South America cruise.

[bling19572010]

Can anyone share with me their experiences with accessibility and cruising the western side of South America? My 80 y/o mother is in a wheelchair and would like to cruise the western side is SA.

[Splinter]

It has been 13 years since we went, with my mother (full time wheelchair user). We did not do a "western" SA cruise (I suspect these are those in the north only that include a Canal transit??). We flew to Santiago and cruised around Cape Horn to Rio. 17 days, and it was wonderful.

 

We had the roughest seas I have ever seen on a cruise ship when we were in the "Roaring 40s" off the west coast of Chile, and my mother was sea sick, but had good seas the rest of the trip. This was November-December (spring).

 

There are challenges for those with mobility impairments. Access ashore is limited, and wheelchair accessible transportation (and tours) were pretty much non-existent. I arranged our shore trips though, and we did a combo of private van tours (with operators more than happy to lift my mother into the van seat), cabs, and private car hires. A number of ports on this route are tender ports, which would preclude going ashore for anyone who cannot stand and walk onto the tender on most cruise lines. We were on HAL, and they did have a tender lift, so we were able to go ashore at Puento Arenas and Port Stanley, and were able to dock at Puerto Montt, Ushauia, Buenos Aires, Monte Video, and Rio. We saw some beautiful country, and met many very nice people on this trip.

 

The more northern countries (I have heard) such as Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia are not very accessible, but depending on her abilities, with help you should be able to use this type of transportation in those countries too.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Splinter