Full Access Cruise Ships

If you are disabled or have certain special needs, you can still have a cruise ship adventure. If you fall into this category, your best bet is to consult with a travel agent to find the best cruise line that will accommodate your needs.

No two cruise lines are quite alike, so comparison shopping is required when choosing your options. Your particular disability could be the deciding factor on which cruise to take. For instance, not all cruise ships can accommodate wheelchairs easily. Cabins are notoriously small, so you must get dimensions to determine if your wheelchair will even fit inside your room.

Luckily, some of the larger cruise lines have specially designated cabins that have wider doorways. The bathrooms are large enough for a wheelchair to roll right inside. The closets are built for a lower reach and the elevators have controls easily accessible for those people sitting in wheelchairs. Some cruise lines will have collapsible wheelchairs available, but it is highly recommended that passengers bring their own. If motorized wheelchairs are in use, you must bring your own charger that is adaptable to a normal 110 volt plug.

Part of going on a cruise is experiencing the various ports of call. Small boats called tenders are used to carry the travelers from the cruise ship to shore. Every effort is made to ensure that wheelchair bound passengers get to experience these ports of call. However, the tenders that take passengers to shore are not always accessible or safe for the disabled. If the wheelchair bound does manage to safely get to shore, certain ports of call may not always be equipped to handle special needs.

Hearing impaired passengers can also request special accommodations. Some cruise lines will offer ADA (American Disabilities Association) compliant rooms. They will have tele-typewriters (TTY) or telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD). These cabins might come with ADA approved kits which include visual smoke alarms, door sensors so you know someone is at your door and even alarms that vibrate.

Travelers with guide dogs or other service animals will have a tougher time finding a suitable cruise. Each port of call has different rules and regulations regarding animals. Your travel agent can check with the Department of Agriculture for each port of call to determine their guidelines. Sometimes the services animals could be denied permission to leave the cruise ship.

Special nutritional needs are also accommodated on many cruise lines. Vegetarians have options as do those passengers who require low fat, low salt or low cholesterol diets. Guests with lung impairments that require oxygen can cruise too, but must ensure that they have a plentiful supply of oxygen for their travels.

One of the caveats for disabled guests or those with special needs is that you should be autonomous and travel with another companion in case any support during the cruise is required. No matter what infirmities you may have, the cruise line should be notified upon booking. However, with special planning for your special needs, you should be able to have an extra special adventure!

What You Should Know About Disabled Access

Having access to buildings and public areas is vitally important for people with disabilities. Not being able to use the bathroom or enter a particular building can be one of the most frustrating aspects of being disabled. It is often very simple to make somewhere accessible for a disabled person and making the small steps toward making it possible is extremely important. Legislation is in place that makes providing disabled access in all public buildings and workplaces essential and increasingly the new build properties are built with disabled access.

It is very rare that a house comes prepared for disabled use. Most housing does not come with disabled access as standard so most people that are disabled have to go about making improvements to their homes on their own. As a result much of the work that is done to the home is bespoke and specific to the needs of the individual concerned. There are some initiatives in place that are designed to encourage developers to include basic disabled access features in new buildings. Things like zero-step entries and wide doors for wheelchair access make houses accessible for the majority of people and as a result more people can travel freely into people’s homes.

Great Britain is one of the best countries in the world for providing disabled access in the home. This is partly to do with legislation that has been passed by parliament. In 1999 a law was passed that detailed seven requirements for multifamily buildings which have more than four units. These seven requirements are:

1) There must be an accessible building entrance on an accessible route

2) The common and public use areas must be accessible to all

3) Wheelchair users must be able to use the doors

4) There must be a complete access route into and through the dwelling

5) Controls must be accessible. This includes thermostats, light switches, electrical outlets and environmental controls

6) Walls in the bathrooms must be reinforced so that they can cater for grab bars to be installed at a later date

7) The bathrooms and kitchens must be useable

The UK has a fairly advanced attitude to creating housing that is accessible for people with disabilities. Sadly the United States has not got such a stringent attitude to the problem. This is because the houses that Americans typically live in are not covered by the law. Most Americans live in single family homes that are not covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Fair Housing Act. The only houses covered and required to provide access are the government built housing areas which only accounts for a very small percentage of the total number of houses in the United States of America. This means that even new houses do not cater for disabled people and have very real accessibility issues. This means that even new houses face the problems that occur in old houses. It seems like this is in some way not making the most of the opportunity to make things accessible as standard.

Christmas Vacation – warm weather, handicap access?

I would like to take a vacation over the Christmas holidays, or after, with my mom who is in a wheelchair. I am open to a cruise or going directly to a destination. I love to explore new places and my mom does too but we need to go to a place where we can walk/wheel around mostly. How will the weather be in Caribbean or Mexico?

Get Remote Access to Your Vacation Home

A second home or vacation residence can be a great investment, but it may also come with long distance maintenance worries. In many cases your winter getaway may be located hundreds of miles away, how do you find out if a door is left unlocked or a pipe bursts?

It’s because of problems like these that long distance security systems have become all the rage for second homeowners.

Imagine surveying the condition of your vacation house and accessing your security systems remotely, via the internet. These systems allow you to disable an alarm if a door is left open, or keep an eye on your cleaners to see if they’re doing their job. Some systems will text you if a pipe bursts or if other maintenance issues occur such as a broken window. Imagine being able to adjust your thermostat with a single phone call – you’ll never have to arrive at a cold house again. Some packages even alert you if the temperature falls below a set temperature.

In addition to providing long distance monitoring, video surveillance tapes are recognized as legitimate evidence that will stand up in court. Recently in California, a security company caught someone stealing from a vacation home. This had been going on for awhile in small increments. The owner knew things were going missing, but there was no sign of a break in. After implementing security cameras they discovered the next door neighbor was letting himself in and pocketing household items little by little.

The costs of remote security vary from about $1500 to $15000 depending on the bells and whistles. Some of the simplest versions provide home security with sensors on doors and windows so that the owner will be alerted if triggered.

Other packages offer video monitoring that actually photographs the front yard and porch. An owner can see how long a contractor has really been working on the house or establish the identity of intruders. Surveillance tapes can be stored and re-accessed as needed. Basic models can be fixed on stationary objects like a door or window, then proceed to take a constant stream of snapshots which are stored on a video recorder. Some models are more advanced and have night vision as well as the capability to zero in on small objects such as rodents.

Security information can then be accessed via the internet, or over the phone. The user also has the ability to change pass codes or access codes all from a remote location.

For long distance homeowners, a little security can provide big piece of mind.

i get Social Security Disability and im looking for goverment programs for the disabled like Golden access?

i have looked everywhere for these programs all i found so far is golden access card for camping and disabled hunting and fishing card i live in the state of Kentucky i could really use your help so i can do more with my family