[Travelandtourism] an introduction and a question

[vicki ratcliffe]

Hi Bill.

    From what I have seen, the U.K. does a good job in making museums accessible. When going to Holland before a cruise, and I was on my own, I emailed the Ann Frank House Museum requesting if I could have a tour. I took a taxi from the hotel and when arriving at the museum spoke with a lady at the ticket counter.  They got someone to show me around and even had literature in grade 1 braille for me to read.

    I’ve done quite a few cruises but have a question.  There are a couple times that the tour operators have said that I could not do a tour and I am aware that if the operators are not in the U.S, they do not have to follow the ADA.  When in the Bahamas, before the cruise, I signed up to go on the beach tour but was told beforehand that the operator said I could not go because someone could not be with me at all times.  I was not even requesting for this to occur.  When I got on the ship, the ticket for the kayak tour on the private island was in my cabin but when going to the shore excursions desk just to confirm that I had requested a guide and to use a double kayak for the kayak tour was told that the operator said that it would be hard for someone to guide me and that it was unsafe.  I told them that I had participated in several kayak tours on past cruises and was skilled in kayaking and had even notified the access department at Royal Caribbean in advance of the cruise.  In the end, they agreed that someone from the kayak company would take me on a tour after the regular tour.  as it turned out, nobody got off the ship at the private island due to winds and we could not tender in to port.

    Most of my cruise experiences have been great and I think that if the tour operator for the kayak trip had seen me in person and realized that I could kayak like anyone, it would have opened their eyes if the next visually impaired guest to arrive wanted to kayak.

Vicki