[Travelandtourism] Cruise Questions

Tue Sep 20 10:48:00 UTC 2011

Hi Stacy,
First let me say Celebrity and Carnival are worlds apart in every way from 
their food quality to their ships to their staff.  I am speaking both as 
someone who has traveled a great deal and also as a professional in the 
cruise /travel industry.   The ship you have chosen is laid out in a very 
logical and simple manner.  More so than any other ship I have ever been on! 
I have been cruising since I was a small child and believe I have been on 
some where around 40-45 cruises(starting in the early 60s)   I have sevral 
suggestions that will enhance the trip for you.  First get abord as early as 
you can.  They tell you something like 2:00 I believe. Ignore that be ready 
to embark at 11:30-12:00  Secondly I would take advantage of the tour that 
is offered. Yes you will have plenty of time to learn the ship but the day 
of embarkation things are always crazy. Lots of people all trying to find 
their way around..  Letting the cruise line know in advance will only be to 
your bennifet.  As I said this is not Carnival.   You might find that the 
staff will try to be almost too helpful.  There are far more staff members 
on this ship than on most of the other lines.  You will likely be offered 
help to find your way any time you are walking around.  Its their job to 
help the guests sighted blind or otherwise.  This line focuses on guest 
services a great deal.  In truth I have gotten annoyed while wandering the 
ship to learn my way as I couldn't go twenty feet without someone offereing 
help.  I usually cruise with my wife who is sighted but normally go 
wandering by myself a great deal. Its my job to learn where everything is as 
my wife has a really lousy sense of direction.
Regarding the tours,  they are provided by local vendors that the cruise 
line contracts with and some of the vendors are just more accessable than 
others.  I can give you a great deal more info if you would contact me 
directly off group at williamkociaba at comcast.net or phone me on my cel at 
954-801-6322  I do have access to some accessable tours in the various ports 
as well as having a very close relationship with the head of the access dept 
at Royal/Celebrity.
One thing I have done for blind clients of mine was to create an audio deck 
plan or ship tour for them explaining in detail where various venues are 
both in relation to the clients stateroom as well as to each other.  If 
there is anything I can do to help make sure you have a fantastic first 
cruising expeirience, it would be my pleasure.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Bill
954-801-6322 cel
williamkociaba at comcast.net

Bill Kociaba
CRUISEONE
Bill at Ycruise.com
954 227 7772 or Toll Free 877 227 7775
7600 Wiles Rd, Coral Springs, FL 33067
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <stacy.cervenka at att.blackberry.net>
To: <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 1:30 AM
Subject: [Travelandtourism] Cruise Questions

Hello,

My fiance and I will be taking our first cruise in December. Both of
us are blind and we are interested in hearing the experiences of other blind 
cruise travelers, particularly those who have cruised without a sighted 
spouse, friend, or family member.

We booked an 11-night cruise on the Celebrity Equinox in an Aqua Class
balcony stateroom. The cruise goes to Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica,
Panama, Colombia, and Grand Cayman. Has anyone on this list had any
experience with this cruise line, this ship, or these particular
destinations? We'd love to hear any good, bad, and ugly stories about
anything you've encountered and also any tips you might have.

We’re not sure whether we should let the cruise line know in advance
that we’re blind. On the one hand, because we’ve never been on a large
cruise ship before, we think it would be helpful to get a tour of the
cruise ship before the ship departs. We understand that Celebrity offers 
this service to blind
passengers. On the other hand, because we’re in Aqua Class, we already
get priority embarkation anyway, so we'll have plenty of time to explore the 
ship ourselves. Also, it's not like we get any kind
of special tour when we stay at large hotels on land and finding our
way around them has never been a real problem. Do many of you find it
helpful to have someone orient you to the ship beforehand or is it not
that complicated?

My other big concern is, how will Greg and I find our shore excursion
groups? Are they pretty easy to locate once you get off the ship? In a
way, I have no problem letting them know we’re blind, since this is
our first cruise and we might not mind a little assistance. On the
other hand, I’ve heard one blind cruiser say that when the ship on her first 
cruise (run
by Carnival) learned she was blind, they cancelled many of her shore
excursions, claiming the tour providers weren’t equipped to deal with
blind people. Since then, she has taken many cruises and never lets them 
know about her blindness in advance. She has never encountered another 
problem. Greg and I both have excellent travel skills and don't
feel we'll need much extra assistance. We just don't want them to
freak out and cancel our shore excursions or take other unneeded
precautions.

Any advice you all might have for us would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!
Stacy

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
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