Handicapped Accessible excursions?

[DorothyB]

Five of us are cruising in January and George Town, Grand Cayman is one of our ports.  One person in our party will use either a scooter or wheelchair and I think one other with a walker and maybe one with a cane.

 

We are looking for accessible excursions.  Any that you can recommend?

[bookbabe]

You will need to check with your cruise line, ideally the accessibility department and then shore excursions.

 

The bigger issue is that Grand Cayman is a tender port, so depending on what type of wheelchair, that guest may not be able to board the tender to the island.  A scooter almost definitely can’t be taken on the tender.

 

Once you know about tender accessibility for the guests, the next step would be deciding what type of excursion you are interested in.  There are dozens of options of what to do in Grand Cayman, from beach to shopping to stingrays to turtles to gardens and historical sites, so you’ll need to narrow it down a bit.  But first figure out if your party can get to shore.

[DorothyB]

Thanks - they have been in touch with the accessibility department but haven't yet discussed tender ports that I know of.  Good point on tender port.  He has a progressively degenerative disease so not sure what his status will be then.  Right now he is able to walk, uses walker most of the time, scooter for long distances - but at some point that will become a wheelchair.  Others in our party can not walk for long distances, etc.

[bookbabe]

22 hours ago, DorothyB said:

Thanks - they have been in touch with the accessibility department but haven't yet discussed tender ports that I know of.  Good point on tender port.  He has a progressively degenerative disease so not sure what his status will be then.  Right now he is able to walk, uses walker most of the time, scooter for long distances - but at some point that will become a wheelchair.  Others in our party can not walk for long distances, etc.

I would have the relevant members of the party watch a YouTube video of the tendering process.  Even a video of a different port, as long as it’s the right ship.  Depending on the wave conditions, there can be a fairly rocky “bounce” as you step off the ship and onto the tender.  The crew will assist, but it’s quite a daunting process if it’s not something you’ve done before.  My elderly mom with mobility challenges is not a fan of the process at all, she can do it with assistance, but would greatly prefer to avoid tender ports if she can.

 

Before bothering to search out an appropriate excursion, and I’d probably recommend the ease of a ship one if a number of the group needs accessibility accommodations, it’s essential to figure out if they’re going to be willing/able to do the tender to get off the ship in the first place.

[DorothyB]

Thanks - the most disabled couple does have experience w/ tender ports and the other couple has some cruising experience as well.  They may opt to stay on board for tender ports.

[bookbabe]

After you’ve talked about the tendering, if you have an idea about what type of excursion you’re all interested in, people may be able to give ideas of operators they’ve used that were fairly accessible.  Cayman has so much to offer, it’s necessary to narrow down by interest a bit.

[DorothyB]

One couple will not tender.  The other couple is likely to tender.  Activity level 1 sightseeing type tours.

[bookbabe]

On 5/28/2024 at 1:50 PM, DorothyB said:

One couple will not tender.  The other couple is likely to tender.  Activity level 1 sightseeing type tours.

Best bet then might be something through the cruise line, there should be a generic island tour.  If you see something that goes to the botanical gardens, that’s far enough from town that you’ll get to see a lot on the way there and back, and the gardens are very pretty.  Skip anything that mentions the stingrays or turtles, those will be water tours.
 

I think some of the excursion operators might have options, you could always start a new thread specifically looking for island tour recommendations.

 

The other option might be to rent a car and DIY, the island is very safe and easy to navigate, as long as you’re okay driving on the left.