Cruises, Cruising Tips, Cruising Information & Cruising Help for The Disabled

by Helen Hecker R.N.

Cruising tips:

Make sure to work with a travel agent who specializes in travel for the disabled and particularly with a cruise travel specialty. This will save you a lot of heartache later. See our Directory of Travel Agencies for the Disabled for  a number of travel agents and travel agencies that can help with cruises, cruising tips, cruise line comparisons, good cruise rates, etc.

Some things to especially watch out for:

Disembarking from the ship. You'll be disembarking from the ship when you anchor at the dock  You can walk down the gangway with someone assisting you if you're mobile. if you're not mobile and need your wheelchair you have two choices.  Crew members can carry you in your wheelchair, down the gangway.  The other choice is letting the crew use the 'creepy crawler'. The 'creepy crawler actually mounts to your wheelchair and walks your wheelchair down the stairs of the gangway while you remain in your seat. Which would YOU feel more comfortable and safe with? 

It's really a personal decision.  Some people like the crew members involved and feel safer that way.  Some feel safer with the mechanical mounts. In any case disembarking isn't that hard to do once you get the hang of it.

Now if you bring an electric wheelchair or scooter along on your cruise it'll be too heavy for the crew to carry with you in it.  It would also be too bulky and the center of gravity would be too high. You'll want to disembark safely in a manual wheelchair instead. The crew members can bring your electric wheelchair or scooter to you.

Another word commonly used for disembark, is 'tender'. This term is used when you're disembarking AWAY from shore, by a small boat, that is usually used to ferry passengers to shore from the ship at anchor.  This is usually to visit tourist resort areas on your trip.  During the tender operation, the ship is not at a pier and can be as far out as half a mile from shore. 

All cruise lines handle this in a different way.  They usually have plenty of good physical assistance to carry your wheelchair onto the small boat or tender as it is called. The ship's captain is the one who decides whether it's safe to tender or not.  Some or all of the passenger may not be able to disembark due to weather, sea, or tidal conditions or just plain mechanical failure. 

If you brought along an electric wheelchair or scooter you'll want to disembark safely in a manual wheelchair instead. The crew members can bring your electric wheelchair or scooter to you.

copyright©2006 Helen Hecker All rights reserved.