Former Paralympian suffers “holiday from hell” on cruise around South Africa

A British cruise tourists in South Africa has described how her dream cruise around the country turned into a nightmare due to a lack of accessibility equipment and infrastructure, and a lack of planning or information sharing on the part of the travel agent with whom she booked.

Suzi Rockett, a former Paralympian and permanent wheelchair user, said she ended up being “shipbound” for 12 days during the voyage, because she could access the tender that took passengers ashore at many of the ports of call.

The trouble started as soon as she arrived in the country, as the hotel she booked as part of the cruise package did not provide an accessible room for her. She could not use the toilet or shower safely as a result.

In an interview with the BBC, Rockett, from Doncaster, said the travel agency in the UK she’d booked with, Cruise Kingdom, had been informed of her accessibility needs, but hadn’t passed that information on to the hotel or the cruise line.

She realised it was “impossible” for her to use the tender vessel once aboard the ship, as it was only accessible from a 13-step gangway ladder.

She spoke to the mobility manager on the vessel, who said that the travel agent had not informed the crew that Rockett was a wheelchair user.

Rockett has travelled around the world to compete, including to the Paralympic Games in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta, and has been on 20 previous cruises without major incident such as this.

“We were really gutted, really disappointed,” she said. “I just didn’t feel I had any power to make any difference at all, that’s the most frustrating thing. Who do they think they are?” she asked in reference to Cruise Kingdom. “You just don’t treat people like that and I’m not going to be treated like that.”

While Rockett did not accuse South Africa’s lack of accessibility as the cause of her nightmare holiday, its clear that there is much progress to be made in ensuring that the country can be enjoyed by all cruise tourists.

“South Africa’s a wonderful country, I was really excited to see it,” she said. 

It’s unclear which cruise line Rockett sailed with from Cape Town, but only Azamara and Norwegian Cruise Line were operating 12-night South Africa-intensive cruises from the city in January and February this year.