EXPLORER CARIBBEAN TRAVELOGUE

 

I do so love a cruise.  I personally like the idea that someone else is doing the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, folding, and serving.  My husband and I, and our three children, are relatively new to cruising – our first cruise was in December, 2000.  Our youngest is a full-time power chair abuser.  (Fourteen-year-old teenage boy, need I say more?)  However, I recently read a letter to the editor where the person asked about things for disabled people to do that weren’t as expensive as cruising.  This question has merit and deserves some analysis.

In overall dollars, it will probably cost more for a family to go on a seven day cruise than, say, rent a cottage on the beach.  If it’s the total amount that is your concern, a family cruise for a week might break an already strained budget.  Now, that same cruise, taken in the off-season, without the need for a higher-priced, upper deck stateroom with balcony, might be more of a possibility.  Unfortunately, if you have school-age children and their school district doesn’t let out earlier, or start later, than most districts, you won’t be able to take advantage of the wonderful off-season cruise rates. 

However, to be fair, you can’t just compare the price of that cottage on the beach with the price of a cruise.  In the first instance, you are simply paying for accommodations, without food or entertainment.  You can only compare the two if you add the cost of restaurants, snacks, food if the cottage has a kitchen, and transportation and admission to your selected activities to the cost of the cottage rental in order to obtain an accurate total.  On a cruise, you have more than a place to stay and one location to enjoy.  You are provided with a room for the week, as many meals and snacks as you want, including room service (tip extra). Plus all day entertainment by some pretty high quality singers, dancers, musicians, impressionists, magicians, and so on, and ongoing activities such as sports, swimming, dancing, contests, and classes, to name a few.  Although you unpack only once, you get to sample a number of destinations.  When examined for value for the money, even during peak season, it becomes clear that cruising is a pretty good deal.   

Our December, 2002 cruise was on the mega-ship, RCI’s Explorer of the Seas.  Even though we booked about a year in advance, the only accessible staterooms were inside cabins.  We don’t spend that much time inside the room and so, if the choice is going or not going on a cruise, an inside room is just fine.  We always book the accessible cabin for our son and our two older daughters and a regular cabin, as close to them as possible, for my husband and me. 

Since we booked our air travel by ourselves, I arranged for the Super Shuttle (1-305-871-2000) to meet us at the Miami airport with an accessible van.  It wasn’t waiting there, despite being pre-paid over three weeks earlier, but one was brought over after a while.  However, despite my telling them when I pre-paid that we were a party of five, they brought over a van that only fit four, aside from their driver.   (It’s always a good idea to verify your reservation 24-48 hours in advance.)  The driver had never driven the van and didn’t know how to operate the tie-downs.  The kids and I rode to the hotel in one van while my husband arrived via another. The hotel was the beautiful Hyatt Regency (400 SE Second Ave., 1-305-358-1234), containing a restaurant serving the most incredibly delicious food, where we ate dinner and breakfast the following morning, as well as lunch upon our return from the cruise.

My husband went down early the following morning to talk to the RCI representative and discovered that the handicap van had not been ordered to take us to the ship.  Nevertheless, by the time we had to leave, it was there waiting.  At the pier, we were taken to a separate line for wheelchair users.  It was a much shorter line, but moved very, very slowly.  We later found out that our check-in could have gone much faster if we’d gone to the special check-in for “Crown and Anchor” members (free membership, gives rewards for traveling with RCI). 

We were so busy on the day of arrival and the first day at sea, getting around the ship and checking things out, that we didn’t see any shows during this time.  More is the pity as we discovered later that the entertainment was truly exceptional.  Throughout the week, however, we saw The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers in two musical shows, “Planet Ice” ice skating show (twice), the aerial wonders of “Majestic”, a welcome aboard parade, singing impressionist Martin Dube, and a variety show with the incredibly talented comedian Hank McGauley.

 

The streets of San Juan

 

We arrived after 6:30 PM on Day Three in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship docked and we were able to navigate the streets with the power chair, although curb cuts were sometimes in strange locations.  Almost none of the shops were accessible as they had about a six inch step leading into them.  Nevertheless, we were able to still get a glimpse of the unique architecture and feel of that section of the city.  I had purchased a Port Shopping Guide for $20 and I more than got my money back.  To start with, I received a two carat blue topaz loose gemstone at Blue Diamond.  After my daughters and I each bought a tanzanite ring, we were each given a free pair of matching earrings.  Because we arrived so late, many of the stores were closed.  If we had more time, I might have been inclined to give Wheelchair Getaways (Sgatewood@aol.com, obtained from www.access-able.com website) a call to rent an accessible vehicle to look around. 

The shops in Philipsburg, St. Maarten

 

Shopping in St. Maarten on Day Four was very prolific.  We again docked and were

pleased to discover that, since our visit two years earlier, the sidewalk leading from the pier to the center of town was in perfect shape, complete with curb cuts.  Stores in town, again, are mostly inaccessible, but we did find an accessible public restroom on Town Pier, a great find at the time.  My son enjoyed the sights, particularly on the pier.  I bought three hand-crafted dolls, one for me and one for each of our mothers.  We bought souvenirs at Del Sol and also obtained a free color-changing bag with our Port Shopping Guide coupon, along with a free bottle of color-changing nail polish with the purchase of three others.  We obtained a free embroidered black beach bag from Super Jewelers, a free silver Kabana seashell pendant at Majesty Jewelers (where my husband also bought me a ring and himself a watch), a free small tanzanite gemstone at Omni Jewelers, two free pairs of diamond earrings at Amsterdam Diamond Gallery.  We also entered a free ring sweepstakes at Omni and a free watch sweepstakes at Joe’s Jewelry, purchased a two-for-one frozen fruit drink at Kangaroo Court, and lots of magnificent chocolate at The Belgian Chocolate Shop!  If we’re in St. Maarten in the future, we’d all like to visit the French side.  Medi-Call (590.29.04.04; medicall@medicall.net) is a source listed with access-able.com for accessible transportation on St. Maarten.  I’ll have to check that out.

Day Four was also New Year’s Eve and our suggested dinner dress was formal.  The food was especially elegant and every cocktail bar onboard had some celebration going on afterward.  We arrived a few minutes before midnight on the Pool Deck to drink complementary champagne and ring in the New Year with most of the passengers on the ship.

Happy New Year!

 

The next two days at sea gave us an opportunity to see all those shows I was telling you about, in addition to visiting the library and lounging around in chairs by the pool.  My son was disappointed that, unlike RCI’s Grandeur of the Seas, the room televisions on the Explorer did not have A/V ports for his video system, so we purchased a video arcade card for him and we only saw him when he ran out of money.  He played video games, got himself something to eat and drink, and traveled up and down the elevators at will.  At fourteen, he was particularly trying to avoid two cute blonde girls in power chairs that seemed interested in, Ugg!, talking to him.  My husband and I had given up on our daily workouts by this time, although the “ShipShape Center” is beautiful and spacious.  We also took the opportunity to research our next cruise and booked a cruise leaving from New Orleans, which we’ve always wanted to visit, that visits George Town, Grand Cayman, Cozumal, and Progreso.  For booking a future cruise onboard, we received a $100.00 per cabin ship credit, to be used on that cruise.

           Note the curb cut in Nassau

 

Although the weather at times was overcast and cooler than we’d expected, the weather in Nassau was terrible.  It rained all day.  My husband and I ventured out and I picked up a free pair of Mallorca pearl earrings at the Galleria and also two sets of Mallorca pearl necklace/bracelet/earring sets, one in white and one in black, for half the U.S. market value.  We also entered two free sweepstakes at the Jewellery Mart.  The best, for me, though was something called the “Straw Market”, located in the vicinity of Bay and George Sts.  There were many, many artisans under a makeshift roof and I would have been willing to spend much more time there under other circumstances.  I obtained a free map which listed the local sights.  I also obtained a brochure for the Ardastra Gardens, Zoo, and Conservation Centre, located about a mile west of downtown, on West Bay Street.  Although within rolling distance, I wasn’t sure about the condition of the sidewalks and existence of curb cuts, so we passed on this excursion this time, until I can collect more “intel”.  The local taxis are minibuses that can’t accommodate power chairs and are too high for transfers from a manual chair.  Worth looking into is an organization called the Association for Disabled Persons in Nassau (1-242-322-2393) as a source for accessible vehicles.  (Again, thank you www.access-able.com for this information.) 

We have found the cruise ships on which we’ve traveled to be very accessible.  The problem of tendering for wheelchair users, but it is being addressed by cruise lines.  (Tender boats transfer passengers from the ship to the port, and back, when the ship can’t dock at the pier.)  Holland America has a “Shore Tender Accessibility Project”, Princess Cruises has a “Caterpillar Step”, and Royal Caribbean has a step that converts to a ramp.  There may be others.  In many foreign ports, however, most shops are not accessible, but more and more businesses are seeing the value of at least constructing make shift ramps in order to increase sales.  Shopping aside, (as if), there is a richness of history and architecture in these port towns.  I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to force my reluctant teenagers to experience it.  After each cruise or other vacation, I write to the companies with suggestions on what could improve the wheelchair user’s participation and enjoyment.  For port excursions, I have suggested that the cruise line’s approved tour companies look into renting an accessible vehicle, even a station wagon or minivan, to conduct accessible tours.  I also have suggested contracting with other local companies that I have discovered in the ports, or those that I find through places like www.access-able.com.  The disabled community is traveling more than ever these days and it is becoming clear to merchants that those who best meet our needs will receive our business.  I want to help them understand what helps us and what gets in our way so that they can have the opportunity to make changes that will benefit us all in the end.