River cruising with a Pride Go Go

[Thyme2cruise]

My husband and I are thinking about booking a river cruise to Holland next spring. He has MS and can walk short distances with a walker and an electric scooter for longer distances. Has anyone taken a river cruise with one of these scooters? Which cruise line might be a better one to book than the other? What about the tours, i.e. cobblestone roads?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

[leoandhugh]

also use a pride go go and we have not done a river cruise based on several friends - not handicapped - who have gone and told us their experiences. namely, cabins in general are smaller than a cruise ship and there is not much space for the scooter, some river boats do not have elevators that go to all decks. but mainly because of the rise and fall of the river, sometimes going ashore means steep ramps up or down and on occasion having to dock next to another boat and go ashore through it.

the river ports are mainly the picturesque old towns and often where you land and go ashore in the center of town there are cobblestone streets. we would love to do it, but just don't have the nerve to try.:)

[juliab]

I agree with leoandhugh. I went on a Grand Circle cruise to the Christmas markets a few years ago when I was still walking with a cane and not using a scooter. Rooms too small for scooters. Many ports you have to go up stairs from the river landing to the town. Cruising is mostly at night so staying on the ship isn't much fun.

disappointing I know, but try something else.

[Splinter]

If you want to do a river cruise, you might consider the Mississippi/Tennessee or Ohio (Delta Queen) or the Columbia (Cruise West or American West) in this country, as there are accessible cabins and ships for these rivers.

 

Here are some cruise lines that offer small ship (some on rivers) cruise that are somewhat accessible. You still have to deal with the inaccessible shore conditions though, and at the least I would take along a manual wheelchair in addition to the scooter for this use.

 

http://smallshipcruises.com/allwheelboats.shtml

[Splinter]

Oops...sorry. Double post.

[leoandhugh]

splinter we did the mississippi from st louis to minneapolis/st paul on the mississippi queen because it has an elevator. as of that time about 10 years ago, delta queen did not have one and i don't think it has one to this day. but even on the mississippi queen, there were some river ports that were pretty hairy getting a wheelchair down the bow ramp and up some of the levees. but we did manage them with some help:)