Shore Excursions

[nicjones088]

Sorry another question.

 

I’m looking at booking the cruise on Queen Victoria to the Mediterranean this September as a surprise as many of the places my partner would love to visit.

 

My partner has some mobility issues and uses an electric wheelchair if they have to walk for more than a minute or so.

 

Just trying to find out what excursions are available for the ports it visits and whether these are accessible.  They could get on a bus or coach as long as not more than a few steps and their electric wheelchair folds up like a pushchair when not needed if that makes any difference.

 

The ports are

 

Porto (with tours from Leixoes)

Barcelona

Rome (with tours from Civitavecchia)

Alghero

Granada (tours from Malaga)

Vigo

 

For Barcelona and Malaga is exploring independently an option as my partner wants to see the cathedral in Barcelona.

 

My partner would love to go into Rome but not sure how doable this is.

 

Any help appreciated as I don’t want my partner not to be able to experience all the places

 

Thanks to those who give answers

 

Nic

[rakkor]

Porto (with tours from Leixoes) - Don't know, sorry

Barcelona - Port not accessible on foot, coach transfers to the centre, but you can get a Cab to meet you by Terminal D if you wan t to arrange your own tour

Rome (with tours from Civitavecchia) - You're a long way from Rome,  take one of the many tours onboard - Can be done by train if more mobile

Alghero - No Idea

Granada (tours from Malaga) - Port is accessible by foot, very close to town, but it's quite a walk if I remember correctly

Vigo  - The most accessible of ports - Dock right in the centre of town

 

My Blog may help for the ports I've been to https://blog.rakkor.uk

[Victoria2]

4 hours ago, nicjones088 said:

Sorry another question.

 

I’m looking at booking the cruise on Queen Victoria to the Mediterranean this September as a surprise as many of the places my partner would love to visit.

 

My partner has some mobility issues and uses an electric wheelchair if they have to walk for more than a minute or so.

 

Just trying to find out what excursions are available for the ports it visits and whether these are accessible.  They could get on a bus or coach as long as not more than a few steps and their electric wheelchair folds up like a pushchair when not needed if that makes any difference.

 

The ports are

 

Porto (with tours from Leixoes)

Barcelona

Rome (with tours from Civitavecchia)

Alghero

Granada (tours from Malaga)

Vigo

 

For Barcelona and Malaga is exploring independently an option as my partner wants to see the cathedral in Barcelona.

 

My partner would love to go into Rome but not sure how doable this is.

 

Any help appreciated as I don’t want my partner not to be able to experience all the places

 

Thanks to those who give answers

 

Nic

Not knowing what cabin you might book, just make sure your folding power chair will meet the 'any cabin' requirements.

[BigMac1953]

Rome

 

This is a great tour company: https://www.discoveryguidedtours.com/about-us/

 

We've used them several times and passed them on to a few friends who also enjoyed their services.

 

Speak to the owner Gilberto Stanzione, who will make a bespoke tour just for you with as many or a few stops as you wish. He speaks perfect English. having lived in London and NYC.

 

Collection is from the ship. Cars or vans.

 

Twice we've teamed up with others who we met on this site, and taken the 8 seater Merc van.

 

On one occasion, there was a strike and traffic was gridlocked. The poor folks on the official tours sat for hours seeing nothing, meanwhile we belted around the back streets and got to see everything we wanted. Gilberto even arranged for Coliseum tickets to be purchased and we collected them at a pre-arranged point, so no queues.

 

Stewart

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by BigMac1953

[nicjones088]

12 hours ago, rakkor said:

Porto (with tours from Leixoes) - Don't know, sorry

Barcelona - Port not accessible on foot, coach transfers to the centre, but you can get a Cab to meet you by Terminal D if you wan t to arrange your own tour

Rome (with tours from Civitavecchia) - You're a long way from Rome,  take one of the many tours onboard - Can be done by train if more mobile

Alghero - No Idea

Granada (tours from Malaga) - Port is accessible by foot, very close to town, but it's quite a walk if I remember correctly

Vigo  - The most accessible of ports - Dock right in the centre of town

 

My Blog may help for the ports I've been to https://blog.rakkor.uk

Thank you so much

[nicjones088]

11 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Not knowing what cabin you might book, just make sure your folding power chair will meet the 'any cabin' requirements.

Thanks it has been checked as I’m looking at a balcony cabin

[nicjones088]

10 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Rome

 

This is a great tour company: https://www.discoveryguidedtours.com/about-us/

 

We've used them several times and passed them on to a few friends who also enjoyed their services.

 

Speak to the owner Gilberto Stanzione, who will make a bespoke tour just for you with as many or a few stops as you wish. He speaks perfect English. having lived in London and NYC.

 

Collection is from the ship. Cars or vans.

 

Twice we've teamed up with others who we met on this site, and taken the 8 seater Merc van.

 

On one occasion, there was a strike and traffic was gridlocked. The poor folks on the official tours sat for hours seeing nothing, meanwhile we belted around the back streets and got to see everything we wanted. Gilberto even arranged for Coliseum tickets to be purchased and we collected them at a pre-arranged point, so no queues.

 

Stewart

 

Thanks so much, will have a look

[Belle on board]

After you book you can see the excursions Cunard offer for each location along with a description and grading about the activity level. If you call Cunard and explain the situation they may be able to tell you about the more accessible tours offered at each port before you book. 

[Host Hattie]

We're calling at Civitavecchia tomorrow, there is an Accessible Tour on offer, at $250 is for 1 wheelchair and 1 companion.

There's also a $99 Panoramic Excursion if they can manage steps on and off the coach.

[MrsPeel55]

On 6/16/2023 at 4:47 PM, Host Hattie said:

We're calling at Civitavecchia tomorrow, there is an Accessible Tour on offer, at $250 is for 1 wheelchair and 1 companion.

There's also a $99 Panoramic Excursion if they can manage steps on and off the coach.

 

@Host Hattie my info is that they may not let us on the non accessible ones, even if we can do bits of walking and steps, they said the bus may not allow for wheelchairs and they wouldn't put me in touch with the shore excursions team....  the girl/agent that spoke with us said she would look it up and call us back, this was way over a month ago...still no call, that's why I made a comment about this on a thread here..... 

 

@nicjones088 

I am on the same boat. I can walk and do a couple or 3 steps, but walking distances is a no no, depending on the day maybe painful or excruciating. I do it on crutches at home, little distances in the house I manage on my own, some days one crutch, others 2, and we have a wheelchair, manual, foldable, very small & light weight, a transit wheelchair which my daughter pushes.

On this you have an advantage as an electric always will do better than ours, not sure how used to your partner maybe to cobbled street (which more than likely you will get all over Rome and parts of Malaga at least) WE spent a week in Seville in the beginning of this month and we did just fine, my daughter pushing me, we saw the whole city, slowing down in some parts, but, once again, my wheelchair is a manual transit, so I reckon you guys will do much better.

 

After we paid some shore tours we booked in the Cunard site (think we are on that same cruise of yours, but we are boarding in Rome/Civitavecchia on the 8th) because we saw the specifics and, for example, in the Alghero with cheese tasting,  it talks about walk on foot for approx 2 hours.... so we called them.

She suggested waiting to see if more accessible tours came in, she said they may add more, I have been monitoring but nothing yet, apart from the ONE accessible that was good for us and we booked, in Vigo, no other accessible tours have turned up.

We booked the Alghero and something in Malaga, but the agent insisted that they may not let us in etc etc, she was very determined, so was another agent when my daughter called , see if we got a different point of view, but nope.

When I came to ask here, someone said if we paid, and coming the day they refuse to take us, we could ask for a full refund, (but I think this was a down to earth, common sense opinion, not a Cunard employee) we thought about cancelling the non accessible ones and booking non Cunard tours (which we would have to do soon) but I'm apprehensive as, if we are not on time back with a non Cunard tour, we run the risk of being left behind..... so, still have at least a month to see if something else accessible turns up, or we may stay around ports.

 

The trip is dreamy and, even though is our first time with Cunard, I am positive it will be a great experience, have been hanging around here for a while and have read enough threads and reviews which tells us so, would love to be able to do shore yours, even though we generally do land at least 5 days when we are interested win seeing a place properly, so no biggie if not, sadly the one tour we were crazy about was already sold out when we booked, so I keep looking at the site and seeing if something new turns up, I'm just praying we can make it to the non accessible we booked, it would be  shame if they didn't let us on the bus.... 

 

, 

Edited June 25, 2023 by MrsPeel55