[Travelandtourism] Department of Justice Settlement with Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation - Carnival must upgrade ships and pay $350K After Disability Violations

Tue Jul 28 13:09:30 UTC 2015

Please remember the excursions has nothing to do with the cruise ship. That
is the tour operators that do them. Not like Island Routes, that is owned
and managed by Unique Vacations, which is Sandals Resorts. I had clients who
are  blind that went to Jamaica in May, stayed for 11 days, and wanted to go
horseback riding the tour desk told them that the tour company was refusing
to take them, even though they had gone cliff diving the day before and
scuba diving, etc. I contacted my connections at Sandals when they got home,
since I didn't know about this issue when they were there or I would have
done so. Reason to have someone advocate when you travel. Blind or not.

When I told the managing partner Richard Routes, who I speak to on a regular
bases, was shocked at this. Since then, they have investigated the issue and
no longer work with the tour operator. 

The point I am trying to make to Jana and all, the cruise lines and hotels
and resorts,  do not own the actual person's company that does the
excursions and events. They are contracted with a cruise ship, etc. etc. 

Also, if you cannot find an excursion from the above mentioned because you
are not interested, or the only accessible trip is for those in wheelchairs,
either talk with a travel professional who knows other tours in the country
you are going to, or to find an adaptable tour operator.

Next year at the convention, I would like to have some members of the sports
division come and speak about accessible ideas to do when you travel.

Cheryl Echevarria, President
National Federation of the Blind's Travel and Tourism Division
A proud division of the 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND - "Live the life you want"
www.nfbtravel.org
To join the talk list
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org
631-236-5138
cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

Cheryl Echevarria 
Travel is our specialty and offering the best of meaningful travel for all
ages is our passion!
http://www.echevarriatravel.com
reservations at echevarriatravel.com
631-456-5394

Visit my website to get my FREE report, "Top 5 Good Reasons to Use a Travel
Professional"

I build my business on referrals. Please pass my details on to friends and
family members that deserve the best vacation that they can imagine

P.S. - Families of all sizes is my specialty. Whether you are just starting
out and looking for that romantic destination for your destination wedding
or honeymoon. Booking that planned family vacation to Walt Disney World or
that bucket list trip that Grandma  & Grandpa are planning for the family, I
would love to help you. 

We have partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her
braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama

-----Original Message-----
From: Travelandtourism [mailto:travelandtourism-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jana Jackson via Travelandtourism
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2015 8:55 PM
To: 'NFB Travel and Tourism Division List' <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jana Jackson <jana at janajackson.com>
Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Department of Justice Settlement with
Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation - Carnival must upgrade ships and pay
$350K After Disability Violations

SO glad to hear this!  When I sailed with Carnival in 2004, I was surprised
by how hard I had to fight to go horseback riding in San Juan, Puerto Rico!
I felt like I had to threaten them within an inch of their lives! <LOL>  I
did get to go, and it was my favorite part of the week... But goodness!  The
porters wouldn't assist me off the ship when I explained that I needed an
arm, not a wheelchair, at the end of the cruise... I was shocked by the lack
of knowledge they had!  I still had a great time, but there was a lot of
room for improvement.  Cheers!

Jana

-----Original Message-----
From: Travelandtourism [mailto:travelandtourism-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Cheryl Echevarria via Travelandtourism
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2015 10:08 AM
To: 'NFB Travel and Tourism Division List'; new-york-news at nfbnet.org;
nyagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Cheryl Echevarria
Subject: [Travelandtourism] Department of Justice Settlement with Carnival
Cruise Lines Corporation - Carnival must upgrade ships and pay $350K After
Disability Violations

Good morning all:

On July 23rd, 2015 while I was listening to the 25th Anniversary Celebration
from the Department of Justice and the EEOC it was announced that Carnival
Cruise Lines Corporation which includes Carnival, Holland America, and
Princess Cruise Lines has reached an agreement to resolve an investigation
into complaints that the cruise line failed to adequately provide
accommodations for those with disabilities.

Which includes accessibility on their websites not only for consumers but
for those of us who are in the travel industry.

Here is the link to the story from July 23rd, 2015

http://consumerist.com/2015/07/23/carnival-must-upgrade-ships-pay-350k-after
-disability-violations/

Please remember when you are traveling or planning on traveling that you
have access to things that should be happening for you.

In the past, I have had articles written about Norwegian Cruise Lines, where
not only myself but other travel professionals that are disabled have worked
very hard to get Norwegian to have at least for us as blind people,
accessible websites for the consumer and the people who work in the travel
industry. Like Braille Menus, when cruise lines like Royal Caribbean have
been told that the blind don't use braille anymore, so they stopped offering
it.

Or that in the article about Carnival Cruises will be having access officers
on each of the ships to address issues, like have Muster Drills (Life Boat
Drills on the procedures, etc). This has been in place with Norwegian, at
least since I have been a travel professional since 2009. 

As long as you arrange these things prior to boarding or when making
reservations that can accommodate these things. Yes, some things may not be
perfect, but when I travel or my clients travel and they come back to me and
say, he this didn't work or we never got this or that. I take care of it, so
it should never happen again. 

But, what needs to be done is, with anything that needs to be worked on, is
that we need to know what is wrong, or it cannot be fixed, no use in
complaining about something, if you are not going to take action against it,
the other person won't do it either. So nothing get fixed.

25 years have come and we still have to work hard to change more things. Our
75th Anniversary is here and we still have to do to, it will never be over,
even though we want it to be fixed.

Let us know.

Cheryl Echevarria, President

National Federation of the Blind's Travel and Tourism Division

A proud division of the 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND - "Live the life you want"

www.nfbtravel.org <http://www.nfbtravel.org> 

To join the talk list

http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org

631-236-5138

cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

Cheryl Echevarria 

Travel is our specialty and offering the best of meaningful travel for all
ages is our passion!

http://www.echevarriatravel.com

reservations at echevarriatravel.com

631-456-5394

Visit my website to get my FREE report, "Top 5 Good Reasons to Use a Travel
Professional"

I build my business on referrals. Please pass my details on to friends and

family members that deserve the best vacation that they can imagine

P.S. - Families of all sizes is my specialty. Whether you are just starting
out and looking for that romantic destination for your destination wedding
or honeymoon. Booking that planned family vacation to Walt Disney World or
that bucket list trip that Grandma  & Grandpa are planning for the family, I
would love to help you. 

We have partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her
braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama

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