ozscotart

I second the Sofitel: very comfortable and convenient hotel basically the entrance is in Terminal 5.

Thanks very much for this report, we are doing the same cruise next year (all being well) and looking forward to Arhus and Hamburg. We’ve been to IJmuidin, which is really just another port for Amsterdam and has little of interest, beach cafes and sand dunes and difficult access. I would recommend a shuttle or taxi that goes to Amsterdam. I’ve already booked the accessible shuttle to Bruges, we’ve been there before so I may reconsider our options, but they are limited, we’ve been to Zeebrugge several times before, maybe the coastal tram. I’ve also booked the Rouen accessible excursion, again I’ve been before but would be keen to see the cathedral again, and DH hasn’t been at all. We’ve spent a bit of time in Copenhagen, there are some restaurants and cafes that have no steps but finding an accessible loo is harder.

We were recently in Copenhagen for a few days, I’m gf and df. We liked Restaurant Tight, nice place, friendly and can adapt most of the menu. Popular in the evening so best to book. The other restaurant we liked was Osteria Alfredo, we weren’t the only gf people there and the pizza was excellent. I made the mistake of having my pizza with the df cheese, this didn’t work out well, but someone at the next table had hers without cheese and said it was very good. Again I think you need to book. Other choices are on Find me gluten free app, which was very helpful on our Baltic cruise generally.

Thanks very much for this, very helpful

No worries, I was a bit alarmed that we wouldn’t get any lunch in Tallin ! I’ve accepted that we won’t get any in Helsinki or Kotka, everything will be closed.

I got it off the English page on their website, see screenshot

Kivi Paber Kaarid is open Monday, fully gf restaurant with recent reviews on Find Me Gluten Free. Sadly I was getting excited about the waffle restaurant until I found it is closed Monday. I haven’t found any museums open, we’ve been before so we’ll just wander around.

And I AirTag everything !

I’m a bit paranoid, I duct tape a laminated sign I make to the seat, with flight details, my name and phone number, instructions how to handle etc. The airline will have a luggage tag and possibly several other tags depending on their procedures.

Heathrow is the worst, it’s worse than CDG, years ago a wheelchair assistance girl at CDG found that hard to believe. I now take my scooter rather than rely on wheelchair assistance there, the service is contracted out and is notorious. Unfortunately if you’re flying trans Atlantic I’m not sure you have any other option, if you pay for a lounge they will take you and leave you there, then collect you to get to the gate on time. They should board you first , if passengers are already boarding because wheelchair assistance were late in collecting you, it would be better to insist on waiting to board once everyone was seated. They’ll be keen to pressure you to join the queue but you could sit on the jump seat on the plane until the aisle is clear. We’ve sat on the plane at Heathrow waiting for wheelchair assistance for an hour or more a few times, they’ll pressure you to get off but it’s a long walk ! It’s even worse if you have a connecting flight and have to change terminals. We’ve never been separated though.

I have a related question, I hope you don’t mind my asking, we’re on Dawn in June and don’t like any of the excursions but I know there’ll be some ships shuttles into the town in some of the ports, will we be able to use the $50 excursion credit in the free at sea offer to pay for them ?

I use a Travelscoot, I use a 274 kWh lithium ion battery, max being 300. Most airlines allow one 300 and one spare, but some only allow 160, I usually carry a 300 and a spare. I generally find I don’t travel more than about 6 k a day, I get too tired, but if you are doing a lot of hills or ramps, or if the battery is old, the battery will go down much quicker. Of course, the travelscoot is extremely lightweight, so possibly the battery goes further. So, my usual suggestions would be, not knowing anything about your particular situation, is to check the airline rules about batteries, including spares, and carry any documents about the battery with you, they can be inspected at every stage of your airport journey. They are being particularly cautious about lithium ion batteries now, due to problems with unsafe ones on illegal e scooters and such like (they can explode).

We had a situation where we had to rent one onboard in an emergency, we were just lucky they had one available. If you know you’re going to need it, best taking your own.

They should be left in free wheel mode and you could then move them out of your way. Or get the steward to do it. You have to fill in a form to get Princess approval to take your mobility device on board, I would assume these devices can fit in a standard cabin.

I’ve been chatting on another forum with another cruiser going to La Rochelle about finding suitable alternatives to cruise excursions, myself because Princess don’t seem to have any accessible excursions. I’ve read a very negative review on Google of a recent RCI stop there where the shuttle (La Rochelle being 16k away) was very small and inadequate for a large ship. I also looked into the local bus service, it being a large port there is one but possibly cruise passengers won’t be allowed to leave the dock gate on foot? My question is are there many taxis at the port ?