Shore excursions on Asian cruise

We have booked a cruise on Celebrity Millenium on December 10. Both my husband and I will be bringing walkers. He is able to walk further than I can without a walker but both of us need them for long distances. In addition, I am 80 and he is 89. First are there shore excursions available that can accomodate our walkers and second that will take my husband at his age. I noticed that many of the Celebrity tours in Viet Nam had an age limit of 85. I am interested in tours in Bangkok, Da Nang and Hanoi. I would appreciate any tips you could give me. We are novices at cruising. This is only our second cruise.

I really cannot answer your questions, just share some ideas.

First of all, have you checked the ship's tours? With walkers, you should not have a transportation issue. I am assuming they are collapsible. The ships tours do note the activity level. Currently, Celebrity does not list and cruises for wheelchairs or scooters. You might want to write to verify that your walkers would be doable.

We traveled in 2009 and required the use of our mobility scooters, thus limiting accessible transportation. Also, did not take any ship's tours. We either did things on our own or booked private tours.

Singapore: If you allow for a full day before the cruise, you should be able to see the majority of things on your own. They have an excellent metro system, thus your actual walking distances would be limited. Using the metro, we were able to travel all over and see the majority of the sights. Enlarge Google maps and you should be able to determine sites and metro stops.

Noticed that you have an “over-night” in Bangkok. That will allow you adequate time to spend a full day in Bangkok. I found a private tour on line, got all the details and shared the info on our Cruise Critic roll call. Was able to fill the van, thus very reasonable per person cost. We had a full day in Bangkok which also included Thai dinner and show. I believe it was about 1 ½ hour drive to and from Bangkok. We got back to the ship around midnight. Sorry, I no longer have the name of that tour company.

Vietnam – We stopped at a few ports, do not remember which one for Hanoi. Could not find any accessible transportation into Hanoi. Others onthe cruise took a ship's tour.

In Hong Kong the cruise terminal is right down town. The majority of things were accessible, except one bus driver would not let us on. The ferry and funicular are accessible and definitely worth a trip.

If the cruise line has indicated there are restrictions or limits, I would abide by that. They publish that information for your own safety and protection.

Have a wonderful cruise,

Betty

I believe the bigger issue is can you both climb up the stairs on a tour bus? You are unlikely to find any shore tours in these areas with lift equipped buses or vans, nor those that kneel.

Thanks, Raindropalways and Splinter.. Thank made us feel a little less apprehensive. We can both climb a few stairs with handrails and can walk unassisted a couple hundred feet but are concerned that tour busses will not let us take our walkers along on tours.

Really sorry to tell you but think you need current info. Millennium docks at the new terminal located where the old airport was. Only small ships still dock "downtown". However HK taxis are reasonable and readily available.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We have booked a cruise on Celebrity Millenium on December 10. Both my husband and I will be bringing walkers. He is able to walk further than I can without a walker but both of us need them for long distances. In addition, I am 80 and he is 89. First are there shore excursions available that can accomodate our walkers and second that will take my husband at his age. I noticed that many of the Celebrity tours in Viet Nam had an age limit of 85. I am interested in tours in Bangkok, Da Nang and Hanoi. I would appreciate any tips you could give me. We are novices at cruising. This is only our second cruise.

Good that you have a lot of lead time.

We (I) have some mobility issues, although not extreme.

However, it is enough that I would/could often have difficulty keeping up with a group, either because I'm a bit slower, or because I just need to rest for a few minutes.

So we take private tours, although those can obviously be more expensive. (But it isn't always all *that* much, as most cruiseline tours charge much more than one could do the same without the cruiseline's assistance. The "best"/least expensive way to handle this, without disability concerns, is to find a private tour and share the costs with another couple or just a few others.)

Another reason we prefer to spend the extra on a private tour is that we can focus on what *we* want to see/do.

No need to spend lots of extra time while others - especially stragglers - get off and back on the bus, etc.

If we don't want to do a "shopping stop", we don't waste that time, but go someplace we *do* want to see/do.

Similarly, if we love a particular stop, we can stay a bit longer; or leave a stop sooner if it doesn't seem as interesting as we had hoped.

Also, occasionally DH goes ahead with the guide, while I use that particular stop to rest up for later.

In some cases, one can arrange a half-day tour at lower cost than a full day tour, precisely because one can focus on the sights/activities that *you* prefer.

We find private guides on TripAdvisor (read both the "good" and the "not so good" reviews for patterns), or on the Ports of Call section of CruiseCritic.

Also, sign up for your specific cruise's Roll Call. Sometimes others mention trying to organize private tours and price sharing.

Just be sure to mention any mobility difficulties so that you and the others are a good match.

Who knows... you might find someone else in similar circumstances on your own cruise.

We just returned from a few weeks in Japan and then Hong Kong, where we had lots of private tours, sometimes with the same guide more than one day.

But in Hong Kong, we happened to find a guide who offered use of her private air-conditioned vehicle if needed/requested. Given the heat there, that worked our really well :)

We just make sure that the expectations are set in advance. We don't want to end up with a guide who usually has tours that are especially active or such. A good tour guide should be able to help tailor the tour to your interests *and* your capabilities (as long as they know your limitations and agree to arrange a suitable tour).