Saturday 26 March 2016

Disability Factsheet?

Last year after returniing from our cruise on P&O's Britannia I had a few comments and suggestions that I felt P&O needed to hear that could improve accessibility not only on this ship but also other ships in the fleet.
Whilst on our 14 day cruise I wondered at times if I was the only disabled passenger who felt that there was a lack of information regarding accessibility around the ship but after my friend met a struggling visually impaired passenger struggling with the stairs between Deck 17 and Deck 18 apparently not.  This meeting happened nearing the end of the cruise and this passenger was not aware that there was a disabled lift that would take her between these decks and said that it was a shame that noone had told her of this lifts existance at the beginning of the cruise.  This passenger could so easily had fallen down these stairs.
Disabled lift on Deck 17
This lift was not origionally indicated on deck plans for Britannia in 2015 it just showed an empty space.  I only found out about its existance because of my dogged determination.  When I book a cruise I research everything that I can including the ships deck plans and from looking at Britannia's I could see that the lifts stopped at Deck 17 and that access to Deck 18 was via stairs.  I had read somewhere online that she was fully accessible so therefore there must be a way up to Deck 18.  I called P&O's customer service as I thought they would know for sure.  I have to say that they have some of the rudest customer service staff that I have ever come across.  I had to make several calls before someone explained that they have a disabled team who you cannot talk to but they would try and find out if someone knew about access.  The person did come back and explained to me exactly where to locate a lift.  She also told me that they did not want to make it public knowledge because they did not want all and sundry using it.
When I was on Britannia one of the first things we did was to check that the information was correct and that the lift was there.  As you can see from my photographs it does exist.  As you can clearly see it does not look like a lift door and most people mistook it for a crew entrance; that's why we got a few weird looks from fellow passengers.
I have sailed on Azura (2010) and Ventura (2011) and we are sailing again on Azura in June this this year and like Britannia their deck plans do not show that there is a platform lift between Azura's Aqua Deck and Sun Deck and Ventura's Sun Deck and Sports Deck.  I was told by a fellow passenger on Azura in 2010 that there was a small platform lift for the use of disabled guests. 
I unfortunately do not have photographs but this image is representative of what it looks like.  This lift can be found on both ships if you walk around Breakers Bar and round towards the Ivory Suite you will see a small glass lift that is large enough for one wheelchair and one standing person.
As I have previously said on returning home after my cruise on Britannia I contacted P&O with comments and suggestions  about accessibility on the ship and I have to say that I did got pushed from pillar to post with no answers and offered £100 OBC for my next cruise for my trouble.  Unsatisfied with the treatment I received from P&O's customer care I found an email for Christopher Edgington (Marketing Director, P&O) and started communicating with him.  Eventually I was passed onto a person who is a disability advisor for P&O and she has told me herself that she does not have any contact with customers as their customer service people could answer all questions relating to disability and accessibility.  I told her that was an error in judgement because I had tried and they know very little.    Something like knowing the position of disabled lifts on their fleet of ships is not rocket science. 
One suggestion I had was that P&O could produced a factsheet for every ship in their fleet detailing information such as the position of lifts for use by disabled passengers. A factsheet for the ship that a person is sailing on could be emailed to them once they have  submitted a disability questionnaire.  I have to say that I was told that this would be costly?  How much does it cost to produce a word document that details ship information and is them emailed out. Answer is minimal.  It is not as if the information is waiting for you in your cabin when you board.  The only contact I ever get when I am on board is contact from the excursions team trying to sell me an over priced accessible tour.
In conclustion I have to say that when I first started crusing there was a dedicated disability number that you could call and their team was very knowledgable and helpful but as I have been told that when P&O reshuffled several years ago they felt that a dedicated disability team was not required as their customer service could answer disability related questions.  I strongly disagree.  I am very passionate about equality and the more I see that is unjust the more I will complain, I may be disabled and what I may lack in movement I make up for in voice.



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