Disney Wonder to Catalina Island

Cruises are always fun as they are generally wheelchair accessible and have great food and entertainment.  Because of covid and strict vaccinations rules and protocols, I have not been on a cruise since the Carnival Victory in January 2020.

I wanted to try a different cruise line for my 8th ever cruise in March 2023 and chose the Disney Wonder sailing 4 nights out of San Diego.  I will go in more detail about the ship itself in a separate blog post, but will write about our first stop of 2 going on a tender to Catalina Island, California.

Getting Off The Ship

getting help on the portable ramp to get into the tender boat

This port requires using a smaller boat called a tender boat since the Disney Wonder could not dock close enough to the land.  I have been on several cruises where I had to get on an accessible tender and am glad that the Disney Wonder had one too.  To leave the ship, each of us had to swipe our Key to the World card which is our room key, ID and our card to buy things on the ship.

being positioned on the lower level, portable ramp in front of me

A few staff members put out a portable wheelchair ramp and connected the ship’s open door to the tender.  One guy then wheeled me backwards and made sure I got on the tender safely.  There were 2 levels to this boat but no elevator so I was just positioned where I was out of the way from others on the lower deck.

on our way to Catalina Island

The ride to the port was never rocky and it was great to see the views of the water and of our ship as we went to port.  When we arrived at Catalina Island we just had to wait for everyone to get off first before staff lowered the side ramp for me to get off the tender.

side ramp to get off tender

Catalina Island

view of Catalina Island from the port

Catalina Island is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California and is a part of the Los Angeles County.  The main city on this island is Avalon which has a population of just over 3200 people.  The cruise ship stayed at this port from 8.30 AM to 4.45 PM, so we had plenty of time to explore this cool little town.

made it to Avalon on Catalina Island

Our Day

we got some snacks here

There weren’t any wheelchair accessible excursions and we didn’t want to transfer to a coach bus.  We thought we would just explore the area that wasn’t too far from the port.  Since we didn’t get a wifi package on the cruise, one of our goals was to find free wifi and catch up on messages and emails.

got a few items from the grocery store too

We went to get some candies from a local shop and a few items from a grocery store.  After checking out a few streets we found a library and used the free wifi at the outside seating area.  When we were done we took a few pictures near the beach area and relaxed at the pier for a bit.  It end up being 3 hours at Avalon and we were ready to get back on the ship.

using the free wifi just outside the library

Accessibility

The accessibility of Avalon was pretty good.  Since we only explored areas not too far from the port, I think the city tried to make it more inclusive to everyone.  Most of the sidewalks had curb cuts and there were paved pathways by the beach.  Some streets were inclined which we avoided going up.  We also noticed there were lots of golf carts parked on the streets and people driving them around.

this street was a bit steep, there are golf carts parked and people driving them everywhere

Final Thoughts

Overall we had a great experience from getting help to get on the accessible tender to spending over 3 hours at Avalon on Catalina Island.  Even though we did not go on any excursion, we had an enjoyable time off the ship and exploring a small town on land.  Check out my next post when the Disney Wonder stopped at Ensenada, Mexico.

the pier