Disable traveler shoe excursions Celebrity

[Steven B]

We had a very frustrating time on our cruise of the Mediterranean this spring on the Celebrity Eclipse. We had been on the ship once before and on Celebrity several times. We have enjoyed our trips. The only problems we encountered was the use of my scooter on shore excursions where the line confirmed they would accommodate the scooter but when we reached port, the tour equipment could not carry the scooter. It seems that the home office did not coordinate with the ground transportation. We sent a letter to Celebrity and contacted our travel agent who also contacted Celebrity but have received no response in 6 months. We are booked on another line for December. Any suggestions?

[katisdale]

I suggest doing private excursions with providers who will listen to your needs and respond if they can provide what you need. This has worked well for me. I am very open about my abilities and inabilities. I sometimes send a picture of my scooter both as I use it and when it is collapsed. Sometimes I ask for a place to people watch while my family does something I feel is beyond my capabilities. I like having a plan that meets the activity level of my grandchildren but doesn't leave me back on the ship.

[xxoocruiser]

We had a very frustrating time on our cruise of the Mediterranean this spring on the Celebrity Eclipse. We had been on the ship once before and on Celebrity several times. We have enjoyed our trips. The only problems we encountered was the use of my scooter on shore excursions where the line confirmed they would accommodate the scooter but when we reached port, the tour equipment could not carry the scooter. It seems that the home office did not coordinate with the ground transportation. We sent a letter to Celebrity and contacted our travel agent who also contacted Celebrity but have received no response in 6 months. We are booked on another line for December. Any suggestions?

 

 

My experience has been that there are little to no accessible shore excursions available through the cruise lines due to the lack of accessible transportation once outside the USA. You must remember that ADA Law does NOT apply other than in the USA. Therefore you have to research private accessible tour operators on your own and even at that this is hard to do.

Edited October 22, 2013 by xxoocruiser

[rbrugler]

What is a shoe excursion? :D

[Steven B]

Thanks, we did take private tours which worked out great but were extremely expensive. My comment was directed toward getting Celebrity's attention to my complaint. I guess they don't care about the disabled passenger market.

[xxoocruiser]

Thanks, we did take private tours which worked out great but were extremely expensive. My comment was directed toward getting Celebrity's attention to my complaint. I guess they don't care about the disabled passenger market.

 

 

It's not necessarily that Celebrity doesn't care rather it's that there is nothing that mandates that the Shore Excursions offered by a cruise line have to be accessible.

 

ADA law does not apply to the cruise you took. In fact unless the ship is the NCL Pride Of America which is the only cruise ship registered to the USA, sails under the USA Flag and is permanently based in the Hawaiian Islands there isn't anything requiring cruise lines to provide accessible tours.

Edited October 23, 2013 by xxoocruiser

[katisdale]

Steven, I don't think it is so much that they don't care but that they don't understand. In the same way that I cannot understand how frustrating it must be to travel if I was deaf and could not hear the guide, the able-bodied simply don't understand that the steps up into a big bus can be a complete barrier to me. We have not found the private excursions to be greatly more expensive than through the ship. I suggest going to the roll call for your ship here on cruise critic. If you have a tour that will take 6 to 8 and it is just the two of you going you may be able to recruit other to join you which will bring down the per person cost. We tend to travel either just the two of us or with our daughter and grandchildren. If it is 5 of us we always go cheaper than with a ship's tour. Good luck with your next cruise. I do wish the lines would send their tour desk personnel on the occasional tour with Vaseline on their glasses, ear plugs, or using a wheelchair. It would be quite the experience for them and might give the front line people the ability to describe the tours better to those of us with different abilities.

[Steven B]

Thank you. A couple good ideas! Unfortunately, it's not the money, it is the lost opportunity to see things that I will never have another chance to enjoy. I guess I'm upset because they took my chance away. If they had said they could NOT accommodate the scooter, we would have made other arrangements. It's a little too late when you are standing on the pier.

[kitty9]

Thanks, we did take private tours which worked out great but were extremely expensive. My comment was directed toward getting Celebrity's attention to my complaint. I guess they don't care about the disabled passenger market.

 

I totally disagree. No matter what cruise line, once you get outside the US you are at the mercy of that country and their laws and customs. Unfortunately, the travel industry outside the US does not have the transportation options for us. Seriously, it's not the cruise line's fault that Italy, or Greece or Poland or Norway or Spain or Russia doesn't have buses or vans that accommodate those of us in scooters. It's just what we have to put up with. I mean, what do you expect, Celebrity to travel with it's own van or accessible bus for every port? That's not going to happen, and unfortunately, for those of us who are disabled, it's what we have to put up with. I've cruised many times on Celebrity with my scooter, and I've traveled many other lines including HAL, RCI, Princess and all the luxury lines and none of them do a good job with finding accessible transportation for cruises outside the US.

[Steven B]

Thanks, but it am not interested in their legal obligations under the ADA. The whole point is that any merchant should cater to a market or the market will find other sources for the services desired. If a disabled passenger is not provided services needed to enjoy the trip, the traveler will go elsewhere. You are saying that they met their minimum legal obligation so I should not complain? Read the terms and conditions and limitation of liability on every air and cruise ticket. If they just met the minimum, we would never travel.

[Splinter]

You are right. They don't care, and neither do any other cruise lines. If they never took a booking another disabled passenger, they would not loose a dime. That market is not a profit maker for the cruise line, and that is what drives their services and programs. It is naive to think otherwise. You have to look out for yourself in the area of shore programs, surf the internet, use this forum, and book your own private arrangements, whether it is cabs, a car service, or the (rare) lift-equipped van outside the USA.

 

On the other hand, your TA should be doing a better job of getting some response from the cruise line on your last cruise experience. At a minimum they should be demanding a credit toward another cruise for you. Push them to do more.

[Steven B]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I guess the thing that really upset us was that the home office confirmed several weeks in advance that each of the tours would accommodate the scooter. I had emails confirming it with me and when told by the shore excursion staff they ignored them and just said "no way." Sort of "too bad" or "oh well." For the ports they said they could not accommodate my needs, we planned the private tours and I am so glad. We had a great experience with the private tours through Sage. The fact that Celebrity completely ignored me is the most annoying. Several of the other disabled passengers were very upset with their treatment. We kept in touch and only one of many got any response. They posted on Facebook then they got a call back. Go figure!

[Steven B]

I am sorry. I guess. I didn't make this clear. They confirmed that the tours would accommodate the scooter on 4 of the 7. ports. The three they would not confirm, we made alternate arrangements. My problem was they confirmed they would and did not perform. If they would have said they could not accommodate at the other ports, we would have booked separate tours. That's the point. Sorry if I was not clear on that. Thank the cruise gods that they didn't screw up on Florence, Rome and Nice. Great discussion. Thanks to all.

[Novogrodska]

If you are looking for accessible shore excursions in St Petersburg (Russia), I can advise you small local tour operator, called Liberty Ltd. They make fantastic wheelchair/scooter accessible tours, using minibuses with lifts. Just google it.

[terrierjohn]

Our experience with Celebrity's accessible shore excursions has been very positive so far, from the slick booking arrangements via shorexaccess@rccl.com, through to the excellent accessible vehicles ranging from Mercedes Sprinter vehicles with a rear access lift, up to full size 50 seater coaches with varying types of access lift ramps to take either wheelchairs or scooters.

My wife needs lift access but she can transfer to a normal seat once on board, and her wheelchair can then be folded and stowed, this way the tours can take more than the normal 3 or 4 wheelchairs.

Our cruises have been on the Eclipse from Southampton to the Med and the Baltic, so the comments about Europe not having ADA equivalent tours is in our opinion outdated.

Prices do vary and the tours using the small vehicles are obviously the highest priced, but we enjoyed a panoramic scenic tour of Rome with some free time in St Peters square which was combined with an AB minimal walking tour in a full size coach and was relatively inexpensive. Similarly in the Baltic we also enjoyed low priced tours in Stockholm and Helsinki.

We just hope that Celebrity continue to offer similar excursions on any future cruises we do with them.

Edited December 17, 2013 by terrierjohn

[spookwife]

Thanks, we did take private tours which worked out great but were extremely expensive. My comment was directed toward getting Celebrity's attention to my complaint. I guess they don't care about the disabled passenger market.

 

care has nothing to do with it.. they can only work with what they have.. and outside the US, that is not much esp in the way of requiring by law certain levels of access.

 

its not like they go around rubbing their hands in evil glee looking for ways to shortchange a specific demographic.

[spookwife]

Thanks, but it am not interested in their legal obligations under the ADA. The whole point is that any merchant should cater to a market or the market will find other sources for the services desired. If a disabled passenger is not provided services needed to enjoy the trip, the traveler will go elsewhere. You are saying that they met their minimum legal obligation so I should not complain? Read the terms and conditions and limitation of liability on every air and cruise ticket. If they just met the minimum, we would never travel.

 

but they don't NEED to cater to us( disabled type folks). they have more than enough revenue from everyone else that our not taking their tour is a non issue to them. furthermore.. where do you draw the line? Most people agree that private tours are less expensive than going through the cruise line itself.

 

Yes i agree that you may have a legitimate complaint after being assured that your ECV could be accommodated only to find out it could not. and you are allowed to feel bummed that you missed X Cultural Treasure. but if you ultimately did not go on the tour all you could justify asking for is a refund on the price. nothing more. even the most polite, thoughtful and well written letter will do no good if it is only one.. it would take thousands to get any major change to occur.

[Chunky2219]

care has nothing to do with it.. they can only work with what they have.. and outside the US, that is not much esp in the way of requiring by law certain levels of access.

 

its not like they go around rubbing their hands in evil glee looking for ways to shortchange a specific demographic.

Streuth, will you people please stop bleating on about how wonderful ADA is in the US and how everyone else is the third world.

 

Most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and plenty of other places have accessibility laws that are at least as good as what you believe you have and enjoy. Granted, we have some rather older tourist attractions that weren't thought out too well when they were built 500 years ago or more, but in general it's good if you only PREPARE AND PLAN IN ADVANCE.

 

While I'm at it, the US isn't all it's cracked up to be. We did New York and New England in 2011 and the accessibilty, especially toliets, was nothing to crow about. The drop kerbs (you call them curb cuts) in NYC were rubbish and I'm lucky I didn't need new front castors on my chair after two days there.

 

I sympathise with the OP but it could so easily have been better. I've found Celebrity to be no problem at all with excursions so long as you can climb the steps on a normal coach to get to a reserved seat at the front. Scooters go underneath in the luggage compartment, providing that they are not too big. If the tiller folds then taht's a bonus. It isn't rocket science. Maybe the reason why I've never struggled is that I go to the excursions desk and ask to have a conversation with someone who can help and understand my needs rather than rely on some minimum wage phone jockey in a call centre.

 

Don't get me started on health care and litigation. The US is the only place in the world where I cannot get personal liability included in my wheelchair insurance, plus health travel insurance is 3 x the price as for anywhere else in the world.

 

 

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[LondonTowner]

I have limited mobility due to severe arthritis. I can manage to get on and off excursion coaches although they do often have high steps. Due to the challenges I have I always do plenty of research beforehand, including ringing venues, hotels etc and ask about the particular facilities.

 

We very rarely do shore excursions as they are ridiculously overpriced, so make our own arrangements. The last cruise we did was in September to the Baltics. The most difficult port of call was Talllin, but I managed everywhere else. We had taken a manual wheelchair and at times it was a bit difficult on the cobble stones, but as already mentioned, Europe is not the USA and many of these places were built before America was discovered.

 

In many European cities I have taken a mobility scooter on the HOHO buses and there has been no problem either. Many European cities also have adapted taxis and public transport is definitely improving in many places.

 

Of course disabled access laws apply here, but is not always possible to implement them in some older buildings, so, I repeat do your research and don't rely upon somebody telling you it will be OK when they haven't got a clue.