Best cruises for(82 yr) with limitted mobility

[emsachs]

Hi!

My wife and I took our parents (all 82 years old) on an Alaska cruise last June. We all had the BEST time. Alot of the cruise was inside passage and glacier cruising with only 3 ports in 7 days. Now, they want to go again, and we are unsure on where we should go.

 

Our first choice would definnitely be Europe, but I've heard from several sources (including our TA) that Europe isn't the most senior friendly cruise due to alot of walking and travel to/from port.

 

Our parents can walk short distances and can board a bus, but they are 82 years old.

 

Can anyone suggest an excellent destination for us to go (except Carribean..we have no desire to go there).

We would like to go in May/June but we are flexible as to the time of year.

 

Thanks

[DEL67]

I agree that Europe would not be a good idea. Most European cruises are port intensive with few days at sea. Also, in addition to the walking to see the sights of interest, there is often additional walking required because the buses need to park in lots that can be 1/4 mile or more away from where you want to go. You can avoid the extra walking if you hire private transportation, but it would still probably be too much for your parents.

 

The one exception might be a Norwegian costal cruise. I have not taken one so I can not tell you how much walking is involved, butit might be a possibility.

 

Other possibilities might be Hawaii, Bermuda, a fall New England cruise, the Mexican Riviera or one of the Florida/Bahamas cruises from NYC.

[luv2cruise450]

Emsachs...if you can do a longer cruise with your folks...how about a transatlantic cruise in the spring that will have you disembarking at a European port. These are usually around 14 days or longer. The transatlantics would give you a lot more days at sea and only a few ports (usually interesting and off the beaten path ports)! We love the sea days and we will be taking our 3rd transatlantic in a few weeks!

Or perhaps other repositioning type cruise itineraries would be of interest to you.

Happy sailing!

[Tarheelbelle]

I took my mom, then 74, on a Canadian/New England cruise out of NYC a few years ago. She has arthritis and walking is limited by that. It was a wonderful trip.

[emsachs]

Thanks all!!

I've thought about a trans continent cruise. I'll definitely ask them about this.

We really enjoyed our cruise/sea days on our last cruise too.

 

I also saw that some of you did a trans panama canal cruise.

How was this on the exertion scale for our parents?

 

we've also thought about a south america cruise around cape horn.

Anyone done one of those?

[harrodsfan]

We traveled a lot with my mother when she was in her 80's and my stepfather when he was in his 80's and early 90's..cruising is great for the mobility challenged with a few caviats....

We traveled with a wheelchair to use for unavoildable really long walk situations....airports, etc.and even on the ship (we took the grand Princess...which was huge..)My folks were ok with that as we said it made us feel safer that they weren't going to be knocked over...

We did and loved....Greek Islands, Europe, The baltic and North Cape. Also Panama Canal cruises..The latter was everyone's favorite.

We found in Europe that most cruises had tours that were primaily bus tours...driving around. We enjoyed those as a group and/or sometimes my folks went on those and we did more active tours. alternatley we did private tours which really were the best for many reasons..

WE didn't do everything together and everyone was ok with that. wE also had our two teenagers with us.

My suggestions is set ground rules in advance with clear expectations...then enjoy...Many things about cruising appeals to older folks...and younger too...:)

Round cape horn could be rough...That may or may not be a factor to consider..

:)

[lcand1923]

My Dad is now 82 years old. His mobility is decreasing, but he still likes to travel. Here is information about cruises that we have taken and comments about whether or not mobility was an issue. (I am not including Alaska because you have "been there, done that".)

 

Panama Canal transit - unfortunately, you will have to do a bit of the Caribbean which doesn't interest you, but the Canal transit itself is fantastic. Depending upon how long your overall cruise is, most ports include a "bus ride" type of tour. Dad is ready to do this cruise again.

 

River Cruise in Europe - Most of what there is to see can be seen from the vessel. We went with Viking. They made numerous provisions for the folks with mobility problems to be able to do as many of the included shore excursions as possible. Dad wants to do another one of these.

 

Baltic Cruise - the cruise is enjoyable. Most ports include a "bus ride" shore excursion. You can normally find an excursion that will work. In our experience, the tour operators hired by the ship were cognizant of mobility issues and tried to respect those on the tour in Scandinavia and Estonia. We also visited St. Petersburg where "you were on your own".

 

Western Med - the cruise is enjoyable. Mobility is definitely a problem with shore excursions in some of these ports. Tour operators did not make any provisions for folks with mobility problems which matches our experience on land tours. That being said, the scenery from the ship is enjoyable.

 

We are hoping to do a South America cruise next year. If this thread is still open, I'll let you know how Dad does.

[glgolfer]

Check the Transatlantic cruises on various lines. Some of them do quite a lot of Europe. We did a 15 night Splendour that started in Lisbon and ended in Galveston via Bermuda and Key West. Some do the northern route from England to the northeastern U.S.

 

Also, some lines have full Panama Canal transits that do more Pacific ports than Caribbean. The Canal is worth at least one full transit.

[DesrtDrmr]

The 15 day round trip from Los Angeles, or San Diego, to Hawaii is wonderful too, and would be quite do-able for your folks. We were on the Island Princess, out of Los Angeles, but HAL's Statendam sails out of San Diego, and Celebrity will be sailing out of Los Angeles next year, I THINK I read that. We had five days at sea to and from Hawaii, and then five ports. Hilo, Kona, Honolulu, Nawiliwili, and Lahaina, Maui. It was very relaxing, and there was a nice assortment of bus type tours at each port, as well as more active tours. We rented cars in several ports and drove around the islands, seeing just what we wanted to, having lunch, and doing a bit of shopping. On all islands, rental car companies had shuttles from the dock to the rental site. It was a very easy, and very relaxing cruise.

The Hawaiian cruises seem to run from October through April.