Trip advice for Nassau - Disabled and child friendly?

Hi everyone,

I'm travelling on the Disney Dream on Oct 27 with my husband and 5 year-old daughter, plus my parents. My mum is disabled and will be using a mobility scooter. She can walk a few steps, say across a room, but that's all.

Is there a shore excursion, like a bus trip, that briefly shows you the sights of Nassau and doesn't involve getting on and off all the time? I'd prefer if it wasn't too long as five year-olds aren't really into long sightseeing trips no matter how much you tell them how interesting it is!

Or is there one that shows you the sights on a bus and stops somewhere for a couple of hours that would be suitable for us all?

My mum will be apprehensive and want to stay on the ship, but I think that's a shame when we've come all the way from the UK.

A lot of the trips say 'No motorised scooters' so can they lend you a standard wheelchair in this case?

Are there any Nassau experts out there who can advise me? I'd really appreciate it.

I would love to help but I've only take two excursions and they both involved getting on a catamaran or ferry boat... I'm not sure if that is an option, but they were both great excursions to see the beautiful islands and ocean.

Most islands are not disabled friendly.

I don't know if she can step up a step or two but if she can maybe she can drive her scooter off the ship and down the pier and through the shops in the port building and out the front doors she can ride to the first road, just a few feet and on your left are horse drawn carriage rides.

All of that is paved and accessible for her. Park her scooter by the horse rides and step into a carriage. They hold from 2 to 6 people depending on which carriage you need.

They will do a tour of the town for you. They charge by the distance you go and how many are riding. It is narrated although hard to hear due to traffic until your off the main road. They go by some historical buildings and churches on the short tour. About a 30 minute ride.

The port building you go through from the pier to the town does have several things for sale and some live music during the day. It can be a bit crowded but she could at least shop a bit there.

Also where the horses are on the left there is a wide side walk on the right that goes along the water front and, down to Senior Frogs.

That might be a nice change from the ship, to just go along the water front there.

You can get off before her to scout it out and go right back on to get her if you want. Its very close to the ship.

I think about everything there wont work for her scooter. Most sidewalks are not handicap accessible at the intersections and some are broken concrete here and there and some are very narrow. The 2nd street over from the port has pretty good sidewalks and many nice shops but the shops are small, crowded and most have a step to go up to get into them.

Sorry Nassau is so bad for scooters but it really is. All I can think of would be the carriage ride if she can get into the carriage.

Good luck!! I hope you can figure out something.

On our last cruise my step-father came with us. He is in a wheelchair and has only one leg. In Nassau, we didn't do an excursion but I can tell you that he was able to use his motor scooter on the sidewalks (sometimes you just have to go several extra feet to find a good place to roll down), in the straw market, most stores, and some restaurants. There were places he couldn't go, like the Hard Rock Cafe because there wasn't an elevator to the dining room. Some stores also have an elevated section, that require the use of 2+ stairs to get to but not all stores and it's not often a big part of the store. We walked off the ship and just walked into two, no cabs or anything, so we stayed close to the straw market area. We ate at a small local place called Olive's and they were very friendly and accommodating.

We also used our umbrella stroller with our 18 month old while there.

The ships do have manual (push) wheelchairs that they will lend to guests--they can be used on the ship or on excursions. In addition, there are beach wheelchairs on Castaway Cay, but I found these very hard to push. We gave up and used the standard wheelchair on the paths at Castaway.

Nassau is no where near my favorite port. As noted, there are sidewalks where a scooter or wheelchair could be used. I'd suggest following the suggestions for the DCL excursions--if it says wheelchair OK, get the chair from the ship and go that way. Honestly, we enjoy the ship on any Nassau days.

Just off the Dream and we did go to Nassau. It is not the best port for mobility but not the worst. My best opinion is that you leave Mom on the ship for a few hours and you go off and look around Nassau. Should not take more than 2 hours to see most of it twice. The Pirate Museum was fairly good and not too crowded because it was not on any ship's tours that I saw. You could go to Atlantis or another beach but it is expensive and you have a wonderful beach day the next day at Castaway Cay (disclosure we really are not that into beaches and being fair we burn easily so don't sit all day).

We hired Cheryl of Cheryl's Taxi service and she did a nice city tour for the 8 of us. It was a personal tour and we told her where we wanted to go and she suggested other places. She did an excellent job -- very professional, knowledgeable, car clean and large and air conditioned (be sure on this as Nassau is hot and humid and many taxis do not have AC on!). Cheryl also provided a choice of safety seats for our 4 yo boy. As great as Cheryl was, our 2 grands age 4 and 11 and frankly their parents wanted the tour to be over and them to be back on the ship enjoying everything there is to do. When so many go off ship then lines to AquaDuck and the big yellow slide go way down and you can go down the slide as many times as Daddy will stand there for (our 4 yo went 50 times one session:eek::D),

Summary: You and the mobile ones go. Enjoy a couple of hours and come on back. Leave Mom to rest and enjoy a quiet morning -- she will need it as the days are so packed with activity. Really the ship is more interesting than Nassau IMHO. Next day go to Castaway Cay for a few hours. I would just ask if there is some assistance for the wheel chair/or scooter. I know that the Make A Wish children and teens were on the beach and really enjoying it so they do make it possible. I also saw some elders in wheelchairs and scooters-- not as many as at Disney World. Make sure you have a handicapped cabin. The others are very small and the scooter would not fit plus there is a double step up (one step but I would catch my foot twice:o going into the bathroom). There were areas for wheelchairs in theaters and on deck for pirate night and sail-away etc.

Hi everyone,

 

I'm travelling on the Disney Dream on Oct 27 with my husband and 5 year-old daughter, plus my parents. My mum is disabled and will be using a mobility scooter. She can walk a few steps, say across a room, but that's all.

 

Is there a shore excursion, like a bus trip, that briefly shows you the sights of Nassau and doesn't involve getting on and off all the time? I'd prefer if it wasn't too long as five year-olds aren't really into long sightseeing trips no matter how much you tell them how interesting it is!

 

Or is there one that shows you the sights on a bus and stops somewhere for a couple of hours that would be suitable for us all?

 

My mum will be apprehensive and want to stay on the ship, but I think that's a shame when we've come all the way from the UK.

 

A lot of the trips say 'No motorised scooters' so can they lend you a standard wheelchair in this case?

 

Are there any Nassau experts out there who can advise me? I'd really appreciate it.

You would need to look at a private tour - DCL does not offer any wheelchair/scooter tours in nassau.

You could try:

http://www.courteoustaxibahamas.com/

they have pictures of their accessible vehicles on their website and offer tours.