Alaska Cruise Day 1:

So we are on the Diamond Princess with Princess cruises. We flew from SFO to Vancouver (so yes we had to go through customs). That was peachy. No, not really. This is the first time I've ever flown with Drew. In fact we've never gone out of state together, let alone to another country. Of course, we were in Vancouver for all of an hour before getting on the boat. Let's just say, going through security for us bi-peds is annoying. If you are in a wheelchair it's a thousand times worse. I think Drew will be traumatized by his "pat down" for awhile. Since you can't go through the metal detectors they put you in what they call "the cage" (yes, I'm serious) and touch close to every part of you. Drew said he didn't know he'd ordered the deep tissue massage. It is really pretty shameful the way they do things. Also it was not easy getting Drew on and off the airplane. Most of the seat rests do not go up so he had to "jump" pretty far over to get into his seat. It's really annoying that they don't make the aisles just a little wider so he could take his own chair on the plane. They have to take him off his chair and put him on this skinny aisle chair and store his chair during the flight.

The ship picked us up at the Vancouver harbor so we had to take a taxi (paid for and arranged by Princess once they discovered that Drew could not stand since the buses did not have lifts) from the airport to the harbor. We boarded about 1pm and left port at about 5pm. When we left the harbor (that building with the white sails) we had a nice view of Vancouver. Last night and all today we were at sea and did not dock. It was not a scenic area and the conditions were rocky there. So that was a good day to explore the ship. If you've never been on a cruise ship, they are huge!! We were on the 12th floor and there were 14 floors (the top one being open air and the place to go to get the best photos of glaciers). There are several shops on board, a casino, an art gallery (don't get too excited not much is good), a library with internet access (but it was expensive), 4 dining rooms where the food was included in the cruise package (with very similar fine dining menus), a steakhouse (extra $ to eat here), a buffet and several stands (ice cream-extra $, pizza, grills). We have found the Princess staff to be very nice on the whole. Very attentive and helpful with Drew.

Things that are good for people in wheelchairs on our cruise ship:

1) Drew could pretty much get everywhere on the boat except the very top walkway look-outs on the top deck. He could still be on the top deck though.
2) When you're docked at port there are lots of people to assist you getting off the boat. This is important since the ramps to get off the boat are super steep.
3) elevators to every part of the ship passengers can go
4) widened doorways to most places
5) Our room was twice the size of normal rooms
6) Our bathroom had a roll-in shower
7) Our bathroom was big
8) Drew was able to go out on our balcony

Things that are bad for people in wheelchairs on our cruise ship:

1) Heavy doors onto most of the decks
2) Only a couple of automatic doors and no buttons to open doors automatically for the disabled.
3) Having to wait for buses to excursions with lifts
4) They didn't keep track of who could get out of their chairs so everyday they had us fill out a paper saying that he could not and would need assistance getting off the boat or would require a lift on the transport vehicle.
5) They blocked off a ramp on one of the ship's floors one day when we were docked. They refused to open it up. So in order for Drew to disembark we had to go up and down the elevator and through a few floors. Very annoying.
6) The ramp out to the balcony of our room was not fixed so it would slide around when Drew rolled on it.
7) Severe lips to go over in important doorways that meant Drew had to be pushed over them most of the time instead of doing it himself. Usu there was someone nearby who did it but it would not have taken much to level off those lips more.