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Trans-Pacific Cruise
on the Crystal Harmony
by Kathy Dunn © 2000
I Just returned from a 20 day cruise from San
Francisco, CA to Sydney, Australia on
the Crystal Harmony. This was
my parents' sixth cruise on this ship, which has four wheelchair
accessible cabins (two are at penthouse level). They were in 7108.
Previously the bathroom had worked well in spite of the fact that all
cabins have bathtubs. Their solution in the accessible rooms was to
place a wall-mounted flip-down seat next to the tub, with a drain in the
floor. Due to inadequate slope to the floor, the bathroom usually was
completely wet during the shower even with the curtain closed, but it
worked.
Imagine our distress upon embarking on this cruise to find that they had
recently installed a 1 1/2" high, 2" wide wooden board all the
way around the shower area, apparently to contain the water, which was
not tapered. This lip ended about 12 inches in front of the toilet.
Since we use a portable lift with relatively small wheels, which would
NOT roll over this barrier, we were unable to use the shower for 18 days
(after trying it once with two of us lifting the lift over this
barrier...very dangerous). We had to resort to bed baths and
tipping the manual wheelchair back over the tub for shampoos. The
lip interfered with independent use of the wheelchair in the bathroom as
the casters did not roll over it without doing a wheelie, and also was
dangerous for trying to do a safe quad pivot or slide board transfer due
to catching on feet and preventing proper foot placement for both the
assistant and disabled person. It even created a trip hazard for the
ambulatory members of our party.
In addition, the toilet bowel is even smaller than most on ships, and
the toilet is placed too close to the wall. We had to remove the
grab-bars to get our lift into the proper position to center the person
on the toilet, and perineal hygiene on the toilet was very difficult.
The ship was helpful in totally removing the toilet seat, which
helped some, but did not resolve our problem. We have written to the
Crystal Cruises corporate offices about these problems.
Otherwise, the cabin was acceptable, with good space under our bed to accommodate
the lift and store suitcases out of the way. The closet did not have a
lower clothing bar, and the refrigerator was at floor level, which might
cause problems for some. The TV was difficult to see from the bed, but
these were minor problems for us. We were using a prototype of a new
lift designed for travel which is not yet on the market, but is much
more portable and lightweight than any other available lift. Once we are
given permission from the developer I will post more information about
it, but you can see it in use at this link: http://www.angelfire.com/on/lift/index.html
(There have been some revisions in the design since this site
was set up, so it is not completely up to date).
There was good access throughout the ship to all areas except the
Crystal Cove bar (three steps, no ramp), although path of travel was a
problem in some of the smaller bars. The bridge was not accessible for
tours due to narrow door width. The showroom (Galaxy Theater) is
completely ramped and has the best wheelchair access of any ship we have
been on; you literally can sit anywhere in the showroom. Wheelchair
seating in the movie theater is in the middle of the front 1/3, and you
can sit with your able-bodied party members, which was also better than
most. In the dining room, only the round tables (4-6 people) were high
enough for wheelchair use...the oblong (eight people) tables and square
tables (four people) both required removing foot pedals as did the
tables outside on the deck and Lido areas. The staff was very accommodating
and always offered to push the wheelchair or carry trays at meals. The
food was wonderful, as always.
Our stops were in Hawaii (Lahaina and
Honolulu), Western Samoa,
and New Caledonia (Isle
of Pines and Noumea). In Lahaina,
we tendered to shore and walked around the shops. Most are accessible,
although many lacked ramps and had one step up. In Honolulu,
we rented a Dodge Caravan with a ramp and tie downs and drove
completely around the island. This was not cheap, but cheaper than the
four of us taking a tour from the ship (none of which were wheelchair
accessible), and we got to do what we wanted. The source for this
was: http://www.accessiblevanshawaii.com/rentals.htm
They delivered the van directly to the cruise ship terminal
for us and were very accommodating.
In Western Samoa we did not go into
town as we were there on Sunday when all the shops and most of the
museums were closed, and again there were no accessible tours or
cabs. We walked about 1/4 mile from the cruise ship terminal to the
Marine Preserve and went snorkeling. The facility (except bathrooms) was
wheelchair accessible with assistance; no steps, but also no
paving. My mother did not swim, but it would have been easy to get
into the water here if she had wanted to. It is a beautiful coral reef
and protected from big waves, with large shade trees and thatched
shelters and picnic tables. Admission was only 2 tala (about $1 US).
It was lovely, warm (water about 84 degrees F) and uncrowded.
At the Isle of Pines (New Caledonia),
access was also by tender, although my mother did not go ashore. There
are paved roads but no sidewalks. Access to beaches varied, but would be
doable with assistance. The water was colder here (about 76 degrees F),
but the coral was gorgeous, and the snorkeling areas calm and protected.
I am told that one of the small hotels here has a wheelchair accessible
room, but we did not check it out. There is no accessible transportation
here unless you can transfer to a van or car.
In New Caledonia, we walked into
town (again, no wheelchair accessible transportation). There were some
curb cuts, although very steep and dangerous in places, and at other
corners the curbs were steep. Some stores were ramped, but you had to
hunt for accessible entrances. The large park in the center of town was
nice and accessible throughout.
In Sydney, the elevators at the
cruise ship terminal were broken (this was four days before the start of
the Olympics) requiring a long walk around to get onto the Circular Quay
(pronounced KEY) walkway, which is accessible. Wheelchair accessible
cabs are readily available here....10 % must be accessible by law, and
many buses were also accessible in the downtown area. We took a
half-day city tour via wheelchair accessible cab which we arranged
through http://www.wheelabout.com/
The price was reasonable, and we had a private tour of this
beautiful city (just the four of us). We did have to pay extra for the
tour of the Opera House, which is
only accessible through a private tour (same price as regular tour) or
having tickets to an event. It is best to arrange this ahead of time,
although we were able to get a tour with only one-hour notice. A wheelchair
accessible cab fare to the airport here was $45 (Australian). The
airport is huge, with long hallways, and no moving sidewalks, so give
yourself a lot of time and get help if you need it. Our flight home on Air
New Zealand was very good. and we had appropriate assistance
both in Sydney and Los
Angeles.
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Global Access Disabled Travel
Network
http://www.oocities.org/Paris/1502/
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