK ports, Saga’s car collection service to and from the ship is useful. To avoid having to struggle with luggage,
CarryMyLuggage.com offers baggage transportation from home to major UK and European ports from £35 (plus VAT) per item delivering to the ship and, on the return after customs, an agent takes the luggage and returns it home. Equally, The Baggage Handling
Company (
www.thebaggagehandlingcom-
pany.com; 02380 873111) are based in Southampton with a similar service. Getting on or off a ship with or without luggage can be daunting. Most lines, on request, will have wheelchairs and crew to push available at the beginning and end of each cruise. MSC display special signs in the terminal to guide guests to assistance. However, many lines insist wheelchair users must travel with an able-bodied
companion. Holland America’s Rotterdam is one of the few ships with disabled access cabins connecting with ordinary cabins so carers and family are within easy reach. In tidal ports, the angle of the gangway can
vary alarmingly, prohibiting wheelchair usage. Hurtigruten’s Norwegian coastal voyage is happily accessible, with their newer ships having special cabins, lifts to all decks and special ramps as part of the gangway. P&O has a short, ramped, low-level
gangway nicknamed the ‘ship’s brow’ to give wheelchair users access to shore. When it is impossible to use this, a narrow, stepped gangway that pivots to take account of the tide is used, known as the ‘accommodation ladder,’ for which guests need some independent mobility. Each P&O ship carries a wheelchair ‘stair climbing’ machine, which allows wheelchair users to go ashore if they transfer between their own wheelchair and the one fitted to the stair climber on the accommodation ladder. Part-time wheel- chair users who can step in and out of a
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