Margaret's perspective on cruising

On Saturday morning, Sea Princess arrived in Rotterdam, the third biggest port in the world after a Friday sail away from Zeebrugge, where we visted Brugge (Bruges).  

As you know, we arranged many excursions ourselves, but where there was a Princess Tours wheelchair accessible tour available in a port, we opted for that.  However, as we discovered in Civitavecchia (the port for Rome), we should not have been so confident.  Whilst catering very well for seniors who use manual wheelchairs or lightweight scooters and can climb stairs (there are many such people), it has no idea how to cater for people who can’t transfer to a “normal” seat. This is despite our tickets being described as “wheelchair-confined”.  Princess Tours had to learn the hard way (me stressing out big time/ John clinically and logically but very precisely stating his case), backed up by our new friends Mal and Lesley from Melbourne.

We had also booked Princess sponsored “wheelchair-confined” tours in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallin, so our confidence was at a low ebb after Rome.  However, we now have the ship’s full attention, and the Amsterdam coach trip was an example of great service and we told them so this morning.  They secured a coach with a side platform lift (like we had for our Computer Club tour to Hunter Valley), proper tie downs and seat belt.  Hopefully they will do the same where they can for our other ports of call.  Tomorrow’s tour of Copenhagen will be in a van like in Rome, we have been told.  We are getting “special” attention from Princess, but we’d rather that it was routine so that future travellers can benefit – all rather exhausting for everyone.

We emphasised this morning that we write a travel blog and that quite a few of our friends are looking to us for advice.  Lots of our friends with disabilities who have worked full time and/or successfully run businesses have disposable income and will be checking out cruising.  Sea Princess on-board wheelchair access is very good, and the crew are marvellous opening those difficult deck doors, reserving easy access tables for wheelchair users and helping any way they can.  We prefer eating in the bistro areas rather than in the dining room, simply because it’s more relaxed, but if you enjoy fine dining every night, you just need to make sure your allocated seating is easily accessible. On the first night, we had to ask to be reallocated (because the route to the table was not thought through by Princess) but this was very quickly arranged.

John has been far healthier on this cruise than he was two years ago on our trip through the Panama to the UK – no infections at all.  I’ve had a couple of days of back aches and being out of sorts (including being a painful travel companion) but nothing to worry about.  Our fuses are short but fizz very quickly.

As a partner, I think it’s a great way to travel – the best relaxation possible.  Unpack once, get into a routine with the changed personal care procedures (always different from home), meet and chat to interesting people, ocean gaze and read, read, read is my idea of a great time.  The library on this ship is nothing like as good as on the Cunard line, but mostly we read e-books anyway.  I also introduced a “family history” group on the ship, and we’ve had three meetings so far and made a few friends that way.  We would like to meet more often, but these “common interest groups” are scheduled by the ship’s entertainment team, and there is plenty of competition from other hobbyists – cricket fans, motor home travellers, residents of various Australian states, Kiwis, Maltese speakers.  And of course, shipboard life is full of activities anyway.

We’ve met many interesting crew members – many of the wait staff are university or college graduates from non-EU countries in Eastern Europe like Serbia/ Moldova with qualifications in economics, linguistics, accounting who cannot get into their professions in their own countries and who cannot get visas in Western Europe including the UK to work and save money.  Is this now the future for young British people outside the European Union?  I fear so, and so do they.  It was mostly their parents and grandparents who voted to leave.

The cabin stewards are Asian; our steward Rene is Filipino with three school aged boys he is sending to an English language fee paying school and a baby daughter.  He’s been on the ships for twenty years and his wife has to manage without him for about 10 months a year and relies on his wages and passenger tips.

I’ll leave Amsterdam till the next post. Keep the Facebook comments and the blog comments coming, we so much enjoy hearing from you.  Neither of us are homesick though.

Random thoughts on cruising

Marg & John leaving Melbourne

This is our fifth cruise – previously we have cruised on the Princess of Tasmania from Melbourne to Devonport, Tasmania (1 night each way) and return with a car and camper trailer, Sydney to Devonport, Tasmania with a van and camper trailer, and back (2 nights each way), Cunard’s Queen Victoria from Sydney to Southampton via the Pacific, Panama Canal, Caribbean Sea, USA (San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale) (54 nights), from Southampton to New York on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 (8 nights), and a 7 nights Alaskan “inside passage” cruise on Celebrity Solstice.

We have also travelled extensively in Australia, the UK and Ireland, and the USA.

Our experiences on each of these cruises has varied, and I’ll explain how a little later.

And now (May 2016) we are a bit over a week into a 66 nights cruise to New York from Sydney via Australia’s southern coast, the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, the Baltic Sea, UK, and the “other” Sydney in Canada aboard the Sea Princess – with many ports of call along the way. After we disembark in NYC we will spend two weeks there, catch the Amtrak to Washington DC, then fly to San Francisco for a week there, and then fly home.

In the Lido

So we are not inexperienced cruisers but also not seasoned like many on board, some of whom have done many world cruises.

Travelling anywhere is a challenge, but when you have quadriplegia and use a 150kg power wheelchair the challenges mount.

The biggest challenges are access on and off the ship in some minor ports, access to on-shore tours, but mostly the amount of extra stuff you need to bring with you. In my case three months abroad means three months of medications ( a shopping bag full), three months of colostomy and urostomy supplies (two shopping bags full), a CPAP, two months (refill in NYC) of the concoction I add to my breakfast cereal (in case you’re curious, I have IBS and I control it with a mix of psyllium husk, quinoa flakes, black chia, and pumpkin seeds), and of course a portable commode chair – a brand new one this trip to replace the one made for me by Russel Cragg of Met-a-Lite in 1995 for our first circumnavigation of Oz – camping all the way.

On this trip we have also brought with us my 1mtr long portable ramp – good for one step, because we guess that I some ports the street access will not be up to Oz standards.

Within the ship’s cabin (or any motel for that matter), circulation space is a major factor. The height of the bed is critical, as is access into and within the bathroom.

Our bathroom and cabin on the cruise are quite okay for me. I can transfer on and off the commode chair after adjusting its height. The bathroom is also okay for me except that the shower controls are out of my reach and Margaret needs to stay with me and turn taps on and off and hand me things.

In comparison, the Princess of Tasmania was cramped with bunk beds and a tiny bathroom, Queen Victoria (inside cabin with no view at all) was about as okay as this one, the Queen Mary2 (window high up wall – so daylight but no view at all for me) was cramped and difficult, and the Celebrity Solstice (balcony cabin with push button opening door to balcony) was bigger and better appointed than any motel room we have ever had.

Okay. Cruising. What’s good, what’s not, and what’s tolerable?

The thing that I like most is that you are not constantly packing and unpacking. The cabin becomes your home bedroom with accessible en-suite for however long you are on board.

Getting in and out of the cabin, however, is often, as on this trip, a chore as the door springs are very heavy, and the key card entry requires manual dexterity – insert and withdraw the card quickly and then unlatch the door and get it open at least a bit within about 2 seconds. Sometimes it takes me several goes to manage it.

All the ships we have been on have plenty of lifts to get you between decks – although you do have to wait sometimes for a lift with enough space for me and my chair.

There are certainly areas which are not wheelchair accessible – like the swimming pools and spas, and, on Sea Princess, the top deck (15).

All cruises we have been on book you into a restaurant for lunch and dinner. These vary in quality and service, but mostly are ok by our standards as far as the food goes. The service, on the other hand, is mostly “over the top”, with waiters and even the maitre de hovering and constantly interrupting conversations to ask if “is everything okay, sir? More water?”

On Cunard ships about a third of the evenings are “formal”, requiring at least a lounge suit with a shirt and tie. Most passengers, however, seem to relish the chance to wear a dinner suit with bow tie. The women dress to the nines. To my mind they are trying to recreate the early 1900s of the rich who “dressed for dinner” in some country manor or perhaps on the Titanic. I find it pretentious.

So we mostly eat in the bistro (or Lido, as it’s called) where there are no dress rules, the variety of food is quite good, and the atmosphere much more relaxed.

We have breakfast in our cabin – hot food is available but we eat cereal, fruit (plus yoghurt for Margaret), juices and coffee (not too bad, either).

But what do we do all day?

Not much, really.

A knitting group

There is lots to do – cards, mahjong, make up parties, craft groups, lectures on all sorts of things (ports we are visiting, wellbeing, history, etc), acupuncture demos, palm reading, a variety of musical entertainment in various on-board locations – some quite good.

A communal jigsaw puzzle

There is a book club, a Scottish dance group, various sporting groups (carpet bowls and the like), and much more.

The library

There is a casino where you can lose your money (you’re allowed to draw up to $3000 per day in chips and add the cost to your cruise account). There a several bars serving grog.

There are some 20 TV channels showing movies, TV serials, history stuff, art stuff, nature stuff, and info about the events on board, a channel showing on a map where we have been, are now, and will be later, the weather and other fascinating information, plus a channel showing the image from a camera on our bow which shows the view ahead (mostly just ocean).

You can drink, eat and dance til midnight, if you wish.

None of it really appeals to me.

I read a lot, write this and plan to write more of my life story.

The Internet Cafe

There is internet (including an internet café) but it’s very slow and very expensive - $200 for 640 minutes – that’s about $500 for 24 hours – don’t ever forget to log off!!!

Margaret is working on her assignments for her Family History Diploma from Uni of Tasmania, in between talking and eating.

The Nook, where Common Interest groups are held

Margaret noticed the lack of a common interest group for family history, so asked for a space and for it to be advertised in the daily event guide. And guess what?  Twenty-eight people turned up, and we had an interesting hour together swapping stories and sharing sources of info, and agreed to meet again next week.

That was yesterday, and today several people have come up to talk to us about it in the Lido.

Cruising would not appeal to many people – but it does indeed appeal to many. It depends on one’s interests and temperament as to which group you fit in to.

Watching other ships we pass

We like not having to unpack and repack.

The on-board activities leave us pretty cold – but we don’t object to others enjoying them – and plenty do.

We don’t like that usually only one day is spent in any one port. On this cruise we get two days in St Petersburg and a day and a half in Dubai.

A cruise where the ship docked for four or five days in each port would allow us to explore more thoroughly. But apparently it would be expensive as port fees are huge.

We don’t like, of course, the ports where the ship anchors off-shore and access is only by tender (small boat) with no wheelchair access (supposedly none on this trip). On our Cunard trip from Sydney to Southampton about 25% of the ports were inaccessible, and it was the same for the Alaskan cruise.

We are told that Holland America has wheelchair accessible tenders.

The reception desk - very informative and helpful

We like that the other passengers are mostly very friendly and we quickly make friends with some. There is always someone to chat to. And there are quiet areas where those who wish to read in peace can do so. The library, in particular (don’t expect more than airport novels, though) is usually quiet.

We like that on this trip it’s about 80 to 90% people in our age group (65 to 80), the rest being in their mid 50s or so, and only a couple of children on board.

There you go: my thoughts on cruising – it’s obviously your decision as to whether you cruise or not.

John

May 2106

In the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Not all plain sailing

Some of you have been wondering, via Facebook, why our posts are not appearing so regularly in the past month.  Three reasons really: the first probably a result of the third.

We are starting to get a little jaded and actually voicing our desire to be home.  It's like travelling via car on a country or interstate trip, where the last three or four days are rushed, just wanting to get home.  Does anyone else do that, or is it just us?

Secondly, our equipment is stating to fail.  So far, my kindle and laptop both have smashed screens - the latter is on its way home from the UK via sea with a whole lot of other luggage we can do without.  And for 48 hours I thought I'd seen the last of my iPad, but luckily it came to life, thanks to tips from my Facebook friends.  And last week, John's laptop gave up.  Dead.  So I'm writing this on my iPad.

And now, the handles on both our suitcases have broken, probably because of the weight of John's stainless steel commode which I can dismantle into about 10 pieces and distribute between the cases.  Now both are heavy instead of just one - we learned the hard way when I had to repack to ensure one was under 50 lbs.

Both cameras are still working, but we have no way to transfer files and upload them.  So photos will have to wait.

But over-riding all this, both of us have had reoccurring chest infections - the Cunard cough - picked up initially on the Queen Victoria; this time for the past fortnight; meanwhile John is struggling with bouts of the runs, with both leaving him very weak, and without enthusiasm or energy.  He will feel OK one day, then unwell for two. So we've had to slow down considerably, changing or aborting plans.  I was too unwell to do anything in Chicago, remaining in bed, whilst John lacked the confidence to journey too far on his own.  He was very unwell in Glacier National Park but that passed, but on our latest cruise - to Alaska - his chest infection was quite debilitating, so apart from two short excursions and another on my own at Juneau, I spent the time reading whilst John concentrated on getting his energy back, sleeping or gazing at the ocean, which fortunately he enjoys.  

I do sound horribly negative, don't I?

But don't think for a minute that we shouldn't have done it:  we've more than survived.  There has been nothing we haven't confronted before - taxis that don't turn up, bedroom furniture that needs rearranging or raised or lowered, bathrooms that are impossible to use, forgotten PINs.  The joys of travel are never ending.  Meeting old friends and new; wonderful scenery; discovering new things about our ancestors; exploring London; putting faces to names - yeh, the Moxon Society.

We've just returned from a week on board the Celebrity Solstice, exploring Alaska's inside passage.  Marvellous scenery as one would expect, waterfalls, lots of left over snow, mountains reaching the sea.  But I have to say Milford sound is more majestic in my opinion.  That seems so long ago now.

I enjoyed cruising via Cunard, less so John, he found it far too class conscious and the culture old-fashioned.  I tended to put that to one side since I delighted in not having to pack and unpack.  But after the Queen Victoria, neither of us liked the Queen Mary.  For one, the configuration of the cabin created more difficulties for us and the staff didn't seem to be as happy.

However, we were both impressed with the Celebrity Solstice.  More practical and modern decor, staff friendly and seemingly more balanced.  On Cunard we thought the cabin staff had far too much to do and the wait staff too little (over-servicing).  We did disagree about the food though, john preferred Celebrity's food, I preferred Cunards.  Better desserts!

But the cabin on the Celebrity Solstice was the icing on the cake.  An excellent bathroom, plenty of circulation space and an automatic door opener.  And a full wall of glass opening onto a very nice balcony.  Nothing to obstruct the view.  The cabin was at least twice the size of our own bedroom.  

Bliss.

Cunard's tour staff were better at following through on our particular access needs; whereas Celebrity didn't bother.  Maybe we could have persisted if we'd had more energy.

Anyway, John has changed his mind about cruising - said he'd be happy to do another Celebrity cruise.  There, it's in writing.

But would we do another 18 week trip given our health problems and lack of energy?  Sadly I think not, although it would be nice to plan an itinerary... 

But it's all theoretical anyway - nothing left in the kitty.

Those of you who are not Facebook users would not have seen our photos of Niagara Falls, New York or Glacier National Park.  I need to write up posts about those places too, and not forgetting Boston.  Marvellous places - we especially enjoyed Glacier, despite our difficulties there for the first couple of days.

Off to Canada (Vancouver) yet again tomorrow, when we say goodbye to the USA for the last time.