Allow me to begin with a disclosure: I can get seasick in a bathtub. Water is supposed to be my element (Cancer the crab) and I love it but when it moves me around too much, my entire system protests. Ergo, if I have to leave abruptly, you will know why.
Yes, I am cruising and yes, there is a Nor’easter raging out there. We sat in port in the Hudson River an extra 13 hours before venturing out into this mess. The captain decided discretion was called for and waited.
Sitting in the harbor, I really noticed my vision loss. I missed things. Big things. My husband had to point out the Statue of Liberty and the Staten Island Ferry. How could I miss the Staten Island Ferry? It’s ORANGE, for crying out loud.
They just blended in. Sat in my blind spot. What can I say? It is what it is.
Using the camera helped. Either using an iPad or a camera with a screen allowed me to “see” what I was looking at. I don’t always like to use technology to “see” my world. It reminds me of my mother-in-law who says she never needs to travel because she has seen everything in the movies or someone who says he has experienced something because he has seen it on TV. I feel those are pale reflections of our world. However, if I want to experience it, I have to do what needs to be done. At least this way, I can experience the sights, sounds, smells and…uh, movements involved in actually being there.
Staff has been great. When I have had a question about where something is, they have been very accommodating. If I say “No. I cannot see the sign. I am visually impaired,” they have walked me there. I had three pool area staff bent over my phone helping me try to load the ship’s app. We failed, but they were very sweet to devote a half an hour out of their days to my problem.
I have seen a woman with a white cane being guided to guest services by a staff member. I have seen another woman with a guide dog. It appears Royal Caribbean does provide some things for the visually impaired.
Today, before the weather went really bad, I did the bumper cars. It was the first time I have driven anything on my own for three-and-a-half years. It was rather nice to be behind the wheel again. And the even nicer thing was I was SUPPOSED to run into things! Please note this was with “British” bumper cars. The driver sat on the right. Go figure.
We booked this trip about a month ago. There were two rooms left. One was the grand suite and the other one was one of the less desirable rooms. Sort of a luxury version of steerage. You can guess which one we took.
While we are in about the most inaccessible part of the ship, I have had few problems finding my room. My husband has had the same problems. There are a lot of twists and turns to get there.
The room is extremely small but at least that means I can stand in front of the TV and pretty much reach every thing without even moving my feet. Today that was great because everyone is still developing his sea legs. Stumbling is not a good way to determine if someone is drunk or sober today!
I was supposed to do the “indoor skydiving” and go to a musical production today but the bad weather has pretty much everything being cancelled. Even the harbor of Boston has been closed until noon tomorrow. That means a reorganization of my shore excursions. Oh, well. If nothing else vision loss has taught me there is always another way to do things.
Planning and flexibility. Essential in the world of a VIP. Now I need to see if I can walk a relatively straight line to get back to the room. It is rocking and rolling around here!
Written October 11, 2019