[blindlaw] ADA and Air Travel

[AZNOR99 at aol.com]

A couple of my blind friends and I are avid cruisers - we try to go at  
least once a year, and Carnival is our cruiseline of choice.  In 2007, they  
refused to allow us to sign up for a scuba diving excursion because of our  
blindness - they said we'd be dangerous to other scuba divers.  This was  
absurd for all the obvious reasons and because we're all strong swimmers  and 
most of us are accomplished scuba divers.  Carnival said that since  they 
contract with local venders to provide the excursions, and since those  venders 
aren't in the United States, then the ADA does not apply.  We tried  to 
educate the cruise line, and I think they got it.  But the scuba diving  
contract holder did not and would not let us participate no matter what we  said.  
I wish we'd have fought harder.
 
That same year, we had a lot of trouble getting the onboard materials in  
Braille or electronic formatting.  We followed up with Corporate, and by  the 
time we arrived for our 2008 cruise, everything had been sorted out to our  
liking in terms of materials.  They now will send you a CD with menus,  
guide books, and all the other material that's in the state room, and they'll  
either Braille out the daily newsletter or put it on a flash drive for  you.
 
In terms of excursions, we just always find an outside vender ourselves  
now.  We can discuss blindness beforehand if we want, and we end up not  
feeling beholden to the cruiseline for our fun off-ship.  And we save a lot  of 
money in the process.
 
My point is that I'm not sure if the cruiselines are all totally accessible 
 now, but I think Carnival is doing a much better job then it used to do.   
Also, I have no idea if the contracting venders in the ports are 
discriminating  against blind people - I bet they still are.
 
Ronza
 
 
 
In a message dated 12/3/2009 2:36:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
ckrugman at sbcglobal.net writes:

That's  good to know as I think that Carnival was one of the cruise lines 
that had  issues regarding blind travelers several years ago.
Chuck
----- Original  Message ----- 
From: "Olusegun -- Victory Associates LTD, Inc."  <ukekearuaro at valtdnet.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List"  <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 2:40  PM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] ADA and Air Travel


> Chuck, I sell  cruises amongst other things I do; mostly on Carnival; 
they 
> have been  extremely good with all my passengers whether disabled or not.
>
>  I have three groups going out in July and August of 2010, narrowly 
missed  
> a chance to get a group out to Alaska.
>
>  Sincerely,
> Olusegun
> Denver, Colorado
>
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