2014-03-19-Geography
Seminars@Hadley
Geography: Talking Travel - Cruising
Presented by
Sue Bramhall
Dr. Mary Sedgwick
Moderated by
Dawn Turco
March 19, 2014
Dawn Turco
Good afternoon and welcome to today’s seminar at Hadley. We’re talking geography today and talking travel. Specifically we are talking about cruising and something I love to do so I’m anxious to get us underway today. We have four presenters with us. Joining two faculty member here at Hadley: Vicky Prahin and Julie Kay. We have guest speakers and the first guest speaker that you’ll be hearing from is Sue Bramhall who runs Mind’s Eye Travel which is a travel agency that specializes in cruising with people who are blind and visually impaired so how perfect is that.
Following Sue’s presentation we have Mary Sedgwick, Dr. Mary Sedgwick joining us and my sources tell me that she’s been cruising recently so she will share some of her experiences with us. Following Mary, we’ll have Vicky and Julie with some additional points and resources. So there is lots to get in in this hour long presentation. So I will get us underway.
Sue is joining us via telephone here in my office so I don’t have to hand the microphone to anybody because she’s sitting right next to me in a manner of speaking. So Sue the microphone is yours and welcome and thank you for joining us today at Seminars at Hadley.
Sue Bramhall
Oh, thank you, Dawn. It just so happens that I’m hosting a cruise this weekend. So I thought I would talk about that trip and how we set it up and how it’s going to happen and the things that we do for our group. This is a round trip cruise out of San Francisco going to Hawaii so it leaves on Saturday, and our group usually chooses to arrive a day before.
So we’re all going to fly in to San Francisco on Friday and I’ve arranged for a hotel near the – we’re right at the airport and then we go have and even – that same evening get to know each other. And I’ve hired vehicles to take us to the pier over in Fisherman’s Wharf the following morning and then we all are able to get on board together. And my group, they usually like to board as a group rather than coming from different places and trying to get on board by themselves. It’s a lot less stressful.
So when we get there, there is a special access line that people in wheelchairs and anybody who’s handicapped go through. So fortunately we don’t have to stand in line with 3,000 other people waiting to get on board ship. So we’ll get on board ship and the first thing we do is get everybody to their cabins and we spend a little time getting around to each one and help them with some of the little things that make it more comfortable in their staterooms: help them adjust their thermostat, I bring raised dots and we add those to their phone if they want to put it next to the purser’s desk which is the front desk or room service.
We also put them on their remote control for their televisions which helps a lot. There’s a channel that, it runs 24 hours a day and it’s telling you all the activities that are going on for the whole next day. So that’s very helpful. And then what we start doing is kind of orienting people from their stateroom to the elevators and from their staterooms to our dining room. And usually after a few days, they really get around really well.
I also puts raised dots, let’s say if we’re coming off of the same elevator all of the time and going down the same corridor, I put raised dots at the opening of that corridor so they can verify that they’re on the right side of the ship so little things like that help a great deal. Some of the cruise ships have Braille letters, numbers on their rooms and some don’t so we’re able to mark their mailbox outside of their room. I also put a big sign on their room, very colorful sign for people who have low vision so it’s easy to identify that they’re in the right place.
There are many things to do on the cruise ship. If you’ve been on a cruise, you’ll know. We have pizza parties at the pool. On this cruise, they’ll probably have an activity making our own flower leis. On the last Hawaii cruise that we went on, we did that and they gave us real orchids to string on a string and we made our leis and wore them to dinner that night. So there’s plenty of things to do and our group likes to eat dinner together and do some things together.
They usually like to go into the theater at night if it’s a show that they’re interested in. So we help coordinate a lot, make sure nobody’s sitting in their room and doesn’t have anybody to have fun with. One of the biggest things that I do is I bring fully sighted guides to help our group so we have people that could take them into the theater and get them a good seat wherever it’s comfortable for them and come back and get them if they want to be brought back out and maybe do some shopping or go into a lounge or in a casino.
The big thing with having sighted guides is I let everybody in our group pick their own shore excursions and then especially two or three different excursions at each port. So I just add a sighted guide to each of those groups so nobody has to go ashore alone. That way they don’t have to be worried about falling into the volcano from the top at Volcano National Park, swimming with the dolphins. They can be doing all kinds of things.
I also touch base when I first get onboard ship with the maitre d and get us our dining room tables close to the front of the dining room. It’s easier for us. Some of those rooms are very large and it’s difficult to wind your way through. So if I get our tables right in the front, people can come all by themselves and know that they’re getting into the right spot. This group, we have two guide dogs too so we do need a little bit of more space and I want to make sure that that all works out.
So I touch base with the maitre d and I usually touch base with the cruise director about any needs that we have and we do a usually a ship tour that the either the morning or the next day. There’s a lot going on when we first get on because we also have to have that safety drill as well. But that way everybody gets an idea and know what floors what’s on. They’ll know where the health club is and where the pools are and where the pizza place is, the dining rooms and the shops.
So we have a lot of fun and we – I normally do three to four trips a year. This one is a cruise to Hawaii. My next trip is a land tour in Washington, D.C. and then we’re doing another cruise in October from Tokyo to Singapore and I’m working on our schedule for next year too. I’m going to have four different trips for next year. So I try to do different price points and a variety each year and I’ve been doing it long enough now we’re starting to go back to some favorite places. So we’re going back to Hawaii for – this is the first time we’re going back there after being there once so it’s popular.
Our group is about twelve. Our groups are usually fairly small. We’ll be anywhere from eight to twelve people sometimes fifteen, but we have a lot of fun. And everyone has enough assistance, but yet they can be as independent as they want which is the combination I like to encourage. Some of the things I do, they have – this cruise is onboard Princess and they have an access department that I work with so they have lined up Braille menus and I work with them because we have the two guide dogs coming in.
There’s a great deal of paperwork and extra shots and stuff that Hawaii recommends and requires actually. So we work with the access department and make sure that they had everything that they need. And we’re in good shape now so everybody’s just counting the days because everyone’s so tired of winter this year they can’t wait to get into some warm weather.
So that’s what I wanted to cover.
Dawn Turco
Well I have to say I was like“Oh my gosh, why have I not thought to take the tactile markers with me??” I was sharing with Sue before we got under way that I have traveled on two cruises now with former college roommates and there were four of us. Three out of four of whom are visually impaired and we do have fun trying to figure out the ship and quizzing each other as to if we’re going the right direction or not.
We have counted doors and found landmarks in hallways to count doors from but tactile marker, what a good idea. I’m going to make a note of that one. But honestly I’m a little jealous of that Tokyo/Singapore since those are two places still on my list.
Sue Bramhall
We still have one more room if you want to join us.
Dawn Turco
Oh, I may. I have to look at the October date because we have teacher meeting in October, but man what a cruise that’s going to be a blast I’m sure. I’m sure. Okay let me open up the microphone and see if anybody has a question for you before we go on to Mary, and so folks I am opening up the microphone.
Dave
This is Dave and I am a traveler and I am low vision,[a guide dog]; and I find that shopping in gift stores and so on is just not especially pleasant because it’s really hard to see what’s there, it’s colors but what is it and then you can’t tell prices very well. So it is not a particularly positive experience. And on cruise ships that’s a lot of what you’re doing on a ship and so I’m just wondering how you handle that.
Sharon
This is Sharon. I’m just curious as to the cost of this trip to Hawaii and if going with your type of groups is more expensive than going through a regular travel agency?
Dawn Turco
Okay, we have the microphone, Sue.
Sue Bramhall
Okay. Let’s see the first one was shopping and the challenges with that. On the ship what we do is if someone wants to go wandering to the shops, they just set up an appointment with one of the sighted guides to take them and they can go in and they’ll help them. Some of them are very good about even picking out clothes, oh this looks better, this color’s better with your skin tones. Want to look a jewelry, they’re looking for green emerald earrings. So, yeah, that’s where our sighted guides come in handy as well.
When we’re on shore excursions over going into shops and things, it’s usually easy to come in and I will put the person who doesn’t have any sight and wants to – we have them go over to one of the – connect them with one of the staff that works there and have them take them around the store because usually they have certain things in mind they want. They want postcards or books or local trinkets or whatever and they can just run around the shop, get them, bring them back, let them feel or touch them and tell them how much it is. It just makes it so much easier.
Dawn Turco
Yeah, and I have found that if I just simply say I’m visually impaired could you bring that set of earrings out of the case and let me look a little closer, most of the time they’re pretty accommodating. But in addition to there being lots of shopping opportunities on a cruise, you mentioned, Sue, the shore excursions. I always tell people to budget in to do some shore excursions because you don’t want to just shop every port. You want to get out and see something of the culture or the environment. So just have a little extra funds for that.
Sue Bramhall
Yeah, well on most cruises it’s the shore excursion options that really, really give it the sizzle. You’re going to an area that you want to go to but then you get to go to all these things and so many times we come back to the ship we say oh my gosh, I learned so much. I wish I would have paid attention in history class. You know, these historic areas and it’s just fascinating.
Dawn Turco
You’re right about that. We had a question on the text messaging and I’m sure you’re going to let us know how to get a hold of you and your company, but they also asked if you had a newsletter that you send out about the cruises.
Sue Bramhall
I don’t but I do e-blasts to everybody that asks to be kept up to date with everything I’m doing and as I announce new trips, I send it to everyone.
Dawn Turco
Excellent, excellent, and do you have a website you want to say now and we’ll get you to repeat it at the end?
Sue Bramhall
Sure. It’s mindseyetravel.com.
Dawn Turco
Okay, mindseyetravel.com.
Sue Bramhall
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Turco
Okay. Well we got Hilda’s question in. Whoop, I see another hand up. Let me take another question or two then we’ll move on.
Sue Bramhall
I think one was about pricing.
Dawn Turco
Oh pricing, I’m sorry. Go ahead. Yes, before I let go the mic.
Sue Bramhall
Yes.
Dawn Turco
Go ahead.
Sue Bramhall
My prices include, it’s a package so it includes the group cruise rate and then everyone in the group shares the cost of the sighted guides. So our rates are going to be higher than what you’re going to get if you just book it yourself with the travel agent without being in a group without any assistance.
Dawn Turco
Okay. Well, understandable. Okay, let me get another question.
Caller
Hello, Sue, I would like to know if you have in the past or if you are planning in the future a trip, a cruise in the northern Atlantic to Canada, to the land of Anne of Green Gables and if so, can a guide dog go on that particular cruise and go into the stops that are in Canada, Prince Edward Island and such. Thank you.
Dawn Turco
We got the mic, go ahead.
Sue Bramhall
Okay, we did a New England/Canada a few years ago and I am going to add another one next year. And I’m looking at a cruise that’s a ten day cruise and it starts in Quebec and ends up in New York city and we have two nights onboard ship in Quebec so we can get two days of chances to do short excursions all around the old area of Quebec City is just gorgeous. And then they stop in three or four other locations in Canada that the other cruise didn’t have an opportunity to do.
And so I’m going to be putting that on – it’ll be for October of next year. I’m still waiting for them to post it. They haven’t put up the dates and prices yet but that’s definitely going to be added and I do have a few people waiting for that.
Dawn Turco
Okay, they just requested typing in the website which Julie just did for me. Now I’d really like to bring on Mary and let her share some of her experiences with us. Mary, I’m going to hand the microphone off to you and thank you for joining us today at Seminars at Hadley.
Mary Sedgwick
I want to thank you for having me today. I want to share with you some of the cruises I’ve been on. The first one was in August of this last year which was a historic coast cruise from Boston to Canada. This was a seven day cruise and had five ports of call. The first one was in Bar Harbor, Maine and well let me back up. We started in Boston and I did arrive the day before and took the time to tour Boston a little bit, hiking the Freedom Trail and the cemetery where Paul Revere was buried and just took in the history of Boston.
Then the cruise left Boston, went to Bar Harbor, Maine; and in Bar Harbor, Maine I decided to do a tour that was a hike by the sea in the Arcadia National Park. And this start at the Sandy Beach and hiked up to the soaring granite cliffs. And it was amazing once we got up on the cliff. It was about a three mile hike and I got to the top of the cliffs, you could hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks and you could smell the salt water – salt, ocean water.
After the hike at Bar Harbor, we went shopping in the specialty shops and galleries that lines the streets. And of course, in Bar Harbor you had to have a lobster roll. The next stop was Saint John, New Brunswick; and here the tour that I chose to do was the Pink Bus Tour which was the big pink bus that you could get on and off throughout Saint John. And it took you through the different historic sites.
The first one was Reversing Falls and this is where the Saint John River meets the Bay of Fundy. And the tides that pulls the currents and it creates a rapids and creates a falls and it’s a really neat natural wonder. So there, one of the things that we saw was the Carleton Martello Tower which is a tower that was built at the harbor to protect the city from the American land attack during the War of 1812.