Wheelchair accessibility in Cozumel, Belize and Roatan

[mdvlprof]

My husband and I are going on a cruise to Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya and Belize city in January.

 

For Belize city, I've found "Experience Belize tour" that offer a wheelchair accessible tour for Altun Ha. Il is a group tour and for 50$ per person you get the entrance fee, a lunch, a tour guide. I think it is a good price. Has anyone went on a tour with them? Do you think we can take the chance to book the tour in Belize city even if it is a tender port? Has anyone experience that NCL did not accept to put them in the tender?

 

Thanks.

 

Mélissa

Accessible Altun Ha? It's been a few years [before DS got sick], but I seem to recall that the main ruins required a bit of climbing, steps, etc. The entrance and a few ruins were level, but others were not. I'd ask just how much of the ruins you can see.

[raindropsalways]

saintbernard – hope this helps

 

 

On our first trip, we docked at noon at Mahogany Bay. Rony created a “mangrove” tour for us. Since Ruth cannot walk without assistance or crutches, Rony was granted entrance to the terminal area so that we would not have to hassle with a taxi to get to the meeting point. This particular trip, we took the keys and secured our scooters at the terminal (used a bicycle lock, locking both scooters together). For the mangroves, a couple men assisted Ruth in and out of the dory. As far as the sights on the East end of the Island, Rony just drove around and provided a lot of picture stops.

 

 

On our second trip, we docked at Coxen Hole. Here we had a more involved trip. Rony had taken the back seat out of the van in order to transport both scooters. There was a driver and Rony's brother was the guide. We stopped at: Arch Iguana Farm, The Monkey Stop, Butterfly Garden, West End and Stone Castle Cameo Factory. They took the scooters out for us at each of the stops except the Cameo Factory and West End (I did not require mine).

 

 

At the Iguana Farm and The Monkey Stop, we got down-right personal with the critters. What one could call a “hands-on” experience.

 

 

On the second trip, we also stopped at his mother's for lunch. Now that was truly “home cooking.” The restaurant is their front porch in sort of a residential area; not exactly what we were expecting. However, the food was delicious.

 

 

I am the one that preselected the sites. We were not particularly thrilled with the Butterfly Garden. I would suggest that others look at an alternative, like maybe the Botanical Gardens.

 

 

I found Rony to be very flexible and willing to work with us and our problems. For both tours he provided excellent service. I am very glad that we selected him for our tours.

 

 

Betty

[trvlcarib]

Going to Cozumel in Feb and its been a few years, we would like to go to Chankanaab National Park. Can anyone tell me if the restrooms are to ADA standards. I realize it's not US but if they have enough room for manual chair and some grab bars? Thanks

[saintbernardlover]

Thanks Betty for the information. Very helpful.

 

Trvlcarib - We were at Chankanaab in Feb 2011. I remember riding my scooter into the restroom but don't recall if I actually rode it into a stall. But the entire park is very modern, the restoom very large with benches, showers and lockers.

 

 

There is a toll free number and a "Live Chat" on this website: (I found it very helpful in determining if I would be able to do the Manatee encouter which turned out to be the greatest experience of my life) http://www.**********************cozumel/cozumel-location-overview.asp

 

Also, here is what abilitytrip.com has to say about it:

 

Chankanaab Park is a national reserve that offers protection for many plants and marine life on Cozumel. For people with mobility challenges, the park has ramps, roads, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, and observation areas to view the marine life. Wheelchair beach chairs are also available for use if you would like to enjoy a day in the sand near the crystal clear ocean. In Fact, they have two special sand wheel chairs, and the park claims that there is no need to reserve in advance, just ask upon arrival. There is also no rental fee for the beach wheelchair, as it is included with your admission fee to the park.

The Chankannab Park website also provides information on a few other parks, the Faro Celarain Eco Park, the San Garvasio Mayan site, and the Island Museum. Please note that these two sites and the museum are not wheelchair accessible at the moment.

Shopping: Shopping in Cozumel can be a shoppers paradise. There are so many shops strewn throughout the city, everything from locally owned craft stores, to diamond jewelry stores, to perfume and clothing shops. Shopping can also be a nice way to cool off and escape the heat for a while as a few of the larger stores are air conditioned. Note that some shops in Cozumel are unfortunately not wheelchair accessible.

[jimice87]

My husband and I are going on a western caribbean cruise on January! Jimmy is using a wheelchair.

 

For the shore excursions, we just booked a tour in Belize with Experience Belize Tours. They have a wheelchair accessible bus. It is 50$ pp for to visit the ruin, a short city tour and a lunch. We think that's great! http://www.experiencebelizetours.com...ibletours.html

 

Also, we just booked for Roatan with Christopher's tour. For only 40$ pp, you have a private driver for all day! They don't have wheelchair accessible vans but told us they can help to transfer Jimmy in the van!

 

Can't wait to go onboard! This week, we had snow in Montreal!

 

Mélissa and Jimmy

[jimice87]

Hi everybody,

 

Jimmy and I have a question about Belize. We would like to go visit the Altun Ha (water of the rock) ruins but Experience Belize Tours Ltd. told me that wheelchair or scooter can only tour the Mayan site from below they and that they are not able to go to the top of the ruins. We want to know if it worth the price and the ride to go to the ruins without going to the top. Somebody already went there?

 

Thanks.

 

Mélissa and Jimmy

[cincydog]

Hi,

 

Five of us are going to Roatan in March 2012, on the Crown Princess. One of us is in a wheelchair. She can walk short distances, but cannot board a tour bus. We looked at the Gumalimba Park, but I cannot find any info on whether the site is WC accessible.

 

Can anyone recommend things for the five of us to do? Princess advises us to take the site seeing tour. We were hoping for more of a mix of beaches, bars, and time outdoors than what Princess recommended.

 

Thanks in advance

[saintbernardlover]

bump:D

[c5tiger]

Anyone have any new info on Belize. Will Celebrity allow a full time wheelchair user on the tender?

[chance124]

Hi Thanks for your info on Cozumel.

This our family's vacation and my son ( 31 yrs ) is in a motorized wheel chair. He wants to go with everyone else to the park but we were not sure about accessible transportation from the boat.We are on the Royal Carribean and have only one port. Any other info were be greatly appreciated.

 

We just did some cruises that included Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Costa Maya. There were two of us, both requiring the use of mobility scooters. I can walk very short distances, however Ruth requires assistance or crutches.

 

 

Roatan: I had contacted both Rony Tours and Victor Bodden in Roatan. Their prices were the same and they appeared to offer the same... until Bodden started reneging and questioned our need for the scooters. That worried me, so I booked two separate tours with Rony and was very pleased with his services.

 

 

Cozumel is very accessible. When you get off the ship, just ask for an accessible taxi. A taxi will take you anywhere you desire to go at a reasonable price. They also offer some tours. Since they added a stone walkway with steps at the ruins, San Gervasio is no longer very accessible.

 

 

Belize: Getting into Belize depends on which cruise line you will be on. Carnival would not allow us on the tenders. On NCL, personnel did not know if we could tender or not since the port was doing the tendering. They took both of us with our scooters on the tender and even lifted Ruth on. The roads / sidewalks were not exactly wheelchair friendly so we did ride in the street a lot. The cars were very courteous and we did not experience any problems. We just wandered around Belize.

 

Costa Maya: We were not able to find any tours that could transport us, so we just scooted to the fishing village on our own.

 

 

Betty

 

[blondietink]

Anyone have any new info on Belize. Will Celebrity allow a full time wheelchair user on the tender?

 

Don't know about Celebrity. But, we were on Carnival and my son can walk short distances, so we were able to take his chair folded up on the tender. It was a large tender with a catamaran type bottom, so it was very stable. Some tenders are large like this, but some are smaller type boats. The tender attendants were very helpful to us and allowed us to take our time.

 

If I remember correctly, I do not think that you would be able to get a wheelchair on even the large tenders. The door that opens on the side of the tender is not very wide and I don't think a wheelchair would fit through it unless folded up. Sorry. Perhaps somebody else will have better information for you.

[Umbarger]

For those of you wanting to know if you can tender in Belize it really depends on a number of things. Weather, type of equipment, if you are able to walk at all, weight and above all safety.

Generally if you can walk on the tender under your own power you can tender. They will then put the manual wheelchair in the tender. Many power chairs are too heavy.

If you are confined to a chair it is very difficult as crew would require to lift and carry you while in your scooter/wheelchair onto the tender. Not only is this hard on the crew depending on the weight but it is also not safe. I can't imagine crew carrying a wheelchair passenger on a tender while it is being tossed and banged against the side of the ship. Some ships have a row of narrow metal stairs to get down to the tender. If the seas are rough you will not be allowed. Those tenders can bob around like a cork and it is very unsafe. Also it depends on the cruise line and ship. On princess, NCL and Carnival my mom was not allowed to tender with her small travel scooter. Which was fine with my mom as after looking at the stairs and the tender it was obvious it was impossible. I have heard some RCL ships are able to tender wheelchairs and scooters as there are no stairs involved.

 

Just remember the cruise lines do not allow this to be mean. It is a matter of your safety and the safety of the crew.

 

I wish everyone a wonderful cruise.

[cincydog]

Hi,

 

We just got back from cruising to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. Here is what I learned.

 

We worked with Princess' Access Office; they were great. In Roatan, we booked a cabana on the beach in Mahogany Bay. It couldn't have worked out any better. All of Mahogany Bay is pretty much wheel chair friendly. After we booked this we learned that Gumba Limba Park has golf carts that they will use to transport anyone with mobility issues. Princess was willing to work with us to get private transportation.

 

Belize was difficult. We felt it was better to stay on the ship, then try to tender. As the weather was not great, I think this was a good idea.

 

Cozumel worked out great. We arranged for a wheel chair accesible taxi through Princess. The taxi took us to Playa Mia Beach. There we were able to use a wheel chair that could travel on the beach. The park was well equipped for the wheel chair bound, and the people were great.

 

I can not say enough good about the help we received from the Princess Access Office.

 

I hope this helps.

[meatloafsfan]

Hi,

 

We just got back from cruising to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. Here is what I learned.

 

We worked with Princess' Access Office; they were great. In Roatan, we booked a cabana on the beach in Mahogany Bay. It couldn't have worked out any better. All of Mahogany Bay is pretty much wheel chair friendly. After we booked this we learned that Gumba Limba Park has golf carts that they will use to transport anyone with mobility issues. Princess was willing to work with us to get private transportation.

 

Belize was difficult. We felt it was better to stay on the ship, then try to tender. As the weather was not great, I think this was a good idea.

 

Cozumel worked out great. We arranged for a wheel chair accesible taxi through Princess. The taxi took us to Playa Mia Beach. There we were able to use a wheel chair that could travel on the beach. The park was well equipped for the wheel chair bound, and the people were great.

 

I can not say enough good about the help we received from the Princess Access Office.

 

I hope this helps.

 

whoa, whoa, whoa, back up a minute. Did you secure a wheelchair accessible cabana? I had a cabana in 2011 and I think there were two of them that would be accessible (the ones to the right and left of the paved path) but how did you make sure that you had one of them?

 

We're going to Roatan in October on the Dream and I would love to have a cabana for the day but I am concerned with getting my mother (who is in a wheelchair full time) over there and then into the cabana). Are all the paths paved? I doubt very much her chair would make it through the sand since she uses a transport chair (super sturdy, great hard wheels of a decent size).

 

thanks for any information you can give me.

Edited March 19, 2012 by meatloafsfan

[saintbernardlover]

Hi,

 

We just got back from cruising to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. Here is what I learned.

 

We worked with Princess' Access Office; they were great. In Roatan, we booked a cabana on the beach in Mahogany Bay. It couldn't have worked out any better. All of Mahogany Bay is pretty much wheel chair friendly. After we booked this we learned that Gumba Limba Park has golf carts that they will use to transport anyone with mobility issues. Princess was willing to work with us to get private transportation.

 

Belize was difficult. We felt it was better to stay on the ship, then try to tender. As the weather was not great, I think this was a good idea.

 

Cozumel worked out great. We arranged for a wheel chair accesible taxi through Princess. The taxi took us to Playa Mia Beach. There we were able to use a wheel chair that could travel on the beach. The park was well equipped for the wheel chair bound, and the people were great.

 

I can not say enough good about the help we received from the Princess Access Office.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for this update. Did you actually go to Gumbalimba Park?

[mftrader]

I just read that the Belize Zoo is fully wheelchair accessable. I'm not sure what to expect for the tender.

[blondietink]

The tender we used in Belize 2 years ago was not accessible from the ship. Had to fold up the wheelchair and walk on the tender. Also had to walk down several steps on the ship to get to the tender dock. There were several people there for assistance. However, at the actual dock in Belize, we could roll right on/off if we wanted.

[careyayn22]

Bump: I would like to know if anyone has used Rony's recently?

 

Also, any info about GumbaLimba Park? How accessible? We are traveling with two scooters (oxygen on one of them). Both people can walk short distances,up a couple stairs, use bathrooms without chair).

 

There are nine of us total, and we can help my parents in chairs. My mom wants to go to GumbaLimba Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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