Disabled travelling on European River cruise

[Wow_factor]

I'm interested in everyones feedback regarding who is the best cruiseline to travel with that is wheelchair friendly.  

[CDNPolar]

I personally only have experience with Viking River Cruises.

 

Here is what I can tell you about Viking.  We were on Treasures of the Rhine with Viking in December 2023 - so only one month ago.

 

There were three wheelchairs on board. 

 

One guest used a wheelchair for ease of movement but also walked with elbow crutches, and often was assisted by family or crew off the ship on foot.

 

Two guests were not stable on their feet at all and had to go everywhere in the chair, and even on and off the ship in their chair.  This was often done with several family members or crew on and off the ship.  Note, that on and off the bus during excursion must be done with assistance of family or friends only as Viking Crew do not attend to the busses during excursions.

 

Here are the challenges to consider with River and this may require you to call each cruise line directly:

 

1) River cruise ships often dock 2, 3, or more ships wide at a port.  This can be called "stacking" or "rafting" or "adjacent" docking.  This can mean that you must now cross 2 or 3 or more ships to get off the ship.  Each ship - although purpose built to do this - will have a ramp up and down or one or two stairs to disembark across.  This could be tedious and difficult to cross 2 or more ships.

2) The gangway is not always a ramp, and can be stairs.  We saw this several times on this last cruise and there would be 3 or 4 crew helping to guide the chair down the gangway.

3) You don't always disembark a river ship on the main level, it can be done on deck 2, or 3 or even on the sundeck.  The higher up you are going the higher the pitch of the gangway to get off.

4) Twice on this cruise - for unforeseen circumstances - we had to disembark from the sundeck or deck 4.  We were also the third ship from the dock.  The sundecks are not made for crossing easily.  Also, the elevator that you will use internally on the ship does not go to the sundeck, so you would have to have crew help to carry you and the chair to the top deck.

5) The busses - that I have seen - do not have wheelchair lifts, so the chair goes under the bus and the person in the chair has to be lifted or helped up the bus stairs and into a seat.  This is where during the excursion, you would have to have enough family or friends to assist you on and off the bus.  Viking crew are not going to be there to assist.

 

Now, with all this being said, on this Viking Cruise, I don't believe that there was any excursion or desire of one of these guests in a chair to participate in an excursion or just a disembarkation to wander into the close by town/city, that did not get to do so.  

 

We saw all three participating in the excursions daily.

 

So, it can be done and from my recent experience with Viking on this particular cruise and Crew, the three guests in chairs were well looked after and I was so happy and proud to know that they had the same opportunity I did to participate.

 

The only other thing that I would state is depending on where you may be travelling, many countries in Europe and Asia are not as up to standard for accessibility as we might hope and expect.  Cobblestones being one thing that would be an impediment, and lack of ramps and basic accessibility in and out of restaurants, and shops.  

 

Hope this helps.

[YoungDubFan]

Unfortunately most of Europe & Asia are not as wheelchair friendly as the US is. I do not know what the standards are in Australia, and for that I apologize. As CDN Polar pointed out, there can be quite a few logistical challenges. I have to say that I am surprised that the Viking crew were so accommodating in assisting getting the wheelchairs up and down stairs & gangways. I have heard that on other lines they are more hesitant to assist due to liability issues. 

 

There are quite a few threads on this board about river cruising for mobility challenged, and you should probably read most, if not all of them. There is obviously quite a difference between having to use a walker / rolling walker and wheelchair. It can be quite difficult to push a wheelchair over cobblestones. The cabins are also on the smaller size so having a wheelchair in the cabin will take up valuable space. I’m not sure if any of the ships have wheelchair accessible bathrooms. As mentioned, the ship elevators do not go up to the sky deck and when rafting, you often have to go up and down and over multiple sky decks to get on and off the ship. 

 

You would probably do best to contact every cruise line to ask what their policies are. Good luck. If you decide to take a cruise, please come back and post about your experiences. It would be very helpful to others who ask about river cruising for the mobility challenged. 

[Got2Cruise]

Unless you have a companion who can assist you, it will be very difficult on any RC.

[gnome12]

This is the Ama Waterways FAQ about wheelchairs

Europe: Wheelchair accessibility is very limited on our European ships. We do have an elevator between the two main decks; however, it does not reach the Sun Deck or Piano Deck. Guests would be able to move around the dining room and lounge in their chair; however, the staterooms are not able to accommodate a wheelchair, so while in their stateroom they would need to be able to move around on their own. Their chair would also need to be stored in their stateroom due to limited storage on board. Getting on and off the ship could be a challenge, as the planks are narrow and cannot accommodate a wheelchair or scooter's width. Guests would have to be able to get on and off the ship without their wheelchair and the wheelchair would have to be light enough to be lifted off and on the ramps. It is common to tie up to other river ships in port. When this happens we would sometimes need to travel through another ship to disembark, with many ships requiring we do so from the Sun Deck, where there is only stair access.

During the excursions, a good majority of the cities visited have cobblestone walkways. This may be a challenge to maneuver with a wheelchair. The motorcoaches we use as a main means of transport do not have any sort of lift and there are 4 or 5 steep steps to get on and off.

 

Vietnam, Cambodia, Africa and Egypt: These itineraries require a person to be able bodied. There are many unpaved roads and the ships do not have elevators.

 

This is the Avalon response

Are Avalon river cruises handicap accessible?

Avalon Waterways makes reasonable attempts to accommodate the special needs of disabled and mobility-impaired travellers but is not responsible in the event it is unable to do so. Because we cannot provide individual assistance to travellers in many situations, and most of our transportation services are not equipped with wheelchair ramps, we recommend that you view our terms and conditions for details and contact us to learn more.

[CDNPolar]

22 hours ago, YoungDubFan said:

As CDN Polar pointed out, there can be quite a few logistical challenges. I have to say that I am surprised that the Viking crew were so accommodating in assisting getting the wheelchairs up and down stairs & gangways. I have heard that on other lines they are more hesitant to assist due to liability issues. 

 

 

I will clarify a bit here.  

 

When we were rafted and 4th I think from the dock and had to go over the sun decks of these ships, there were Viking Crew that moved between each ship crossing and were there to help guests across the bridge type thing.  They did also on a couple of occasions on the very steep gangways help guests down the gangway that were using canes or a bit unsteady on their feet.

 

Regarding the wheelchairs - I was shocked to see crew helping with this too, but they did on the most steep gangways.  Most of the time however, on the typical gangways, it was the family members travelling with the individual in the chair that did the work.

[milling73]

That is going to be difficult on any river cruise. River boats are not geared for limited mobility or wheelchairs. There are not elevators to every level of the boat - Viking is mostly stairs. Besides, There may be steps from road or sidewalk to water level to get on boat, or most assuredly ramps that may be steep inclines. 
Europe is simply not ADA friendly in general with cobblestone streets, and concrete stairs to buildings. 
The cruise companies do not do a good job of warning  people with limited mobility of the obstacles they will face..we have seen people with walkers, medical boots, canes that simply can’t cope with even getting on buses or walking tours. 
Better to look at ocean tours. 

[CastleCritic]

Going to echo some of the above. I’ve seen less mobile passengers on ama cruises but never at the wheelchair required level. And the one that sticks out most to me used a scooter. But Gave up on the scooter after about the 3rd day solely because of the cobbles and lack of wheelchair curbs. The crew and bus drivers were able to deal with it but it just wasn’t practical for the excursions. 

[Roz]

I think the river cruise ads on TV give people a false impression of what's involved with river cruising.  You just don't sit on a deck and watch beautiful scenery go by.  To really see anything, you need to get off the ship and walk, and that's not always easy for the mobility impaired.  

[CastleCritic]

Ive done a couple that could have done that, mostly Main cruises where during the day the ship was usually on the move (though it was November where it was cold and gloomy so no real sitting up on deck then too).  But even in that case you would have missed the excursions to all the towns all the way.  Usually the ship moves at night.

 

There really arent any "river days" like you would have on most ocean cruises.  (and thats probably a good thing for a lot of people since river cruise ships also dont really have much to do "on the ship" other than eat and drink/dance in the lounge.

[CDNPolar]

This has been said before, but European and Asian destinations are not at the same standard that we expect in Canada and the US for accessibility.

 

We have traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Baltics, Scandinavia, and APAC region, and it is clear that what we have come to expect in North America is just not a standard in these regions.

 

Things like:

 

* railings on stairs in public and indoors

* ramps to public buildings and stores

* Wheelchair curbs that ramp from sidewalk to street

* Stairs that are a set height and width and in good repair

* Potholes in streets, sidewalks, that go without repair and are a danger if you are not looking where you are going

* Cobblestones everywhere (which are history and beautiful) but very unkind to those that have mobility concerns

* Bathrooms that are properly outfitted for those with mobility concerns and in some APAC regions we are still using squat toilets especially in more remote areas on excursion.  (Even huge airports like Beijing have squat toilets that outnumber western toilets in public restrooms)

 

In Canada we have high standards for those that are in any way disabled to ensure that they have equal access to all services and essentially anything that I can access as a person with no mobility or access challenges.  This is not the case in these other countries and regions.

 

We expect this in North America and feel that this is the right of the individual if they in any way need some form of accessibility and this is the how it should be - in my opinion.

 

The sad part is what we expect at home in North America is not how it is in these other countries and those that have mobility needs especially, you must realize this.

 

I agree with Roz above saying that the TV ads show everyone languishing on the sun deck watching the castles and beautiful scenery flow by...

 

We found Viking because of these ads on TV on certain shows that we watched.  We have rarely been on a River cruise where this was the actual situation, and we do regularly see those that are mobility challenged suffering and or left behind.   

[Canal archive]

Thank you CNDPolar, for pointing out the seeming  inadequacies  of the European efforts to support or aid those of us who are mobility challenged. I am trying to imagine the turmoil of the challenge to remove and change every cobblestone in Europe, every millennia old steps removed and every castle tower made to instal a lift. No, the vast majority of us that are movement challenged recognise that this is impossible and work out how to cope with it or work around it. It’s not possible to see everything we know this and are very grateful for any assistance and that’s how I for one approached River Cruising, I’ve run the full gambit from fully mobile to not so I completely understand the situation. I’ve also travelled extensively in North America and it’s not all you would hope it to be.

Just travel with an open mind and enjoy.

Edited January 27 by Canal archive

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

 I’ve also travelled extensively in North America and it’s not all you would hope it to be.

Just travel with an open mind and enjoy.

 

No, we are not all compliant in North America either.  

 

For one issue, in many parts of Canada, we may be public transportation accessible during spring, summer, and fall, but put snow in the mix and those that have mobility concerns are stuck at home.  Wheelchairs especially, or they have to call for special transit.  We don't clear the snow adequately enough for wheelchairs to navigate the streets.

 

I have a friend that is blind and he and his dog is constantly challenged in the winter because sometimes they cannot find where the sidewalk is....

 

I am travelling now as much as possible because I anticipate one day that there will be things that I cannot do, and I want to get that out of the way before I can't.  Once I can't I will likely still cruise but mostly warm destinations and I will spend my time on deck and just relaxing and go ashore where it is easy and convenient only.