Travel Summary:

Who was traveling:  18 year old Dan, 25 year old sister, parents in their 50's

Where did you go?   Vancouver City, Vancouver, Canada

When did you go?     June, 2008

Different needs:       Daniel uses forearm crutches on a limited basis and a manual wheelchair

Travel company (if applicable):       Royal Caribbean Cruiseline

Travel Resources used:

            Cruise Critic Forum

            Royal Caribbean.com and phone and e-mail support

My story:

This story is actually told by Dan’s older sister and mother, the creators of this website.  Daniel is 18, just about to go to college and like most teenage boys, is not into details and planning, that was left up to us.  Daniel has walked with forearm crutches most of his life, but recently long distances and long lengths of time have started to take their toll on him and he uses a wheelchair in these cases.

We booked our cruise about a year early through a deal on Southwest Airline’s website, but when it came time to choose cabins it was revealed that we needed to call the cruiseline directly rather than do this online to ensure that we got a handicapped accessible cabin (I think this is to stop people who don’t need them from booking the bigger handicapped cabins).  This was well worth the time and IF you use a wheelchair it is a MUST on a cruise ship.  Our parents had a standard cabin on the third deck and the wheelchair did not even fit through the door, of course he could have gotten out and folded the chair, but there is little storage in the average room.  In our accessible cabin we had a great big door that open like magic (automatically) whenever the card was swiped.  It was much larger and easier to maneuver.  Daniel also liked the handrails in the bathroom and the special large shower with seat.  We found the ship very easy to navigate by wheelchair for the most part.  At mealtimes our waiters were great about taking the wheelchair away and returning it when we were done, and the cafeteria staff was always helpful and easy to navigate.  Our only challenges came in the evenings or mornings when the cleaning staff left their carts in the halls, and these halls are JUST a little bigger than the average wheelchair so there were times we just could not get through and would have to go around.  We simply learned to go up to one of the higher decks, with no rooms, go across the ship there and then take the elevator back down. 

Our cruise had three stops before it arrived in Vancouver.  We stopped in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, to see our story about Alaska, see this page. 

Once in Vancouver we waited until our color was called and there was a little confusion about where we should go because of the wheelchair, but we got it sorted out with the helpful staff and were off.  Customs was a breeze and then we had to get in the very long line for a taxi, make sure you leave time for this, it took us over an hour to get a taxi, but we were able to find a great driver with a large handicapped accessible van with no trouble.  While Mom and Dad slept, Dan and I walked (rolled) to find the Olympic countdown clock and some timbits and we found the main drag in Vancouver busy but accessible and were really shocked to see not only a countdown clock to the Olympics in 2010 but on the other side is a Paralympic clock!  We then traveled to Granville Island via water taxi, and the drivers were great about helping us on and off with the wheelchair….but the gangplanks can be VERY STEEP and a great challenge.  The island itself was very busy but accessible on the whole part.  We then took the water taxi back and walked to Yaletown, and although it was an ok walk during the day, there are parts of Vancouver that you should not walk through at night and this might be one of them.  We found the Blue Water Café, and although we are not big on the noisy trendy restaurants as a norm, the food at this restaurant was superb and a great treasure find!  Dan flew on to sled hockey camp the next day while the rest of the family remained behind to visit Victoria.