scooter accessibility for italy/greece cruise

we are booked on the Celebrity Constellation for 12 nights. My husband is ambulatory but is in scooter and manual chair.

our ports include

Rome

Naples

Valletta, Malta

Athens

Santorini

Rhodes

Ephesus, Turkey

Mykonos

Chania (Crete)?

Venice

any help/suggestions on port accessibility would be greatly appreciated. it is our first cruise/trip to europe.

we are booked on the Celebrity Constellation for 12 nights. My husband is ambulatory but is in scooter and manual chair.

our ports include

Rome

Naples

Valletta, Malta

Athens

Santorini

Rhodes

Ephesus, Turkey

Mykonos

Chania (Crete)?

Venice

 

any help/suggestions on port accessibility would be greatly appreciated. it is our first cruise/trip to Europe.

The excursion buses will not have accessible lifts so it will be difficult accommodating a scooter. If your husband is able to walk a few steps up/down to get on the excursion bus than most tours will accept a folding wheelchair. Therefore you will have to research each port to find if an accessible private tour is available.

In general all the ports you're going to will have their own unique challenges even if you take tours with a collapsible chair. The will be definite limitations at each port .

Accessible taxis will be limited and even nonexistent in many of these ports . However generally taxis will accommodate a folding wheelchair.

You should check with Celebrities Special Needs Dept. and Shore Excursions to see if any accessible tours will be available. Also suggest you do a search for each port on this forum to see what information has been posted in the past.

Rome -there are a couple private tour companies with accessible vans available but have never used one.

Mykonos is a tendered port so it highly unlikely that you're husband will be allowed to the scooter on board the tender. Even if you plan to use the folding wheelchair in this port it's still up to the discretion of the Captain if any passenger with a disability will be allowed to board the tender.

Santorini - Using a scooter or wheelchair is basically impossible due to the geographical nature of the port being hilly and having the access ways are all steps.

Venice does have some accessible boats . Also there a some accessible elevators available. Here's the link for the accessible map of Venice. http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/1318

Naples - This link may be helpful http://www.sagetraveling.com/accessible-cruise-ports-naples-italy

Suggest you do a search on this forum for each port.

Valletta Malta - The town center is flat and most can be accessed by wheelchair. You can contact the following for more specific information:

National Commission Persons with Disability

(Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b'Dizabilita)

Centru Hidma Socjali

Sta. Venera HMR 18, MALTA

Tel: +356 21487789

Text Telephone: +356 21446536;

Fax: +356 21484609

Email: helpdesk@knpd.org

Website: http://www.knpd.org

Athens - Having hosted 2004 Paralympics Game Athens is a little more accessible than most European cities. However with that said there's still going to be challenges with the major tourism spots due to the fact that most are all ancient sites. Additionally there will be challenges with all the cobble stones and gravel at those sites but it can be done.

Rhodes Greece -The lanes of the old city are often somewhat roughly paved with cobblestones but generally, a wheelchair user can get around fairly well. Some parts of the museums are accessible but may not be to a degree that makes the visit worthwhile.

Ephesus Greece _ This link has some good information for Ephesus and also has information on many of the other ports on your Itinerary http://www.sagetraveling.com/ephesus-turkey-disabled-access

Chania Crete Getting into most public establishments (and to a restroom) usually means stairs. Historic sites like the ancient ruins of Knossos will be very difficult to fully explore using a wheelchair. Many of the ancient sites sections that can be explored with a wheelchair. The Old Towns of cities (like Chania) and small mountain villages are hilly, often with steps from one area to another. Nonetheless, there are still places in most of these that can be explored. A wheelchair-bound person or one with walking difficulty will not be able to see everything, but they can still see a portion of this port.

I was afraid to go to Venice as bridges with stairs would be a huge problem for me. What I remember, you can take a taxi to Piazzale Roma, and from there you can take the water bus that is accessible. Routes 1 and 2 run along the Grand Canal.

I think people in wheelchairs use the water buses (vaporetto) for free, and probably one person accompanying them is free too. Check on the website. If not free, than reduced fare, and get daily passes. With it you can get off at any station, look around, get back on the bus.