Cruise2014Fanatic

We are supposed to be boarding Liberty right now , instead I am in the ER

 

Last week I was having some abdominal pain so I went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with gastritis. He put me on Nexium so as soon as i came home from his office i threw up and felt better. By the weekend I felt 100% no pain

 

This morning as we are getting ready to leave he calls me and tells me I need to go to the ER asap because my blood work shows elevated liver function and maybe I suffer from gallbladder stones? He urges me not to go on the cruise unless ER clears my blood work and ultra sound

 

So hysterically I go to the ER and now waiting for the results ... hoping and praying it will be OK and we can actually make down to the port in time

 

Called RCCL they were nice enough to give me couple options to salvage my vacation and money ... i did not buy the trip insurance let this be a lesson learned

 

I am so sad.. i feel so stupid :(

 

 

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The good news is that Obama will pay for the bill if you need surgery. Good luck and good health.

You appear to be looking at this the wrong way.

 

Ships pulling out, therefore removing tourist dollars, is a way to make sure these types are punished, caught, observed, and ultimately prevented from doing more harm, hopefully sending an economic message to the people that are supposed to be ensuring our safety. I applaud NCL for doing this, and hope others follow suit.

 

To just continue calling on that port sends the wrong message. Do they care? Who knows?

Should they send the same message to Miami and Fort Lauderdale as well?

Thanks for the response. However after the recent news I do not want to take any chances. I'm not the only one either. Hopefully the Roatan locals will heed the warning of NCL and fight for better security on their island. Otherwise I'm afraid many other tourists like myself will be leery of traveling there.

 

If I do decide to leave the ship, I will probably do an excursion through RCI as it seems like it will be more secure. I am willing to pay more for an excursion that will be more secure.

 

If I was in the States, I would be packing heat. But obviously that isn't allowed here.

You make some good points. You may also want to reconsider leaving from Fort Lauderdale... They had 7 murders and 73 rapes in 2013... I wouldn't feel safe, but that's just me. Oh yea, watch out for Miami as well. Not sure about 2013, but in 2012 they had 69 murders.

Looking for a little help, please. What Hotels in Galveston would be good for a one night pre-cruise stay? Preferably any that provide a shuttle to the pier?

 

Thanks in advance!

No shuttle, but highly reccomend the Courtyard Marriott in Clearlake. Directly across the street from NASA. Great, new hotel. About 10 min away from Kemah Boardwalk... Great way to start your trip.

Has anyone done the Monkeylala ATV excursion? Worth it? Experience? How old to drive the ATV?

 

Thanks so much

Did the ATV and zip line through island marketing... They used monkey lala ATV and Clip n Zip... Right in the carnival port... Both were great... We had transportation issues from coxen hole, but that had nothing to do with the experience once at the location.

Th ATV was fun. Tour through the woods on trails... Down to the beach... Stopped for pics... Then more time on the trails... Before we went back, the guide stopped at a location where you could swim with sea turtles... I didn't swim, but my 8 year old did... The turtles were awesome... The excursion was a highlight of his trip.

Just going by what the staff told me. I realize you have to take anything a staff member says with a grain of salt...

Gotchya. That's strange... When my son took his lesson, they spent half the time doing barrell rolls and the superman. Guess it depends on who is working. I usually only saw three guys... An Australian dude that always wore a gilligan hat... An English dude with a beard... And an Hispanic guy... Dont remember any names.

Thanks for this, I've been waiting for someone to post some information on the flowrider.

 

On boogie board, I've been told no tricks that let you directly touch the mat, i.e. the board must stay under you. So no supermans, no barrel-rolls, no jumping barrels. Hopefully, they do have a divider for the boogie boarding, since it helps the line quite a bit. Please keep us informed.

I beg to differ.. Was on the March 9 sailing and I saw...and participated in all of the above...

From what I can tell there are no chairs although I see picnic tables in some pictures and limited shade. This would be an issue for my group since my mother needs a comfortable and shaded place to sit.

 

Here is a portion of the cancellation email Coral Breezes sent (in green).

 

I'm afraid we've had to suspend our Manatee Watch, Reef Snorkeling, and Bannister Beach Break for the time being. The management team has undergone some personnel changes lately. Unfortunately, they proved last week that they are not up to par.

Was there three weeks ago... Though chairs aren't included, there were a few guys renting chairs for 5 bucks. Highly reccomend... Beautiful island.

that's our policy - off and in the room safe. We have phones with us 51 weeks a year, that one week in the caribbean on a cruise we like having them turned off:d

amen

I hope no one is in the same position we were in last week... Here's how our cruise ended...

After going to bed on our last night after 1 am (VACATION!!!), our son jumped off the bunk at 3:45 and puked all over the floor... We called the front desk to let them know... Full expecting attendants in white space suits to rush to our room and lock us down... Nope. After 3 calls, an attendant finally came after about an hour with a towel... He was great, but underprepared. He called in backup with a carpet cleaner... The atrocious smell seemed to go away... But was back an hour later... We asked for them to come back, but never had anyone come back... Other than our fantastic room attendant... Who tried to help... We stayed in the room until we left and dealt with the smell... I can't believe they didn't more... Heck, I was getting off the ship, but expected... After their hand sanitizing brigade being out all week, that they would want us off ASAP. nope... Not even an earlier time was offered... Told us to keep our door OPEN to reduce the smell... And to wait.. We were free to go down to studio b and wait with our group as well... Our choice... ARE YOU KIDDING??? My kid keeps throwing up... And they say we are fine to go down to studio b to hang out???? In short, if you are in cabin 8439 this week, on behalf of my 8 year old, I apologize for the smell in your cabin... If you get sick on the ship this week, my son was probably close to ground zero . The only extra help we got was from a very kind woman running the line for customs... My wife explained that our son was sick.. That we waited in the line the whole way to the baggage area... And still getting sick... She very appropriately cleared the way for us to get the heck out of the building...

Of course, that will mean no one can reach you in case of emergency. I prefer to leave cellular service on for emergencies.

If a true emergency, people can call the ship... No chance that I am paying for random calls to my cellphone every time it rings. Turn it off... Disconnect... Be done with it. If people REALLY need to reach you, they call the ship... Same as they have done for decades..

If all you are worried about is data, just make sure "data roaming" is off. If you don't want to be able to make or receive any calls, then airplane mode will do it.

Yes, airplane mode.

You can turn on wifi once in airplane mode, just make sure you don't take it out of airplane mode (watch for the little plane icon in the upper left corner... And make sure it stays there....)

Can't wait..definately apart of my trip...thanks for sharing.

Was there last week.. Our second trip to Nachi... Really enjoyed it. We did the banana boat ride on a whim... And it was a lot of fun! Food was great. Drinks were great. Service is great. Atmosphere is great. The one downside is that we had an 8 year old... And though we wanted quiet and relaxing... And he would have loved any beach... If you look down the beach to the right, you see a ton of water toys in the water ( icebergs, trampolines, etc)... He couldn't understand why he couldn't go join in the fun.... It only took a little while to get past it and we had a GREAT day.

It's six bucks for all you can eat !!:eek::eek: How much do you pay when you go to Furrs or Golden Corral ? Twice as much.

Loaded question. I wouldn't step foot in furrs or Golden Corral if my life depended on it :)

Hey Cruise2014Fanatic-

I'm just now reading your posts; I'm kinda flabbergasted actually. Even though you were preparing to disembark, the crew should have been crazy concerned about 1. your son's condition, and 2. the possible spread of noro, especially prior to the next sailing. Did your son's condition turn out to be an attack of noro, or something else? Whatever the case, I hope that he feels much better...and thanks for sharing your cruise review!

Thanks for responding and for somewhat validating my concerns... I was beginning to think I was crazy or that my post was a figment of my imagination. He is doing well now. He was sick al day Sunday and on Monday. He went back to school today... My wife kept him home yesterday.... I felt kind of bad because we got home quite late on Sunday night and I was on a 6:00 flight for a biz trip on Monday morning.. Leaving my wife to deal with it. They both report that he is much better... Not sure of it was Noro or not... But it definitely wasn't due to eating too much junk food... The little dude was sick... All over... If you catch my drift.

I was quite stunned by their reaction or lack of reaction.

 

After going to bed on our last night after 1 am (VACATION!!!), our son jumped off the bunk at 3:45 and puked all over the floor... We called the front desk to let them know... Full expecting attendants in white space suits to rush to our room and lock us down... Nope. After 3 calls, an attendant finally came after about an hour with a towel... He was great, but underprepared. He called in backup with a carpet cleaner... The atrocious smell seemed to go away... But was back an hour later... We asked for them to come back, but never had anyone come back... Other than our fantastic room attendant... Who tried to help... We stayed in the room until we left and dealt with the smell... I can't believe they didn't more... Heck, I was getting off the ship, but expected... After their hand sanitizing brigade being out all week, that they would want us off ASAP. nope... Not even an earlier time was offered... Told us to keep our door OPEN to reduce the smell... And to wait.. We were free to go down to studio b and wait with our group as well... Our choice... ARE YOU KIDDING??? My kid keeps throwing up... And they say we are fine to go down to studio b to hang out???? In short, if you are in cabin 8439 this week, on behalf of my 8 year old, I apologize for the smell in your cabin... If you get sick on the ship this week, my son was probably close to ground zero :). The only extra help we got was from a very kind woman running the line for customs... My wife explained that our son was sick.. That we waited in the line the whole way to the baggage area... And still getting sick... She very appropriately cleared the way for us to get the heck out of the building...

Quite surprised that no one has commented on this... With all the norovirus issues and all the talk here about those issues, doesn't anyone find this concerning? My wife and I were floored with their lack of response and their lack of concern that some kid was literally puking all over a room and his parents were spreading germs all around the ship. I just found the whole situation quite odd.

So, are you saying you were on an independent excursion that needed to tender early, and no tickets were needed?

 

When you went to try to pickup tender tickets and were told you didn't need them, are you Diamond plus?

 

The compass this last week says they were needed, so this is different information than that shared by others.

 

 

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I waited in line for tickets... It was a cluster... No line.. Just a mob... Got tickets for tender 3... Then while walking away, the woman announced that she had just confirmed that tickets weren't needed if you had an excursion.. Either with RCI OR PRIVATE.. So we headed down. The guy downstairs didn't want to let us in, but I explained what the woman told us as I kept walking past him and got in line. Another RCI rep came through asking if people had tickets... Many let her know that they had been told... She left... Flustered... And no one ever asked for a ticket again once we got down to level 2.

I would wait for tickets just in case, but would then go get in line...

Hello Cruise2014Fanatic: After your post here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1988203

 

I booked this Courtyard Marriott for my cruise. Any info you can share is greatly appreciated. How was the hotel? Any restaurants within eating distance? Is it truly within walking distance to NASA? Did you use cabs for transportation, if so do you remember the cost?

 

Apologies to OP for hijacking this thread.

Don't have time to do a longer review this morning, but it was a great hotel. About 30 min from the port... Very close to kemah... Right across street from nasa... Seems to be brand new... Very nice for a courtyard. Highly recommend.

Any feedback? Considering this excursion.

 

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Just back from Roatan... We did the zip line and ATV tour through island marketing... The tours themselves were great... But we had transportation issues. If you are docking in mahogany bay... I highly recommend. For the ATV portion, we went through the woods on trails for quite a while... Then down to the beach... Stopped for picks... More riding in the woods on trails and stopped to SWIM WITH SEA TURTLES. that was unexpected. My son thought it was the highlight of the trip. The turtles were HUGE. the guide was great and a lot of fun...

Here's what I posted on the royal page about the transportation to the location from coxen hole ( we were on navigator of the seas)...

Did all private excursions... Gifts caye in Belize... Rained for about 10 min, but otherwise was great... Nachi Cocum in Cozumel... Great service... Food was good... Drinks were flowing... Nuff said. Roatan we did a private tour through island marketing... Zip line and ATV. they use clip and zip and then monkey la la trails for the excursion... Both locations are actually over mahogany bay... And the tours themselves were great. Getting to the location was a nightmare... The booth I was told to go to inside the port was closed... Some guy outside was holding a sign WITHY NAME ON IT... But said he was picking up for another tour... The woman with the island marketing sign had no clue who we were... And did nothing to help. In the end, got a cab... The clip and zip people paid me back for it... Then gong home, the monkey la la people called island marketing to pick us up... They never answered... So the OWNER gave us a ride back to the port in his car.... Booked all through island marketing... But Roatan doesn't seem to have it together...

Few quick thoughts... We were on NOS last week as well...

Stateroom attendant was the best ever. Always around. Room was always clean. Very gracious and always happy to engage in conversation. Knew us by name from the get go... Made extra towel animals for our son every night. Can't say too many kind words about him.

Food was pretty good. Menu was as expected. Menu was online so we knew what would be offered... Didn't do any specialty restaurants. Ate dinner in windjammer one night and did MTD every other night. Better than carnival.. And just as we remembered from our last royal cruise.

Pool Bar bartenders were awful. One day... When it was very slow at the bar... They kept passingly wife and I over for others... Even after asking for our order... Moved on to another guest... Then laughed about it when we called him out on it. Front desk listened to the complaint... But did nothing.

Bar tenders in Bolero were great. Quick... Very personable... They were great.

Did all private excursions... Gifts caye in Belize... Rained for about 10 min, but otherwise was great... Nachi Cocum in Cozumel... Great service... Food was good... Drinks were flowing... Nuff said. Roatan we did a private tour through island marketing... Zip line and ATV. they use clip and zip and then monkey la la trails for the excursion... Both locations are actually over mahogany bay... And the tours themselves were great. Getting to the location was a nightmare... The booth I was told to go to inside the port was closed... Some guy outside was holding a sign WITHY NAME ON IT... But said he was picking up for another tour... The woman with the island marketing sign had no clue who we were... And did nothing to help. In the end, got a cab... The clip and zip people paid me back for it... Then gong home, the monkey la la people called island marketing to pick us up... They never answered... So the OWNER gave us a ride back to the port in his car.... Booked all through island marketing... But Roatan doesn't seem to have it together...

We had a great week. Would do it again... But had one MAJOR concern...

After going to bed on our last night after 1 am (VACATION!!!), our son jumped off the bunk at 3:45 and puked all over the floor... We called the front desk to let them know... Full expecting attendants in white space suits to rush to our room and lock us down... Nope. After 3 calls, an attendant finally came after about an hour with a towel... He was great, but underprepared. He called in backup with a carpet cleaner... The atrocious smell seemed to go away... But was back an hour later... We asked for them to come back, but never had anyone come back... Other than our fantastic room attendant... Who tried to help... We stayed in the room until we left and dealt with the smell... I can't believe they didn't more... Heck, I was getting off the ship, but expected... After their hand sanitizing brigade being out all week, that they would want us off ASAP. nope... Not even an earlier time was offered... Told us to keep our door OPEN to reduce the smell... And to wait.. We were free to go down to studio b and wait with our group as well... Our choice... ARE YOU KIDDING??? My kid keeps throwing up... And they say we are fine to go down to studio b to hang out???? In short, if you are in cabin 8439 this week, on behalf of my 8 year old, I apologize for the smell in your cabin... If you get sick on the ship this week, my son was probably close to ground zero :). The only extra help we got was from a very kind woman running the line for customs... My wife explained that our son was sick.. That we waited in the line the whole way to the baggage area... And still getting sick... She very appropriately cleared the way for us to get the heck out of the building...

Why did you turn back clocks? Were you traveling into a different time zone? Don't remember having to do that.

I was on this cruise... And thought it was strange as well. Instead of staying on ship time, we adjusted the clocks so we were on port time... I've never seen it done before... But people looked at me like I had six heads when I asked... "It's daylight savings y'all" ... "Okie dokie, not going to argue with that logic" :eek:

No they don't :( apparently dr. Pepper is not part of the soda package and they only have regular.

 

I didn't take any pics today....too crowded everywhere. But I do have good ones of the room I need to upload.

 

Dinner was a solid B today. Tasty but not out of this world. Had a few pics taken and changed into regular clothes and now heading back out.

 

 

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They actually do have a self service machine in the windjammer... When you walk in, go to the right... It's tucked in right next to the ice cream machine half way down the line... Old school soda dispenser... But it works :)

Most importantly - here is the color if the safe :)

 

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Interesting post... The "safe guy" was on this sailing... He is laughing at the pic :)

Darn, I thought I found a loophole and could leave the rumrunners home. Thanks for the quick reply. happy cruising

Just play dump and walk right past the collection table.... That's what I do. They don't pay attention... Or care.. And if they do, just put on your "I'm so dumb" face and let them have it. Odds are that this approach results in you.. 10 min after boarding ... Mixing your own drinks in your cabin.

Does anyone know what the adult cupcake class does?I have seen a hamburger but honestly I'm not interested in that type of decoration.Are there others? Being it is now over twenty a person, I want to make sure it is something I can enjoy and do later at home. I can sign up now before my cruise or wait till I get on board. What have been the experiences? thank you

How about a cheese burger?