Resources for Europe for Disabled Cruisers, Part 1

Please use this thread as a place to post resources for disabled cruisers going to Europe (Baltic, Med, British Isles, etc.). Initially will move some resources from the old forums. Please add. Please don't post questions here though. There are now 3 parts to this message thread due to character limits (newly imposed):

Baltic:

DEL67

Cool Cruiser

 

posted 04-16-04 03:29 PM

We went on a Baltic cruise a few years ago. At that time my husband could walk a few steps with a walker, but primarily used a wheelchair. In addition to St Petersburg, we went to Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin and Visby.

There is a lot of walking involved so I would suggest that bringing a wheelchair might be a good precaution.

St Petersburg was difficult, but the high point of our trip. I think you would be better off arranging private transportation there if that is an option. We did not know that we needed visas if we wanted to tour independently so we went on three, half day ship excursions: the Hermitage, Peterhof and the city tour/fortress.

The Hermitage was acessible except for entering/exiting. There were two sets of steps (about 15 steps all together) with no hand rails at the entrance. I thought my husband would not be able to go, but he was determined to. My daughter and I supported him up the steps while another passenger brought up his wheelchair. Once inside, there were tiny elevators available to take us from floor to floor. There were about 12 steps at the exit, again with no handrail. When I asked a guard if someone could help me "bump" my husband's wheelchair down the steps, he went outside, found two Russians on the street who were willing to help. And waiting on the street for the rest of the tour members was fascinating both because of a military exercise that was going on in the square across the street

Peterhof was another issue and the street vendors who swarmed around us without being obnoxious.

Peterhof was more difficult. We did not visit the "palace" because all the rooms of interest were up a full set of stairs. We did go down to the gardens though, which we enjoyed.

The city tour and fortress were fairly accessible and should not be a problem for your father. The only part of the tour that my husband could not do was a visit to a ship.

We toured the other cities independently. In Stockholm we went to the Vasa Museum, the castle and walked around downtown, taking taxis as necessary. Our only problem there was the cobblestones in the old part of the city resulted in my having to go backwards so that the larger wheels went first. Your father should not have a problem there.

We hired a taxi for a few hours to tour Tallin, stopping at the Cathedral and the town square. Then my husband returned to the ship while we explored the town by foot because the cobblestones were actaully made of good sized rocks making it impossible to get the wheelchair over them. I think that your father would have great difficulty with them also.

In Helsinki we visited several of the museums and walked around town. Then it started to rain so we returned to the ship.

My husband chose not to go ashore in Visby because it was a tender port. We walked around the walled city which was fascinating; however, this required traversing the very steep hill on which the town was built.

Please contact me if you would like more information.

Dale[/Quote]

 

Barcelona:

canajgrimesbcn

Cool Cruiser

 

posted 02-19-04 11:49 AM

Dear All,

If you need any information about Barcelona itself please feel free to email me or look at my website:

http://www.accessiblebarcelona.com

Thanks in advance for your help.

Craig Grimes[/Quote]

 

Barcelona:

DEL67

Cool Cruiser

 

posted 01-02-04 08:23 PM

I can not provide the names of any wheelchair friendly guides, but we spent several days in Barcelona last summer touring on our own so I can provide some infomation about accessibility of sites and transportation.

Barcelona is quite accessible compared to many European cities. The sidewalks are generally in good shape and many corners have curb cuts. Where possible they have made tourist sites acessible and both of the major double decker, off-on, tour buses that circle the city have some buses with ramps allowing wheelchair passengers to access the bottom deck. One warning though. If you take a bus, strap the wheelchair in. We didn't and my husband's wheelchair went over when the bus took a sharp curve. Luckily he wasn't badly hurt so we were still able to go on the cruise.

We stayed at the Best Western Atrium Palace which is about 3 blocks from the tour bus stops at Catalunya Square. It is a new hotel in a renovated building. The accessible rooms have a relatively small, but adequate bedroom area. They also have two bathrooms, a regular one and an accessible one. The accessible bathroom has bars, a raised toilet and a roll-under sink, but do not have a roll-in shower. We enjoyed our stay there.

In just over 2 days we walked a good bit of the city as well as circled the city on the tour bus visiting the Picasso museum, the Gaudi apartments, the unfinished cathedral, the Miro Museum and the Poble Espanol. The Picasso and Miro museums were almost 100% accessible. The Gaudi apartments with the exception of the roof were also accessible. There was an elevator to view the sculptures on roof area, but no real access. The Cathedral is accessible with the exception of the towers. Very little of the Poble Espanol is accessible so I would not suggest going there.

Our biggest problem was transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship. None of the limo services had wheelchair lifts and the two companies with wheelchair taxis did not respond to my emails. My husband can transfer to a car or van and his power chair folds up so luckily were able to find one minivan taxi at the airport. We had to wait until it was its turn to take passengers and had to fight off other passengers, but we were able to get everything in. The hotel tried unsuccessfully to get a wheelchair taxi to take us to the ship, but they were able to find another minivan taxi after calling around. We bought transfers from RCI to get back to the airport after the cruise.

I hope this helps. Feel free to email me directly if you would like more information.[/Quote]

 

Spain:

Splinter

Cool Cruiser

 

posted 01-06-04 09:34 PM

When we were in Barcalona in 1999 our cruise ship (Princess) was able to locate and arrange for an accessible cab (van with lift) for our airport transfer. I would check with your cruise line about a contact to get ahold of someone.

Accessiblity in Barcelona is better than many European cities due to the Paralympics being there in 1996.

Here are some additional resources:

http://www.accessiblebarcelona.com/

http://spainforvisitors.com/sections/accessiblespain.htm

http://www.access-able.com/spain.html[/Quote]

Thanks for these great resources. You people are great!!!!!!!!:)

Amsterdam Museumboot with wheelchair

As promised, I wheeled Cathy into the city center on the weekend to see how difficult it would be with a wheelchair, getting on and off the Museumoot.

The answer is: very difficult. The only what it would be workable is with a group of people willing to assist helping one on and off the boat as well as to lift the chair on and off the boat. There is only one crew member on these boats, the captain, and he is busy keeping the boat flush to the dock during the short stops.

If you are in a group, the group should be able to get it done.

If not, I would recommend a scheduled or chartered canal boat leaving from the West Side of Centraal Station where there is a ramp leading down to the dock. Last year we chartered/catered a canal boat for 65 people from the TA group and it worked out quite well, wheelchair included.

It's beginning to look more like we will in fact be home that weekend. We'll keep you posted.

Regards,

Rich

Rich posted this info for us. Hope it helps.

My husband broke his ankle just before our TA. We went and spent time traveling in England when it was over.

In Dover we went to Dover Castle and the war tunnels. It is very hilly--but after pushing him through the tunnels we were told that there are motorized scooters free to use. We wish we had known before.

Ask and use the scooters.

The Disabled Parking Permit from the US can be used in England. We used it with our rental car and we used it with a driver we hired. Disabled parking spaces are plentifull but are hard to spot. Bringing it was a godsend.