Update for Private Alaskan Shore Excursions

I am a bit frustrated with my travel agency and the access department at Celebrity Cruises. I have faxed my access form in twice so that I can plan suitable shore excursions and have not heard from anyone. :mad: I am now at the point where I realize that I will need to do the arrangements myself.

Has anyone been successful in arranging private shore excursions. My husband and I (first time cruisers) are booked on the Millennium at the end of August and will sail from Seward to Vancouver. I am a vivacious woman with MS and my hip flexors are toast. I am unable to climb up the steps on most tour buses. I can stand for 5 minutes and can walk about 100 yards with my walker.

I have looked at the postings done by Splinter in 2004. I would appreciate any information that is more current regarding shore excursions that may be a good fit for me.

You don't say which ports you are sailing to however we stopped at Juneau where we used Orca Enterprises for a whale watching tour. Their boat is specially equipped to be accessible and if you need it they will send a lift equipped van for you. In Skagway we used the White Pass railroad which has lift equipped cars. We scheduled this with Princess cruises as we sailed with them. In Glacier Bay there were no need for excursions as that was fabulous scenery of glaciers right from the ship. In Ketchikan we took a small boat tour but I would have preferred to go to the totem park. We took a second excursion in Skagway "Evening Wildlife Excursion" that included a boat transfer to Haines where we boarded school type buses for a fabulous whale, seal, eagle and bear tour. I was barely able to get up the steps into the bus but it was so worth it! This was also a ship's excursion.

I found the below information on the Celebrity website. Have you tried emailing them? It might simply be too early for them to have excursions available, even HC ones. I searched for excursions for both the Aug. 19 and 26 sailing of Millennum and got a message that shore excursions were not available to purchase yet.

Exhilarating ports of call calling your name? Have trouble getting around easily? No problem. Celebrity has added many new customized excursions that require less strenuous activity for groups of any size. Or, maybe you're looking for a completely wheelchair-accessible excursion? Just browse for Easy Tours in the keyword search box below. Easy tours are available for certain destinations only. They can be booked by sending us an email to shorexaccess@celebrity.com no later than 10 days ahead of your planned cruise.

 

Or, we can also arrange a private accessible tour for you. Simply review our Accessible Tour Guidelines and send us an email to shorexaccess@celebrity.com no later than 21 days prior to your sail date. We'll provide you with details and a price quote. Please refer to our Accessible FAQ's for further information.

When my mom was in Alaska in 2006, the only cruiseline excursion available for wheelchair users was the White Pass Railroad in Skagway. She took that excursion and enjoyed it. There is a special car with a wheelchair lift. Some people find the cost of the railroad a little high and rent a car instead to drive the road that runs along the railroad tracks. The train stops before it reaches the Canadian border and heads back. If you rent a car, you can go further but if you plan to cross into Canada, you will need to bring your passport. If I go back, I'd rent a car rather than taking the train again. The train was nice, but I'd like to have my own time to stop and take pictures.

In Juneau, Mighty Great Trips had a wheelchair-lift bus that did a city tour and stop at Mendenhall glacier. I don't know if they still have the bus. Their phone number is 907-789-5460 if you want to speak with them about the tours they offer. They also have a website that describes their tours, but it doesn't designate any of them as being wheelchair accessible. They have tours in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan. I've seen many good things posted about the Orca Enterprises whale watching tour, but my mom gets seasick on the cruiseships so she wasn't interested in spending several hours on a boat in potentially rough water.

In Sitka my parents went to the national park. http://www.nps.gov/sitk/index.htm It's less than 1/2 mile from the dock along even roads. There is a nature walk, totem poles, and demonstrations. There was a man carving a totem pole and some women sewing bead designs on a dress. We were there in September so the salmon were running. The park has a couple foot-bridges that cross the stream so we saw plenty of salmon and a bear in the distance feeding on them. There is a Russian church in town and history museum that are mostly accessible. You can see the steeple of the church from the port. None of us visited the Raptor Center, but I've heard that it is accessible and offers a great opportunity to learn about the large Alaskan preditor birds. I believe it's a mile or two from the dock so a taxi might be needed to get there.

In 2006 there were no accessible buses or excursions in Icy Strait Point. I think that was the last stop on our cruise. My mom was feeling tired anyway so went ashore long enough to look around the shopping area and nature trail then went back to the ship. Hopefully they have more to do since it's been a few years since we were there.

Not sure if any of the following are included in your cruise, but here are some of the things my husband and I both did and were both confined to wheelchairs:

Juneau: Whale Watching thru Orca Point Lodge

Skagway: White Pass Summit Railroad

Ketchikan: Salmon fishing thru Aurora Sportfishing

Icy Strait Point we did not do much but look around at the place we got off the ship. It was a tender port but I had no trouble getting on and off the tender boat in my wheelchair, which is a lightweight, collapsable wheelchair. Although now I wish we had done more in this place. I have heard others say they did some sort of nature type things that sounded really neat.

Each of these were accessible and I would highly recommend if they sound like something you would like to do. We also did a land cruisetour prior to our cruise. If that is something you are doing, I could fill you in on those also.

Unfortunately it's RCI/Celebrity policy to not let people know of accessible shore excursions until 60 days prior to the cruise. Yes, it's sucky because people should know their options before final payment. I've written about it here

http://barrierfreetravels.com/serendipity/archives/610-Celebrity-Cruises-Misses-Boat-on-Access-and-Customer-Service.html

http://barrierfreetravels.com/serendipity/archives/615-More-Celebrity-Woes.html

I wouldn't depend on the cruise line. Do your research and book direct. Fortunately in Alaska you have a lot of choices. That's not the cases in other parts of the world.

Candy