Cruising with a disability has gotten better, depending on your needs
- Cruise bookings are higher this year, due in part to first-time passengers.
- The safety and accessibility measures were more than I hoped for on my two recent sailings.
- I found the crew to be more attentive and patient, which is important for people with invisible disabilities.
Turn to any travel channel and you’ll be submersed into the excitement that cruising is back.
As travel restrictions eased earlier this year and demand continues to increase, the cruise industry is on the upswing – thanks, in part, to first-time cruisers. But is it leaving disabled travelers behind?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 26% of Americans have some form of disability. I personally have traveled with an invisible disability – sustained from a traumatic brain injury – for almost a decade, which makes it harder to understand what people are saying. I process speech and communicate slower, oftentimes leaving me confused and tired when traveling.
After recently setting sail on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas and Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, the safety and accessibility measures were more than I hoped for. Both ships required a negative COVID test from all passengers before boarding, and there were wheelchairs escorts available at the cruising terminal to help passengers to their accessible rooms.
Not to mention, I found the crew to be more attentive and patient during COVID, which is especially important for people with invisible disabilities as crew members checked in with me daily to see how they could assist.
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Chelsea Bear, a disabled lifestyle influencer who has cerebral palsy and often travels with a mobility scooter, told USA TODAY that “with staff constantly cleaning and sanitizing, plus so many touch-free options throughout the ship and systems in place to create space between guests, I felt much safer than a cruise prior to the pandemic.”
Cruise lines, and across the broader travel industry, have been slowly making an effort to be more inclusive.
“Sometimes I would teach the staff or officers on the ships about deaf awareness that not all of the deaf passengers are the same,” said Chief Executive Officer at Heart Cruises and cruise group leader Michael Pimentel, who is deaf.
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Since the onset of the COVID pandemic, the biggest difference, Bear noted, was the increased amount of touch-free options, which made it easier to enter areas with a mobility scooter while operating it.
“As someone with a physical disability that uses a mobility scooter, I personally think cruises are the most accessible way to travel,” Bear said.
We all know the next most important thing on a cruise is, well, the food. We come to devour and indulge in all the delicious cuisine en route. This hasn’t changed whatsoever. However, self-service buffets are now “crew-service buffets.” Meaning that in order to maintain safety, food and dishes may be given to you by a masked…
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