Disney Fantasy Tender & Shore Excursions

[winnie1274]

My family & I are going to be cruising on the Disney Fantasy to Cozumel, Grand Cayman & Jamaica in May 2014. I use a power chair to get around & would like some advice regarding tendering in Grand Cayman & shore excursions at all ports. The DCL site has 0 shore excursions in Cozumel that will even accept manual wheelchairs for the Mayan Ruins. I am ok with scheduling things on my own, but it is difficult to find any information about who is good or not. DCL said that as long as I can transfer from my chair to the tender that they can bring my chair. Was wondering if anyone has done this. Jamaica has no shore excursions set up yet, so have no idea what they will do there yet. I need to know if I should bring a manual wheelchair for Grand Cayman especially.

I would appreciate any advice you would be willing to share regarding these ports. We have sailed with DCL on the Dream so I am familiar with the ship & Castaway Cay. We had a great time & are really excited to be going again.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Most of the shore excursions are outside the US and not subject to ADA. They are not accessible for a person in a chair. None of the vehicles have lifts.

If you want to have an excursion which a person in a power chair can do, it would have to be specially arranged as a custom tour and will be very expensive if it can be arranged. Don't count on it.

 

[winnie1274]

Most of the shore excursions are outside the US and not subject to ADA. They are not accessible for a person in a chair. None of the vehicles have lifts.

If you want to have an excursion which a person in a power chair can do, it would have to be specially arranged as a custom tour and will be very expensive if it can be arranged. Don't count on it.

I hope that is not the case. I am sure there is something that is affordable. Just need help finding them.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I suggest that you visit cruise critic.com.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=167

 

[peemagg]

Also from my understanding, that most of the tenders can not take things like scooters or powerchairs. They will only take manual chairs. Checking out Cruisecritic is a great suggestion. They are very knowledgeable about most all the cruise lines and what can be done or who to contact for shore excursions.

 

[Piper]

I hope that is not the case. I am sure there is something that is affordable. Just need help finding them.

Good luck with finding them. I just took a cruise late September and the few that Disney said were accessible required you to fold your WC and carry it on the bus--which meant going up steps. They do not have any that are truly accessible......they do NOT provide accessible buses (or anything else) in the ports.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We've struggled with this as well. DH is disabled but can transfer and walk, just not for extended periods. On our one cruise there was a young girl (14 or so) in the room across from us with CP. She wanted to do the island tour with the Turtle Farm at GC. She was scheduled to be on the same tour bus with us. Our families had become friendly so we were all excited. Her father was able to get her chair onto the tender boat but the bus was not assessible. Disney told the parents to carry DD on and off the bus. The poor girl cried because she was embarassed and didn't want that. Besides, she was the size of a 14 year old. They ended up going back to the ship.

This was a Disney excursion. The mother had called DCL ahead of time to ensure that the tour could accomodate her. She was assured that they would. The saddest part was that the driver had told them that they had a bus with a lift but Disney never told them to bring it.

I doubt you will find a Mayan ruin excursion that can accomodate a chair. They don't even encourage people that have problems walking. Please remember that Cozumel is Mexico. It's not that well developed. We did the tour that stayed on the island (very small ruins) and even DH stayed back in town to just shop. He couldn't handle the uneven dirt trails. There was no way a scooter could handle it.