Traveling While Being a Part of the Deaf Community

If there is anything that I want to be sure to do someday, it would be taking a deaf cruise! I haven't done so yet because of financial and time limitations. It is one thing to participate in a hearing cruise or tour with an interpreter, but it is another to be on a cruise where everyone—or at least a sizable group—is part of the deaf community.

Several travel and cruise opportunities are open to deaf and hard of hearing people. Some that are exclusively for deaf people feature entertainment by deaf and hard of hearing performers and magicians. Deaf and hard of hearing people can go on pleasurable cruises (complete with interpreting services and childcare services with ASL-capable childcare providers) and group tours to (to name a few):

• Alaska
• Bahamas
• China
• Hawaii
• Mexico

Or just travel to:

• Canada
• Costa Rica
• England
• Guatemala
• Italy

Some agencies also provide special cruises just for deafblind people, and an exclusive school for the deaf alumni cruises. Some of the travel services are:

• Deaf Vacations powered by Heart Cruises, better known as Deaf.Vacations.com
• Earthbound Expeditions: Offers small group interpreted tours.
• Hands On Travel - provides signed tours of countries around the world
• Passages Deaf Travel: I met the owners of this company at a DeafNation Expo. They told me that they had decided to switch from providing travel services generally, to providing travel services only for the deaf. One reason why is because the owners have interpreting backgrounds.
• Another deaf travel agency is Deaf Globetrotters Travel, which offers interpreted tours and cruises.
• Tenon Tours has deaf-friendly tours of Ireland, and at the time I learned of them, they were planning one of Costa Rica.

In addition, the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH) offers travel tips for hearing impaired people, and advice for tour operators.