Written by Chillie Falls, May 16, 2023 for AccessAdventure.net
On May 6, 2023, the Norwegian Joy docked in Cartagena, Colombia. I debarked on my new power wheelchair for a “partially” accessible excursion. I refer to it that way because it is clearly not fully accessible. I can stand, walk a few steps, just enough to fold my chair, set the gears so that the wheels will
roll, and step onto the bus sitting on the seat immediately next to the doorway. The hop on hop off folks placed my chair in a space reserved for wheelchairs, walkers and other mobility devices.
Old Town was the second stop on a 14 stop loop for the bus tour. I got off with my wheelchair and about 30 travelers for the walking tour. Caesar was our tour guide, and Hop On Hop Off people sent Rafael along to assist me if I needed it.
The below video gives you a good idea of what the walking tour was like. Just picture a sunny, hot day, temperature about 104 with high humidity.
I can not emphasize this enough. This is not an accessible tour…fully accessible. If you are permanently in a chair, this probably won’t work. If you use a scooter, at least like my Scootaround scooters that are perfect for me on cruise ships, this tour won’t work. Too heavy, takes up too much space. And remember,, you can not ride a scooter or chair onto the bus. You have to be ambulatory enough to stand, get up a couple steps (with “pull” rails) and sit to be able to do either the bus tour or the walking tour.
By the way, my “assistant” had to help twice with curbs that were just an inch or so higher than my chair could handle.
For the past nine years and over 50 cruises during that time frame, I have been unable to take excursions. I have one cab driver with an accessible van in Cozumel that I use regularly. Other stops in Mexico and all over the Caribbean, I have found none. There are some accessible tours, but they are priced out of my budget. So, I have taken none.
On this cruise, I was able to take 4 excursions in 6 ports of call. While I am so sorry that many of you still can’t take this tour, I was thrilled beyond belief at taking the 4 excursions, and especially this one. It was challenging, but I loved every second of it.