I understand you are taking comments on cruises. My boyfriend
and I just finished a cruise to Bermuda on the Royal Carribean (
ship was the Explorer of the Seas). While everyone was friendly on
the ship we just did not feel they were trained for a hearing
loss. We got the sheets each night but still felt there were
things said over the PA system that we missed. We went to the
first mandatory meeting and we got nothing out of what was
being said.
We took it as a guideline with the life preservers I told
them we can't hear and they said there were flashing lights in
the room for emergency. But nothing else was told to us.
We missed out on things like how to get the photos that were
taken. I really wanted one but never saw anything that said
where to get the pictures at.
I was informed afterwards that someone should have helped
us out.
We arrived in Bermuda and had no idea what to do. We asked
people how to get places. But it was still awkward. There is a
need for someone to be on the ship for special needs. I also
have mild cerebral palsy. I did get help with a wheelchair
going to and from the ship. But once there I had no idea if I
need help after getting on. There needs to be a sign listing
what help is available for people with disabilities and maybe
something like walkers or canes for people who find themselves
in a situation where they were not expecting to need help.
On the last night I did ask the porter to wake us up and
he did wake us up as requested. But both my boyfriend and I
feel that we probably missed out on things because not having a
someone to help us with our needs for hearing.
Also maybe having someone that is American that does not have an
accent. We found all the foreigners to be very difficult to
be able to undertand. I have a cochlear implant and still found
it hard. Some people we talked to said even without a hearing
problem they are hard to understand.
Though we did find the people quite friendly there but
there just was too many people there needing help at the regular
desk to handle special needs.
Martha Mattox Baker
( cruise dates were Oct 29th - Nov 3rd , 2006 )