Travel in the Caribbean is entirely doable. Perhaps a better question is “How easy is it to vacation in the Caribbean with a disability?” Because after all, your real goal is not just to get from place to place….it is to have a stress-free, enjoyable, relaxing experience!

Vacationing in the Caribbean can be easy or challenging depending on how well you prepare for the accessibility challenges that you will encounter (listed below). If you utilize the advice of a friend, travel agent or company that is very knowledgeable about destination accessibility AND with expertise in planning accessible vacations, you’re much more likely to have an easy, worry-free trip.

Depending on which destinations you choose, you might encounter different accessibility challenges:

• Cobblestones – In old historic cities like San Juan and Key West you will likely encounter cobblestones that can make rolling a wheelchair difficult.
• Hills – Some islands are flat and some our mountainous.  Mountainous islands include Jamaica, Grenada, Puerto Rico, and others.
• Sandy beaches without accessible paths or beach wheelchairs – Sandy beaches are a very common accessibility challenge for people vacationing in the Caribbean.  In fact only a few places have truly accessible beaches like Cozumel, Aruba, and St. Thomas.
• No wheelchair accessible vans available to tourists – Dominica, Grenada, Belize and Costa Maya do not have any accessible vans. In these places we can arrange a 4-door car (instead of a bus or large van) so that wheelchair users can more easily transfer into the car.
• An entire fleet of taxis with poor accessibility – Some Caribbean islands like St. Thomas and Dominica have a taxi fleet comprising very high vehicles that are difficult to transfer into if you have mobility issues.  In these and other destinations, you may have a much better experience if you book transportation in advance.
• Lack of wheelchair ramps on sidewalks – Jamaica, Dominica, St. Thomas are a few of the destinations where you might encounter curbs without ramps.
• Bathrooms that are to small for a wheelchair – Examples of small, non-wheelchair accessible bathrooms can be viewed on our Cozumel and Freeport accessibility pages.
• Disabled passengers not allowed onto cruise tenders – Smaller boats called cruise tenders are used to bring passengers ashore in many ports.  Some cruise lines will not let you board the cruise tenders depending upon your accessibility needs.  As part of our accessible cruise planning services, we discuss how your specific accessibility needs, the port you are visiting, the ship you are on, and the time of year will affect your ability to get ashore.

Every destination has some accessible parts and some inaccessible parts. So you could have an accessible vacation in every destination, or you could have an inaccessible vacation in every destination depending on the choices you make. That being said, you are more likely to have an accessible vacation in places like Grand Cayman, Aruba, Key West, and St. Thomas. 

I personally believe that the biggest mistake people with disabilities make is staying on the cruise ship and not going ashore!  While the accessibility challenges can be intimidating, you’re going on this trip to see the exciting and beautiful destinations. Just because your cruise ship doesn’t offer any appealing accessible shore excursion options doesn’t mean there aren’t great accessible private shore excursions out there!

Accessible Caribbean Vacations is committed to providing customized accessible holiday travel for our clients. We deal exclusively in disabled travel and make it our job to understand all the challenges that disabled travelers may encounter and how to overcome them. Often, when disabled clients book their trips and tours through regular travel agents or the cruise lines directly, they encounter accessibility issues that could have been prevented. All our services have been carefully researched and put together to offer you the best accessible services and experiences you could possibly have!

We currently offer our accessible travel services in the following Caribbean destinations: Aruba, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Freeport, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Jamaica, Key West, Nassau, San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Belize, Roatan.

We help you choose your cruise according to the most important criteria for an accessible cruise. Choose the wrong itinerary and you’ll say “I stayed on the cruise ship in half of the ports”. Choose the right itinerary and you’ll wake up every morning excited for the new accessible excursion awaiting you!Cruising with a disability doesn’t have to be stressful, frustrating, or disappointing. You just have to utilize the expertise of peoplewho specialize in accessible Caribbean travel!

If you really want to plan a truly accessible cruise, the process can be exhausting. If you plan the trip yourself, you’ll need to:

1. Research accessibility at the cruise ports to figure out which ones meet your accessibility needs (difficult to do through the internet…even with our cruise port accessibility reviews which cover many ports)
2. Find handicap accessible cruise excursions in each port
3. Find a cruise sailing that meets your accessibility needs, itinerary preferences, date availability, and price range
4. Figure out which cruise cabin to book
5. Research accessibility at your arrival airport
6. Figure out how you are going to get from the airport into the city
7. Find a truly accessible hotel that is centrally located
8. Figure out what are the accessible attractions in your embarkation city
9. Book transportation to the cruise dock.

If you plan the cruise yourself, you can count of spending 5 hours per port researching accessibility, 5 hours researching cruise itineraries and dates, and 10 hours researching accessibility of hotels, tours, and transportation in your embarkation city. On a 7 port cruise, that’s 50 hours of accessibility research. EXHAUSTING!!!Fortunately we love taking all the necessary steps to plan an accessible cruise.We can’t wait to hear that you had a great, memorable vacation!

There is no cheaper way to cruise with a disability than our handicap accessible cruise packages. We save you money in 3 ways:

1. We save you money by researching the various cruise lines, itineraries, and dates to find the perfect cruise sailing for you. There’s no need to overpay by booking a crowded ship when another less crowded ship has lower prices.
2. We save you money by giving you discounts on accessible cruise excursions. By booking an Accessible Cruise & Excursion Package, you’ll get $50 off each shore excursion (up to $150 off your entire trip).
3. We save you money by giving you advice how to save money in one place so that you can spend it on a great experience elsewhere.

What if I have questions about my trip? While planning your accessible cruise, you will have numerous decisions to make about the multitude of options you have.For example:

• Which ports should I avoid due to inaccessibility?
• Which ports are best for inexpensive walking tours?
• Which ports are absolutely worth spending the money for a driving tour?
• Which ports are worth a full-day excursion?Which ports only need a half-day excursion?
• Which city should I use for my embarkation port?
• How many days should I spend seeing the accessible sights in my embarkation port? 

Your accessible travel consultant at Accessible Caribbean Vacations will answer all your questions and use their expertise to help plan the best trip possible. In addition, we’ll advise you on the questions you haven’t even yet thought to ask!

Accessible Caribbean Vacations offers more Caribbean accessible shore excursions than anyone else in the world. We have worked tirelessly with local providers to design excursions specifically for disabled cruisers. We can arrange 50+ accessible shore excursions across 15+ Caribbean ports!

Shore excursions provided by the cruise lines often don’t meet basic accessibility needs. In many ports, the cruise lines only use buses with steps to enter. And if they do offer an accessible excursion, it might just be a 3 hour driving tour where you don’t even get out of the bus. There are even some cruise lines don’t allow groups larger than two people to go on an accessible excursion.

Because the cruise lines pay us a commission, we’re able to offer you discounts on shore excursions! We give you a discount of $50 off each shore excursion if you book your cruise with us! (up to $150 per cruise)We only provide discounts on accessible shore excursions to clients who have booked their cruise through us. If you have already booked your cruise, some cruise lines will allow you to transfer the reservation to our name within 30-60 days of booking. Contact us and we will check if we can transfer the reservation. Otherwise it might be free to cancel and re-book.

They are available in all ports where we have created a Port Accessibility Review. You can find the Port Accessibility Review through the navigation menu at the top of the page.

Our cruise planning services are COMPLETELY FREE!!! The cruise line pays us a commission when we make the reservation for you. On top of it, we guarantee* that we will match or beat any publicly-advertised cruise fare!

* If you receive a better offer from someone else, or at another travel website, let us know and we will try our best to beat that offer.  But, we guarantee no one can match our outstanding personalized customer service! For the guarantee to apply, it must be the same cabin, same sailing date, and same booking conditions. It must be advertised by a cruise line or travel agency that provides legitimate customer service including solving problems during your trip (i.e. no rebate booking engines). If by some chance we are unable to match the offer, we will happily cancel your reservation and allow you to book through any other means you choose.

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