Jump to content

Help! Need Wheelchair friendly cruise up St. Lawrence?


HeadedtoQuebec
 Share

Recommended Posts

I’ve never cruised before, but my mother in law who is bound to a wheelchair would like to cruise up the St. Lawrence to Quebec.

 

I’ve spent the last hour online and I’m frustrated and confused by the information I’m getting. It sounds like river boats are even less accessible than big cruises. Has anyone taken an accessible trip up the St. Lawrence? Recommendations on companies, ships, accessible excursions would be great!

 

 

Some more info on my MIL:

She has 24 hour care, is mostly wheelchair bound but can walk short distances with a cane and gait belt.

She is brilliant and loves history.

She tires easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

river boats as a general rule are NOT handicapped accessible. in fact many lines do not even permit ECVs to be brought on board. also the docks tend to be at the bottom of steep hills or stairs to get up into town.

 

you may be out of luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve never cruised before, but my mother in law who is bound to a wheelchair would like to cruise up the St. Lawrence to Quebec.

 

I’ve spent the last hour online and I’m frustrated and confused by the information I’m getting. It sounds like river boats are even less accessible than big cruises. Has anyone taken an accessible trip up the St. Lawrence? Recommendations on companies, ships, accessible excursions would be great!

 

 

Some more info on my MIL:

She has 24 hour care, is mostly wheelchair bound but can walk short distances with a cane and gait belt.

She is brilliant and loves history.

She tires easily.

 

River cruises are indeed less accessible that cruise ships. Due to the age of some of the ships, the elevators may not large enough to accomodate wheelchairs/scooters but wull accomodate a walker. If the ship has accessible cabins there's very very very few. Getting on and off at ports can also be problematic for someone with limited mobility as at times there's stairs or a incline to get up to street level.

 

Have you searched TripAdviser and or contacted a TA that specializes in Accessible Travel?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, forget about the river boats, take one of the small ocean going vessels.

I've done the St. Lawrence both ways and even though years apart, both were on the Maasdam (Holland America Cruise Line). Going east the cruise started in Montreal, ending in Boston. Going west it ended in Montreal. The one ending in Montreal, we spent the night there and in the morning we took the train south to Philadelphia and Washington. D.C. Flying out of Canada can be expensive. The money we save covered our cost to Philadelphia and D.C., plus Ruth had never been to either.

We found the ports to be fairly easy to get around in and basically created our own tours. Halifax has a nasty hill getting to the Citadel. If she enjoys history, the Citadel is worth a trip. There is an elevator, thus she would be able to see a lot. To conserve battery power, she would require some sort of transportation to the Citadel. We took the public bus, however I believe they do have accessible taxis. You could see the sights on the way back to the ship. Straight down to the water front where there is a lovely walkway all the way to the ship. Completely accessible.

In Quebec the funicular is accessible and is close to the dock. Very easy to get up to the top and see everything. Most the older buildings have added ramps.

If you are also doing New England, both Newport and Bar harbor are tender ports, thus she probably cannot go ashore. If you create your tours and she becomes tired, you can always head back to the ship. To create our own tours, we just enlarged Google maps which identifies the places of interest. For places we hoped to visit, I would write and inquire about accessibility. Also, depending on the time of year, Canada can be cold, might want to consider taking long johns.

Have a wonderful cruise,

Betty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the suggestions. What you guys have said matches my own research. It would be disappointing for her to not be able to see many of the historical sites along the way.

 

Her second choice is a smithsonian cruise in a riverboat down the Mississippi. I’m going to call smithsonian to see about their accessibility but I’m guessing the riverboats on the Mississippi present similar problems.

 

Thanks for the tips!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the suggestions. What you guys have said matches my own research. It would be disappointing for her to not be able to see many of the historical sites along the way.

 

Her second choice is a smithsonian cruise in a riverboat down the Mississippi. I’m going to call smithsonian to see about their accessibility but I’m guessing the riverboats on the Mississippi present similar problems.

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

Actually, since these cruises are using American Cruise Line's river boats, and these all have to be US flag, these boats have to be fully ADA compliant, which other foreign flag ships do not. Also, since the America was built last year, she will almost definitely be fully accessible, but I can't say how many accessible cabins there are. The boats use the traditional long river boat gangway ramp to get to the levee top, so this should be accessible for a scooter, and the levee typically has a roadway along the top or down to street level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I just recently returned from a 10 day cruise from NYC to Quebec City on the HAL Zuiderdam. There were several wheelchair users on the cruise. You can tender at Bar Harbor IF you can walk onto the tender, and bring a folding manual wheelchair along. No scooters or power wheelchairs, and you cannot get lifted in the wheelchair to the tender. Several steps are involved. Boston was fine as far as accessibility, and wheelchair accessible tours were available. Once you get into Canada (we had stops in Halifax, Sydney, and PEI before going into the St. Lawrence) it will be more difficult to find tours, but if you can do a cab or rent a car and transfer (again, use a manual wheelchair) there is lots you can do from those ports. Our cruise included Saguanay fjord, which is beautiful. Not much to do in town, so again, a car rental might be your best bet. In Quebec City I would follow the lead of the poster above. We flew out of Montreal, so upon disembarkation we rented a car and drove there from Quebec City (about 2.5 hours).

 

Also, as above, all of American Cruise Line's river boats have 2 accessible cabins, which book up very far in advance. On most you can access all but the very top deck via elevator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...