With the summer holidays fast approaching, having a disability always amplifies our concerns and requirements for an easy, relaxing holiday.

Have you ever thought about a cruise? These are easy and allow for easy embarkation. If you live near a big city, you can experience a cruise from your very own backdoor or travel to a local town to start your cruising adventures. It’s a great way to experience a new destination, without having to fly. From most major capital cities in Australia.
You can, however, choose to take a flight to another country and start the cruise from there.

Depending on the cruise liner, accessibility is covered quite broadly with internal and external cabins and access to eateries and specialty dining, entertainment, casinos, and spa treatments (always check before travelling).

During your cruise, you have the luxury of unpacking once and arriving at a new destination almost daily. It’s a fantastic opportunity to experience a new city and country.

You can either lounge around and relax, read a book, grab a drink or a cocktail and chill out by the pool, or enjoy trivia, bingo, comedy, and stage shows. The list goes on!

I have found the staff to be very helpful and will go out of their way to assist with all of your accessibility requirements.

Even though some of the ports are not accessible (requiring a tender boat transfer) and I am not able to use them, I just choose to stay on the cruise ship and enjoy the peace and quiet.

During these times, staff are willing to assist with bringing my drinks, and food over to my table while my support worker could be off the boat with the others.

I have found that some doors have large buttons, allowing me to open them independently, or one of the staff members or any of the 2000 passengers are available to assist.

Happy cruising…

About the author

Lindsay, who was born and grew up in Brisbane, Australia, obtained a spinal cord injury several years ago which sees him getting around on four wheels instead of two legs. His injury hasn’t stopped him from making the most out of what he refers to as "my beautiful life". Lindsay's journey began on the last day of grade 12 at the age of 17 when he went for a celebratory swim at Southbank, Brisbane and broke his neck at vertebrae C5. Over the last 28 years, Lindsay has done public speaking at universities, conferences, fundraisers, and within healthcare settings. He also works part-time, travels, attends the gym and volunteers as a peer support mentor for the newly injured and their families. Lindsay is an advocate for disability awareness and his goal is to help people and their families who are in similar situations.