Need Help!

[kjunea]

had a wonderful trip will report soon

 

Yeah! I'm glad you are back and had a great time! Looking forward to your review!

[xxoocruiser]

had a wonderful trip will report soon

 

Welcome Home ! Looking forwarding do hearing the details of your trip.

[apk1389]

I am going to review the cruise on the main RCCL board. but I am going to on here write about the disabled part of my travels.. To start off I think I am going to go port by port and give my insight. So I hope this helps for all of you heading to the Mediterranean in the near future or in the distant future

[apk1389]

Cannes is a tendering port which means no scooters allowed. I had rented my scooter from carevacations. So today I had to bring out the manual wheel chair along with my crutches. We bungied the crutches to the wheel chair and off on the way. By passing the long tendering line which ran all the way up to deck 4. Taking the elevators down to deck two. One of the secruity guards took control of my wheel chair and brought me out to the tendering station. There was a neat machine where they rolled me onto and it brought me down a level to be even with the tender. A little lift onto the tender and Im ready to go see Canne. Getting off not a issue when the tender docked. The dock was about one flight of stairs lower than the main street. I couldnt find a lift up to the main street, so i crutched my way up and my brother and dad lifted the wheel chair up. The main sites to see in Cannes was what they call the promenade where all the shops are located. It is very flat and easy to navigate if you stay on the side of the road nearest the water. Smooth sailing from there to the end. Although on the way back my mom wanted to go on the other side of the road near the shops. Before I continue I would like to think I am in good physical shape and things that I could have done may be much harder for someone in other conditions, but I am going to be as honest as possible so your vacation is easiest as possible. The side of the roads was difficult but in my open doable with some help. Most of the side walks where slanted and involved extra strength to keep you on them from going out on the road. Many roads intersected onto the main road and there was not always ramps, or if there where they were not very conducive to use. So I had to often get out of the wheel chair crutch up to side walk and my brother and dad lift the wheel chair. Do able if you have the time and energy, and help. In my own opinion Cannes was only so so and you can see plenty from walking near the sea without any difficulty

[apk1389]

We did Florence through RCCL. After checking I was allowed to bring my scooter off the boat. *In every single port the ramp to get off the ship always was trouble. My scooter would get stuck on part of it, and every time I would have to get help from the security guards.* They loaded my scooter into the luggage compartment and I crunched up the steep stairs. Since I could not bend my knee I took two seats to my self and layed my

leg out. Florence roads and sidewalks where relatively easy to maneuver so being out on the scooter was not a issue. At times it was nearly impossible to find ramps. So there was times I would have to drive the scooter on the side of the main road. But overall Florence was again doable

[apk1389]

We had decided not to go to Rome as we had seen it all already. We did a wine tasting tour and lake Bracciano(spelling is close). The wine tasting area RCCL took us to was very accessible not a problem. At Lake Bracciano the lower level of by the water was easy to manuever. Though to get to the top of the hill to see the old church and bell tower was impossible. The Roads where too steep for the scooter, too bumpy, and often lead to dead ends. I had no problem enjoying the shops by the waterfront as my family head up. I could understand the difficulty considering this was a old medieval town. The lake was outstanding. A must see in my book.

[uppitycats]

So far, it sounds to me that the ports were "do-able" ONLY if you could also walk (at least with crutches)? Sounds like you had to navigate some steps, and up/down into a bus?

[apk1389]

So far, it sounds to me that the ports were "do-able" ONLY if you could also walk (at least with crutches)? Sounds like you had to navigate some steps, and up/down into a bus?

 

I do know they offered tours for people who couldnt walk at all. Some buses they had did have ramps, many of those tours were predominatley just driving tours

[apk1389]

We did not stay in the port of naples and instead made our way a hour by bus off to Sorrento. Sorrento although old, I thought was easily accessible. It was just me and my mom this day in the scooter and I didn't get stuck anywhere except for the ramp to get off the ship. We whizzed around for about a hour and half all over with no issues. We then finished the day with a Pizza making tour. This was part of the RCCL tour. There was several steps to get in so I would not advise Sorrento and Pizza Making, but overall Sorrento is not a problem

[cloudshoveller]

I'm glad you got to have the adventures you did!

 

I wanted to ask: when you got caught up on the ramps with your scooter, did the security guards mind to help you out with getting dislodged and back on your way?

[wizard-of-roz]

I'm glad you got to have the adventures you did!

 

I wanted to ask: when you got caught up on the ramps with your scooter, did the security guards mind to help you out with getting dislodged and back on your way?

 

I don't know what his answer will be but when we've had to use our wheelchair on many cruises.....we were on our own. The chair would get stuck entering or exiting a room or going over a threshold and it was always another passenger who assisted us not a crew member or a security person who was standing by.

 

I think the workers onboard or even the folks at the docks are afraid of lawsuits so you're basically on your own. We once got stuck trying to get up a steep ramp and all the dock workers and crew members who saw us struggling just watched as another passenger came over to help.

 

Our Steward's have been helpful and when we called the front desk for assistance they person they sent was also very helpful.

 

The most congenial cruiselines towards the scooters or wheelchairs is HAL and Princess.

[apk1389]

I'm glad you got to have the adventures you did!

 

I wanted to ask: when you got caught up on the ramps with your scooter, did the security guards mind to help you out with getting dislodged and back on your way?

 

they always helped when they saw me coming or anyone else in a wheel chair or scooter they would always assist them with the ramp

[apk1389]

to be honest I though Venice even being young and fit was brutal. We had bought our shuttle tickets through RCCL to get to St. Marks square. We took the first Vaproretto off the ship and this one opening was level to the dock no issue with the manual wheel chair. Venice as most people know is the city on water. So my family wanted to tour everything. I did a lot of the wheeling my self this day. I would get to the bridges have to then crutch my way over the bridges, while my dad and brother lifted the wheel chair over. This was done time after time after time. Truly exhausting. I still loved Venice it was amazing but not very easy by anyone standards. The cruise ship gave us a map that had handicapped accessible ramps, it wasn't very accurate. Some of them had machines to lift you over, not sure how to require the key. We also did a handful of museums. In Venice, again these where difficult as many had steps to get into them, and the ones with elevators you needed to find a security guard every time you wanted to use to elevator.

I did end up in a gondola this was truly shocking for all the gondoliers. We had to find a loading ramp that was pretty low to the water. I am still in the immobilizer so my leg had to be straight. I lowered my self to sit on the dock. Then swung my rear to the side of the gondola. Lowered my rear to the bottom of the gondola with my legs up in mid air. Then while it was rocking from the oncoming boats got my crutches balacing with the waves made it to the back of the gondola and sat down leg rested on the side. Successful but difficult. We ended up later that night taking the last vaproetto to the ship because they stopped at 11:30. This one was truly difficult. they had a plank to get to the second level that was about 2 feet wide. So there was no way to crutch or wheelchair. so again sat back down on my rear and I had to do the crab walk with my two arms and 1 leg. I did it just not easy.. . this was my journey in Venice.. ill try to post one pic to show I did make it onto the gondola and had a wonderful time

[apk1389]

[kjunea]

This is just proof for me to give to my husband that I need to get to Venice before I stop walking! I'm so sorry that you had trouble, but glad that you were able to manage fairly well.

[katisdale]

For a little additional help with Venice google "accessible venice" and print the map to take with you. You do need to go to their tourist desk (and for the life of me I can't remember where that is) to get a key for the chair lifts that are present on some of the bridges. The map also shows which bridges have ramps for scooters/strollers/wheelchairs etc.

[apk1389]

For a little additional help with Venice google "accessible venice" and print the map to take with you. You do need to go to their tourist desk (and for the life of me I can't remember where that is) to get a key for the chair lifts that are present on some of the bridges. The map also shows which bridges have ramps for scooters/strollers/wheelchairs etc.

 

i typed that in.. and Important: The city's wheelchair lifts on a handful of bridges are no longer in operation (although they're still in place) so--contrary to what you may read in guidebooks--the tourist office can't lend you a key to use them.... this is why I didnt hear about it

[katisdale]

That is too bad. The lifts were such a help. I wondered if the salt air was going to cause them to stop working. We were there in 2008 and the one at Rialto bridge was not working the day we wanted to use it. I was surprised at how accessible I found Venice. I was really surprised but we stuck very closely to the accessible map. We also found the ramp to St. Mark's which is well hidden. I thought the Doge's Palace was wonderful although the "Secret" tour is not doable. The fact it was free and that they let me use the elevator was wonderful. The vaparetto was very good. My main problem was with the water taxi that Princess provided from the ship to the hotel and from the hotel to the airport. Using the water taxi was very difficult.

[apk1389]

will continue the review now that everything has settled sorry for the delay