Note on the source. This source should be read with caution: it may be funded by the sector, a draft or a thesis, or rely on self-reported or modelled data. See the limitations below.
The question
What initiatives has a major cruise company put in place to make its services accessible to people with disabilities, and how do they measure up against a six-dimension model of accessible cruise tourism?
The method
Critical review of the literature to build a six-dimension model; qualitative case study based on secondary data (the company's 2019-2023 sustainability reports and its brands' websites); synthesis and logical inference. No primary data or passenger sample.
What the study finds
- Drawing on the literature, the author builds a model of cruise accessibility with six areas; the last concerns working with suppliers in the places visited, such as port services and excursion organisers.
- According to the analysis, the biggest gaps are ashore, in the supply of excursions usable by people with disabilities. The author attributes this partly to differing (legal, economic) conditions across destinations and to local operators being independent businesses.
- Where passengers are taken ashore by tender boat, wheelchair users have reduced chances of landing at some ports; how well vehicles, ramps and lifts are adapted differs from one port to another.
- Special dietary needs, which are handled on board, usually cannot be guaranteed during shore excursions.
- The author suggests the company should add adapted vehicles and guides' preparedness for disabled visitors to its criteria for choosing excursion suppliers, and should work with terminal operators and local authorities on technical and organisational solutions.
People with disabilities are numerous and their number is rising, and for them the shore experience depends on terminals, transport and local excursions more than on the ship. Ports and cities that make infrastructure, vehicles, guides and information accessible address the weakest link the study identifies.
Limitations
A single case based exclusively on information published by the company itself (possible lack of objectivity), with no field verification or surveys of passengers with disabilities; not generalisable to the whole industry.
Płoska, R. (2025). Accessible Cruise Tourism – a Case Study of Carnival Corporation & plc. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio H – Oeconomia, 59(1), pp. 153-171.
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