We are considering an Alaska cruise on Celebrity Solstice. Is there information on accessible excursions on that specific inside passage trip? Nothing is appearing on the website.
Thanks for any suggestions
Laurie Seigel seigfam@gmail.com
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I would call customer service and ask them
If you go to the southeast passage, you’ll be going to Ketchikan , Juneau and Skagway?
I travelled on Holland America. I use a manual wheelchair. The accessibility was great. All of the ports but one small one were accessible. The on-shore excursions onto tour boats and buses were creatively accessible although finding a restroom was difficult. It was a trip I would recommend.
Your cruise line should have wc accessible choices for excursions. I went on Holland America there. It was great. In Juneau, I did Allen Marine whale watching cruise which was really wonderful. And in Ketchikan, I thought that Creek Street was very cool, and it was wheelchair accessible. I was in a power wheelchair that trip.
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I would expect that like other cruise lines, Celebrity would have an accessibility department. As another responder mentioned, Holland America lists accessible excursions, and when you send in their accessibility questionnaire (required to book an accessible cabin), they send a list of accessible excursions.
Allen Marine’s boats are accessible (Misty Fjords Wilderness Explorer and Juneau Whale Watching), and accessible busses are available for some tours like Mendenhall Glacier. I believe the White Pass Train in Skagway has an accessible car. You do have to specify the need for wheelchair accessible transportation.
The ship itself will be no problem.
I did 2 week Alaska with 1 week on oard ship and 1 week onlsnd by train
I used Holland America and tge ship is accessible when you book an accessible stateroom and thr rest of the ship is very accessible anx they have the best public accessible restrooms I have ever seen. The crew is akways very helpful in assisting me on and off the ship. There has only been one port where they recommended I not try to go off because of the steep angle of the ramp. It was extremely low tide and they eere afraid I would lose control and injure mysekf. Also it would hsve been nigh onto impossible to get me back up to the ship. Even the able-bodied passengers were having difficulty. I have even had tgem take me to a different exit on the ship so that I could freely roll out. They are always quick to assist me with my breakfssr sgdckinch yrays as zi orefer tte casual dining iptions on the 9th deck while preferring the main dining room for dinner. When we left the ship (Anchorage) we were taken by bus to our hotel. A snall group of about 12 were given a personal Holland America guide who stayed with us for our inland experience. He was fantastic. He msde sure our rooms were ready when we arrived and mine were aiways accessible with roll-in showers. Our bus was equipped to handle a young man traveling with us who was confined to a power chair. He had a caregiver plus a wife and child. The bus had a lift to take him to a section in the rear of the bis where his chair could be lockrd into place. We boarded the train the next morning heading to Denali and eventually at the weekend we were in Fairbanks. Thectrsin had a lift that took both him and me to the 1st floor. Then it had an elevator that took him to the 2nd level where once again there was a place to lock his chair in place l. I akso used tte elevator to get to the 2nd level but I sstvin one of the aurplane style seats. There was a restaurant on the 1st level and accessible restrooms. In Fairbanks we took a river cruise and the boat was fully accessible. There was a day long venture to Denali Park on what aoieared to be an old school bus. I was able to get to the front seats which are designated as handicapped and they recommended that I not tsue my scooter but when we made our one stop halfway during the trip the bus driver went and got a manual wheelchair and pushrd me to the accessible restrooms and to the gift shop at the ranger’s station and back to the bus. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 weeks in Alaska. My friend and I chose to go the end of May and the animals were just out of hibernation and we saw many mamas with their new babies. I highky recommend HAL for Alaska and for any other destination as I have traveled with them numerous places and did a 22 day cruise from east coast down to S America, stopping in several Central American countries, through the Panama Canal and up the west coast stopping at San Diego and San Francisco then up to Vancouver and Victoria and back down to Seattle where my daughter and I left the ship and visited Seattle for a couple of days before driving back across the country to the east coast where we lived.
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I am a full time wheelchair user and did the celebrity solstice Alaska cruise a couple of years ago. There should be information on the website about accessibility for excursions at each port, you may have to use the filters to find them. They do have a separate accessible tour department at Celebrity that was very good in providing very specific access info too. My wife and I went on accessible excursions at each port. I highly recommend the Deadliest Catch tour in Ketchikan (you go out on a converted crab boat and the tour operator is very disability friendly).
We did a whale watch and trip to the Mendehhal glacier in Juneau and a ride on the Klondike railway in Skagway. Every port had several accessible tours to chose from.
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Alaska is very accessible. We have been several times and prefer to do self-guided walking tours which are available online. Get Downtown Ketchikan Walking Tour Map at the Ketchikan Visitor’ Center
The Ketchikan Walking Tour map is broken up in two sections - the West End and the Downtown area.
The Downtown Walking Tour Map includes attractions such as:
Totem poles. I had hoped to attach walking tours of Sitka, Juneau, Skagway. Unfortunately, they were PDFs. Simple type in “self-guided walking tours” of city you are interested. Have fun and enjoy Alaska.
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To get an idea how accessible tge excursions are, go to the Shore Excursions Group website. Search for your ship and date if sale and then pull up the port you want, visit each excursion and look under restrictions. Some tours allow collapsible wheelchairs but you still have to be able to climb onto the bus. If you need a
Bus with a wheelchair lift you they are very hard to book through the cruise line and sell out quickly. A walking tour from the pier usually works if you can avoid steps or stairs. I would recommend an email to Celebrity- see screenshot below.
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Went princess and they’re great
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I use a Travel Scoot (35#) and they took it on many of the side excursions.