Sun Princess, October/November 2016

We did a round-Australia cruise recently aboard the Sun Princess.  It was an enjoyable and interesting cruise stopping at all capital cities and other towns along the way including Broome and Albany.  There was also a stop at Alotau in Papua New Guinea.  We had an accessible cabin with wheel-in shower; rails in shower, and beside toilet. 

The cabin was comfortable and easy to negotiate. We had single beds which was ideal as my spasticity is a problem and can wake my husband.  He said the mattresses were too soft.  There was some difficulty moving about the ship when I wanted to go out on the deck, with or without my husband being with me.  There were ramps but they were not ideal, having a flat bit sticking up at the top.  We often had to wait for some kind person to hold the door open (very heavy) and help me in or out.  None of the excursions were accessible but this was not a problem for  us.  We hired taxis at each destination and found that to be cheaper and we got local people showing us the sites of each place we stopped.

There was a small ramp to get in to bathroom.  The shower was not ideal.  There was a drop-down seat, but there was a rail along the back.  So I'm sitting on the seat with a rail at my back, making it a bit uncomfortable to stay on seat.  The shower was on my left and the shower gel and shampoo on my right, both sort of behind me.  The drainage was good with a drain around the shower area so water did not go into the rest of the bathroom.  I have good core strength so I would suggest if you don't have that strength, you need a shower chair (plastic chair) for safety. 

Braeside, Maleny September 2016

We attended a family wedding at Maleny and stayed at a lovely B&B called Braeside.  When you walk in there are breathtaking views of the Glasshouse Mountains.  We stayed two nights so we would be close the wedding venue and we could enjoy a weekend in this beautiful environment.  When the proprietors decided to have a B&B they were required to have one room as wheelchair accessible.  It worked well for us.  There was a drop-down seat in the shower.  The rails in the shower and beside the toilet were adequate for me.  I could wheel-in to shower, toilet and hand basin.  It was also easy to wheel outside my room as the area had polished floor boards.  We could have breakfast while taking in the view and watching the birds outside coming to feed. The proprietor was also kind enough to drive us the short distance to the wedding and picked us up later.  Sadly, the B&B was For Sale as the proprietors would like to retire.