Tag: accommodations

Carnival Vista–a Breath of Fresh Air in Accessibility

Southern Caribbean Itinerary: December 3-11, 2016

I was excited to take a cruise aboard the brand spanking-new Carnival Vista last December! Dream Vacations/CruiseOne and Cruises, Inc had their annual National Conference aboard the ship, so it was the perfect opportunity to not only enjoy a cruise to the Southern Caribbean and see the many countries and islands (Grand Turk, La Romana, Dominican Republic, Aruba and Curacao), that I had never visited before, but to have a new ship to explore as well!

I took some notes while we sailed and noted some observations:

Embarkation…we arrived very early as requested and got through the new checkin process very quickly. Carnival Cruise Lines was testing a new process in which you do your check-in at home, and add your credit card information to your file. Once complete, you just show your boarding pass and passport as you enter the cruise terminal, and your checkin is complete! A much more streamlined process. Keys are then waiting for you in an envelope outside your stateroom door.

Ease of access for me and my wheelchair from the cruise terminal onto the ship itself was seamless. Rampage was manageable for myself and my husband to maneuver together (while he rolled his carry-on along).

Once on the ship…

When you enter the ship’s lobby, you are greeted by a large open area with a HUGE centerpiece that rises up several floors, it has video images of marine life and abstract colors and is quite impressive. Definitely makes a statement. The overall colors and decor of the ship are muted and soothing, yellows and blues. The banks of elevators have 8 lifts, which makes getting a crowd dispersed easily without any elevator ‘joggying’ or stress.

The Lido Deck (Deck 10) is a wide open area with a gorgeous LED screen for watching movies or whatever else might be shown…in each corner of the Deck is a bar or food outlet…one corner had Red Frog Rum Bar, the other is a tequila bar, then the food outlets, one corner features Guy Fieri’s burgers, the other is Blue Iguana Cantina (a taco/ burrito bar), yum!

There is a wide open area around the main pool that later was used for a fun dance floor and Conga line during the kick off departure party. Very fun and did not feel crowded.

The ship is very wheelchair friendly. 99% of the thresholds I’ve encountered since being on board are beautifully smooth. The thresholds leading to the bank of elevators do require a little wheelie and some forethought before crossing, but SO much easier than on most ships I’ve been on.

Prior to heading to our cabin for the first time, we checked out the Liquid Lounge (Decks 4 and 5-Forward). It is a two-story showroom, but what I liked about it is the seats were not fixed, meaning, if I wish to stay in my wheelchair, as I do 99% of the time, I can sit anywhere, just move a seat out of the spot I want. May not sound like a luxury to those reading this, but most often I am relegated to the back row of most theaters, so this is a nice perk.

We are now off to our cabin, #11203.. our bags were waiting for us…nice! Our cabin was located at the front of the ship next to the spa. It is considered a ‘Cloud 9’ spa cabin, and is VERY large! We have a king bed and a double pull out couch! It is oceanview with a big picture window. The bathroom is beautiful and again, zero threshold to enter, nice and easy. I’ll check out the shower tomorrow, but visually it looks great. One thing I wish they had more of was drawer space in the bathroom to put my toiletries in.

Our Cloud Spa Cabin #11203 aboard the Carnival Vista

Our busy first day continued on to a cocktail party at the Tides Bar (Deck 10-Aft) and then dinner in one of the Main Dining Rooms–Reflections (Deck 3-Midship), again, super easy to access, but felt it was odd that we needed to pass through the Buffet Restaurant to access the Tides Bar.

The food and menu overall…basic items, nothing that really sounded special…there were a few items, surf and turf, lobster, filet mignon, that could be requested for $20 per person surcharge. The first night, I had the corn chowder with the flat iron steak, with peppercorn sauce and baked potato, while Mike had the shrimp cocktail with Mahi Mahi…neither of us was too impressed with our meals, they were adequate.. not exactly high praise. This was the general consensus throughout the cruise.

After dinner we went exploring for entertainment, we headed to Deck 5 where the musical entertainment resides. They have a piano bar, jazz club, dance music spot and Havana, a Latin music bar, to name just a few. We went to Havana first where a really good Salsa band was playing. Great music and fun to see lots of older people out dancing and having a great time. Then we went to the Ocean Terrace bar, good dance cover band..very fun!

It was definitely time for bed after this full first day…

Back in our cabin, we had a towel lobster waiting for us. Our room steward, Budi, introduced himself. I then got into the very easily accessible bed…perfect height–And promptly passed out!

After our first day of exploration, there was not much to report… small annoyances were the cleaning carts kept in the hallways the majority of the time, making it difficult and a hassle to navigate in a wheelchair. The shower stall in our bathroom was perfection. I love the L-shaped shower seat.. the controls are close and easy to navigate. 

Bathroom in our cabin was huge and the L-shaped shower seat was perfect!

Handicapped bathrooms throughout the common areas of the ship…some had lights to indicate usage, some didn’t…the one by the photo gallery was broken all week. The one in the Red Frog Pub was broken (locked from inside) as well. …no wheelchair section in the IMAX theater, but we were able to watch the movie from the front row.

Compared to the many other ships I’ve sailed on, the Carnival Vista was heads and tails above the others as to ease-of-accessibility in the common areas as well as in our cabin. Being able to navigate around the ship alone was a new experience for me and a welcome one as I attended classes all day in various locations while my husband was able to sleep in and enjoy his vacation.

I can highly recommend the Carnival Vista to those with a mobility challenge. Not only were thresholds between areas easy to pass over, but the layout of the ship was easy to get to and from all areas without getting exhausted with the exertion. I would sail on her again! A true vacation!

–By Dawn Beers O’Brien/Dream Vacations’ Travel Specialist

The recent “Princess Bed’ trend at Hotels

–By Dawn Beers O’Brien

The story of the princess beds…In recent years, hotels have begun to ‘upgrade’ the beds that they have in their rooms. I call them ‘Princess beds’ because they look like the beds in the story “The Princess and the Pea” they keep getting higher and higher. The hotels apparently think they look better, but by installing these ‘princess beds’ they are actually violating the specifics of the Americans with Disabilities Act that dictates how high the level of the bed can be in a room designated as ADA.

Does this stop the resort from installing these beds in these rooms? Much to my continuous frustration, no. According to the ADA (Title III Accommodations) hotel beds have to have a height between 20 to 23 inches from the floor to the top of the mattress in accessible guest rooms. If the bed in the room does not meet this specification, the hotel must accommodate the wheelchair guest and make whatever adjustments are necessary.

Bad bed height…well above the 20-23′ threshold

I was recently at the Paris Las Vegas hotel for a Travel Agent Forum conference (March 2017), for the second year in a row, the room I was provided had a bed with a height of at least 30 inches high. When I spoke to the front desk, I was informed that the hotel recently underwent renovations and that ALL of their rooms now had the new bedding. I advised that I could not get into the bed at all, the front desk representative spoke to a manager, and advised that they were going to move me to another room. I assumed the new room would have a lowered bed, but it didn’t, it was exactly the same. While waiting for that room to become available, they offered to send a roll-away up to my room to see if that would suffice. It did not, it was much too low.

I don’t want to come across as Goldilocks in ‘The Three Bears’ Fable, “this one is too low, this one is too high, I want one that is just right…” Having the ability to scoot evenly from my wheelchair seat across onto the bed mattress is what I require in order to gain access to the bed. Wheelchair seats fall within the 20-23 inch height threshold, so when provided, are easily accessible for the wheelchair-user.

After removing the bed frame, the bed height is now perfect-even with the seat of my wheelchair-YEAH! I can not get into bed, what a concept!

After my third attempt at finding resolution, the hotel finally realized that they needed to accommodate me somehow, and finally came up with the solution of taking out the bedframe from the bed in my room. It was perfect! Why the hotel hadn’t thought of this before or even attempted to accommodate the required height of the beds in their ADA rooms following their recent renovation is beyond me…but it is situations like this that are constant and what I call ‘attitudinal’ discrimination. Since this experience, I have sent the hotel manager my request to have the bedframes removed from the beds in all of the ADA rooms, but my email was not responded to.

The fight continues, but knowing my rights and the specifics of the Americans with Disabilities Act, allows me to confidently advise that my needs have to be acknowledged and accommodated.