Is River Cruising Accessible?

Quite simply, River Cruising is my passion, my favourite type of cruise. i have been lucky enough to do five river cruises to date and the next one can’t come soon enough. Top of my river cruising bucket list has to be the Mekong, gliding through Vietnam and Cambodia – one day I hope!

You would think that river cruising would be perfect for people with limited mobility, smaller ships with less passengers on, only three decks etc, but is river cruising really ideal for wheelchair and scooter users? We get so many enquiries from people with limited mobility so the demand is there but sadly the answer is that river cruise ships don’t cater well for them. Whilst some of the ships do have some adapted cabins, complete with wet rooms, certain issues cannot be overcome just by the ship itself.

Most of the newer classes of river ships do have a lift on board, some even have a chair lift on the stairs, however the lift does not always serve all decks, just the main two decks that house the lounge and the restaurant so this would rule out a cabin on the lower deck. Also, as river cruise ships sometimes have to go under low bridges and therefore have to collapse everything on the Sun Deck, the lifts on board never go up to the Sun Deck, it has to be accessed by steep steps so unless the passenger can climb these steps they would not be able to get up there.

Another issue is that when ships dock at a berthing station it is sometimes necessary to dock three ships alongside each other meaning that guests wishing to embark and disembark may need to walk through two other ships to do so, or if the entrances do not marry up it is sometimes necessary to go up the steps to the Sun Deck in order to cross to the other ships Sun Decks and then down the steep steps again to get to the exit. Virtually impossible for someone with mobility issues. The picture above shows two ships berthed next to each other and shows the gap you would have to cross in a wheelchair or in a scooter – I wouldn’t fancy trying it would you?

The above issues are really the main reasons why river cruising is not suitable for mobility impaired guests and it is such a shame. I am sure if someone put some serious thought and effort into the design of a ship and made it more accessible then so many more people would be able to enjoy river cruising. Surely it is time that some of the big players recognised this. An accessible cabin, which some of the lines do have, in itself, doesn’t mean that a river cruise is actually accessible in the way that it needs to be for these guests.

So it would seem that for the time being at least, mobility impaired cruisers will have to wait a little longer until the river cruise lines do better to accommodate them. I just hope the wait isn’t too long!

For now, happy cruising folks! Catch you again soon.

 

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About Me

I've been a Cruise Consultant for a number of years now and I can honestly say that it is just the best job ever. No two days are the same. I have got to know some fantastic people through the course of my job, both in the industry and clients,…

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