Group tours (eg Adventures by Disney) in Europe with wheelchair?

[twinmum]

Jsut spent a frustrating time researching travel options for our family of 4, including me, DH and twin sons now age 15. One of our sons uses walker/wheelchair (manual or power) to get around. I was hoping to come up with a plan for this summer (late July/August) but 2015 might be more realistic.

We've travelled to France, but planned it all ourselves (with some TA help) as the group tour idea didn't appeal at the time. It worked, but planning took a lot of time and the experience was more stressful than I'd like.

Now I'm thinking it would be great to have someone else do the planning.

I called 3 companies (including ABD) so far and signing up for a group tour sounds problematic. Must say that ABD asked that I email them with more specifics about our sons needs so they could investigate more and see if there were any of their European tours they could actuallt recommend (I hopeed for Italy but that was a no-go).

Does anyone have any positive experiences with group tours/cruises including river cruises in Europe?

Help! I'm losing all that positive travel energy!!!

 

[SMD]

I did a Greek Isles cruise, and I specifically remember seeing a sign on one excursion that said that it was a historical site, that it was not accessible and not safe, so enter at your own risk. I think this is going to be the problem you encounter on most tours. But when I went on a Royal Carribbean cruise there was a man in a wheelchair. The ship was accessible, but most of the excursions weren't. The issue is usually that the buses don't have lifts. They recommend you book private excursions at each port.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithHero.do?pagename=accessibility_ashore

And really, there were a lot of stops that were, get off the bus, walk around for 25 minutes, get back on the bus. How much time would someone end up with after using the lift to get on and off the bus?

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I would recommend you contact Dreams Unlimited Travel. They are very familiar with ABD and doing the tours with mobility issues. Kevin Klose has talked about it in depth on some podcasts.

He reminds people that Europe is very old and doesn't have the same accessibility laws as the US. There are a lot of historic places that are not accessible. It stinks for those with mobility issues, but it's the way it is.

 

[lanejudy]

Have you considered a cruise? DCL just released some fantastic new itineraries in Europe for summer 2015. I can't speak for accessibility in port, but the ships are good.

 

[pugdog]

You can also check out http://flyingwheelstravel.com/.
All they do is wheelchair vacations all around the world. They have done all the leg work for you about hotels, attractions and transportation.

 

[LovesTravel]

Accessible Journeys is another agency. They do group tours or independent travel planning. Italy is one of their destinations.