CatG04

why did Glory pull over when you were leaving Miami on Oct 7. saw the medics out side the ship. Was sorry to hear about the little girl. Glad you had a great cruise.

I believe the OP was on the prior cruise. My group boarded on 10/7 and that was the 1st of 3 medical emergencies. The second was after leaving Cozumel, we were met by a Coast Guard boat for another sick passenger and the final was the tragedy involving the 8 year old girl. Needless to say we were glad to safely return to Miami.

Sadly, I was on this cruise. After reading the most recent article where a family member suggests she was pushed getting off an elevator, and after seeing what I saw, I must disagree. The elevators are not near the Atrium railings. I did notice a slope at the bottom of the plexiglass around the Atrium and thought that although not easy, I guess a child could use that to boost themselves higher onto the railing. Also, there are chairs and tables on (I believe) the 5th floor near the railings), so it's possible she climbed on one of those, or of course, she simply could have climbed on her own luggage. Again, only after seeing what I did during disembarkation (we all had to walk right passed the Atrium bar area to get off the ship) I believe she likely fell from the 5th floor and hit the table seen in the photo that was posted earlier of that area. Those tables are EXTREMELY heavy and also stationary, so anything hitting it will take quite a severe blow. Regardless of how it happened, my heart goes out to the family of this child, as well as the passengers & staff who witnessed it.

On another related note, (and I'm NOT saying this mother was not watching her child) people tend to have a very false sense of security for their children on cruise ships. I assume most people wouldn't let their 6 year old walk the streets of their own neighborhood alone, yet, I saw a boy approximately 6 or 7 years old on the elevator all alone during this very cruise. Aside from being able to get into their own trouble, you don't know who is on these ships. Anyone could grab a child walking alone and pull them into a room or some other secluded space. A cruise ship is not a shangri-la where nothing goes wrong and everyone is good and children are safe. The very same dangers that exist in the "real world" also exist on cruise ships.

I leave on the Breakaway on Sunday :) and I'm trying my best to understand the iConcierge app. I understand that I can use it to make restaurant, show & excursion reservations without paying the $7.95 fee (I believe), but if I want to be able to call or message people I'm travelling with, we would all have to pay that fee, correct?

My question is about calling home. I would like to be able to call or message with my family at home will I be able to do that with this app? I saw that someone said the charges for this type of usage would be about $0.79 per call. Is that accurate?

My carrier is Verizon and I just purchased a plan of 100 minutes, 100 texts and 100 mb of data to use OFF THE SHIP in Bermuda for $40.00. The Verizon rep told me I should turn off cell data while onboard the ship so that I don't unwittingly incur any charges.

I'd love any tips you can offer to help me not arrive home to a $500 cell phone bill?!

Many thanks!!!

Cathy