Not to be

I’ve just been on the phone about a possible holiday for us.

As I’ve said before, it’s our ruby wedding anniversary later this year so I was thinking of organising a ruby-themed holiday for us at that time. For our pearl anniversary we did this & ended up having an enjoyable holiday in Gouda, in the Netherlands, spending the actual day in The Hague seeing, among other things, Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.

I discovered there is a river cruise ship called the Scenic Ruby. I found out where it would be at the right time & the availability of an adapted cabin. So today I rang to find out the finer details of access.

To be fair, the assistant was very helpful. The ship itself should be no problem with. Admittedly I wouldn’t be able to go on the sundeck, but we would have a private balcony so I could get fresh air. All the bars & restaurants I could get to. The only other place I couldn’t get to the wellness facility. Still, I told myself I probably wouldn’t have used that anyway, though a massage or a hairdo on gala nights might have been nice.

However, the real problem is that the trips, even from the airport to the ship, are in non-accessible coaches. And even worse, the ships often double-berth which would mean they couldn’t guarantee I could even get on or off the ship, even at the start or end of the holiday.

We have been toying with the idea of this holiday for a while. We enjoyed our river cruise in 2011. We’ve dithered about this trip because of the sheer cost of the holiday. It is expensive but we’d concluded it would be an unforgettable experience of a lifetime, cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam, &, after this Christmas, why not blow some money & enjoy ourselves while we still can.

However, having garnered this information, I’m now left wondering why adapt a cabin for a wheelchair user, if no wheelchair user is likely to go on the trip as they can’t be confident of getting on & off the ship at both ends of the trip. I can only assume they are catering for those who have minor mobility needs e.g. someone who uses a stick & needs to hold a grab rail or be able to sit for a shower, maybe uses a wheelchair for long walks only, rather than one who would use a wheelchair for the majority of the time as I would. To walk beyond the cabin would be too much for me.

Oh well, it’s back to the drawing board & Plan B. At present the idea of a holiday in Vienna appeals – there’s a Ruby Hotel there. If anyone has any good suggestions, or even ruby related thoughts that might send me off in some direction, don’t hesitate to let me know.