Handicapped Accessible Excursions

[PegIra]

I was just wondering what Excrusions are good for someone who uses a scooter to get around. My husband can walk short distances but not for any length of time. Our last couple of cruises were on the Disney Magic and there were very few things we could do off the ship. I hope that isn't true on our Panama Canal Cruise on the Zuiderdam.

Any help would be appreciated.

Peg

[bcirish]

On HAL you can look at the corner of the excursion description and see how many "walking people" are there. If there is one person - that means you are usually on a bus - getting to the bus and getting on and off the bus would be your biggest issue. Once on the bus it tends to be panorama - driving and looking and you decide at a stop if you want to get off. That has been pretty consistent on the HAL trips we have been on.
We have also found that HAL tends to offer more excursions with less walking and the opportunity to stay on the bus.
Depending on where you are the distance to the bus varies - sometimes you come right down the gangway and the bus is there. In the Baltic - the gangways seemed to be very long twisting back and forth. In the MEd and around England it was not bad. In the Caribbean it the walking is usually the length of the pier. Hope this helps.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Zuiderdam

Once you get to Gatun Lake your husband will probably have to stay on the ship -- this is a tendering port.

Cristobal -- just a quick scoot on the ramp to get into the terminal where the shops and vendors are. There are no tours offered in Cristobal itself.

Aruba and Curacao -- you should be able to get tours there -- a lot are offered.

Puerto Limon -- few tours.

[Mary Ellen]

Try calling the 800 number for HAL shore ex. I've found the people there to be extremely helpful. The amount of information they have will depend upon how well the tour operators have filled out the forms for HAL, but I've found some tours that have yards walked between point A to B and how many steps (stairs) are involved for each stop on the tour. Other tours have just had the total distance walked. That time the HAL person said 'that's not very helpful' and 'they didn't fill out the form right' (I'm paraphrasing so I didn't use the full quote marks).

For us this has enabled us to take tours we wouldn't have done based upon the number of "walkers" the tour was rated. Stairs aren't an issue for us, distance is the concern.

[PegIra]

Thanks for all your replies. It is a help to get some input. I will be calling HAL on Monday or Tuesday for some help. My husband has spinal stenosis which restricts how long he can walk
(not far) without resting a few minutes. He also need a knee replacement, but that will be done on the 15th of December, so hopefully that is one problem less we will have to deal with for the cruise.

Thanks again,
Peg

[IRL_Joanie]

Try calling the 800 number for HAL shore ex. I've found the people there to be extremely helpful. The amount of information they have will depend upon how well the tour operators have filled out the forms for HAL, but I've found some tours that have yards walked between point A to B and how many steps (stairs) are involved for each stop on the tour. Other tours have just had the total distance walked. That time the HAL person said 'that's not very helpful' and 'they didn't fill out the form right' (I'm paraphrasing so I didn't use the full quote marks).

For us this has enabled us to take tours we wouldn't have done based upon the number of "walkers" the tour was rated. Stairs aren't an issue for us, distance is the concern.

Do what Mary Ellen says and Call the 800 number for HAL. They are very happy to work with those of us who are mobility challenged.

They will also send you forms (mine come via email) to fill out, I have hubby fax them back, that are needed for Tendering and additional access getting on and off the ships and the excursions.

I even took 3 Catamaran excursions (2 in Juneau and 1 in Victoria) that I had to use either my cane and/or my walker. The one in Victoria was a roller coaster ride sitting on my walker, BUT TONS of fun!!

Joanie