Travel Tips for the Visually Impaired
This section is devoted to providing travel tips and suggestions to help blind and visually impaired travelers.
Special Recognition Certificate from The New York Association For The Blind.
I participated in a travel discussion class at The New York Association For The Blind. The objective of these sessions was to provide attendees with ways to plan, implement and enjoy leisure time activities away from home.
Trip to Orlando FL...
Before you leave and are booking your trip with Amtrak inquire about Senior or Disbled discounts. I was told that you are allowed 2 carry on bags not incuding brief cases and laptops for the trip from NYC to Orlando FL. You must cancel 24 hours prior to departure or you will forfeit 10% of the total cost of the trip.
Another consideration is when you are traveling for 24 hours such as I did on this trip from NYC to Orlando FL is meals. Of course food is available on the train however, if you are budget conscious you may want to bring your own food which is allowed. On this trip I brought along chicken legs, deviled eggs, fruit, macaroni salad, ginger beer, lemonade, water, cookies, trail mix, brownies and chips. Remember to pack perishable food with ice and or ice packs.
You should also look into transportation in and around the Orlando area prior to departure. Cabs can be very expensive therefore, the alternative would be to use Access Links Transportation if you are eligible. Access Links Transportation has a web site: www.golynx.com that has all the information pertaining to rules, regulations, fares and counties covered which are Seminole, Orange and Oceola.
This trip I stayed at The Buena Vista Palace and Spa Hotel: 407 823 2727. Ahead of arriving if you have any questions call and ask to be connected to the Conceirge Desk.
Another thing to consider before leaving home. If you are visually impaired you need to recognize that some of the attractions at the parks will be visual and others will be more skewed towards the audio experience. In order to maximize your time and enjoyment of the theme parks you may want to look into this so that you plan your time at the parks effectively.
Since I was looking forward to touring the theme parks in Orlando I needed to look into procuring a sighted guide to accompany me. After contacting many agencies as well as guest services in the parks and my hotel I was given two web sites--Compassionate Companions and Granny Nannies. I contacted both however I did not recieve a call back from Compassionate Companions. Granny Nannies was very accomdationg and provided me with the service that I needed. They even told me that the guide would be flexible with the appointed time we scheduled. The fee is $16/hour. The guide gets $11 and the agency gets $5. At the end of your contracted time the worker will give you a time sheet that recorded all pertinent data. It's best to keep a copy of this on file for your records. I paid cash however you may want to inquire if they accept other forms of payment. Granny Nannies can be reached at: 407 682 7758.
Another consideration is when you are traveling for 24 hours such as I did on this trip from NYC to Orlando FL is meals. Of course food is available on the train however, if you are budget conscious you may want to bring your own food which is allowed. On this trip I brought along chicken legs, deviled eggs, fruit, macaroni salad, ginger beer, lemonade, water, cookies, trail mix, brownies and chips. Remember to pack perishable food with ice and or ice packs.
You should also look into transportation in and around the Orlando area prior to departure. Cabs can be very expensive therefore, the alternative would be to use Access Links Transportation if you are eligible. Access Links Transportation has a web site: www.golynx.com that has all the information pertaining to rules, regulations, fares and counties covered which are Seminole, Orange and Oceola.
This trip I stayed at The Buena Vista Palace and Spa Hotel: 407 823 2727. Ahead of arriving if you have any questions call and ask to be connected to the Conceirge Desk.
Another thing to consider before leaving home. If you are visually impaired you need to recognize that some of the attractions at the parks will be visual and others will be more skewed towards the audio experience. In order to maximize your time and enjoyment of the theme parks you may want to look into this so that you plan your time at the parks effectively.
Since I was looking forward to touring the theme parks in Orlando I needed to look into procuring a sighted guide to accompany me. After contacting many agencies as well as guest services in the parks and my hotel I was given two web sites--Compassionate Companions and Granny Nannies. I contacted both however I did not recieve a call back from Compassionate Companions. Granny Nannies was very accomdationg and provided me with the service that I needed. They even told me that the guide would be flexible with the appointed time we scheduled. The fee is $16/hour. The guide gets $11 and the agency gets $5. At the end of your contracted time the worker will give you a time sheet that recorded all pertinent data. It's best to keep a copy of this on file for your records. I paid cash however you may want to inquire if they accept other forms of payment. Granny Nannies can be reached at: 407 682 7758.
On The Cruise...
When you are booking a cruise with a travel agent or the cruise line be sure that you contact guest services department to state what your special needs are. They are supposed to assist you by making various accomodations such as seeing that the menu is read to you at meal time or providing a braille menu. You should also insist that you be given a tour of the ship to familiarize yourself with the ship.
It's best to book your off shore excursions before you sail, which you can do on line, if not it's best that you book as soon as you board the ship because sometimes the best tours sell out early. Have the excurion department call ahead to the company providing the tour to let them know that a visually impaired person will be joining the group. And you can also request that a crew memeber accompany you on an excursion which the ship will generally agree to if they can spare the employee.
The hardest thing for a visually imaired person traveling alone is the shopping. Sometimes ship personnel can help you shop nearby but they cannot go beyond the area immediately beyond where the ship is docked. But I've found that other guests on the ship who are on the same tour (s) may be willing to help you shop. Which reminds me of another story:
One time I toured St. Thomas in the morning and went back to the ship for lunch. In the dining room I ran into several people who I had befriended on the ship. They were going to the beach after lunch and invited me to join them. I could not have done this on my own.
While I obviously enjoy traveling, espcially on cruises, I would like to alert the disabled community about a recent change in Carnival Cruise Line's policy regarding service animals. Carnival states that a service animal must accompany the guest when they leave the ship. Prior to this a service animal could be left unattended in the cabin. Carnival would not disclose the reason for the change in their policy which took effect 4th quarter 2012.
Let me explain how you may be impacted by this change in policy. Sometimes you may reach a port outside of the United States and the customs agent will not accept the USDA seal or veterinary certificates and this can present a problem. Before you are allowed to disembark they may want to have the animal examined by a vet in the port of entry before you are given clearance to leave the ship with your animal. This could possibly take 6 to 8 hours as it did for me when I tried to get off a cruise ship in St. Kitts. However at that time Carnival allowed me to leave my service animal on the ship so that I could leave to join the tour of the island. If that had happened to me today I would not have been able to leave the ship which defeats the purpose of going on a cruise.
I'm sharing this with my readers because I recently booked and subsequently cancelled an upcoming Carnvial Cruise because of this prohibitive policy.
I hope that Carnival will consider amending their policy or make an accomodation i.e., if the animal is denied entry and cannot stay in the cabin unattneded have a designated cruise ship employee watch the animal while the guest is off the ship.
It's best to book your off shore excursions before you sail, which you can do on line, if not it's best that you book as soon as you board the ship because sometimes the best tours sell out early. Have the excurion department call ahead to the company providing the tour to let them know that a visually impaired person will be joining the group. And you can also request that a crew memeber accompany you on an excursion which the ship will generally agree to if they can spare the employee.
The hardest thing for a visually imaired person traveling alone is the shopping. Sometimes ship personnel can help you shop nearby but they cannot go beyond the area immediately beyond where the ship is docked. But I've found that other guests on the ship who are on the same tour (s) may be willing to help you shop. Which reminds me of another story:
One time I toured St. Thomas in the morning and went back to the ship for lunch. In the dining room I ran into several people who I had befriended on the ship. They were going to the beach after lunch and invited me to join them. I could not have done this on my own.
While I obviously enjoy traveling, espcially on cruises, I would like to alert the disabled community about a recent change in Carnival Cruise Line's policy regarding service animals. Carnival states that a service animal must accompany the guest when they leave the ship. Prior to this a service animal could be left unattended in the cabin. Carnival would not disclose the reason for the change in their policy which took effect 4th quarter 2012.
Let me explain how you may be impacted by this change in policy. Sometimes you may reach a port outside of the United States and the customs agent will not accept the USDA seal or veterinary certificates and this can present a problem. Before you are allowed to disembark they may want to have the animal examined by a vet in the port of entry before you are given clearance to leave the ship with your animal. This could possibly take 6 to 8 hours as it did for me when I tried to get off a cruise ship in St. Kitts. However at that time Carnival allowed me to leave my service animal on the ship so that I could leave to join the tour of the island. If that had happened to me today I would not have been able to leave the ship which defeats the purpose of going on a cruise.
I'm sharing this with my readers because I recently booked and subsequently cancelled an upcoming Carnvial Cruise because of this prohibitive policy.
I hope that Carnival will consider amending their policy or make an accomodation i.e., if the animal is denied entry and cannot stay in the cabin unattneded have a designated cruise ship employee watch the animal while the guest is off the ship.
