An Accessible Cruise Vacation

I just went on a birthday cruise on the Disney Wish with my mama! I wanted to share about accessibility and what helped the most to make the cruise the best possible!

I just wanted to say that I'm so grateful that I was able to go on this trip! I was very nervous about accessibility on the boat because there wasn't much info online, so this experience inspired me to write an article about it to help everyone.

From the airport to the dock

We booked a room a night before the cruise and after the cruise just so we didn't have to rush to the airport. Thanks to Cure SMA (and the conference being in a few months). The organization helped us find great transportation to and from the airport and the hotel!

The transportation company we used is called Sunshine Flyer, and they were very inexpensive and super helpful and kind! I cannot recommend them enough honestly, so big thank you to Cure SMA for the recommendation!

As far as going outside the hotel, they have an accessible cruise bus that comes when you book the cruise and there are also buses for the parks from the hotel as well as to Disney Springs which is a bigger version of Downtown Disney in California.

A quick reminder to mask up as much as possible especially on the buses to the parks and Disney Springs as they get very crowded and of course, Covid is still not over.

Hotel and Disney Springs

Definitely remember to book an accessible room for the cruise and the hotel stays before and after! These rooms were very big, which is important for my powerchair to fit. And it's great to have a big bathroom which is always important to me, so my mom has room to lift me onto the toilet.

As far as Disney Springs goes, it's absolutely fantastic and thankfully very accessible. There's so much to do!

Food on board ship requires a little planning

I know that a lot of us struggle with food. My jaw is very weak because of my spinal muscular atrophy, so I have to have soft foods. It really depends on what you like, but there are a lot of options for food. You just have to plan accordingly since they offer meals at certain times on the cruise.

Accessibility was mostly great

As I mentioned, our room on the cruise and the hotel before was very accessible. We went to Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island), which is very accessible except for the beaches.

This trip was a new experience for mom and me and we didn't know what to expect. I had a lot of anxiety about accessibility, but I'm so grateful we had so much fun and we tried something new!