Shore Accessibility On Mediterranean Cities Cruise

[MargieC1978]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me please, with regards to shore accessibility. My partner and I are going on a Mediterranean Cities Cruise with Royal Caribbean in July, on The Adventure of The Seas. I am a manual wheelchair user and my partner is blind. This is our second cruise as we visited the Mediterranean and Greek Isles last year. We got some really helpful advice from this site last year, so I'm hoping you can help us again!

 

Here is our itinerary: (We have visited Cannes before)

 

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

MALAGA, SPAIN

CANNES, FRANCE

BARCELONA, SPAIN

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN

VALENCIA, SPAIN

CARTAGENA, SPAIN

LISBON, PORTUGAL

VIGO, SPAIN

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

My questions are really:

How accessible these ports are for wheelchairs?

How far away from the port the towns are?

Have any other wheelchair users tried the hop on hop off busses and what was their experience?

Are there any that you would recommend booking tours for, rather than touring on our own?

 

Sorry for the long post, but many thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations.

 

Marie

[katrina915]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me please, with regards to shore accessibility. My partner and I are going on a Mediterranean Cities Cruise with Royal Caribbean in July, on The Adventure of The Seas. I am a manual wheelchair user and my partner is blind. This is our second cruise as we visited the Mediterranean and Greek Isles last year. We got some really helpful advice from this site last year, so I'm hoping you can help us again!

 

Here is our itinerary: (We have visited Cannes before)

 

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

MALAGA, SPAIN

CANNES, FRANCE

BARCELONA, SPAIN

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN

VALENCIA, SPAIN

CARTAGENA, SPAIN

LISBON, PORTUGAL

VIGO, SPAIN

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

My questions are really:

How accessible these ports are for wheelchairs?

How far away from the port the towns are?

Have any other wheelchair users tried the hop on hop off busses and what was their experience?

Are there any that you would recommend booking tours for, rather than touring on our own?

 

Sorry for the long post, but many thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations.

 

Marie

Hi Marie,

You liked Europe so much that you are going back, huh?

 

Cannes was a tender port, so I didn't take Dad off ship in wheelchair.

Barcelona was great getting around. I heard hoho was good, but we took taxi and I pushed him- we were only there 1 1/2 days. Took taxi to Sagrada Familia and we got in free with no wait. Little bit of a hill getting into church, but probably not problem if you are used to pushing yourself or have some strong help. We walked down La Rambla and hung out at the Cathedral square. I liked those dancers in the Cathedral square and took walking tour of Roman area.

 

Haven't been to the other ports.

[LondonTowner]

All your ports are accessible. I would say that Barcelona is probably the most accessible. I haven't done any of the ports on a cruise, but I have been to all of them on holidays. In all the places you will find you can use the HOHO buses. Lisbon is a bit hilly and for that reason, may be more of a challenge.

 

All the places also have accessible public transport. Personally, we never use ship excursions as it is easy to find an alternative. Without knowing your likes and dislikes it is difficult to advise exactly what to do.

[NewYearNewMe]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me please, with regards to shore accessibility. My partner and I are going on a Mediterranean Cities Cruise with Royal Caribbean in July, on The Adventure of The Seas. I am a manual wheelchair user and my partner is blind. This is our second cruise as we visited the Mediterranean and Greek Isles last year. We got some really helpful advice from this site last year, so I'm hoping you can help us again!

 

Here is our itinerary: (We have visited Cannes before)

 

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

MALAGA, SPAIN

CANNES, FRANCE

BARCELONA, SPAIN

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN

VALENCIA, SPAIN

CARTAGENA, SPAIN

LISBON, PORTUGAL

VIGO, SPAIN

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

My questions are really:

How accessible these ports are for wheelchairs?

How far away from the port the towns are?

Have any other wheelchair users tried the hop on hop off busses and what was their experience?

Are there any that you would recommend booking tours for, rather than touring on our own?

 

Sorry for the long post, but many thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations.

 

Marie

 

Hi Marie,

 

I agree with others about Barcelona being the most accessible . We always do our own thing in ports as we are not into organized stuff and would rather get a feel for the place in our own time.

 

In Barcelona we got out of the cruise terminal and just around the corner there is a bus stop for the Blue Bus, which is not Royal Carribean`s shuttle but Barcelona`s own. It was around 3EUR per person and they will only take one wheelchair at a time. Nobody seemed to know about this as it was only us and cruise line staff on it so we had no problems getting on. We have walked(pushed) the lenght of Las Ramblas and stopped for bits of shopping and people watching. Can`t comment on the HOHO as we haven`t done this but we would like to in the future.

 

We haven`t been off the ship in Palma on our last cruise as it was the day after Barcelona and we were shattered ! Port in the middle of nowhere and so nothing in walking distance, or so we`ve been told.

 

In Lisbon we took Royal Carribean`s shuttle into town - it was going to two places , city center and Belem. Again, the buses they use are accessible but there`s only one space for a wheelchair. We had to wait quite a bit to get onto one as there were no accessible taxis so everyone was waiting for the shuttles. Once we got into town , the shopping area was fairly flat and plenty to do and see. Lots of nice bars and restaurants. However, Portugal is a pain with the paving they use ( like the ones seen here http://wheeltheworld.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/the-sidewalks-of-rio/ ) so please be careful pushing around as we found you can easily get trapped in between the gaps.

 

Vigo is lovely but very hilly - we have had a good tip from someone on the forums to go into the shopping mall near the cruise terminal and take the lift up and then exit - this way you can get onto the old town level without taking the steps. Once we got there we had a walk around and stopped at a nice local place for lunch, but I have found it hard going pushing my OH as it can be steep in places and hard going in the heat.

 

Hope this helps,

 

L x

[MargieC1978]

Hello,

 

Yes, we loved Europe and the whole cruise experience, so have decided to go back again!

 

Thank you for your replies, there is some really useful information there.

 

I use a manual wheelchair and we did manage to get off the boat at the tender port in Cannes last time, so are hoping to do the same again as we know we are able to walk into town from the port.

 

Everyone I have asked has said Barcelona is one of the most accessible cities they have been to. We got on our cruise ship at Barcelona last time, but didn't have time to look around and are looking forward to going again. Thank you for your tip about the blue bus. We may try the hoho busses or get a taxi, depending on how we feel on the day.

 

My boyfriend has been to Palma before and said that the port is a long way from the action, but remembers it is all flat and says he knows a good place to get ice cream! We may be tired after our day in Barcelona, as you have already said.

 

We did a lot of tours on our last cruise in a different part of the Mediterranean and are thinking that this time we would like to be more relaxed. However, Lisbon and Vigo are the two ports that we thought looked the most challenging and we are looking at possibly booking tours for these. Thank you for the link with the paving, that helpful to know. Getting around Rome, especially by the Roman Forum was a challenge last year, but worth the effort! Great tip about the lift in the shopping centre too!

 

Thanks again for all of your replies, I really appreciate it. I'll keep you updated with our progress.

 

Marie x