Welcome to Ageless Accessible Adventures

 

It was 17 years ago this month that I went to France on my first press trip. I was there to write about the combination of Cognac and travel. I fell in love with the idea and came home thinking about how I could continue in this world. 

In January 2010, I launched Wine And Spirits Travel, the blog that would continue to take me around the world, sampling, visiting wineries and distilleries, and learning about the destinations they came from. I enjoyed all of it and was able to bring friends and family along. 

I've dealt with progressive autoimmune issues since 2015 and things changed. I no longer was able to do two to three trips per month. Drinking alcohol became less frequent and doing it for hours a day did not mix well with my medication. I started organizing up my trips to fit my changes. 

Although things have been different, it's all been under the Spiritstraveler and Wine And Spirits Travel umbrella, but in the last few years, as I evolved as a full-time wheelchair user, things changed again. I've wanted to be an advocate for other disabled travelers.

This has especially been put forward this year. I saw a study by TravelAbility about all the aging Baby Boomers who are looking for accessible travel. Over four million of them will be turning 65 this year. I am one. 

A lot has been accomplished in the world of accessibility since my parents traveled. I know there is still a long way to go in making the travel world more accessible. I'm taking one more step by rebranding this blog to Ageless Accessible Adventures. The concentration will be on accessibility for all, with helpful information and only pertinent advertisers. 

Please join me on this journey.

 Marcia Frost

My Thoughts About My Princess Alaska Cruise

 

I’ve done a CI Living TV segment, three stories, and nine blogs on my Princess cruise and there are a few more articles to come, but I wanted to put together a summary for all of those thinking about going on a cruise to Alaska.


Here’s a breakdown of my opinions:

The Ship

I have always preferred small ships and my previous two cruises on American Cruise Lines and Seabourn were just that. Alaska didn’t work out with those, and I was anxious to give Princess a try. A mega ship was out of the question, but the Royal Princess, a mid-sized ship with about 3,500 guests, seemed doable.

It turned out to be just that. The ship was spread out enough that I never felt crowded, and we didn’t really wait for much (except at the Gelato Shop where there was always a big line). The only times I wished I was on a smaller boat was when we were waiting a long time for an elevator.

The embarkation and debarkation went better than any of the other large ships I have been on.


The Cabin

We had cabin D302, and it was an accessible balcony cabin. It was much bigger than I expected, with plenty of room for me to get around it my scooter. The bathroom was also fully accessible. I did not get to tour any of the other cabins so I can’t compare.

My only complaint is a common one: a huge shortage of outlets. There is nothing to use in the bathroom and only two outlets (one European) by the desk. There are no outlets by the beds. I had brought a power strip (without surge protection) so that helped. (See more of my tips on what to bring here.)


The Food

We only went to the buffet once and found the cold food warm and the warm food cold. In my opinion, they had way too many options to keep up with all the food. We didn’t go back and there was no need to because food in every other dining option was great.

Most of our meals were in the main dining room, though we loved the International Café for a quick morning breakfast. We ate at Sabatini’s once and everything was absolutely fantastic. We also loved Alfredo’s and ate there twice. We were lucky enough to be invited to the Chef’s Table and that is an experience you must do if you can get in.

The Nightlife

I can’t tell you much about the nightlife because we didn’t get to experience much. This cruise had us up very early in the mornings and we were just too worn out to go to any shows.


The Itinerary

If you are going to Alaska for the first time, I highly recommend the Inside Passage itinerary. It gave us a nice sampling of the state. The biggest draw for me was the day sailing around Glacier Bay National Park.

My only issue with the itinerary was that we didn’t get into Victoria, Canada, until 9:00 pm and were only there until just before midnight. I know there was an issue with slowing down after Ketchikan because of the whales, but I hope Princess is able to adjust the cruise for more time in this beautiful British Columbia city.

Wheelchair accessibility

I did not have any issues with accessibility on the Royal Princess. They could use some more automatic doors—the ones they had worked well---but opening some doors was the only issue. I loved the Medallion app to use the bracelet to open my cabin door and to be able to order room service anywhere on the ship.

There was an area in the main dining room to put scooters and wheelchairs if you wanted to sit in a chair (I was able to at the time), and tables were accommodated for those who pulled their chairs in. I saw a good selection of handicapped bathrooms. There were also accessible tours at every port.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Would I do this cruise again? Probably not for a few years, but I would certainly do another itinerary on the Royal Princess.

 

Blogs on my trip on the Royal Princess to Alaska

(from first day to last)

 

Visiting Seattle Before Going Aboard My First Princess Cruise

 

All Aboard the Royal Princess to Alaska

 

A Day on the Pacific Ocean with Royal Princess

 

Finally in Alaska: A Day in Juneau

 

Discovering Skagway with Princess Cruises

 

Royal Princess Sails Through Glacier Bay National Park

 

Exploring Ketchikan, Alaska

 

Victoria is the Last Stop on the Royal Princess

 

Leaving Our Princess Cruise and Back in Seattle

 

A big thank you to Princess Cruises for hosting us on this adventure.

Brittany and I had an unforgettable time.

Leaving Our Princess Cruise and Back in Seattle

After a week on the Royal Princess, it was time to leave. Sometimes I am anxious to get off a ship—especially in hot weather when my only escape is a too cold ship. This was not the case during our voyage to Alaska.

Everything had gone pretty much according to plan and Princess Cruises had treated us very well.

We had to get up very early to have breakfast and get the last of our carry-on packed up and ready to be off by about 9:00 am. We had decided, instead of rushing to the airport, we’d take an 11:30 pm flight home and explore more of Seattle.

The Hilton Motif had generously agreed to let us spend the day and have dinner before heading to the airport. I had taken advantage of Seattle’s excellent Port Valet program, so we didn’t have to worry about our luggage.

 

Brittany and I went to the dining room for our final breakfast. The food and service were as good as usual, even though it was clear the staff needed to get everything turned around quickly for the arriving passengers on the next cruise.

I also pre-arranged an accessible van to pick us up and take us to the hotel. It was running late so we did have to wait outside for a while, but there was no rush. The Hilton Motif was only a few minutes away from the pier.

The hotel had a modern feel, and we were welcomed and invited to breakfast at their Frolik restaurant. By this time, it had been about four hours since our light meal on the ship, so we gladly accepted. We both had the pancakes with banana puree, and they were delicious.

Hilton Motif is just a couple of blocks from Pike Place Market, and then a short walk from there to the Seattle Aquarium, harbor cruises, the Great Wheel, and Miner’s Landing, a popular spot for restaurants and shops. We decided to start at the market.

We left our carry-on luggage at the hotel and Brittany walked aside me as I rode my scooter. It was a Saturday and it got quite crowded as we approached the market, especially where the original Starbucks was located. It didn’t seem to make sense to wait an hour to get the same cup of coffee we could get at home, so we headed across the pedestrian street to the actual market.

If you’ve never been to Pike Place Market (this was my third time), it can be overwhelming, especially on a crowded day. There is so much to see, and it goes off in various directions. We had more planned for our day, so we just went through the basics.

We purchased some souvenirs and watched them toss the fish at one of the vendors where you can see the freshest seafood you ever imagined. There are also vegetables that look just picked, flowers, arts and crafts, and small businesses selling just about anything you could imagine.

We still had more attractions left on our Seattle CityPass and decided to go to the Seattle Aquarium. It’s actually one of the smaller aquariums I’ve been to, but we saw exhibits on marine life that call Seattle home, including salmon. I was impressed with how many hands-on experiences they had for kids—and adults—to participate in.

After the aquarium, we decided to have lunch a block away at Miner’s Landing. To be honest, we were so hungry and ready to get out of the heat, we didn’t pay much attention to where we ate, but Wing Dome turned out to be very good. It was nice to be on the water with the breeze too.

We did some more shopping for gifts before heading back to the hotel. We were both really tired and I thought I might be coming up with a flare from a long week of activity. There was time to rest before our dinner.

Frolik Kitchen at Hilton Motif is on the rooftop. It is indoor and outdoor. We started with cocktails inside and then went outside to have dinner.

The menu was impressive, and we had plenty of time to enjoy it because our 11:30 pm flight had already been delayed until 12:30 am. We started with one of the biggest hot soft pretzels I’d ever seen. The Tavern Pretzel also came with a beer cheese fondue. I decided I’d better take most of it to go if I was going to eat any dinner.

 

I had a cranberry brie sandwich with homemade chips and Brittany went with the seafood pasta. We both loved our dishes. The dessert menu sounded great, but we weren’t hungry for more. We knew we had a long night and took a bread pudding and warm chocolate chip cookie sundae to go. Mine only made it about 15 minutes before I decided I couldn’t wait to eat it!

We got changed into comfortable clothes for our red-eye flight and waited for the accessible van to pick us up. We were understandably exhausted, but we also didn’t feel great. By the time we got to the airport, sick was a more accurate term.*

We managed to rest on the plane and get out of the airport for our two-hour ride home. As exhausted as I was, it was well worth the experience Brittany and I had over the previous nine days. She was hooked on cruising after her first time.

I want to thank Princess for all of their hospitality. I hope to be back on board with them in the near future.

 

 

I was hosted on this trip, but opinions are my own. 

Click for Previous Day's Blog

 

*It turned out we both had Covid. I got right on Paxlovid since I am immunocompromised and recovered in a few weeks, without major complications.

Visiting Seattle Before Going Aboard My First Princess Cruise

Brittany and I had traveled to a lot of places, but we were getting ready for our most exciting adventure ever. We were heading on a cruise to Alaska.

This was to be Brittany’s first cruise and my first trip to the 49^th state – which actually was the 50^th state I would be visiting, therefore completing the United States. It was the most planned trip I ever took. I put a lot of time into every detail. The fact that I was traveling in a mobility scooter made it a little more challenging, but everyone I spoke to in advance was very helpful.

The cruise we had chosen was roundtrip from Seattle, Washington. I had been to Seattle three times before and it was a city I really loved. I didn’t want to just have it be a jumping point to get on the ship, especially since Brittany had never been there.

I worked with the Visit Seattle team to plan out a trip that would have us see a lot, without a lot of transportation, both before and after the cruise.

I usually fly out of Champaign, but we needed a late evening flight, so we had to go to Chicago O’Hare, about two and a half hours away. We had a friend drive us and everything went smoothly to get on our American Airlines flight. I was even able to get us an upgrade to Main Cabin Extra. I hadn’t flown in that in a while and it was really nice to have the extra room on an almost five-hour flight.

It was nearly midnight by the time we arrived at the Homewood Suites Downtown and we were both exhausted. We dropped our bags and went right to sleep.

Since there was a two-hour time difference from the Midwest, we ended up waking up early. We enjoyed the hot breakfast at the hotel and decided to head out for sightseeing. CityPASS had given us a code for the pass that would give us tickets to five popular Seattle spots.

I divided the places we wanted to go to between the ones that were easier to get to from the Homewood and the ones that would be closer to the place we would be after the cruise, the Hilton Motif. It was an easy walk (for Brittany, and scooter for me) to our first stop, Chihuly Museum and Gardens. 

Even though it was a Saturday, we had gotten an early start, and nothing seemed crowded. We showed our pass and went right into the museum.

I didn’t know a lot about Dale Chihuly beyond the beautiful art he created with glass before this. I had just seen a few pieces among the museums around the world that had them. I knew the Chihuly Museum and Gardens featured a selection of only the Washington artist’s works.

Everything there could only be described as breathtaking. As we went from room to room, my mouth was constantly saying “wow” and Brittany, who dabbles in art herself, was wide-eyed at every creation. I am not sure if I was more impressed with how the glass pieces were created, or how perfect the color combinations were.

The gardens were just as spectacular, especially with the view of the Space Needle in the background. That would be our next stop.

I’m not sure how, in all my trips to Seattle, I had never made it to the Space Needle. It was easy to take the elevator to the top in the wheelchair. It was just a separate elevator that we needed to get on going down.

The view of the city, ocean, mountains was certainly different from the Chicago observation deck.

We could even see our cruise ship from there. Many people were taking selfies in different positions. It certainly helped that it has the world’s first revolving glass floor.

The top of the Space Needle also has a wine bar and a coffee bar. The latter sounded really good, but we were running tight on time and really wanted to go to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). I’m glad we did because it quickly became one of my favorite museums in the country.

MoPOP is focused on entertainment, especially music. The place is huge, and you could easily spend more than a day here, especially since it’s filled with videos to watch and music to listen to. 

The music is from everywhere, but there are exhibits highlighting local bands and performers, such as Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Foo Fighters. I also spent some time browsing the Hip Hop exhibit and looking at the pile of famous guitar.

The television and movies represented in the exhibits Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction, Roleplaying, Scared to Death, and Fantasy included artifacts from Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Harry Potter, the Wizard of Oz, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller

We were hungry, but were saving lunch for the ship, so we just had a snack at the museum’s Culture Kitchen before we headed back to the Homewood Downtown. We packed up our carry ons for easy boarding. We were soon heading to Pier 91 to board the Royal Princess on a voyage to Alaska. 

Click for Next Day's Blog

I was hosted on this trip, but opinions are my own. 

Lots to Update!

It’s been a crazy year trying to organize my work life and my health. I got tired (as I’m sure my readers have) of apologizing for not getting things done. It was time to streamline and not attempt to do more than I physically can, only to apologize when I don’t get it done!

I’ve been doing this blog for 14 years. I haven’t continued the way I’d like to and it’s not because I don’t consider it a priority. I’m only able to work part time now and I need to make sure I earn money during those hours.

I no longer want this blog to suffer so I’ve given up my time in the others, the most notable of which is Spiritstraveler. That column was all about products I discovered. The problem was that it took a lot of time and earned very little money.

I will still be doing some product reports, but it will only be on things I’m really interested in and you’ll see them floated here, on my Pinterest, and in my social media (@Spiritstraveler on everything). I will not be updating the Spiritstraveler blog.

I want to be able to spend more time on this blog in addition to paid stories on publications. (You can see those on the side of this page, under “Other Stories by Marcia,” or at my Linktree.) I’m also building up my YouTube channel.

The other thing I’ve been working on to try to monetize this blog are partnerships. These are only products I believe in and have a tie-in to travel. If they are things you could use, I’d appreciate your support:


World Is Wide Keepsakes

Kristie creates beautiful handmade travel products at very reasonable prices. Here’s the website. If you use my code at checkout (BAMF10), we both get 10%.

Amazon Influencers Page (I’ll be updating this page regularly)
These are all things I love, from travel gear to beauty products to pet products.

Viator
This tour company has inexpensive tours everywhere. Click on the link and search before your next trip.

Accessible Go
For accessible travel (something I know a lot about these days), Accessible Go can hook you up with everything from hotels to wheelchair vans. Click on this link.

Buy Me A Coffee
Or, if you want to see more blogs here and you don’t want to order products, you can always click and Buy Me A Coffee.


I have lots of fun stories coming up from the Midwest to Seattle and my bucket list 50th state: Alaska! I’ll be heading on the Royal Princess in less than two weeks.

It will be a bit before I have the blogs up while I get publication stories done, and prepare for two surgeries, but you can follow my journey in real time @Spiritstraveler on Twitter, Threads, Instagram & YouTube.

Best,
Marcia

Welcome To Travel in 2022

​Happy New Year! The last few years have been different for everyone around the world. This is especially true for those in the travel industry. I’ve stayed pretty close to home. 

 

I do not travel as much as I used to anyway.  I’m now looking for more accessible locations and needed to be cautious since I have autoimmune issues. 

 

I’ve been using the time at home to train Teddy, so there will be a lot of pet friendly trips in the future! I’ll be catching up on previous travel soon. With everything I’ve learned since getting my first dog since I was a child, I decided to write a book. 12 Things You Must Know About Raising A Puppy will be out this spring. It’s filled with tips, stories, and hope. I’ll be posting when it’s out.

 

As for 2022 travel, I have some fun stuff coming up, including a very unusual cruise. 

 

If you’d like to know more about my health issues, read through my Medium page (there are some interesting travel stories there too).

 

Best,

Marcia