JSR

Day 2 Shaefellness Peninsula – 9-10 hours When I was researching wheelchair accessible tours I can across a tour company that specializes in accessible tours that turned out to be middlemen. They were extremely expensive and would not break down the tours, you had to buy everything as a total package. I persevered and got lucky and finally figured out who the local day tour company was that they were reselling and booked directly with them. They provide accessible tours as well as standard tours. The company I booked with let you pick and choose your tours, pay for them individually and were a pleasure to work with. They picked us up at the airport as well. While, Iceland is very expensive, and these private tours were as well they were half of what the bundler wanted to charge. That being said some people may prefer to work with a bundler who will arrange everything for them including hotels. I am happy to share the names of both of these, however, I believe I have to be asked for that information. You can then access their website and see the details of all their tours. Most of which offer an accessible version. Shaefellness Peninsula is a long tour with a lot of driving. We were still a bit jet lagged, unaccustomed to the rain and did not get out of the van frequently enough so we were not as thrilled with this tour as we would be with the subsequent ones. In retrospect I attribute this a lot to being too tired for such an extensive tour. We had a good lunch along the way and the restaurant had an accessible bathroom. Inge, our tour guide was very well versed in accessible bathrooms, and making things very interesting and informative. He was fun, helpful, and a wealth of information. My husband is both an engineer and also very versed in international economics. He peppered Inge with questions about energy, economics, politics, etc. My DH has no agenda and is a very curious soul who absorbs knowledge like a sponge, so it made things very informative along with learning about geography, flora, and the sights. We were totally taken in by the amazing scenery. It was raining hard when we returned from the excursion so ate in the hotel bar and called it a night.

Reykjavik Day 1 This was an exploration day. Rolling along the sea wall, getting lost heading to the heart of town, and going up the way steep road to the cathedral. I would recommend plotting out a less steep route to the cathedral and also planning ahead to be there for an organ concert. It was a nice day with no rain. We did not realize at the time how rare this would be. For the most part we found rolling easy except in some parts of the town that had uneven cobble stones. Had to also be aware of some very steep streets in other parts. We did stop and ask people a couple of times and they steered us to better routes. There is also a section of the city center that is blocked to car traffic and rolling in the street was flat and easy. After exploring the cathedral, we rolled back to the hotel to meet our nephew who was flying in from France to join us (early 20s). He is a foodie and we headed out to dinner. Back to the center of town which was a bit of a roll again but hey that way you get to eat more. In Iceland unlike other parts of Europe people eat early. Make reservations. Something we did not do but got lucky as we were seated right before the wait became very long. We ate at Old Iceland (https://oldiceland.is/) which was very good. Later in the trip we ate at their sister restaurant which was the highlight meal of our trip. We all had different fish, I had Arctic Char which was excellent. After dinner we rolled around a bit and headed back to the hotel. Had a nightcap in the bar and then off to bed.

Looking at the photos I remember that the towel rack was way above my reach and my husband had to put towels down low on a rack. I have more photos of the room if anyone needs them please reach out to me at rtravel at aol. I am not a TA. Next up excursions around Iceland from our base in Reykjavik. WE were in room 1315 and the category is a tower view room.

Part 1 Iceland I have decided rather late to try and do a review of our trip to Iceland the Norwegian Fjords, and a transatlantic home from an accessibility perspective. This trip took place in June 2022 and was our first post lock down trip. Who we are: I am Jean, a T5 paraplegic for 27 years in her 60s, I use a lightweight manual folding wheelchair, Motion Composite Veloce, made of carbon fiber. I travel with my able bodied husband in his 60s who has Parkinson’s. I am in reasonably good shape given my disability, working hard to maintain stamina and strength. My husband remains very active despite the Parkinson’s. Pre cruise research: In preparation for our travels, I research. I am great at it and find lots of options. I am terrible at making decisions so that is where my husband comes in. I present the data and he helps me pull the trigger. I wrote about 10 hotels in Reykjavik asking questions about details of their accessible rooms including height of toilets, location of bars around toilet, roll in shower, shower bench/chair and the height of the bed. I also requested photos of the bathrooms, which were the most telling. After reviewing them all the hotel that met my needs the best was Fosshotel Reykjavik (more below). I also researched accessible tours in Iceland and every port we called at. We prefer to roll/walk as much as possible and when we cannot do that we try to utilize a wheelchair accessible vans as it saves a lot of wear and tear with transfers. Getting there: I can fly about 5 ½ hours plus boarding and deplaning without using the bathroom. So, we needed to break up the flights. We flew from LAX to Boston, overnighted at the airport Sheraton hotel. It was about a 30-minute trek to the hotel through the airport from the American Airlines gate we landed at. The room was a typical Sheraton and I do not remember how the accessibility was. We had dinner in the pub in the hotel and the food was ok. The next day we reversed the roll/walk with a luggage cart to the Iceland air check in We had way too much luggage and hope to avoid this in the future. We then flew to Reykjavik. Iceland air has the only non-red eye flight once a day from Boston and once every couple days from JFK. We did fly business and I would give the seats a C-. Fortunately after seeing the salmon served to me I chose not to eat it, the women across the aisle did and was sick most of the rest of the trip. It took a lot of time to get off the plane as we waited a long time for aisle chair assistance. The bathroom in the airport which we used after collecting our luggage was accessible. I had prearranged wheelchair accessible transportation from the airport to the hotel as well as daily tours. We arrived at the hotel, checked in. organized the room and headed to bed as it was now around midnight. Fosshotel Reykjavik. The room was small but totally serviceable. The man who checked us in came with us to the room. He and my husband pushed the bed over some so I had wheelchair access on my side of the bed. Lovely view from the room of sunset at midnight. Sunrise followed around 3 am. The only complaint was that the curtains were not as blackout as they could be. The room is always hot so we needed to open the window to cool things down. Heat is abundant in Reykjavik so there is no thermostat, just open the window. We requested a shower chair which was waiting for us in the shower. We also paid for breakfast included which was a very extensive buffet every morning. You could also pack your breakfast to-go which I did often in order to have snacks on the tours as I am not an early eater. There were many employees that offered to help with getting the food off the buffet and to my table. IMG_0481.MOV

Thank you for your review. We are on the Arctic cruise in June. I have a couple questions: 1) is there a self serve laundry on the ship? 2) Were there any classes or private training option at the gym? 3) is there track (weather permitting) on any of the decks? 4) Would you recommend the cruise you were on if you were unable to participate in any of the zodiac tours? Thank you for your help!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. My expectations are limited, I will have fun no matter what I do and do not do. I am older then I was when I was last in a zodiac and am fine however it plays out. I am just trying to benefit from others experiences. The ship is new, bought from Crystal, and is a couple years old. However, I have realized that many things have done are out of the box for someone with my disability but far from extreme.

Thank you for your suggestion. I will look for the thread.

Hi We are on an arctic cruise on the Silver Endeavour in June and will be given polar jackets and pants as well as having other cold weather clothing. After the cruise we will be traveling and will not need these clothes nor do we want to lug them around with us. We will not be in a rush to receive them at home but do want to make sure they make it from Tromso, Norway to Los Angeles. Has anyone used a luggage service from the ship recently and how was your experience? Thank you for your help in this matter.

Thank you all for your response. I appreciate the time you took to post. I would like to ask my question again. (I have actually ridden in a zodiac in calm waters of Alaska from land). I am asking if anyone has first hand experience (or at least first hand observation) with cruising and utilizing zodiacs or cruising where zodiacs were utilized and not utilizing them and if so would you please share your experience.

Thank you both for the information and the effort to help me, much appreciated. I have researched and reached out to Silversea. Hoping to hear from people with first hand experience either having done the zodiacs or been on an exploration cruise and not done the zodiacs and how they felt about that. What I have read about AB people and zodiacs varies as well. Some love them, others think they are hardly worth the effort. I have read one review by a person who has done the zodiacs using a wheelchair on Ponnet but do not have a contact information to ask questions or converse. This has been postponed, canceled, canceled (Seabourn) and finally a go with Silversea. I know no matter what it will be a wonderful trip and we are very excited about it.

Hi everyone. I am a paraplegic taking our first exploration cruise. Buck list item to see a Polar Bear in the wild. I use a manual wheelchair for mobility. We are on the Silversea Endeavour. Has anyone out there gotten off and on zodiacs while cruising with a mobility disability? If so would you please share your experiences? Thank you. Jean

An aging dowager past her prime but still delightful. Took our first cruise on the QM2 last summer was surprised at the condition. Lots of banged up wood inside, stained carpet, dented furniture, etc. We enjoyed our cruise and our returning this summer just surprised at the interior condition.

I use Lyft and Uber WAV a lot in LA. You will need to be willing to wait sometimes anywhere from 15-60 minutes for them. The driver also has to be willing to drive you to San Padro. You may want to consider booking an accessible van service. I use MidWilShuttle in LA though they may pick up in SD as well or can recommend someone. Very reliable