LokiPoki

Don't know whether they can help with car seats - but we've used Adam's Taxis (maxi taxi) in Sydney and found them incredibly obliging.

Hi all... we're on an NZ cruise on Dawn Princess in a month(ish). Extracting information from Princess makes pulling teeth look like an easy and pleasurable experience :eek: - so can anyone tell me

1/ whether Princess organise a shuttle service from Port Chalmers to Dunedin (and if so, what they're currently charging) and

2/ for those ports where we're not able to walk through the port area (Napier, and I think Wellington - not sure if there are others) what sort of transport is provided? Are we talking local buses, tour bus, van? (Trying to figure out if I'll be able to get on and if I'd get my chair on - chair folds, family can get me up/down a couple of steps if need be).

Ta

We like to use the bathroom facilities as well. IMO, this is where more than two people becomes an issue.

The last two posts are an example of differing opinions on the same aspect of a cruise. For Madfisher, the cabin was far too small for two people, whereas Clarebearinaus had two adults and two children in a cabin and was very happy. :)

 

We have cruised on the Sun class ships many times and find the cabins great for two people.

And we had three adults in a 4 berth OV, had no issue with space really - cabin is only there to stash your case and sleep in after all...

Shower chair would not fit into a shower in a balcony room.

Mini suites have a tub shower combo s o that might work.

Hi Margo,

Not sure about Sydney myself - but if you don't have any luck here, maybe ask havewheelchairwilltravel.net (if you're on Facebook, they've a page there as well) - the family are from Sydney so might know themselves, otherwise I'm sure someone following their FB would.

Laura

Good call on the slow lifts, much slower than most other ships - and frequently broken down on the cruise I did on her.

We didn't have any problem with lifts broken down that I recall - but certainly I found the speed (or lack thereof) frustrating...I think that's probably in part due to the number of older passengers with health and/or mobility problems that make it difficult for them to use stairs too, but it was bad enough at one stage that I started to contemplate how I could bounce my wheelchair down the stairs :eek:

I was on her for a South Pacific cruise in May last year, will be on again in March for a round NZ. No real problems - slow lifts (which I think would probably be an issue on any ship?), she looks a wee bit old and tired in some areas - e.g. carpets a little worn in spots, but she's certainly not "falling apart". It is true that the majority of passengers seem to be in the older age bracket - but depends on what your preferred activity style is. I'm early 30s but not into the party atmosphere or almost theme park type stuff - so it suits me well.

Ugh - after seeing the comments here I looked up the schedule for Akaroa for our March cruise - and sure enough, two ships in that day as well. Having visited on a non-ship day, I'd wondered how well they'd manage a single ship load, never mind two :eek:

Someone who knows Melbourne better than I do might have better info - but I've just looked up the Public Transport Victoria Site for you and it says to catch either the 3/3a Malvern or 67 Carnegie tram from Stop 13 (Federation Square/Swanston St) - which means you'd catch your bus to Flinders St Station - and either of those will take you to Stop 34 near Inkerman St.

The link when I try to copy/paste comes out insanely long, but have a look at the Journey Planner here - https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/journey Just put in Flinders St Station and Inkerman St, St Kilda and it should pop up with the information you're after. Hope it helps :)

Is it just your GP who prescribes them GUT, or a specialist? It's a while since I've been on regular oral opioids -other than breakthrough, my opioids are intrathecal pump now, so I can't leave the country for more than a month at a time anyway as the darn thing needs filling by my specialist - but I've an idea that provided I'd had a review by another GP in the clinic, my own GP was allowed to get an authority script for much longer, even for the opioids.

Blue Elephant kind of raised the point already - if it's a serious consideration rather than a hypothetical - you'd need to look at what your ports of call are, and whether you need to carry meds ashore with you. I'm off to the UK later this year (flying, not cruising) and will be going via Dubai. Only transiting through, but given the meds I'll be carrying (opioids, benzodiazepines) I'm not taking the risk of being caught without the appropriate paperwork - not just the usual script and doctors letter, but have to get doctor's letter 'authenticated' by DFAT ($80, thank you very much) and then submit a request to the UAE embassy to carry said drugs with me through Dubai (another $90...methinks someone is making easy money...). I think many Asian countries are similar in having to get embassy permission, though possibly without the same costs...a friend cruised to China and Japan a couple of years ago and know for Japan at least she had to get permission for similar meds.

We will be on the Royal princess at the end of March. If my daughter can crutch onto the tender can we bing a transport chair on ourselves and use it on the islands? We would not need help lifting it onto the tender. She has a power chair but we know that we will not be able to take that onto the tender

It is ultimately at the captain's discretion, but if weather and tides are good, most likely. Though with the way the ship/tender platforms move, I would suggest that IF she's allowed to tender, she'd be safer staying in her transport chair and leaning on yourself and/or whoever else is with you to make those last steps across into the tender - and if she needs to go down a few steps to get to to the tender platform she's probably safer holding onto rails if she can than trying to balance with her crutches. We were always taken down to the lower level in the staff access lift - but I guess that's also tide dependent?

My experience with Princess is that the assistance staff on board are truly amazing, I'm a manual chair user and they got me on/off at each and every tender port (4 from memory) on our South Pacific cruise - I can walk a few steps with assistance, one of the guys would give me a shoulder to lean on, they'd get me across and seated, then lift my chair across and we'd be good to go. Then just wait at the other end till everyone else was off and repeat the process.

You could look at an international travel sim & see how the rates compare to whatever your carrier offers. Think the one we used was about AU$3.00 a minute.

Depending on where you're cruising and how port-intensive it is, you might be able to get something like a "travel pass" ... no idea how AT&T works - but with my carrier, I can pay an extra $X a day (depending on which part of the world - unfortunately doesn't cover cellular at sea I don't think) which gives unlimited calls to and from home and also to and from any landline or mobile in the country I'm visiting.

I had the small tool kit for my Travelscoot confiscated in the Delhi airport. All that was in it were alan keys but they insisted they could not stay with the scooter. I now find out that tools for mobility aids should be allowed. Too late to get my tool kit back so I am trying to replace the alan keys.

Allen keys I've never had an issue with - but it was a tiny wee wrench I'd problems with last time I flew. Get swabbed for explosive residue every time too...guess I must look suss :eek: :D

Wondering if anyone has done this (whether private or ship excursion) and can give me an idea of how much beach/sand needs to be covered on foot to get to the kayak launch site - or even just anyone familiar with the area?

I'm interested in doing the excursion - would book through the ship rather than privately as me being a wheelchair user and BoI being a tender port I've no guarantee I'll actually be able to disembark (and with Princess, I can reserve the shore ex without payment, and be able to cancel up til whatever the closing window is - I think 4 or 5 days before the excursion date on past experience). I'd hoped to be able to communicate with the tour operator directly myself, so contacted Princess to see if I could find out who it might be - partly to find out about access, partly about wheelchair storage, partly to find out whether tour op themselves had any concerns about taking out someone with a disability.

Access Dept came back - wouldn't give me tour op's name, said no concerns with storage, no concerns taking me out, but that there's "lots of sand" (it's a beachfront...I'd figured out for myself there'd be sand...) So - after that wee ramble, anyone know how much is "lots of sand"? Going to reserve anyway and chat to shore ex office once I'm on board - I've got a strapping 6' something baby brother and worst comes to worst I do a very effective bum shuffle :D;):eek: - but I find knowing what I've got to work around well in advance usually means I -can- find a workaround.

TIA

Laura

I ended up passing out from that, despite the fact that I was drinking gallons of water and could not seem to quench my thirst onboard. My doctor said that, on future cruises, I am to avoid the ship's purified water and/or drink Gatorade in addition to the water, to replenish the minerals....especially in warm climates engaging in activities that result in sweating. I found that, after this episode, I would get a little woozy when working in the yard in the heat...Gatorade solved my problem.

 

Next cruise...bottled water and Gatorade for me!! Of course, I think each person should check with their own family doctor or sports medicine doctor before following this course.

 

 

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You might do well checking with your doctor on whether some type of oral rehydration solution (ORS, hydralyte, etc) might be better for you - Gatorade, Powerade, etc tend to contain a scary amount of sugar - and far fewer electrolytes than proper rehydration stuff. Amongst other things I've got a form of dysautonomia (affects my ability to maintain a respectable blood pressure, can't regulate my heart rate properly, etc.) and I carry hydralyte sachets or tablets when I travel (much easier than carrying Gatorade bottles too!).

There's that too - she has a shoulder replacement, left over bits from an ITB pump long since removed and staples & screws in her leg & foot. Lucky she does not have to strip (so far anyway) to prove the stuff is "inside" and not just under the clothes. Maybe it would be better to just get her Precheck too.

Does she carry a letter from her doctor just in case? Or even an ID card from when she did have her pump? (Also got an ITB pump here, and spinal stim...always carry the cards for both, not that I've ever been asked to show them...)

There are also lots of good online video tutorials - from two second animations of "this is how to do xyz stitch" on knitting sites and YouTube, through to full on paid classes on sites like Craftsy... watch some of them perhaps, play around with a bit of yarn and figure out what works for you. Or do you have any local community craft groups? We have groups in my town called MakerSpaces - just little social groups where you take along your knitting or sewing, and lets us sit and chat while we get all our UFOs under control - and is great as there's almost always someone who can sort you out if you run into a problem with your project. I'm sure if you went along to the knitters group on your cruise there'd be others more than happy to lend a hand too.

eBay can be good sometimes too. I'm fortunate (or not - far too much exposure to temptation ;) ) to have a neighbour who owns a yarn shop and to do craft markets with a woman who spins and dyes her own yarns - but I'm also a fan of eBay for more interesting stuff...there are a good few sellers there (I'm in Australia, I'm guessing by your username Sue that you're US...) who collect and sell much more cheaply than you'll find in shops. Try looking in the shops first to find something you like the look and feel of, but it's worth comparing to online prices. Personally, I'd (depending on your project) go for something like bamboo or tencel if you're looking for a light alternative... I love knitting with ultrafine merino/silk blends (fyberspates "gleem" is beautiful!) - but they do tend to come only as a skein (so you've got to roll into balls yourself & can be apt to tangle. Tencel and bamboo are super easy to knit with, even when you get down toward laceweight.

Everyone has their own preference, but it may be if you're looking for a travel project you might want to (if you've not already) invest in some circular needles...you can knit on them just as you would with straight needles, they're a wee bit more compact, and (IMO) it's harder for your projects to slip off the needle when you need to pack them away.

Just came across this thread and have a question for you knitters. I am a beginner knitter and have completed 3 cowls and 2 hats (excited to learn how to decrease!). All my projects have used wool yarn because it's cold and snowy where I live. Would like to take a project or two on a 7 day Caribbean in a month. The thought of working on a wool project invthe Caribbean isn't that appealing. Do you all have any suggestions on beginner patterns and yarns that might be more appropriate for warm weather knitting? Thanks!

Do you use sites like allfreeknitting.com or ravelry.com? They both let you search for patterns according to what sort of project you'd like to do and what your skill level is. What about a scarf/shawl in a simple lace or lace-like pattern? (Something like feather and fan comes out beautifully in lace weight yarn - you could still use wool, or look at something like tencel, bamboo or even a silk/wool blend - and it's a pretty easy pattern for an experienced knitter to deal with)

ETA - this is the sort of pattern I was thinking of - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/feather-and-fan-short-scarf

Not TSA (I'm an Aussie) but I can't go through airport scanners 1/ because of my chair and 2/ because of a nice wee collection of implanted stuff. We always arrive early "just in case" (and usually I'm told I have to check in 30-60 mins before anyway) but I've always found I get spirited away ahead of the main queue to go through security - that said, always takes forever as they've got to do the patdown, I almost always get swabbed for explosives (and buggered if I know what I come into contact with - but I've only had one flight where the swab's not turned up a questionable result on first go...means a repeat). Also always held up as I carry a wee toolkit for my chair - as it more often than not comes back to me with something loose - and unless it's for a medical/mobility device you're prohibited from having tools in carry-on - so means my bag always goes to the naughty pile to be thoroughly checked. (Completely daft IMO...when I think that I'm a knitter, and usually have stainless steel needles on a cable & I reckon I could inflict far more damage with them if I'd a mind to than I could with a 4" long shifter...:rolleyes:)

I hate beach wheelchairs! Partly it's not being able to self-propel, but I never feel entirely safe in them - also find them incredibly hard to transfer in/out of, even being able to do a standing transfer. But yes, most can be pushed into the water and most float.

I'm talking about people who have access to a funded caregiver on a regular basis (not paid for out of their own pocket) - and can negotiate, to use your phrasing, where the care is given. E.g. - under our new system here, I have access to funding to cover an attendant carer ... for me only very few hours as I don't need more than minimal assistance - but I am funded x number of hours to request help with shopping, or go to medical appointments or whatever...funded hours are fixed, what I do with them is more or less at my discretion. I personally don't need that kind of external assistance to travel - possibly I would in other circumstances, but I live and travel with family who are able & willing to provide most of the support I need, so it's not necessary. But - someone who had a greater number of care hours, perhaps for personal care as against general attendant care - could (at least in theory - new system is full of faults and generally a nightmare of misinformation to negotiate at present) elect to use those funded care hours for someone to accompany them on a cruise or other holiday.

Does that make any more sense? I'm not always best at explaining myself when I'm tired!

^^ That's what I was getting at, only you phrased it rather more clearly.

:confused:

 

What kind of "funding" is available for people "...to cover normal attendant/agency fees to bring a carer on a cruise with them..."

 

(That is, "...covering the same costs as if the carer was assisting... in their own home"...)

 

Is this something like the special wish foundation for children?

 

Is it only for children?

 

Never heard of such a program, but it would certainly be great to learn about it!

I'm in Australia, where we've just got the National Disabilty Insurance Scheme coming into play - riddled with problems, but the idea is it lets a pwd live life with as much normality and independence as possible. I don't know the person directly; it was someone my case manager knows - but I gather they are a person who loves to travel and was able to argue for an attendant carer to be funded. They still had to pay the carer's cruise fare, but the carer's daily hours were funded.