whiterose

Interesting! I've looked at many cruises to see what the air will cost. One is next March, one in September 2015 and others in between. I get the same message when I log in and also when I don't log in. Also when I respond to one of their email offers.

I'll call Princess next week to find out why they don't want me to fly EX air - smile.

Anyone else unable to get an EZ air quote on the Princess website? No matter which cruise I'm looking at it tells me that the cruise is too close and air is no longer available. It's been this way for a couple of weeks and I get the same message no matter which cruise I'm checking out.

My only experience has been with Princess and HAL All their theaters and show lounges have assistive listening systems. Sometimes they work very well and other times just static. The sound engineer in the theaters do their best to help but the front desk staff are useless.

I'm hoping that someone else has had better luck. Personally it would be great to find a cruise line that understands how important these systems are for those of us with hearing loss. Considering how old many cruise passengers are, I'd say that a lot of them could benefit.

Wisebear - sorry you had such a miserable experience. I'm sure you'll avoid Disney like the plague.

So many interesting comments so I'll just make some observations from my own experience on Princess and HAL.

I always have to attend the safety drill even though I am totally deaf and cannot understand the announcements - they will not excuse me. It gets realy boring just sitting there. 23 cruises on Princess but I had no idea they had a special staging area for people with disabilities. I always notify them in advance but nobody told me about this.

Like Roz said - Princess does have some automatic doors and the staff in the Horizon Court always seems happy to carry your tray to your table if needed.

Wish we had some final answer on how the ADA applies. Princess has "ADA restrooms" and "ADA hearing loss kits" so they seem to think the ADA applies to them though of course it will never be the same as on land. Safety rules over access and ships have special safety requirements - can't have waves sloshing through sliding doors, gangplanks change as the tide lifts or lowers the ship etc.

Actually the ADA applies to all cruise ships that begin, end or visit a USA port. Cruises in other parts of the world would not be covered by the ADA.

Kind of like the idea of having food from the MDR delivered to me in the nice quiet speciality restaurant - smile. However, I don't expect I'll get up the nerve to ask for this unless the noise in the MDR drives me over the edge.

Thanks for the report from your cruise. Your comment about the noise in the dining rooms makes me wonder if we could ask to eat (free of charge) in the speciality dining rooms as a way of providing "communication access" as required by the ADA. Just daydreaming but it would be nice to actually be able to have a conversation over dinner.

Once in a while a tour guide is willing to share a copy of their script but most seem to guard them like gold. They don't want the other guides to get their hands on them.

I've seem some posts about increasing use of technology on cruise ships, some really fancy expensive stuff. Yet passengers with hearing loss can't even get basic old fashioned technology (30 years+) like captioning.

SPEAK UP EVERYBODY, LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN FOR US.

Captioning for everything - my idea of heaven. Princess does not caption anything themselves. They do pass on a small percentage of TV programs that have been captioned. I complain on every cruise but nothing changes.

Here's hoping that others have had better luck on different cruise lines.

Looking forward to hearing from you after your cruise/s. It's nice to hear that some cruise lines are starting to listen to you.

Dancinman66

Not sure if I understand your reasoning. Closed captioning is not a foreign language though I admit sometime the mistakes make it look like one. Not fair to restrict it to one channel only. People who do not want the captions on their TV can keep them turned off.

I have never seen captioning on the big screen for Movies Under the Stars or in the theater which makes me sad because I would love to enjoy a movie like everyone else. Some people might complain so perhaps the ships could show captioned movies once or twice a week.

What NCL offers sounds good snf hopefully we will get to hear from passengers who have actually used the services and equipment.

I do like the idea of meeting with special staff on embarkation day. On Princess ships I could not find anyone who was willing to take on that responsibility.

Low hearing! That's a new one to me. What does it mean? You can only hear low pitched sounds or what! I prefer the good old fashioned "hard of hearing".

That's a tough question about whether to get a CI. I was born hearing and started to go deaf as a teenager. Lost almost all my hearing by 45 and got the implant when I was 59. I love it and it helps me a lot though I still rely on speechreading, captioning for the TV, captioned phone etc.

I've met a couple of people who were born deaf and got a CI quite late in life. They got something out of it but to be honest I think it's almost impossible to learn to hear well as an adult if you have never had any hearing at all. The young kids do incredibly well because their brains are just soaking up all the information and are flexible enought adjust to something like a CI.

You need to talk to other Deaf adults who got CIs as adults. Good luck whatever you decide.

The ADA Americans with Disabilities Act applies if a ship uses any USA port facilities such as starting or ending at a US port or visiting one. Where a ship is registered as nothing to do with it.

Unfortunately, when the ADA was written in the late 80s, captioning was very new and so there is almost no requirement to provide captioning. Title II covers state and local governments and they must provide captioning if any state or local funding is used to provide a video or TV program. In the USA there are separate laws passed in the late 90s which require almost 100% of TV programming to be captioned. The actual quality of captioning is the next battle.

Safety is paramount with the ADA so I think we have a good case for a visual notification system. The Access Board regulations for cruise ships will include this if they ever get them published. They've been working on them for more than 10 years.

We love HAL and their TV sets do have the captioning feature but that's not much use if the movies and programs are not captioned.

Just keep on requesting captions and complaining when they are not there. It's a slow and frustrating but surely it will change if we all speak up.

No seriously I just want to know more about this cruise. How did you find out about it? Special invitation only? We have nearly 400 days on Princess going back 18 years and nobody told us about it. The Princess website just says "pricing not available" but does not give any extra details.

What's so special about this cruise anyway? The current Pacific is NOT the original love boat. We took two long cruises on the original Pacific - nice ship but the cabins were tiny and the swimming pool was a joke.

I'm not a lawyer but have had some training on the ADA Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA only applies to US ports. As you know other countries have their own laws on access. The cruise lines are not required to provide accessible tours. Of course, the Space Station in Houston is required to be accessible under the ADA. However, the transportation to get you there may or may not be accessible.

I agree with you that many cruise passengers are senior citizens but the cruise lines don't want to run an old folks cruise. The advertising shows slim, glamorous looking people though a few may have gray hair. Gee I can't even get Princess to admit that many of their passengers are hard of hearing and would like to know about the assistive listening systems they have installed but like to keep a secret.

The US Access Board still has not issued final regulations relating to cruise ships but hopes to do so in the next 12 months. They have been working on these for more than 10 years!!!

Good luck.

Hi Doris

I know exactly what you mean about hearing loss being considered a nuisance - just wait till it happens to them and then they'll understand. I've had people in my support group crying and asking "why do they treat me so mean when they are so kind to people with vision loss or in a wheelchair?"

Under the ADA hearing loss is definitely a disability. A physical disability means you are unable to do everyday things such as seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, standing etc. Stuff that other people just take for granted. Just because someone is not totally deaf does not mean they can understand and participate like people with normal hearing.

The ADA reaquirements can make a huge difference but the cruise lines will only comply if passengers speak up about their needs. People who use scooters or wheelchairs seem to do a good job of advocating for themselves and the cruise lines have spent a lot money to help them. Hearing access will cost very little but why should they do anything if nobody complains.

Don't forget people with hearing disabilities. I'm so tired of places that claim to be fully accessible but turn out to have nothing that helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Good luck!

Aussie

That is a wonderful idea and technically I'm sure it could be done.

My cruise experience is with Holland America and Princess. Both say their TVs have closed captioning which is true. The problem is that the cruise line purchases a "packet" of movies and reruns of TV programs and do not specify that they want the version with captions. Easily corrected if they would just ask. With news and sports channels it seems to depend on which satelite they are coming from.

This is an interesting thread and raises some good questions. I've decided that next time we take a cruise (nothing booked yet :o( I will ask for the ADA kit. I'd love to know if they have updated it since the last time I requested it which is at least 10 years ago. Maybe the flashing light doorbells are not so sensitive.

If I was in a cabin by myself I would insist on knowing how they would let me know there was a problem and also how they would tell me exactly what the problem is. It would be very scary to have a flashing light go off and not know why! Telling me to listen to the message is obviously is not going to work.

These days there are all kinds of alerting systems. The cruise ships just have to start using them. NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNTIL PASSENGERS WITH HEARING LOSS START ADVOCATING FOR THEMSELVES. SPEAK UP - LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU NEED.

Years ago I requested the "ADA kit" on Holland America and Princess. It included a TTY phone and there was supposed to be another TTY in Passenger Services so someone would answer if I called - sometimes they answered and other times not. The kit also had a flashing light smoke alarm but that would only work if the smoke/fire was actually in my cabin. Also had a doorknocker with flashing light and one of those thingies that jumps around - you can put it under your pillow.

I really just wanted the flashing light doorbell so the steward would not walk in on me when I was getting dressed. HOWEVER, they were so sensitive they would go off if someone just walked past our door or opened a door nearby. So I stopped asking for it. I put out the Privacy Please sign when I take a shower or change clothes and I rely on my dear husband to tell me if the ship is on fire or sinking.

Wish I had the answer to that question. When I take off my cochlear implant at night I am totally deaf so would not hear anything. I just rely on my husband to let me know.

I always check in with the Princess front desk staff to make sure I'm on their list of passengers who need help in an emergency. Usually I'm the only person with a hearing loss on that list even though I see many others with hearing aids. I asked what would happen if there was an emergency and we had to go to our muster stations. They told me they would send a staff person to get me. Also said they had ways on getting into the cabin even if we had locked it from the inside.

Personally I would prefer to have some kind of warning system inside the cabin such as a flashing light. Would not want to have to rely on staff to "save" me if the ship was on fire or sinking. I believe the final ADA regulations for cruise ships will mandate flashing light alarms but we're still waiting for them to be issued - nearly 25 years after the ADA went into effect.

ASL is a wonderful language and I wish that I was fluent. I became deaf in middle age so it was hard to learn then. However I do work for a Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people so I get to meet a lot of people with hearing loss. Interpreters won't work for me so at home I request CART Computer Assisted Realtime Captioning. That probably would not work on a cruise because it needs special equipment.

If your son is not comfortable signing in public he might not be happy having an interpreter(s) just for him and you might feel that it was wrong to ask the ship for such an expensive accommodation and then not use it. You could try something at home like a children's library program with an interpreter and see if your son enjoys it.

Hi Sherry08

This is a tricky question. I would think an interpreter would be very helpful and could really make a difference for your son. Does he use interpreters at work or when he goes to lectures or the theater or other events?

Guess the final decision is up to him.

Just wanted to share the response I got from Princess. Emailed them last week and got a letter from them yesterday so have to give them full credit for a quick reply. The letter talks about their Access Compliance Department whose "main objective is the ongoing evaluation of the special needs of our guests".

The letter did NOT anwer my two complaints - problems with the assistive listening system and lack of captioning on the TV. However, they did tell me "printed copies of our announcements can be requested from the Purser's Desk." Guess that means you can find out what the captain was saying even though it will be some time after it's all over. The letter also says "We are working with our entertainment department and the onboard staff to obtain copies of scripts for our production shows. It is our hope to have them available for you during your cruise." That would definitely be helpful and I will be sure to ask if we sail with Princess again.

I'm very happy that Princess paid some attention to my complaints and also that they responded so fast but I do wish they had directly addressed my specific concerns.

Everybody please speak up about your needs on a cruise. If enough of us complain they will have to do something about it.