happybooker1

That's freaky about Jaycee Duggard. I'd have a really hard time not being paranoid.

 

With kids blocking stairways, a simple "Excuse me, please." Usually gets them jumping out of my way. With the little freaks hurting the seagulls, that goes beyond harmless kid mischief and I'd be hunting down their parents.

Birds lack the receptors mammals have that reacts to capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers & Tabasco hot. They were just enjoying a free meal of bread. Nothing else.

I used to have parrots whose favorite food was raw cayanne peppers.

Checking on both Norwegian & Princess sites I don't see any cruises listed out of Houston port during June through August??

Like in the loonnnngggg review by Senojttrb. We went just last Nov. 2013! That's when my son (16) & I went on it and had a GREAT time. Course we're more ummmm, laid back about things I guess.

We WERE in a van with other people but not 'crammed in" past capacity. The owner lady DID make a spiel about conservation & did show the eagles & parrots but heck! I used to have a parrot we trained to lay on his back so it's certainly not "cruel" or in humane to have a macaw do that. I also didn't have a bit of a problem respecting "their" rules about not taking pictures. Did not see the birds, etc. Being mistreated in any way & I used to work at a zoo so have a fairly good idea of what "mistreatment" looks like.

We were in a tour with 8 other Xrails and ours did break down and have to be replaced. However my son drove right through the biggest water "puddle" he could find & got water in the carburetor. If you've EVER done ANY mudding before you know the machines can take a lickin' but they will EVENTUALLY need to be tuned up. And I don't know a mechanic around that won't bang and hit on a motor occasionally -- it's called "percussive maintainence" LOL! Our guides were nothing but helpful, kind, courteous, and spoke passable and understandable English. Once our Xrail was replaced there were no more problems except those caused by the PEOPLE driving into trees & getting hung up on rocks.

The Cenote IS spring-fed water-- if you knew a little bit of the geography of the country you would know that. And neither I nor my son were much worried at all about the possibility of germs from the bats. Fish poop and pee in all the lakes I've ever swam in and they have WHALES in the oceans. We were much too enthralled looking at the bats, stalactites and beauty of the jungle to be paranoid about GERMS.

Our trip back was uneventful and you get about 1hour each way on the Xrails so it's a good little jaunt. The showers are primitive but served their function well, and everyone in our group were happy to be able to clean ourselves up to look somewhat presentable!

Now the chips & dips I WILL agree were skimpy and just canned cheese, but again, we weren't expecting a MEAL & we' re not picky. Overall, we had a great experience & my son at least would do it again! I probably wouldn't just because I'm older & my back was sore for a couple of days afterwards. But that COULD be because I let my son drive......

We weren't at any time pushed to buy the goggles, bandanas, bug spray, shoes, or other things they RENTED us for the tour. As far as I could tell, no one in our group was pushed into buying anything. Oh, they pushed their pictures and videos they took pretty heavily, but once I told them I wasn't interested they didn't mention it again. And that's the same for any tour I've been on.

Frankly I found that long review ..... Well I just bet those folks are loads of fun at a party. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the entire experience. It was well worth the money IMO.

1984. It was GREAT!

Our Second cruise the first formal night DS & I headed to the MDR. Right as we walked in we heard his name being called. Since he has a fairly uncommon name we turned around and there was a classmate from his Jr. High & his family! DS had a "pal" to hang around with the rest of the cruise!

This last cruise I had been talking about going on at School (I'm an elementary school Librarian) for weeks before. We were going for T'giving week. The next-to-the-last day before break, I was in the hallway talking about how much I was looking forward to it when a secretary overheard me & exclaimed "Mr. X (our Assistant Principal) is going on that cruise too!" We ran into him & his kids a few times on the ship.

One tip I haven't seen mentioned is this one. You can hang it on the outside of a bathroom or closet door & have lots of pockets to keep things handy and off the counters.

Also on a lot of the new ships they have shower dispensers filled with shower gel and shampoo. So unless you're picky about what you use, you don't have to bring those 2 items.

1. Cheaper cruises
   
2. Embark from my home port
   
3. Lots for kids/teens to do
   

So you get the same bacterial sinus infection annually? My last sinus infection was viral so antibiotics wouldn't work. By the way, the reason why your doctor has never offered to just write you a script for antibiotics is because they can't. Antibiotics is not a maintenance medication. If your doc gives you a script without seeing you and gets audited, he/she would get in trouble.

Hmmmm. In Post #12 in this thread NotEntirelyNormal states her Dr. would. I was just pointing out MY Dr. wouldn't.

They can with a school ID. I can't think of a school that doesn't provide them.

4A school district & my son is a Junior and they've NEVER had ID's. No metal detectors in the doorways either.....

What the heck do you need 100 Amoxicillin pills for? Are you planning on swimming in raw sewage? .

Split among me & 2 other friends. About 3 x a year I'll get a sinus infection. Nice to not have to go to my Dr. Whom I've been seeing for over 15 years and he has NEVER offered to just "write me a script".

S-O-C-K-S. In Spanish means "it is what it is".

Since we happen to have a prescription drug plan, we actually pay a lot less for antibiotics in the USA then we would pay in Mexico.

Hank

Does this factor in the cost of the Dr. Visit to receive the script? I bought 100 amoxicillin for $25 in Belize. My Dr. Charges $75 (with insurance) for a visit to get diagnosed + a script, which is $4 @ Target. So almost $80 for 10 days of pills vs $25 for 100.

In no particular order:

1. The Poseidon Adventure
   
2. Ghost Ship
   
3. Jaws
   
4. Deep Blue Sea
   
5. The Ruins (especially if touring the Jungle in Mexico)
   
6. Sphere
   
7. Open Water
   

I brought bandanas from home & bug spray. We rented goggles for my son; I had sunglasses that worked just fine. He rented gloves since he was driving; I didn't. You will need the swim suits under your clothes if you intend to swim in the cenote. I think the goggles were $2 to rent. The lockers are free.

I WAS glad I had a waterproof camera to take. DO NOT take your cell phone or good camera unless you have a waterproof case to put it in. Think ahead as to what you'll do with a pile of muddy, wet, stinky clothes on the ship. Either plan to pay for (or do) laundry or opt to wear "throw-away" clothing. Plastic croc-like shoes are good to use & rinse off fairly well plus fitting the requirement of closed-toe shoes.

The tour itself is about an hour out and an hour back, so you get a LOT of trail time.

On our November cruise we got to Galveston about 10:30, somewhat delayed by parking area, but were on board eating on the Lido by 12:30.

Sis got engaged last summer & decided the weddings in Florida. I immediately looked for an airline point card that would help me & son fly there. I found the Chase Ink business card to offer a pretty good deal, and I also Found out you don't HAVE to own a bisiness to get a business card.

You can research it & find the best deal for you. Long story short, with the 50K bonus points Chase gave me for spending $5,000 in 3 months, my RT tickets from Houston to Tampa will cost me $6.36 + the points I have racked up from September to December. The points from The next 2months will go towards paying for our hotel room.

NOTE: I already charge EVERYTHING on a CC each month then pay it off in full to get free gift cards or merchandise. Been doing that for 8-9 years now.

At least when we went in November. 2 sample tubes of toothpaste, breathe-right strips, Bonine, tea, and I'm sure there was one other thing ( but NOT a razor --pink or otherwise!).

We did this past T'giving week on Magic out of Galveston.

Second sea day: rained 10 minutes, then stopped,a hour later repeat. An hour later, etc. Had to keep getting up from the lounge chair & running for shelter as the bottom would drop out! Deckhands were CONSTANTLY squeegeeing the desks.

Plus it was cool & windy.

Roatan had 100% rain plus 40 mph wind gusts. The only tour I know that took place was one to a museum, & they came back early. Pouring rain 90% of the time & wind that broke any umbrella you had.

Belize had the coldest cold front they've had in several years (this from a native). It was about 50 degrees the morning we anchored. Couldn't snorkel a bit-- the water was ice cold.

Cozumel -- they had so much wind that nearly all the water activities were cancelled. Didn't matter to us as we were doing the Xrails through the jungle, but it was definitely chilly.

Weather has the possibility to wreck too much havoc in November, IMO.

Can anyone give me a quick list of the lines that sail out of Texas please?

Duplicate post

And glad you got it resolved quickly. However, I use my CC for literally EVERYTHING to rack up airline points. All my bills are paid through my CC, meals out, groceries, trips through the fast food restaurants, ANYTHING purchased online, Starbucks, gas, etc., etc. When on our recent cruise I called the bank & they made a note on my account whom I was cruising with & what ports we'd be stopping at. And I didn't (and haven't to date) had any problems.

I've done this for at LEAST 9 years. I hardly have more than $20 in my wallet at one time & that will last me 5-7 days.

I've lost my card twice (my fault both times) and several years ago there was a big CC compromise of Ross stores & the CC of EVERYONE was cancelled & re-issued. Maybe I've just been very lucky, and I know ppl steal the numbers and charge stuff up, but I don't think you need to go to the extremes and not use credit/debit cards or only stick with cash.

(Now watch. My bank account will be compromised tomorrow!)

A numerical pad & a magnetic strip thing. I don't know about a "code" to get in though.

That's why I had to break it up into consecutive posts!

But we were stormed out :mad: so I could've answered this question because Son is 16, but alas.........

Particularly if you are quiet about it &'do it away from the other ppl or wait until the photo area clears out.

It is, after all, in Mexico.

Is a pretty good indication that the cruise line expects fewer ppl to be cruising that week, hence no or fewer ppl with SB.

Unfortunately we ALWAYS have to cruise during school vacations. It KILLS me to see the fare the LAST week in August (when 90% of Texas schools have resumed school) 1/3 to 1/2 off of the price of the week before. This is from Galveston ports.