Danube River Cruises-Are any wheelchair accessible?

[catnanny]

My friend and I have successfully sailed on the Adventure of the Seas, using a scooter and a wheelchair for her. We are booked on the Pride of Hawaii for November 13th, and think our experience might also be good. My dream cruise is taking a boat from Vienna to the Black Sea. Does anyone know if these are handicapped accessible?

 

Thank you. Happy Sailing! Debbie

[steamboats]

Debbie,

 

Only a few river cruise companies do offer wheel chair accessible cabins and most of the river cruise ships do not have any elevators. At least the Sun Deck won´t be accessible with a wheel chair (some companies do have a chair lift for the Sun Deck). In the towns you´re facing lots of cobblestones which are not very comfortable with a wheel chair and I don´t know if a scooter is working on steep cobblestone streets. Crew will be helpful to get your friend on and off the boat but also the shore tour busses are not equipped with any wheel chair lifts.

 

It´s not impossible to do a river cruise on the Danube river but you have to do your homework and ask all companies in advance. For example Viking has mainly split level river cruise ships which are not accessible with a wheel chair. As far as I remember Avalon and Amadeus (maybe also Uniworld) do feature elevators but that does not mean at all that the ships are wheel chair accessible.

 

I know of one boat which even offered group cruises but that one has been sold and I don´t have an idea where it´s now.

 

Don´t give up but do not expect a wheel chair friendly environment in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe. You might be quite fine in Germany and Austria but you might find steps and no ramps / elevators all over the countries on your route.

 

steamboats

[Queenie2]

Peter Deilman cruises is about the only line that has an accessible stateroom with a roll-in shower (on the MV Dresden). Many river cruise ships don't even have elevator access. You could probaby do the Dresden, but don't expect the same type of access you find on the big crusie ships. The space is tighter. Also you will find many obstacles ashore on the Danube cruise. You will probably have more problems ashore than aon the ship. Anyway, it's really the only line that offers any kind of real access.

 

Candy

[steamboats]

Queenie2,

 

You´re right about the MV Dresden. But there´s no elevator on this river cruise ship (anyway the cabin is on the deck where all public spaces are and where you embark/disembark). I saw yesterday that the River Cloud I by Seacloud (www.seacloud.com) also offers a wheel chair accessible cabin (again no elevator, but it might not be necessary). Both, Deilmann and Seacloud are plying the 5star market and are much more expensive than the "regular" companies like Avalon/Amadeus/Uniworld/Viking/GCT/ Vantage and more.

 

steamboats

[Queenie2]

I think when they say "wheelchair-accessible" (especially in the Europe river market) you have to ask about the access specifics about the room. In most cases it means that the doorway is larger and there are grab bars in the bathroom.

 

For example, The Viking Burgundy is not a good choice for full-time wheelchair users. There is elevator access from the middle deck to the upper deck, but the ship does not have any accessible staterooms. All staterooms have 25-inch wide doorways and raised bathroom thresholds (steps).

 

Deilman is the only line that actually has a cabin with a roll-in shower. And as you pointed out, you really don't need elevator access to the other rooms because all of the public spaces and the accessible room are on the same deck.

 

So you really have to ask a lot of specific questions, not just if they have a "wheelchair-accessible" cabin.

 

Candy

[steamboats]

Queenie2,

 

Yes, you´re absolutely right. There are no laws in Germany and Europe like your ADA (sorry for maybe not being completely correct, I´m German, I just know that "ADA compliant" mentioned in brochures). I have to correct myself, it´s not the River Cloud but the River Cloud II which is featuring a special designed cabin. According to the deck plan it has a larger bathroom and doorway. Most of the Viking river cruise ships are built in that split level design which makes it nearly impossible for travellers depending on a wheel chair to cruise on those boats. We had a similar question on the River Cruises board on this website. Unfortunately this site is working quite slow. I´ll add the link tomorrow when it´s faster again.

 

steamboats

[Queenie2]

Actually I've found some really top-notch barrier-free lodging accommodations in Germany -- in some cases better than the US:)

 

To be honest the term "ADA compliant" is really meaningless to travelers (who knows the code after all? -- what you want is something *you* can access) so I urge my readers to ask a lot of questions when somebody says "ADA compliant. Because how our code is written, you can have 2 properties located right next door to one another both listed as "ADA complaint" yet both having different access features. Some have roll-in showers and some don't -- in fact there are many "ADA complaint properties" that don't have roll-ins.

 

As for the cruise lines -- we don't have the rules made up for them yet (except for Us flagged ships, which are few and far between). Still in the works, so pretty much anything goes. But for the most part, ships that call on the US have reacted to the market and they do provide a high level of access.

 

So having an "access code" isn't all that it's cracked up to be:)

 

Candy

[steamboats]

Hi Candy,

 

Here´s the thread on the river cruises board

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=380611&highlight=scooter

 

The thread started with a question about the most luxurious river cruise company and it later turned to wheel chair accessible boats.

 

Fortunately I´m not bound to a wheel chair. But I can imagine at least some of the problems. When my daughter was born 6 years ago I desperately searched for elevators or escalators to get down to the subway or suburban trains here in Munich with my baby carriage. I had to make a lot of detours until I reached the platform. But I can still carry the carriage down the stairs which is totally impossible for people bound to a wheel chair.

 

By the way we spent some nights in Dresden. There´s a low budget hotel company called "Ibis" (www.ibishotel.com). We´ve stayed in a room with roll-in shower / seat / handles / lower sink and I also saw ramps.

 

Here´s the link to a review (sorry, in German) of a river cruise on the MS Der kleine Prinz. Unfortunately this company went bankrupt and nobody knows what happened to the boats. The group consisted of 28 people including 7 helpers and 15 wheel chair bound travelers organised by a TA specialized on group tours for people with disabilities. The cruise was well organized although there still were a lot of barriers like 8cm at the doorstep from the cabin to the bathroom. Ramps were provided immediately. But the writer stated that without the help of the 7 "helpers" the tour wouldn´t have been possible (38 steps in Budapest from the ship to the bus).

 

So that´s my main concern: even if the ship is totally wheel chair accessible with a specially designed cabin for wheel chair bound people you still have to cope with the problems ashore! Most of the medieval towns along the rivers do have step and narrow (scenic) streets leading up, lots of steps can be found everywhere. Most of the attractions try to find a place for ramps but in some historic buildings it´s simply impossible to build in an elevator.

 

By the way we have a pre-reservation for Deilmann´s MS Dresden for next June. I will write a review and publish it on our rivers-rails.com website. Sure I don´t know every needs of a wheel chair bound person but I can have a look on steps, ramps, elevators. I surely provide links to all attractions so anyone can check in advance. I know most of the towns along the Elbe river and I doubt it´ll be easy to explore them with a scooter or a wheel chair.

 

steamboats

[catnanny]

Thanks to all for the information about the river cruises. Should the time ever arrive, I will certainly do my homework and ask all the questions.

 

Happy Sailing to all! Debbie

[kipu1234]

I, too, am looking for accessible Danube River cruises. I know there aren't many boats with accessible cabins and I know many of the boats are not ADA complaint. ADA complaint simply means doors are wide enough for wheelchairs, grab bars and toilets are appropriate heights and placed at a certain location, elevators for multi decked ships, etc. Since most of the riverboats going on european rivers are not bound by ADA compliancy.

 

I also know that accessibility on boats is only 25% of the problem. The docks, local transportation, curbs, doorways to restaurants, stores and bathrooms need to be wide enough.

 

For those went on this cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, how many of the ports, stores, resturants and transportation accessible? Do any of these places have black cabs as they do in Great Britain and Germany accessible?

 

When you say there are lots of cobblestone streets, how does it compare to the old town of Belgium where the painters paint at this one spot near the river? Or how does it compare to the old town of Quebec? We have been to these two places and, although a bit a pain to go on the cobblestones, it was manageable.

 

The main issue was steps for us and extremely steep hills.

 

Does the boat docks near any towns so if we couldn't go on location transportation we could walk around and see something?

 

If we couldn't go on say 50 percent of the shore excursions, are we wasting our time by going on this cruise? How many of the shore excursions included on the cruise price?

 

We did run into a problem in Germany when cruising in the Koblenz area because it was the same day as the flame celebration. The boat almost tipped over because they took on too many people and the captain told us to mone one side or the other. Then we had to get off two stops before where we had to take the return boat. The train station was not fully accessible to take the return train. We had to go two stop south before we could go to the other side of the tracks to return. Fortunately they had an accessible black cab to get back to our hotel. Interestingly enough, the flame celebration was a few blocks from our hotel.

 

Any responses will be greatly appreciated. If you need any accessibility information on the Mississippi river cruise, feel free to ask me.

[katisdale]

I have not been on a European river cruise but have watched ships come into port and disembark/embark their passengers. I haven't been inside the ships so cannot comment on that at all. However one big problem that I would have is that the ships docked against the side of another ship. The gangways then were placed against the previously docked ship and the passengers had to transfer to the ship(s) that had docked previously to make their way to shore. The most I saw was three ships docked against each other. Then, the problem seemed to be the depth of the water as sometimes the ship nearest the dock had their exit on a different level that the ship farthest out. I did see ramps from the river to the street level but also saw steps. Given what I observed on a land tour I decided that I would travel through inland Europe by land rather than a river ship. As far as cobblestones go, they are uncomfortable but I managed OK with my travelscoot scooter. I hope this helps.