Survey finds most disabled passengers are satisfied with accessibility on ferries and cruise ships

Disabled passengers appear to be broadly satisfied with the accessibility of ferry and cruise ships, according to the results of a government survey.

The latest survey, carried out in 2024, shows that 88 per cent of disabled passengers who received assistance to access services or facilities on the ship were satisfied or very satisfied with that support, the same proportion as in 2023, and higher than the 84 per cent in 2022.

The satisfaction level rose to 92 per cent for assistance with boarding or disembarking the ship, compared with 91 per cent in 2023 and 90 per cent in 2022, according to the results of the maritime passenger accessibility survey.

The 2024 survey results also show that 85 per cent of disabled passengers were either satisfied or very satisfied with the boarding and disembarking process, compared with 80 per cent in 2023, and 82 per cent in 2022.

And 84 per cent were satisfied or very satisfied with their use of the lifts on the ship, compared with 69 per cent in 2023 (the question was not asked in 2022).

The survey was carried out by the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and asked questions of those who travel on a ferry, cruise or hovercraft, both within the UK and internationally.

DfT and MCA said the results showed that “most respondents were satisfied with their last journey experience on ships”, although disabled people were “slightly less satisfied with their experience” than non-disabled passengers.

The survey ran between 29 October 2024 and 15 November 2024, but the results were only released on Friday (24 April).

There were more than 8,600 respondents to the survey, and more than 1,500 of them were disabled people, while nearly 700 were a carer or companion answering on behalf of a disabled person.

The number of respondents was lower than the 2023 survey, when there were nearly 16,700 respondents and more than 3,000 disabled respondents, but higher than the 2022 survey, which heard from more than 900 disabled people.

Picture: A Viking cruise ship travels along the Thames past Greenwich