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Wheelchair Shore Excursions


Mr Gazaman
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Looking for any advice on wheelchair accessible shore excursions in Bangkok (Laemchabang), Vietnam - Ho chi Minh City, Danang and Hanoi (Halong Bay). Any advise - guidance would be gratefully received and appreciated, as I have been trying to get something organised since mid November 2018. With this there has been many stumbling blocks, everytime I think I am onto something along comes some type of obstacle of some kind. I should mention I totally dependant on my wheelchair for mobility and day to day activities as I am a quadriplegic (Tetraplegic) who loves a challenge but even I have a breaking point. I and my able body partner love travelling and new adventures.

 

Here's hoping there is someone who has overcome the issues I have come across and has some advice that maybe helpful!     

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41 minutes ago, Mr Gazaman said:

Looking for any advice on wheelchair accessible shore excursions in Bangkok (Laemchabang), Vietnam - Ho chi Minh City, Danang and Hanoi (Halong Bay). Any advise - guidance would be gratefully received and appreciated, as I have been trying to get something organised since mid November 2018. With this there has been many stumbling blocks, everytime I think I am onto something along comes some type of obstacle of some kind. I should mention I totally dependant on my wheelchair for mobility and day to day activities as I am a quadriplegic (Tetraplegic) who loves a challenge but even I have a breaking point. I and my able body partner love travelling and new adventures.

 

Here's hoping there is someone who has overcome the issues I have come across and has some advice that maybe helpful!     

 

I can not answer to your specific ports of call but I was temporarily in a wheelchair for two cruises last year. Wheelchairs that can be folded to store and wheelchair guests who can manage the coach steps are fine....they can access lots of tours. For those totally chair reliant it is more difficult.

 

I could not get up coach steps so most Celebrity excursions were out. It also meant I could not use the general port shuttle at Bergen. They had one disability minibus which you could not book a time slot for so wheelchair users had to queue in the cold....Also at one port (Lisbon) wheelchair and scooter users were not allowed to get off the ship until after lunchtime owing to tidal issues and the angle of the gangway. 

 

Like you, we did lots of research before cruising. What we did find confusing on both ship and private tours was a lack of clarity about being ‘wheelchair accessible’. We also found that on one trip, a train ride, if we booked through X we couldn’t guarantee I could stay in my wheelchair but if we booked direct we could secure a proper wheelchair slot and companion seat.

 

I hope lots of CC members can come back with advice re your ports At the point of booking either with X or privately I would suggest you do insist on an email confirming that your tour is fully accessible and will match your specific needs.

 

I do hope my response doesn’t put you off , we genuinely had two fantastic cruises whilst I was in my chair. On board ship was fantastic but sorting tours was challenging, as I say, mainly because degree of accessibility isn’t always clear.

 

Sincere best wishes for a fantastic cruise.

 

 

Edited by chemmo
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Thank you for your information. My partner and I are pretty resilient so it takes a fair bit to deter us we generally make things work out one way or another.  We see to many people from the disabled community at large give up at any obstacle and wonder why they are bitter and angry at the world or their surroundings in general and their lives has passed them by having never gone out of their own little world.    

 

I am very lucky that I have a wonderful partner who will try to make anything fun with her can do attitude, what is sometimes a perceived road block she says what if we try doing this, many times with a reasonable bit of push and shove and a bit of give and take on all sides something will happen.

 

Sometimes you are left with no options and you just have to let it go and make the best of what's on offer. Having been in the wheelchair for 39 years you just have to be thankful in the surroundings you are in even if in another country. At least it is another learning experience.      

 

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I would post to disabled forum if you haven't already.

 

I don't know how much traveling you have done, but I have found that the definition of wheelchair accessible is different around the world.  For example, I booked a restaurant on top of the Eiffel tower for my dad with a mobility issue that was supposedly wheelchair accessible. The restaurant probably was if he could climb 14 stairs (found out when we got there).

 

Research and more research will be your friend.  And stay flexible on the day.  We booked all private tours and I asked specific questions of tour guide and researched sites myself.  One tour guide gave bad info that we could get him in bottom part of Ephesus but neglected to state that it would be so bumpy that he would be uncomfortable.  The other tour guides were pretty good though.

 

Make sure you have an accessible cabin so you are more comfortable on the ship.

 

Good luck!

Edited by katrina915
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I have not been to those ports and so I don't have any specific advice. Have you e-mailed Celebrity's shore excursion department at ShorexAccess@rccl.com to inquire if they are offering any accessible excursions? Generally, there are more accessible excursions offered from US Ports, but I have been able to take Celebrity excursions in Europe and Costa Rica.

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