Viv0828

We had thought about switching from Verizon to T-Mobile but monthly charges would have been $20 higher and a new phone would have been $400 higher. That means we would have spent $900 more each over a 2 year period.

Though we travel a lot we do not spend nearly that much on phone charges, so we decided to just stay with Verizon and buy international voice and data add ons as we need them.

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If the passports are in a safety deposit box at a bank that's a problem unless the bank is open on Saturday

I would call the cruise line asap and see if they can help out.

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We were in Romania last year and the Balkans this year so looking forward to your review.

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If you google Park West Art Auction reviews you will see most of the comments are not favorable. Buyer beware.

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We have a list of all important numbers with us on our computer such as passport numbers, phone numbers to call if CC's go missing plus card numbers, insurance policy numbers and phone numbers if we have a claim, etc. Can't think of others at the moment but we try to think of all eventualities in case of an emergency or a theft.

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FaceTime and the Internet work best at least popular times like early morning and dinner time when less people are online.

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Bring extra. My DH accidentally dropped our granddaughter's glass bottle of insulin and it shattered. We were on land in a big city and it took a lot of phone calls to get more right away.

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Very interesting

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Such an interesting report. Keep it up please.

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This is so much more interesting than all the celebrity crap you see on what passes for news these days. Mahalo.

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I have a small kipling purse for essentials like meds, eye drops, Chapstick, camera and iPhone which is also my kindle.

I could put everything but my camera in my pockets but the camera won't fit and I try to always have it with me.

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It's comments like this that make me sometimes wonder why I come back to cruise critic:rolleyes:

and what's wrong with that comment? i was simply politely speculating and i received an equally polite answer from the OP.

i have learned some new things and have been reminded of other things by various posters on this thread - not by the OP himself.

1. There is an emergency number on my seapass that I can call.

2. Take a fully charged cellphone with you - we always do since we use ours as an e-reader and for geocaching. we bring a portable charger with us as well.

3. We will program the number of the port agent at each port in our phones - just in case.

4. We will have a contingency plan in case we or part of our family cannot make it to the meeting point on time. Maybe everyone will turn on their phones at a specific time in case we need to communicate??

And there are probably other things to do in case of an emergency that I cannot think of at this time. Please add any thing you think will be helpful.

I also think the cruise lines are contributing to the problem of missing the ship a teeny bit by shortening times in port. Because of this, there are folks that will cut it closer than they normally would because they are running out of time to do their excursion, beach day, or whatever. Please understand I am not blaming the cruise lines as folks need to manage their port times, but a longer day in port would probably cut down on those missing the ship. That did not appear to be a factor in this case, however.

Aloha!

i am a skeptic but i certainly wouldn't call myself a flamer or hater. i am enjoying this tale as it unwinds and i think the OP is a very interesting writer. he certainly knows how to capture the audience's attention and is quite good at emotionally involving them. kudos to him!

i don't know whether this is true or fiction and i don't really care. i find the op's writing style very engaging so i will read the rest of the story if he returns. 'nuff said.

We travel a lot so we always have euros with us. But when we arrive at the airport or train station or port at a non euro country we just use the ATM there. If there is a problem - and none so far - we just ask our cab driver to take us to one or we ask a local person where we can walk to one.

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We never check luggage so 2 carry ons plus a smaller bag for stuff we use on the flight. Doesn't matter if the trip is for a couple of weeks or a couple of months.

Now if we were going somewhere that was really cold we might need to check a bag for bulky warmer things - don't really know.

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I agree with Terri. Very interesting. Keep it going and thanks!

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We have always cruised on ships with about 1200 to 2600 passengers and prefer the smaller ships. Then last summer we cruised on a 380 passenger ship and really liked it much better. Now we realize we much prefer the smaller ships but the ones in the 1000+ passenger range are ok too. You could try a mega ship and see if you like it - we have no interest in doing so. Different strokes!

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DH, our daughter, 2 granddaughters and I rented a car for a week and had a blast. I did a lot of reading and research and planned our tour. We made all our hotel and B and B reservations online. We had a blast and did exactly what we wanted to do. We picked up the car in anchorage and dropped it off in Seward. Great week!

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Most companies these days have periods - some more than others - of bad customer service. I won't bore folks on here with my debacle with Apple.

I have never cruised Carnival but I personally would chalk the incident up to a lazy, sloppy customer rep and try again. It really could have been any cruise line.

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I turn off data roaming except when I need it and put the phone in airplane mode. I use it as my reader with the kindle app and we use it to geocache. Since almost everyone in our family has an iPhone I can text with them for free when I have free or cheap wifi ashore. Then I also check and answer emails.

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All I can say is that I am very glad that a majority of the posters here don't work for RCI or any cruise line

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Many companies bend the rules. Oftentimes it gets them good PR and repeat customers at little or no cost to them.

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We enjoyed the Aegean odyssey on the voyages to antiquity line. About 380 passengers tours and gratuities were included in the price.

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