Hard of Hearing

Hubby wants to go on a cruise I don’t. Don’t want RC or Princess. Do want a large razzy dazzy new ship but most of all I want a ship that has an effective ALD for the theaters.

Anyone have any experience with a ship were I could hear the comedians, etc..

My only experience has been with Princess and HAL All their theaters and show lounges have assistive listening systems. Sometimes they work very well and other times just static. The sound engineer in the theaters do their best to help but the front desk staff are useless.

I'm hoping that someone else has had better luck. Personally it would be great to find a cruise line that understands how important these systems are for those of us with hearing loss. Considering how old many cruise passengers are, I'd say that a lot of them could benefit.

I have found no cruise line that has any truly effective help for those of us with hearing lose.Some do have closed captioning on thr TV.

Just wanted to let those of you who have hearing loss know that a group of us with hearing loss will be sailing on the Celebrity Constellation on November 19th and they have told us (upon our request), that they would be providing CART for the shows for us. This is real time captioning.

It's a first for us! I've emailed several times explaining what CART is, just to be sure they know. I didn't want them to have a sign language interpreter there and say "this isn't what you meant?" They claim to know what we need and said it will be provided.

It's a short 4 night cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. Come join us if you can! We'd love to meet more people who have a hearing loss!

I'm so tempted to go on that cruise, Shari! The only thing stopping me is that we sail in mid-December for seven days, just too close together. I travel with a Hearing Dog, trained and certified for public access by Dogs for the Deaf. Her first cruise was on Constellation in December and it worked out well.

I loved the ship, by the way.

To the original poster, I haven't had much luck with the onboard devices, and have about given up. I either don't go to the show, or else just watch the dancing and other visuals.

I'm so tempted to go on that cruise, Shari!

Aw, come on, Chris! It's a whole month apart :D We found a great deal on vacations-to-go for it, so maybe you CAN do both! None of us have a dog, and I know we'd love to see how helpful they are, especially on a cruise!

Maybe we can meet up at some point no matter what :)

My hearing dog has been on 3 cruises. You may want to ask the cruise line for the accessible kit which includes a TTY, door knock signal and vibrating alarm clock.

My hearing dog has been on 3 cruises. You may want to ask the cruise line for the accessible kit which includes a TTY, door knock signal and vibrating alarm clock.

Thanks, Tee. They've already informed us that each of our cabins will have the deaf/hoh kit.

What I'm wondering is how we will know what is being announced over the intercom system. Especially when we are at our disembark station and waiting for our turn to get off. I've never cruised without my hearing hubby to listen for us. I think I will go to Customer Service and ask them how we should do this.

If nothing else, we'll stay and be the last people off :)

Hi Shari,

I'm unable to understand the intercom announcements. Sometimes I hear the noise but most often do not have speech recognition. I'm good at telling people I'm deaf and ask them to listen for me. The same goes for airline travel. I check in and state I'm deaf. I advise the agent I'll sit up front and to please notify me of flight delays, etc.

Would it help if you notify your cabin steward? In regards to disembark, the night prior you'll receive a flyer with the arrival times in port and where to get off. On the last night your luggage will be color coded and you'll get a time and place to disembark. Many cruises you can choose to get off early if your carry your own luggage (self-assist). I also check in periodically at the information desk to ask for any changes in itinerary.

Hi Shari,

 

I'm unable to understand the intercom announcements. Sometimes I hear the noise but most often do not have speech recognition. I'm good at telling people I'm deaf and ask them to listen for me. The same goes for airline travel. I check in and state I'm deaf. I advise the agent I'll sit up front and to please notify me of flight delays, etc.

 

Would it help if you notify your cabin steward? In regards to disembark, the night prior you'll receive a flyer with the arrival times in port and where to get off. On the last night your luggage will be color coded and you'll get a time and place to disembark. Many cruises you can choose to get off early if your carry your own luggage (self-assist). I also check in periodically at the information desk to ask for any changes in itinerary.

It's exactly the same for me. I hear the voice over the intercom but it's like Charlie Brown's adults in the background (womp, womp womp womp, womp) lol. I do the same thing in airports. Sometimes the gate attendants are super, other times they say something like "oh, well, go sit down and I'll call your name over the intercom". <I stare blankly> Then they go "oh, that won't work". LOL. Yea, it's a challenge!

I've flown so many times, I'm not too worried about the airport. I just don't know how we will know when our cabins are ready or when our color-coded tag is being called at embarkation. The cruise ship may already have a system, so we'll find out once we are onboard.

I have to say that when we were on the Oasis of the Seas last June, I went to the Customer Service desk and OMG. It was so so loud! It was lipreading ONLY for me (and that's tough when the speakers aren't English-as-their-first-language people). The reps there had a hard time hearing me too (and I'm a loud mouth, ha). I'm hoping with the Constellation being a smaller ship, it won't be quite so loud.

I'm just looking ahead and trying to ward off any communication problems beforehand. Especially since we have a group of hoh people who have never cruised before. They will all be looking at ME for answers, and I'll be as clueless as they are :)

It'll still be fun!!!

Constellation will be a different experience entirely. The good news is that Celebrity makes almost zero announcements over a loud speaker - just a daily Captain's Update. So communications are handled in writing, including disembarking.

You'll be given written info as TeeChi said, and will report to the theater or elsewhere to await your time off. There will be staffers managing the process, and you can remind them if your needs.

I think you are going to be fine because you are anticipating all areas of concern. You could write those areas where you expect to need assistance and provide the list to the front desk.

My hearing loss is similar - some sound, very poor speech recognition. My service dog helps (better than a badge or "I'm deaf" tattooed across the forehead.) After one challenging solo travel night with flights diverted by a blizzard, I threw in the towel and applied to Dogs for the Deaf. They are wonderful and provide dogs to hearing impaired people anywhere in the US at no cost other than a $50 application fee.

I think you mentioned the cruise will have CART. Will they also have a sign language interpreter? How about a device to read announcements? Similar to what you're provided at Disney when you visit the attractions. When experiencing It's a Small World I was able to read the lyrics on the hand held device.

You'll do just fine. You appear to know how to advocate for yourself. I truly wish I was going. My May trip to Alaska is costly and I'm using all of my vacation time.

So glad to chat with someone who understands deaf doesn't mean without sound.

Enjoy the cruise!

My hearing loss is similar - some sound, very poor speech recognition. My service dog helps (better than a badge or "I'm deaf" tattooed across the forehead.) After one challenging solo travel night with flights diverted by a blizzard, I threw in the towel and applied to Dogs for the Deaf. They are wonderful and provide dogs to hearing impaired people anywhere in the US at no cost other than a $50 application fee.

I think you mentioned the cruise will have CART. Will they also have a sign language interpreter? How about a device to read announcements? Similar to what you're provided at Disney when you visit the attractions. When experiencing It's a Small World I was able to read the lyrics on the hand held device.

 

 

So glad to chat with someone who understands deaf doesn't mean without sound.

 

Enjoy the cruise!

To both Caribbean Chris and Teechi - Do either one of you have a C.I.?

I'm a candidate but have just been too chicken to get one. I'm getting closer though!

Teechi - The cruiseline will provide an interpreter if we request one, but our group doesn't really use sign very much. We use it for fun more than anything and would be pretty lost if that was all we had to depend on. I sure would love having one of those hand held devices (like Disney) onboard a ship! Wouldn't that be wonderful? I don't think the Connie offers the chat device that Oasis did. You could "rent" per day a messaging device so you could keep track of the members of your party throughout the day. I think it was mostly used for teens, but it sure would be nice for hoh people too! We have balcony cabins side-by-side, so we can leave our balcony doors unlocked and be able to go back and forth without having to use the cabin phone (like we could hear on it anyway). This group is really BIG on texting and our cell phones will be useless once we're at sea (except for the camera, of course).

Caribbean Chris - I checked into the Dogs for the Deaf MANY years ago. At that time, I found out I couldn't get one because we already had a dog in the family. We don't anymore, so I could probably get one now. I think I'd rather try a C.I. before I get a dog, but someday I may have both :)

So nice chatting with both of you! These issues are something that the majority of people would have no answers to, so it's nice to share our experiences and hints/tips when cruising.

Final question - are you both female? LOL. Not that it matters, I just already have an image of both of you, which is based on absolutely nothing :D

Shari, it really IS nice chatting, and yes, I am a woman. No C.I. yet, though I talked to a lot of people about it at an HLAA convention.

A friend of mine with a Hearing Dog got a C.I. last year, and she seemed disappointed with the result. I know it takes a lot of therapy work to retrain the brain to understand the meaning of the new sounds you begin to hear. Some therapists are better than others, in her experience.

I'm a candidate, too, so eventually will get one but the potential for improved technology keeps me postponing the big step. So the dog is helping me now. The one-dog only scenario is still in place for Dogs For The Deaf applicants.

My hearing dog has been on 3 cruises. You may want to ask the cruise line for the accessible kit which includes a TTY, door knock signal and vibrating alarm clock.

Another cruising Hearing Dog partner - I love it, Tee! Were yours Caribbean cruises or elsewhere?

There is a woman from Canada named Colleen (MCDW, I think, is her forum name) who has taken her little hearing dogs (now on her second one) on many transatlantic cruises.

Our first cruise with my dog was in December on the Constellation, and I learned a lot, especially about the paperwork. She did very well, so we have more cruises planned. Next one up is April on Holland America. I've heard good things about their arrangements for the relief box.

Yes I'm female and have bilateral cochlear implants. The surgeries were done 6 months apart. My hearing dog has been on multiple flights with connections, disney world, seaworld, the local zoo, museums, he goes to work with me, and cruises to Mexico and the Caribbean.

I did not take him to Italy nor is he going to Alaska in May. Those trips are very lengthy.

Ncl has an app for about $10 for a 7 day cruise where you can text others while onboard.

I did a little research and found that you can text onboard ship, at least using Verizon you can.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/global/plans-and-pricing.html

It's not cheap, and I wonder if you have a signal all the time. I'm going to see what I can learn about it :)

I did a little research and found that you can text onboard ship, at least using Verizon you can.

 

http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/global/plans-and-pricing.html

 

It's not cheap, and I wonder if you have a signal all the time. I'm going to see what I can learn about it :)

Try the cruise line apps for a flat rate. Ncl was $10 for the entire week. The app also listed show times and other things happening onboard.

I have a CI. Got it over 16 years ago so it's kind of old technology but I LOVE IT. Can't imagine going back to the bad old days of just hearing sounds with no discrimination. Yes I know the new CIs are much better than mine but I'm glad I did not wait. I've had 16 years of hearing with it. Not claiming that I can hear everything but it's whole lot better than hearing virtually nothing.

CART on a cruise sounds wonderful. Wish it was standard for all the shows as well as captioning for all the movies.

I have a CI. Got it over 16 years ago so it's kind of old technology but I LOVE IT. Can't imagine going back to the bad old days of just hearing sounds with no discrimination. Yes I know the new CIs are much better than mine but I'm glad I did not wait. I've had 16 years of hearing with it. Not claiming that I can hear everything but it's whole lot better than hearing virtually nothing.

 

CART on a cruise sounds wonderful. Wish it was standard for all the shows as well as captioning for all the movies.

Hi Whiterose,

This will be the first cruise I've ever gone on that has CART. I'm hoping they really KNOW what we are asking for. And I'd love captioning on the movies too, but to be honest, I'm not sure I'd be watching movies when there is so much to do that I can't do when I'm home :)

Wish you could all come with us!!

Ncl has an app for about $10 for a 7 day cruise where you can text others while onboard.

Really NCL didn't inform me about that when I asked the question for an interpreter for Epic cruise in Europe.. they don't do it

I wonder if only based in USA can provdes us an interpreter?

Scottishwee35

Hubby wants to go on a cruise I don’t. Don’t want RC or Princess. Do want a large razzy dazzy new ship but most of all I want a ship that has an effective ALD for the theaters.

 

Anyone have any experience with a ship were I could hear the comedians, etc..

Have you gone on a cruise yet? We have requested, and told we will get, a CART typist to type for the shows in November of this year.

Maybe that would work for you?

I just returned from a NCL cruise to Alaska on the Pearl. NCL provided all that is needed for a deaf person to enjoy a cruise. Interpreters were on board and available 24/7 for any show, excursion,etc we chose to do. Reserved seats were provided at the evening shows. Any excursion we booked through the cruise line, the interpreters were on. A pager for emergencies was made available, closed captioning was on the tv, a phone was provided, etc. Whatever was needed was provided. Book a NCL cruise and request services. They do an amazing job.

Shari

I'm curious how it went using CART on your last cruise? I have a cruise coming up in June and I would LOVE to have CART to use for shows, etc.