JSR

OK, I saw the photo. We were booked with them for the Arctic but they cancelled for the second time in 2 years this year so we are now on Silversea which does not seem to put wheelchairs in the zodiacs. Of course that information is from the land based office which I have found to not be 100% accurate in the past. I will post after the cruise what actually transpired.

Has anyone sailed with Seabourn how uses a wheelchair for mobility? Which ship were you on? What year where you on? How was the cabin accessibility? Ship accessibility? Did you receive help getting on and off the ship in port? Where you lifted on and off the tenders? From and mobility accessibility point of view would you recommend them?

This is fantastic to know. Do you have a link to the videos, I could not find them.

I have sailed many cruiselines. I book anywhere for 8 months out to a couple weeks out. Depends on how flexible and lucky you are. Cabins matter but so does the cruiseline. Some have a can do attitude towards people with mobility issues and some do not. For instance RCI products, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea, they will lift you in and out of tender if you can not walk, they will help you down the gangway no matter where you are. I have found that CCL products will depend on the specific ship and most are not willing to take you on tenders or help with the gangway. This is my personal experience. I have sailed Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea, Cunard, Princess, and NCL.

With that many people, have you considered connecting rooms so you have multiple bathrooms but are close enough to supervise kids and help your mom? Being a full time wheelchair user trying to wiggle around a lot of people can be hard. Just an idea

We have sailed on the following with wheelchair accessible suites, I am a paraplegic and use a manual chair: Royal Caribbean in an accessible loft suite. We loved it, 2 stories, and internal wheelchair lift and two full bathrooms both accessible. Celebrity sky suite on many of their ships, the edge class with the retreat is nice Silversea Moon all cabins are suites. We were in the lowest class without a balcony and it was great because it was so well laid out and had the most accessible bathroom of any accessible cabin I have ever had. They also have a silver suite which is much larger and has a balcony. Cunard Queen Mary 2 -Queen's Grille Suite. Very large with balcony and Queen's Grille dinning and lounge. This was for a transatlantic. The cabin was very spacious. We were surprised how little time we spent in it despite being on a 9 day crossing from Hamburg. The ship is designed for crossings.

This is no longer the case. They are all available online all the time. It is both convenient for those like myself who most have one but also leaves it open to abuse. Like many things in life - pros and cons.

Do you have a recommendation for which side to sail west on, and if so why do you like that particular side? Thanks for the help.

I applaud you for your concern about the accessibility. I find it heart breaking that people will willingly book these cabins if they do not need them when there is a choice. Though they say you will be moved if someone needs the cabin they will rarely do this even when pressured. As someone who can only travel in an accessible cabin I respectively ask that you never book an accessible cabin if you have a choice. That being said I had the same cabin on the Moon and it is excellent, there will be no tub. We did not miss the balcony. I plan to post photos soon and will give you a link.

Thank you. I so hope I’m able to do a zodiac moment in the Arctic but time will tell. I will report back after the cruise.

I guess I’m not very adept as I can not find it. I did find this https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/faq/mobility-accessibility-information.html but it’s not a video and more about what can’t be done. I would appreciate the link if you could. Thanks so much. Jean

That’s great to know. I will check it out. We were originally booked on Seabourn for the Arctic. They kept postponing and then finally canceled. I believe they decided it was just not an itinerary they wanted this season. Do you have a link by any chance?

Thanks for checking out my posts. I will post part 2 soon I highly recommend them. Prime Tours Iceland http://primetours.is/

Day 6 I will start with a photo of the van we toured in and Inge. Prime Tours Iceland. http://primetours.is/ DN was up at the crack of dawn to get a covid test for his return home to the States and to his summer internship/work (he is in law school). DH and I headed to the opera house rolling along the seawall to get our covid test to board the Silver Moon for the next leg of our journey. Negative test in hand we headed back to the town up the hill to buy a Christmas ornament as a souvenir. We are not big shoppers. The only other purchases we made while in Iceland were a pair of long underwear for my husband, and some guitar strings for his guitar which he had with him. I had not arranged transportation with the tour company to the pier and they were booked, so the hotel arranged for an accessible taxi to pick us up. We headed back to the hotel to get organized for a pickup. Our boarding time was 2 pm. The taxi arrived a few minutes late. The ride was very short. I will post a link to the next part of our adventure.

Day 5 Golden Circle Tour 10-12 hours. This tour is the most popular from Reykjavik and well worth it. We had a wonderful time. Again, getting out often. Afterwards we went to dinner though I do not remember where. The photos tell the story and you can check out the itinerary on the website. I have not figured out how to load the photos onto my computer, so I am posting them from my phone and I have not mastered labeling them. Also, the videos of the room and of the previous post you have to click on.

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Day 4 Reykjavik peninsula and fishing. We split up today. I went with Inge and the accessible van on an amazing tour and the fellows went with a fishing guide to fish. The guide company was not very good as the guys were assigned a novice guide and it was a bit of a bust, DN did catch one fish. They had fun despite this but would not recommend this outfitter. On the other hand, Inge and I had an amazing time. I loved this tour so much we are doing it again this summer with Inge and my husband, pre arctic cruise. Inge got me out of the van at every stop and we were able to walk around. The landscape was so varied. The geo thermal pools were other worldly. The blue lagoon, which is fully accessible reminded me of a booze cruise with lots of bathing suit clad tourist sipping umbrella drinks. The outside was interesting and we were able to roll around the thermal pools that are not in use and Inge explained the whole evolution of the Blue Lagoon tourist stop which was fascinating. Accessible bathrooms. I did not go in the lagoon but could have had a chosen too. We met up and swapped stories and headed out to dinner. We walked all the way to the end of town to the restaurant we read about. They had a full flight of stairs, and we were very ungracious so we left. We wondered all the back to about a few blocks from our hotel to the sister restaurant to Old Iceland. They were committed because of a large group and a small restaurant so they said come back after 8. At this point we decided just to wander around and return. So glad we did. The food was excellent, and we cannot wait to return. There are steps down to get in. They were very helpful in getting me in and out of the restaurant. Reykjavik Kitchen http://reykjavikkitchen.is/ Make a reservation!

Thanks, I am glad you are enjoying this and please feel free to add anything you want to share about your trip too. The tour company I used is prime tours iceland http://primetours.is/ I can not recommend them enough! They were fantastic! The tour operator consolidator is https://icelandunlimited.is/.

The previous photos are for this discription: Day 4 Reykjavik peninsula and fishing. We split up today. I went with Inge and the accessible van on an amazing tour and the fellows went with a fishing guide to fish. The guide company was not very good as the guys were assigned a novice guide and it was a bit of a bust, DN did catch one fish. They had fun despite this but would not recommend this outfitter. On the other hand, Inge and I had an amazing time. I loved this tour so much we are doing it again this summer with Inge and my husband, pre arctic cruise. Inge got me out of the van at every stop and we were able to walk around. The landscape was so varied. The geo thermal pools were other worldly. The blue lagoon, which is full accessible reminded me a booze cruise with lots of bathing suit clad tourist sipping umbrella drinks. Accessible bathrooms. I did not go in the lagoon but could have had a chosen too.

Thank you this is very helpful information. We are headed on the Endeavour for an Arctic cruise in June. We will then be traveling after the cruise and trying hard not to have to lug too much despite different climates, land, and then a transatlantic cruise home.

We spent 5 full days pre cruise in Reykjavik. I use a wheelchair for mobility so decided to post in the disabilites section of CC. I thought there is a lot of general information that others may find useful so here is the link to the report. I have only completed the first two days but am working on the rest. Check it out if you are so inclined. Happy to answer questions.

Day 2 Shaefellness Peninsula – 9-10 hours When I was researching wheelchair accessible tours I can across a tour company that specializes in accessible tours that turned out to be middlemen. They were extremely expensive and would not break down the tours, you had to buy everything as a total package. I persevered and got lucky and finally figured out who the local day tour company was that they were reselling and booked directly with them. They provide accessible tours as well as standard tours. The company I booked with let you pick and choose your tours, pay for them individually and were a pleasure to work with. They picked us up at the airport as well. While, Iceland is very expensive, and these private tours were as well they were half of what the bundler wanted to charge. That being said some people may prefer to work with a bundler who will arrange everything for them including hotels. I am happy to share the names of both of these, however, I believe I have to be asked for that information. You can then access their website and see the details of all their tours. Most of which offer an accessible version. Shaefellness Peninsula is a long tour with a lot of driving. We were still a bit jet lagged, unaccustomed to the rain and did not get out of the van frequently enough so we were not as thrilled with this tour as we would be with the subsequent ones. In retrospect I attribute this a lot to being too tired for such an extensive tour. We had a good lunch along the way and the restaurant had an accessible bathroom. Inge, our tour guide was very well versed in accessible bathrooms, and making things very interesting and informative. He was fun, helpful, and a wealth of information. My husband is both an engineer and also very versed in international economics. He peppered Inge with questions about energy, economics, politics, etc. My DH has no agenda and is a very curious soul who absorbs knowledge like a sponge, so it made things very informative along with learning about geography, flora, and the sights. We were totally taken in by the amazing scenery. It was raining hard when we returned from the excursion so ate in the hotel bar and called it a night.