Guest Relations Manager Martina Fantoni arranged for wheelchair assistance from our cabin. We had a twenty minute wait in the Atrium, because ship personnel are not allowed to wheel passengers off, only Port workers with security clearance can go off the ship. We were off to passport check, baggage pick up and customs, all in a matter of 15 minutes. Nice job Costa! However, we had a half hour wait for Marcello to get the car from the Port Parking Garage. The traffic in port is extremely heavy and congested, since many other cruise ships arrive on Sunday; however, the I-95 traffic was light and we were home in Boca Raton, FL in less than 35 minutes.
SUGGESTIONS
The ship's atmosphere gives cruisers opportunities to meet so many
cosmopolitan people. The fascinating Captains, Passenger Service
Directors, Maitre D's and performers are all in extreme proximity, very
friendly and most apt to strike up a conversation with cruisers. Meeting
new people and seeing new places is what cruising is all about. That is
why we love "cruising Italian style"!
It has been more than ten years since our first cruise on Costa ships. But the last few years both of us have developed ambulatory problems, first Vincent and then Mary requiring wheelchair assistance, thus we book wheelchair accessible cabins.
In our cruise reviews we have frequently suggested that wheelchair accessible cabins should be centrally located in order to facilitate the wheelchair bound people to access every important place, from the dining room to the theater, with minimal effort. However, our suggestions to make cruise ships more wheelchair friendly have not been heard by those individuals involved in the planning and design of new ships in the Costa and Carnival Cruise lines, since there has been no effort to centrally locate the wheelchair accessible cabins.
In our opinion the cruise lines that have given the best effort in making their new ships most friendly to wheelchair bound passengers are Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Our next cruise will be on the Star Princess, Feb. 19th sailing from Buenos Aires to Antarctica. Happy Cruising!
