Trying to book an accessible tour through Celebrity's Accessible Shore Excursions

[JandKMom]

This is for my mother and her aide. It is a wheelchair accessible tour listed under Excursions on the Celebrity website. Unlike other excursions, you cannot book it online, but rather must email them, and it is based on availablity. I emailed the email address provided last week and they promptly got back to me with descriptions of the two types of tours that are offered- "Panoramic" and "Easy." My mother would need the "Easy" tour because she is a full-time wheelchair user and cannot walk at all. They sent me several detailed questions regarding the dimensions and weight of her wheelchair, etc. It took me a day or so to gather that info and I emailed them back on Friday afternoon. I got an auto reply that someone would get back to me with info and that requests were processed in the order received. As of yesterday, I still had not heard back, so I emailed them again and explained that I was anxious to get some information and that I had found an independent operator that I could book if the cruiseline could not accommodate us. Still no reply a day later. I am getting very annoyed. I am trying to coordinate my mother's schedule and activities along with ours (I am also traveling with my husband and kids who would not go on the tour) as well as activities for the other days we are in port. I cannot find a phone number for this department. Should I call the main reservation line? Does anyone have any experience with this department? It is the Accessible Shore Excursions Department and all I have as I said is an email address.

[mutzy]

the special needs department is very slow in responding. it usually takes

my TA several calls to get any excursions I want booked.

 

I will warn you just because you are signed up for one of their "accessible" excusions doesn't mean it will happen. on the last two cruises with celebrity I had all but one "accessible" excursion cancelled once I was on the ship for various reasons. The one excursion I did get was not accessible at all- I was left on the tour bus while others were able to get off to walk around. the reason I was told was it would take to long to unload and load the scooter because we would only be at each site for 10 minutes.

 

hope this helps

[boingboingbaggy]

Hi, My wife is also a full time electric wheelchair user. The Access people are sometimes slow to respond certainly not within a few days. For example we are sailing on Eclipse in August but only recently got their accessible tours. Where are you going and when? They tend to go on departure order. Have you also tried the meet and mingle for your cruise? If I can help let me know.

[JandKMom]

We are going June 29th to Bermuda. Maybe I should just go ahead and book with the independent operator - at least he got right back to me!

[mutzy]

I actually did the Bermuda excusion a last yr with RCCL. Again we stopped at a couple of places where we couldn't take the scooter off. at the smallest draw bridge and at the light house. they did take the scooter off at st. George for a 30 minute break. I did enjoy the tour because I was able to see a lot of the island. I will be returning to Bermuda in October and will try

to do the tour again. (different tour guide different information)

 

I am sure RCCL and celebrity use the same tour company

[JandKMom]

Yes, it is the same as Royal Caribbean, the general email that sends the auto reply is actually from rccl.com. I just wish they would get back to me and I worry about booking and then finding out it is cancelled. Wondering if I am just better off booking through the independent guy/ It is 2 months out so I don't know if it is too early or too late at this point. I realize they wont book it unless enough other people book (the bus holds 10, so 5 wheelchairs and/or scooters and 5 companions, or maybe more wheelchairs/scooters if they are automatic. I wish they would at least reply to my emails and tell me what the story is...

[mutzy]

did you book thru a ta or thru celebrity. my ta has better luck than I do.

 

does the private tour have a minimum number.

 

I have found on most the accessible tours usually only has a couple of wheelchairs or scooters users. a lot of the people on the tours are companions or people that just need an easier excursion.

[JandKMom]

I booked through a TA. Maybe I should ask her to try to contact them for me. The restrictions of the "Easy" tour was the wheelchair or scooter bound person plus just one companion due to space restrictions, so even if my kids and I wanted to go, we could not.

[DUTRAVEL]

It takes a long time for them to get back to you regarding the excursions. I have used the Celebrity ShoreXAccess excursions on two cruises to Europe. The excursions have been excellent. Last year in Provence, there were two couples on the excursion along with my husband and me. It was like having a private tour. The phone contact that I have is Fernando Canto 305-982-2547.

[JandKMom]

Thank you! I emailed my TA to try to contact them for me. Maybe I will try your contact if I don't have success soon :)

[Kellie Poodle]

From personal experience with the "Easy" tours, I'd strongly suggest you go with the independent tour company.

 

Your tour on your terms.

[JandKMom]

Hm thank you for the feedback. I had heard good things about the tour in Bermuda. Where did you take it and what was the problem with it?

[JandKMom]

My TA reached out and was told I should expect a reply in 7-10 days from my initial email. If not, she said she would reach out to their contact at Celebrity. I don't understand why they are so slow in responding. They have so few accessible cabins, it's not like they must be overwhelmed with requests. Oh well, Friday will be 7 days so I hope to hear from them by Monday and can make a decision and move forward with planning.

[Kellie Poodle]

Hm thank you for the feedback. I had heard good things about the tour in Bermuda. Where did you take it and what was the problem with it?

 

Canary Islands. We had been able to book it online before they took it off. My DH was the first person to book it. The staff in the theater first sent them to one side of the ship, then they were told to go to another side of the ship. This was done to people with mobility issues! When they finally got to the van, it was full. Apparently, the original van broke down so they sent a smaller one.

 

They put him and the people he was with on a regular tour assuring him it would be the same. it was nothing like the "Easy" tour and he found himself at an altitude where breathing was difficult.

 

Since it's not the cruise line who controls shore excursions, but vendors the cruise ship hires, there are no assurances. If you want a tour that will assure you you won't have problems, book a private one.

 

The other issue is that the staff in the theater who assigns who goes when don't seem to be aware that the people on the "Easy" tour are mobility challenged. The people taking the "Easy" tours shouldn't even have to congregate in the theater. They should be told where to meet the tour as they are a small group who doesn't need to traipse across the ship.

 

Four years ago we were in Bermuda and booked a tour with a van. The guide was the husband of the woman who ran the tourist bureau and we had a grand time. Go to the "ports of call" boards of Cruise Critic and get some recommendations. Also the handicapped travel boards can be very, very helpful.

[JandKMom]

Thanks for your feedback. I am sorry to hear your story. I had actually already found a guy, Keith Simmons that does this tour in Bermuda. I posted about this on the Disability board and someone replied that she had taken both his tour and the one through the cruiseline and enjoyed both. I think Keith may be the husband and wife one. This person recommended the cruiseline one more however since she said it was a bit easier and the sightlines better on the van, although she said both were good. I think I will wait to hear from the Accessible department and then make a decision after weighing all the options.

[DUTRAVEL]

We have gone on 7 or 8 excursions through ShoreXAccess. We have always been directed to meet the tour on the pier and not in the theatre. We took a Canary Islands excursion in December and we were in a van with a lift with just one other couple. Non-disabled travelers can take an "Easy" Tour; sometimes they combine the wheelchair accessible excursion with that tour and sometimes it is separate.

[JandKMom]

Hello again. I am in kind of a bind now and very aggravated with Celebrity/rccl and their ShoreAccess department. I did try to call that phone number, but it just rings and rings. I called the main Celebrity reservation number and an agent tried to help me, but it turns out that there is no phone number for the department - you have to email them! The reservation agent couldn't even get a call in! They FINALLY got back to me after 10 days. It turns out there is a tour available on the day my mother was interested in, but they then needed to submit the request to the operator to make sure they could accommodate my mom! In the meantime, I had emailed the independent guy, Keith Simmons and he said he could pick my mom up at 10 am that day. I figured I would wait to get back to him til I heard from the ShoreAccess people. Three days later - no word - so I emailed again. The rep got back to that they had submitted the request TWICE and would let me know as soon as they heard! Meanwhile, Keith Simmons emails me again today and says HE needs to know ASAP if we are going to book! I don't know what to do. My mom would really rather take the larger tour advertised by Celebrity but at this point I don't know if it is available or not and I am afraid if I don't book the other guy we could lose that too. I suppose I could book him and then cancel if the other one comes through, but I feel badly about that. It seems so dishonest.

[Chunky2219]

I'm amazed the OP even got an initial contact.

 

On first enquiry for our last Celebrity voyage I got an automated e-mail saying it was too soon and they'd get back to us. They never did. I chased, chased, chased a bit more. Rang around, complained a bit and got nowhere. All I got after a lot of hassling was a very poorly formatted, old-fashioned mainframe type e-mail which gave me a selection of some of the details in the official tours pre-booking brochure. Useless!

 

In the end, there were no accessible tours available on the voyage. The people on board were really helpful, but they couldn't do much at short notice. In the end we got some tours in because I'm able to stow the chair and climb a few steps on to a coach but the choice of low energy tours wasn't great.

 

No cruise line seems to be consistently good at dealing with this stuff, but Celebrity has been the worst in my experience.

 

.

[JandKMom]

That's what I am afraid of. They did, however send us an email brochure with specific dates and times attached and supposedly the tour my mother is interested is available on the date in question. The problem is the tour operator must confirm and they have not. I think if I do not hear by tomorrow I will just book with the independent guy.

[JandKMom]

Well, I finally heard back from them and my mother is confirmed on the tour. I cancelled the independent operator. Hope I didn't make a mistake. I will be so annoyed if the official excursion ends up cancelled. Thanks everyone for the feedback and advice!