By Esther Levegnale

(Editor’s Note:  This article is reprinted from the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 issue of The Federationist In Connecticut, a publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut.)

It goes without saying that one of the aspects of being blind is educating
the sighted world.  No matter if we're 10 or 60, it just goes with the
territory.  Oh yes, we hear comments like, "you're so-o-o amazing," or
"you're such an inspiration."  My God!  It's like a broken record, isn't it?
We tell people that we live independently, work, and participate in
recreational activities, and, yes, even travel by ourselves.

Just last fall, Vicki, a friend of mine from Alexandria, VA, (who is also
blind), and I took a Mediterranean cruise, alone, without sighted friends
accompanying us.  I befriended Vicki many years ago when both of us were
involved in cross country skiing events and summer recreational activities
provided by an organization known as Ski for Light.  We visited one
another's homes and got along perfectly.  We took trips to Aruba, St. Croix,
and went on many cruises together by ourselves.  More often than not, my
sighted friends ask, "Don't you take a guide with you?"  When I answer to
the negative, they're quite surprised, but in the end, they're all happy for
my living an active and productive life.

The Mediterranean cruise was one like no other.  In planning this trip, we
decided on a seven-day cruise, leaving out of Venice, Italy, going to ports
in Croatia and Greece.  The dates we chose were from October 9th through the 16th.  We dealt with a travel agency that is geared specifically toward
accessible travel for all kinds of disabilities and we decided, through this
travel agent, that we wanted to use Royal Caribbean as our cruise line
preference.  Thanks to the Internet, which opens a whole new world for us
blind people, we made our own flight reservations separately out of JFK in
New York.  Each cruise offers shore excursions at port destinations.  We
booked them separately on-line as well, informing our travel agent which
tours we selected.  Each tour had a description and we did extensive
research reading about the terrain, what types of clothing to wear, etc.
She in turn contacted Royal Caribbean to inform them that we would need
assistance on these excursions.  They said they couldn't promise any help on
their end for us, so we decided that we would ask people on our tour buses
to guide us.  All we needed was a helpful arm along with our canes.  I can't
say enough on how friendly and helpful these tourists were.  As it turned
out, both of us were guided by married couples, Vicki being guided by the
wives and I being guided by the husbands, and we all hit it off extremely
well.

How did Vicki and I plan to meet each other to take this trip?  We both met
in New York City on the day of departure, Vicki traveling up from Virginia
by train and I getting there by bus, and we met at a particular hotel.  We
took a taxi to Kennedy Airport where we had assistance from skycaps and
boarded our plane that was to take us first to Paris, then to our final
destination, Venice.

Upon our arrival at the airport in Venice, we were told that we couldn't go
to our hotel because St. Marc's Square was flooded by the high tides that
occur there every day from about October to February.  We thought, well, how bad could these floods be?  We remained at the airport for a couple of
hours, then we were escorted to a shuttle which took us to the water taxi,
which in turn transported us to the pier and then to our hotel.  Everything
was back to normal.  We were told later by tourists that these tides could
flood the streets with water to knee level, and in order to keep the flow of
the city going, (pun definitely intended) large narrow planks that look
similar to restaurant tables are put up so that people could climb up upon
these and walk across them to get where they want to go.

Vicki and I thought this would be fun, so the next day we asked someone from our hotel what we had to do to get to a particular coffee bar, purposely
planning this excursion during the time of the floods.  One of the lovely
hotel workers escorted both of us across these planks and it indeed was an
adventure and a true test of our cane skills.  The boards were extremely
narrow and we needed to walk single file behind our guide, being ever
cautious not to walk too close to the edge, while at the same time being
mindful of people walking on the same board in the opposite direction.
Whew!  What a relief when we reached dry land, and I have to say that the
skills of our guide, who had never guided blind people before, were
impeccable!  And I'll bet you two-to-one that people watching us did so with
bated breath!

We spent a day and a half in Venice before our ship set sail and we made the
best of every opportunity we had.  There was music every evening on the
square from one end to the other, and when one band stopped, another would
begin.  We also took a gondola ride, (what would a trip to Venice be without
one of those?) and toured St. Marc's Cathedral when it wasn't flooded over.
The most unusual part of being in Venice was that there was no automobile
traffic, just boat travel and walking.  We found some pretty nice
restaurants, thanks to the hotel staff who gave us fine directions, and if
we were not sure if we were walking in the right direction, we would ask
people on the streets and they would often walk with us to our destination.
It turned out that we weren't far off anyway.

Once on the cruise ship, we were assigned our cabin and we were taken there.  A note about cruise ships:  The deck plans on these ocean liners are pretty much the same.  In order to orient ourselves, we asked what side of the ship our cabin was on, either port (left) or starboard (right).  Most of the ships have braille signage, which is wonderful, and as we walked down various stairways to get from one deck to another, there were even braille numbers at the bottoms of the rails to indicate the number of the deck.  We used the stairs so often that more likely than not, we counted as we were going along.  There are also three significant areas we pay attention to, and these are forward, midship (or central), and the back.  Now, if our cabin was in the forward part of the ship, but we needed to go to the dining room in the midship a few decks up, we would walk toward the midship area and take the steps up.  Or, if we had to go to a much higher deck, we would take the elevator.  On the other hand, for example, the gym was toward the rear of the ship, so I would walk on my cabin deck to the rear, and then take the
elevator, as the gym was always on a much higher deck.

There is generally a wonderful buffet area and we had plenty of help getting
our food.  The staff was most accommodating and they would give us a rundown of all the food stations.  Talk about making decisions.  Figgettaboutit!  It was very difficult. 

Also, through our orientation, we learned where a lot of the different shops were, and we ambled in and out of them, asking what they sold in each.  You know how women are when it comes to shopping!  We could easily annihilate the stores leaving them with almost nothing! 

All the tours were wonderful.  In Split, Croatia, we toured the walled-in city and later we were treated to a sumptuous lunch cooked over an open fire outdoors in the countryside.  In Greece, we toured the Acropolis, walking
all the way to the top.  At first, the tour guide was hesitant about us
going to the top, but we assured him that we were both in good shape and he
was okay with that.  We toured Corfu, which was a small island, Mikonos,
which was considered a party island, and Katakalon which was where the first Olympics were held in 700 B.C.

On board ship, there is plenty to do.  We had parts of the daily schedule
read to us, and the staff in the purser’s office was very pleased to read
it.  I had my little digital recorder with me and recorded the items we
were both interested in.  The purser's office, by the way, is where people
could exchange money, and where we had to fill out those almighty customs
forms at the end of the cruise. 

At times, though, Vicki and I would separate and participate in different activities.  There's everything from Bingo to line dancing, and there was much music going on everywhere, day and night.  We'd go into the cocktail lounges and ask the bartender what the drink of the day was.  Gosh!  He probably thought we were lushes!  Both of us were really great in the "Name that Tune" trivia and, in fact, we won first prize.  We would go and nab different people, asking them if they would like to be on our team, and they were more than happy to oblige.  Besides, it was a way to con them into writing our selections down.  We know all the tricks of the trade!

Before we knew it, the cruise came to an end all too quickly, and we
reflected on the wonderful week we had on the flight home.  Luckily, we had a straight-through flight from Venice to New York, and then Vicki and I went our separate ways.

In closing, I know that we all grumble and moan about sighted people's
feeling that we're brave and amazing, but on the other hand, we're changing
their attitudes about blindness by giving them a positive picture, noting
that we're just like they are even though we accomplish our goals
differently in all facets of our lives.  On this particular cruise, we met
people from around the world and we, too, certainly broke down the
attitudinal barriers for them.  We were proof that blind people could travel
by ourselves and enjoy what this wonderful world has to offer us.  My
advice?  Try it, you'll like it!