Bad experience with disembarkation shore excursion in FLL

[bplazo]

I third the wondering why anyone would want to go to the mall if they are that ill, unless they could not get a refund on the excursion.

 

To go off topic , what is so great about this mall that they make it an excursion? My husand and I will have some time to kill waiting for our plane so maybe I will suggest the mall. I am going to check out the luggage valet because it would be nice not to tote luggage everywhere.

[Mepsie]

To go off topic , what is so great about this mall that they make it an excursion? My husand and I will have some time to kill waiting for our plane so maybe I will suggest the mall. I am going to check out the luggage valet because it would be nice not to tote luggage everywhere.

 

It's the largest discount/outlet mall in the United States (sixth overall).

[JudithLynne]

Did the woman walk on the bus by herself and walk by you and your husband ? Could it be that she had another medical problem that was making her sick, such as an appendicitis and she was not contagious? Yes, if either was the case, she should have taken a taxi and skipped the mall portion. :rolleyes:

 

She walked on with her companions helping herself up with the hand rail on the steps at the door. As we were in the first row, she did walk by us flanked by her companions. That is why we doused ourselves with sanitizer as we had to use the same rail to get off the bus.

 

Yes, it's possible that she could have had something non-contagious that would produce her symptoms. We were not willing to take that chance, would you? Remember that we were in an enclosed bus with at least 80 minutes travel time with this shore excursion.

 

Judith

[Germancruiser]

Well as soon as you are off the ship they don´t give d...n what happens to you! We booked the transportation to the airport to avoid waiting in line for cab for ever! What a chaotic experience! It took forever for the bus to get ready, they loaded the bus in a orderly fashion sorted after airlines- well thought! At the airport, we were told that all Airlines are close by and had to get off ALL at once and there! Who is familiar with Miami International knows how very untrue that is. So why upload all the lugage in this orderly fashin in the first place. Did I mention the rude and pushy manor of the bus driver? Well in that case I sadly " forgot" to tip! We had to schlepp our luggage to the very end of the terminal.

[Iamthesea]

She walked on with her companions helping herself up with the hand rail on the steps at the door. As we were in the first row, she did walk by us flanked by her companions. That is why we doused ourselves with sanitizer as we had to use the same rail to get off the bus.

 

Yes, it's possible that she could have had something non-contagious that would produce her symptoms. We were not willing to take that chance, would you? Remember that we were in an enclosed bus with at least 80 minutes travel time with this shore excursion.

 

Judith

No I wouldn't. Yuck...I would not have touched the rails. I avoid the rails on the ship, too.

[Cruise Junky]

That same thought has been going through my head, too. If she was that ill, what on earth was she planning to do at a Mall? :eek: Was the site of department stores as the bus loomed closer to the Mall supposed to have some sort of miraculous healing powers?

 

Well now you know our secret, malls do have miraculous healing powers, especially that one :p

[bjm07]

In reading this thread, I am wondering if some assumption has been made regarding the nature of the "illness" that this woman had. We witnessed something similar at one of the Caribbean ports one day. One of those large catamarans returned to the dock near the ship, following its first excursion of the day. It pulled in to the dock and most people on the excursion got off. However, there was one woman who was very ill and they had to bring a wheelchair and to put her into it as she was unable to stand. In fact, she appeared so ill , very alarmingly so, and she was also vomiting. As we were watching this scene, we did overhear some conversations of those disembarking and of some of the crew from the excursion. It was told that this woman had been consuming many rum punches on the excursion on a very warm and humid day. Her husband who had accompanied her on the excursion, while we were watching, got off the catamaran and left her still on board. Others said that this was not an unusual occurrence for this woman. The crew of the excursion had to somehow get this woman into a wheelchair and get her off the vessel as they were scheduled to go out again and then they had a lot of cleaning up to do before they could re-load their next group.

 

I'm thinking that perhaps the woman in this story was not ill but rather inebriated and that is why she was on a trip to a mall. Did you ever try to talk a drunk out of doing anything they were determined to do?

 

For me, the whole situation was very, very sad. And, in the end, I felt really bad for the crew on the cat, sort of left holding the bag, since the husband had gone.

[JudithLynne]

I hope that those of you that responded to my thread will see this as I have an update.

I received a call today from Celebrity. ( Very nice young woman.) She was very apologetic and assured me that she too would have gotten off the bus.

Celebrity is giving me a full refund on the shore excursion; it will be applied to my credit card.

We are very pleased with this.

Again…thank you all for taking the time to read and respond to my post and for your support in this situation….

 

Judith

[bplazo]

Glad that it ended well.

[Happy2cruise]

Happy to hear your good news!

[Nebr.cruiser]

I hope that those of you that responded to my thread will see this as I have an update.

I received a call today from Celebrity. ( Very nice young woman.) She was very apologetic and assured me that she too would have gotten off the bus.

Celebrity is giving me a full refund on the shore excursion; it will be applied to my credit card.

We are very pleased with this.

Again…thank you all for taking the time to read and respond to my post and for your support in this situation….

 

Judith

 

Great! Way for Celebrity to step up. I didn't expect that they would.

 

My thoughts on the ill woman; possibly her whole party was booked on this tour to use up time before a late flight, like you were, and she/they didn't want to get separated or, the well ones, miss the tour or waste their money.

 

Do I think this is right? Um no, very selfish and foolish. I'd have gotten off too.