Accessible excursions Italy august 25-sept 5

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

Hello all,

 

I’m so overwhelmed and completely stressed out. We had a different vacation planned(sandals resort) but had to pivot last minute due to accessibility changes. Me and my wife now leave for a 9 night Mediterranean cruise and we’re adding a 2 day stop in Paris after the cruise ends. 

My wife is disabled and is in her chair with only limited ability to transfer, but not able to walk. I’m trying to find accessible excursions. I’ve checked into Sage, viator, and a few others but the prices seem insane. Close to or even over a thousand dollars for walking tours. I’m stressed to the max because I’m trying to find things for her/us to do but I can’t find anything accessible. She wants to make a pizza, make some pasta, wine tasting, etc… 99% of the tours that are accessible are get in a van and visit a few historic places or walk around the city. 

 

What are some other companies/sites that offer accessible tours? What are some hints and tips? I’m so stressed out trying to make this a great vacation for her. I’ve never been on a vacation and this is all new to me. Any tips and advice will greatly be appreciated. 
 

thank you. 

[kokopelli-az]

What are your port stops and which cruise line?

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

3 hours ago, kokopelli-az said:

What are your port stops and which cruise line?

9 Nights Italy, Sicily & Montenegro from Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy | Celebrity Cruises

Rome, Florence(La Spieza), Portafino, Naples, Sicily(Messina), Kotor, Koper, Venice(Ravenna)

 

Landing in Rome the day before(August 26th) and then flying from Venice to Paris the night of the 5th and coming home the 7th.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Cthulhu_Awakens

[kokopelli-az]

You didn't say if your wife's wheelchair is collapsible, but my husband has a collapsible wheelchair we took to Europe.  We used Papillon Services for sightseeing.   They were beyond excellent and arranged an excursion specifically for us.  It was one of the best excursions we have ever done.  I don't know if they have vehicles with a lift but you could certainly contact them if you need one.   They have tours to a lot of the places you will be.   We told them what we wanted and they put together a tour for us,  They said they could include a winery tour so I'm sure they could put together something with a winery(ies).    They were very responsive and answered our questions quickly.

 

https://www.papillonservice.com/

 

 

Here are some other companies we considered but did not use.   I basically emailed all of them and told them about the wheelchair and the basics of what we wanted to do.   

 

https://www.joebananalimos.net/cruise-port-tours

 

https://www.romeinlimo.com/

 

http://www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net/2/shoreexcursions_in_italy_tours_3161377.html

 

https://www.stefanorometours.com/

 

Here's one we did not research but they cater to wheelchair users:

https://www.romeanditaly.com/accessible/accessible-shore-excursions/

 

[Essiesmom]

Portofino and Kotor are tender ports.  Your wife may not be able to get off the ship at all there.  There is dock area in Kotor, our captain on Nieuw Amsterdam was able to sweet talk them into letting us dock, only ship in that day.  The next year on Silhouette we tendered.  If you can get ashore just walking the old walled city is wonderful, though cobblestones may be rough.  I have never been to portofino.  EaM

[FOPMan]

As I recall, Pompeii is not wheel-friendly. There ar least used to be a major step everyone had to go over, with no ramp.

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:54 PM, kokopelli-az said:

You didn't say if your wife's wheelchair is collapsible, but my husband has a collapsible wheelchair we took to Europe.  We used Papillon Services for sightseeing.   They were beyond excellent and arranged an excursion specifically for us.  It was one of the best excursions we have ever done.  I don't know if they have vehicles with a lift but you could certainly contact them if you need one.   They have tours to a lot of the places you will be.   We told them what we wanted and they put together a tour for us,  They said they could include a winery tour so I'm sure they could put together something with a winery(ies).    They were very responsive and answered our questions quickly.

 

https://www.papillonservice.com/

 

 

Here are some other companies we considered but did not use.   I basically emailed all of them and told them about the wheelchair and the basics of what we wanted to do.   

 

https://www.joebananalimos.net/cruise-port-tours

 

https://www.romeinlimo.com/

 

http://www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net/2/shoreexcursions_in_italy_tours_3161377.html

 

https://www.stefanorometours.com/

 

Here's one we did not research but they cater to wheelchair users:

https://www.romeanditaly.com/accessible/accessible-shore-excursions/

 

Thank you for all this information. I have talked extensively over the weekend with Sharon from papillon service and it has been an absolute treat. While it may not work out for us to use her services, I have been completely blown away by her kindness and her attempt to make our travel work. Very impressed. 

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:54 PM, kokopelli-az said:

You didn't say if your wife's wheelchair is collapsible, but my husband has a collapsible wheelchair we took to Europe.  We used Papillon Services for sightseeing.   They were beyond excellent and arranged an excursion specifically for us.  It was one of the best excursions we have ever done.  I don't know if they have vehicles with a lift but you could certainly contact them if you need one.   They have tours to a lot of the places you will be.   We told them what we wanted and they put together a tour for us,  They said they could include a winery tour so I'm sure they could put together something with a winery(ies).    They were very responsive and answered our questions quickly.

 

https://www.papillonservice.com/

 

 

Here are some other companies we considered but did not use.   I basically emailed all of them and told them about the wheelchair and the basics of what we wanted to do.   

 

https://www.joebananalimos.net/cruise-port-tours

 

https://www.romeinlimo.com/

 

http://www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net/2/shoreexcursions_in_italy_tours_3161377.html

 

https://www.stefanorometours.com/

 

Here's one we did not research but they cater to wheelchair users:

https://www.romeanditaly.com/accessible/accessible-shore-excursions/

 

How possible is it to do Rome without a driver? We're already at 475$ for the Airport to hotel transfer and the Hotel to ship transfer. We're trying to save some money and we're thinking of booking a higher cost hotel near the Pantheon in Rome so we can walk to Trevi fountain, Colosseum, and Vatican/Sistine Chapel. It looks about 2-2.5km from the Vatican and we have a powered wheelchair available to use if its easier to get around with it.

[CGinMTL]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:54 PM, kokopelli-az said:

You didn't say if your wife's wheelchair is collapsible, but my husband has a collapsible wheelchair we took to Europe.  We used Papillon Services for sightseeing.   They were beyond excellent and arranged an excursion specifically for us.  It was one of the best excursions we have ever done.  I don't know if they have vehicles with a lift but you could certainly contact them if you need one.   They have tours to a lot of the places you will be.   We told them what we wanted and they put together a tour for us,  They said they could include a winery tour so I'm sure they could put together something with a winery(ies).    They were very responsive and answered our questions quickly.

 

https://www.papillonservice.com/

 

 

Here are some other companies we considered but did not use.   I basically emailed all of them and told them about the wheelchair and the basics of what we wanted to do.   

 

https://www.joebananalimos.net/cruise-port-tours

 

https://www.romeinlimo.com/

 

http://www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net/2/shoreexcursions_in_italy_tours_3161377.html

 

https://www.stefanorometours.com/

 

Here's one we did not research but they cater to wheelchair users:

https://www.romeanditaly.com/accessible/accessible-shore-excursions/

 

I love romeinlimo.  And they are in almost all Italian ports.

Here is what I do. Write one email for your " in a perfect world scenario". Including all that you want. And then send the same mail ( BCC works great) to all the companies. And see what they say 

 

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

15 minutes ago, CGinMTL said:

I love romeinlimo.  And they are in almost all Italian ports.

Here is what I do. Write one email for your " in a perfect world scenario". Including all that you want. And then send the same mail ( BCC works great) to all the companies. And see what they say 

 

I have and they said they do not have any vehicles available that do not require the wheelchair user to transfer into a seat. My wife has very limited ability to transfer and everything has to be perfect for her to be able to push herself up into a passenger seat. So we don't want to risk her struggling to transfer after a long days excursion or that the seat in a vehicle might be too high. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Cthulhu_Awakens
added the word available to not accidently misrepresent what the company said

[FOPMan]

Two of our better moves in Rome were reserving breakfast in the Vatican, which included a good breakfast and early access to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Kind of pricey, but very much worth it. We “saved” hours in line.

 

The second thing was a golf cart tour. While I was using a scooter at the time, I shifted to a rollator for the (3 hour) early evening tour. 
 

The driver/tour guide could go pretty much anywhere in central Rome- just a few feet (like 10) from pretty much everything. We saw an awful lot in those three hours.

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

2 minutes ago, FOPMan said:

Two of our better moves in Rome were reserving breakfast in the Vatican, which included a good breakfast and early access to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Kind of pricey, but very much worth it. We “saved” hours in line.

 

The second thing was a golf cart tour. While I was using a scooter at the time, I shifted to a rollator for the (3 hour) early evening tour. 
 

The driver/tour guide could go pretty much anywhere in central Rome- just a few feet (like 10) from pretty much everything. We saw an awful lot in those three hours.

The breakfast and early access to the Vatican sounds awesome!  We're suppose to arrive in Rome at 730AM so something like that would be great since we can't go into our hotel until 3pm or so. We can drop off our luggage but no access to the room.

[FOPMan]

32 minutes ago, Cthulhu_Awakens said:

The breakfast and early access to the Vatican sounds awesome!  We're suppose to arrive in Rome at 730AM so something like that would be great since we can't go into our hotel until 3pm or so. We can drop off our luggage but no access to the room.

We’d booked directly with the Vatican at https://tickets.museivaticani.va/.

 

Viator and other outlets are now selling tickets- we’d gone a number of years ago where there were less places to get the tickets. Most museums in Europe offer discounted rates for an individual accompanying an individual with disabilities. Occasionally, documentation is asked for. Because of the different ways disabilities are managed between the US and Europe, US residents don’t have the same documentation. A US vehicle hangtag is often sufficient, however. I don’t recall ever being asked for ID when using a wheelchair, scooter, or rollator, but it’s also super-obvious that my body doesn’t work “normally.”

[FOPMan]

It’s a pretty long bus ride into Florence. The Ufizzi is pretty accessible, as is the Academy (where David is). The streets are largely cobblestone, which can be a bit tough. We just used city transportation (public buses) to get around, but had done our homework, in terms of tickets and what entrances to use for wheelchairs and wheeled equipment.

[Cthulhu_Awakens]

19 minutes ago, FOPMan said:

We’d booked directly with the Vatican at https://tickets.museivaticani.va/.

 

Viator and other outlets are now selling tickets- we’d gone a number of years ago where there were less places to get the tickets. Most museums in Europe offer discounted rates for an individual accompanying an individual with disabilities. Occasionally, documentation is asked for. Because of the different ways disabilities are managed between the US and Europe, US residents don’t have the same documentation. A US vehicle hangtag is often sufficient, however. I don’t recall ever being asked for ID when using a wheelchair, scooter, or rollator, but it’s also super-obvious that my body doesn’t work “normally.”

Was looking through the site and couldn't find anything for disabilities and then visited the support page and this is on there for booking online with disabilities. 😕

 

Q. Is it possible to book online tickets for disabled visitors?

A. No, tickets for the disabled and accompanying person are issued directly at the Special Permits Desk. Kindly approach the Special Permits Desk and present required documents testifying the disability.

[FOPMan]

1 hour ago, Cthulhu_Awakens said:

Was looking through the site and couldn't find anything for disabilities and then visited the support page and this is on there for booking online with disabilities. 😕

 

Q. Is it possible to book online tickets for disabled visitors?

A. No, tickets for the disabled and accompanying person are issued directly at the Special Permits Desk. Kindly approach the Special Permits Desk and present required documents testifying the disability.

That’s for general tickets, not special tours.

 

The site indicates which special tours are/are not accessible. There is no discount that I’m aware of for disabilities for special tours.

Edited August 11, 2022 by FOPMan

[iuki]

On 8/11/2022 at 6:01 AM, Cthulhu_Awakens said:

Was looking through the site and couldn't find anything for disabilities and then visited the support page and this is on there for booking online with disabilities. 😕

 

Q. Is it possible to book online tickets for disabled visitors?

A. No, tickets for the disabled and accompanying person are issued directly at the Special Permits Desk. Kindly approach the Special Permits Desk and present required documents testifying the disability.

I was totally lost on the website.  🙄

[FOPMan]

The offerings have changed quite a bit. At a quick glance, I did not see the packages we used. There is an English option. I can read quite a bit of Italian.

 

Most facilities, at least years ago, would not pre-register/sell tickets for the disabled. The big issue is determining how the queue is managed. On a busy day (like the day we were at the Vatican), we did not want to risk waiting in the standby queue to buy tickets, plus we wanted early access to the Sistine Chapel, plus we could get a much earlier start on the day, making more time for touring. At the time we went, no discounted pricing was provided for individuals with disabilities for special event tours, only for general admission activities, and only when purchased in person.

 

At the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, we knew the standby line was going to be long, but we also knew to go to straight to a special check in desk that didn't require waiting in the standby queue and would sell immediate entry tickets to the disabled. I think regular tickets at the time were 10 Euro, with the companion free. The Ufizzi was similar, but a bit more difficult to find the right entrance. Again, we could bypass the ticketing entrance queue.