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In our modern world, familiarity with the difficulties people with disabilities face is present in all facets of life. Cruising is no exception as many cruise lines have now updated older ships to cater for disabled passengers and the new ships include built-in facilities for the disabled. Many of the newer cruise ships include as many as a dozen or more fully accessible cabins for wheelchair bound passengers.
Many ships include ADA kits for the hearing impaired and Braille elevator buttons for the visually impaired. Ships have wider entrances and corridors for wheelchairs, and bathroom fixtures are inclusive of grab rails. The thresholds are lower and lower, more accessible elevator buttons make using elevators an easy task. Common rooms are accessible to those with disabilities whether they are in wheelchairs or walking with canes or crutches.
Accommodation for the blind with seeing-eye dogs/companion dogs is possible, but there are concerns regarding taking dogs into foreign countries. Many countries will not permit dogs to disembark at their ports. Therefore cruising for the blind can involve a very difficult and drawn out process to obtain all the necessary permits and even health records, which are required in some countries.
Today almost all cruise lines will work with disabled people on cruises, although there are some cruise ships on which there is not sufficient space to navigate wheelchairs. Corridors are narrow, doors and entrances are narrow and cabins lack the space needed to manoeuvre a wheelchair. All cruise lines work to care for people with disabilities onboard their cruises, but every physically handicapped person has special needs others do not have. Therefore, some disabled people can take cruises other disabled people are unable to take.
Much depends upon the type of disability an individual passenger has as to which cruise line is best for him or her. Many cruise ships regardless of their accessibility features for people with disabilities require each disabled person to have a personal companion on any cruise. In an international list of 114 cruise ships with facilities for people with disabilities, very few ships scored 100% for having fully accessible facilities.
However, Holland America has four large ships with at least 28 accessible cabins. The Holland America Line offers the same benefits for people with disabilities as they offer all passengers on these ships. There is no added cost for a wheelchair; the person with disabilities and his or her companion would pay the same price as other passengers.
A big item one must consider in arranging a cruise with accessible facilities is the ports associated with a particular cruise. Some ports do not have docks; this means passengers are ferried from the ship to the shore on tenders similar to lifeboats. Tenders cannot transfer wheel chairs safely, thus the passenger must remain on the ship.
Holland America Line no longer guarantees disembarking at every port because of high and low tides or other circumstances existing at the port. Holland America, as well as some other cruise ship lines, has an agreement with Special Needs at Sea and CareVacations/CruiseShipAssist to provide for some disabled passengers’ needs such as oxygen.
The line takes great care in providing for people with disabilities and is a recipient of the SATH/Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality’s Access to Freedom Award. Holland America offers the same benefits to people with disabilities as to other passengers and works with them to make their cruise pleasant.
Royal Caribbean’s three ships – the Freedom, the Liberty and the Independence of the Seas – each provide accommodation for over thirty disabled passengers. The long corridors could prove difficult for those with mobility problems. The Brilliance, the Serenade, the Radiance and the Jewel of the Seas have accommodation for about 30 disabled passengers each.
The Crown Princess, the Emerald Princess and the Ruby Princess from the Princess Line offer several wheelchair accessible cabins, suites and staterooms. The ships also have ADA kits for hearing impaired passengers and elevator buttons in Braille for the visually impaired.
The Solstice and the Constellation from the Celebrity Line have 30 cabins with large bathrooms and whirlpool lifts. The Millennium has accommodation for 26 passengers with disabilities.
While these and other cruise lines try to provide good service for disabled passengers, unexpected problems can and do arise. Many people, especially younger adults, prefer cruising with others who share their disability because these cruises include attendants trained to care for them as needed. There are chartered cruises for the hearing impaired; the visually impaired; people with chronic kidney failure and on dialysis, cruises for the elderly, the wheelchair bound and other groups with disabilities. Many feel they are safer on chartered cruises with trained attendants.
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