CR15-17 jan9 5/1/09 11:36 Page 60
knowledge cruise
ttglive.com
Selling advice
A guide to selling
accessible cruising
Cruise lines now offer a
range of adaptations on
their ships for passengers
with disabilities, so make
sure you’re up to date when
giving advice. By Rob Gill
O
ne of the advantages of modern
cruise ships is that they have
helped to make cruising much
more accessible for passengers
with disabilities.
Most lines now offer a range of cabins
designed for wheelchair users as well as
more accessible public areas – some ships
even have electric pool hoists helping
passengers to go for a swim.
Travel Counsellor Richard Thompson,
from Gloucester, is an expert in booking
holidays for customers with disabilities and
also helped to develop goodaccessguide.co.uk.
“Long gone are the days of vessels strewn
with obstacles that often made holidays
afloat completely inaccessible to all but the
fit and mobile,” he says. “Today, access for
mobility and sensory-impaired passengers
is designed into every facet of the offering.”
Thompson adds that ships built in the last
five years are most likely to have the best
facilities for disabled passengers.
“As a rule, the newer and bigger the ship,
the more accessible it will be,” he says.
Cabins
Generally it is the huge new ships that have
the most cabins designed for passengers who
need to use a wheelchair.
Royal Caribbean has some of these cabins
on all ships with the Freedom Class vessels
having the most with 32 adapted cabins.
NCL has 27 on its biggest ships, P&O’s Arca-
dia has 23 fully-adapted cabins, and MSC’s
new Fantasia features 43 disabled cabins.
These cabins generally feature ramps and
aribbean
y
al C
Turn to 62 R
o
60 09.01.2009
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80