How Do You Cruise? - Page 3

Save more$ forget a balcony unless you are going to Alaska which I reccomend  as a must for anyone who cruises. All the islands  cruises you see nothing except ocean till you get there, not worth it. In fact all the islands are the same. Of all the lines  I have  sailed on, I like NCL the best ,Holland America the least the ships are to old and in ill repair plus to many wheelchais and people in walkers.Once 2 wheel chairs in elevator thats it, you have to wait and wait .Its strictly for senior, SENIORS.

      NCL young new lively ships. Princess overpriced for what you get. Celeb and Carnival are ok but sometime  two  many rug rats running around dependng on season

Take an outside obstructed view. to save $ No balcony. If they are selling a sightseeing side tour , you can do it on your own for 1/2 the price or less. Pack a bottle of vino with you as theirs is $ 6 to 7 a glass.Use your vino in their glass. Also do not be afraid by the new huge sizes of ships they really know how to handle volume of people, it amazes me.

Only one bottle??

Put the Baileys in a soda bottle. or better yet ArazonaTea  or Starbucks Coffee Frappe Bottles   which you can't see through, In luggage.

It goes thru like the arport. They normally don't open unless deemed suspicious,. You will be glad yo went to Alaska, my opinion best cruise destination. For this cruise YES A BALCONY SUITE, You will see whales, seals,maybe a polar bear or two or even a brown bear on shore , and big mountain goats up on higher shores.  Visit  Mendelhall Glacier. This is only side trip worth the money. Vancouver cost more to go out of then Seattle check it out.

I am a bit late to the party, but here are my 2 cents.

Thanksgiving has gotten to be such a huge hassle at my oldest sister's home (more and more people every year...last count we had 75 RSVP's).

Every family brings a dish so they don't miss my candied carrots at all.

The DH and I started cruising that week a few years ago and absolutely love it!

This year we have a balcony cabin on the Panorama deck of the Carnival Conquest.

Still do the whole roast hunk o' beef (rib roast) for a small family gathering on Christmas Eve.

Everyone dresses for my sit down, nice china/silver/real cloth napkins beautifully decorated table and TRY to go to church afterwards, lol.

My wife spent 10 yrs at sea, the first 5 yrs as a maitre D for Celebrity.Two of my best friends are retired Cruise ship Masters.

Top tip if you respect food never sail with Carnival.

I have now been on 15 to various places.  Of all the lines I still like NCL. I like everything about cruising except the little guy who comes around at pool asking if you want a drink at 9AM in the morning and then every 7 minutes..I have learned to make believe I do not speak English I answer him in Pig Latin.   I DO NOT DRINK

 

Agree with KIPPERS  above  Carnival was worst of all except that the crew was nice..   I learned a long time ago Dont take balcony unless something to see like Alaska  Take obstructed Ocean View  Much cheaper. Dont take side tours  do your own for a 1/4 of price.

Cain't do it. Between the mother-in-law's ship running aground (an Alaskan cruise), rampant norovirus among other delights, occassionally backed up raw sewage, rogue waves, fires.. I can't bring myself to step foot on a cruise ship, not even for the food.

How many car accidents daily and how many car deaths daily. Do you ride in cars?

Funny you mention that, not only a car but a motorcycle as well. Never said it was rational, just don't want to drown :) Road burn's a-OK.

The best food I have had on a "cruise ship" was on the old wreck that travels between F/Laud and Freeport.On the return trip at night it had a restaurant that you payed a few $ fee to eat in.I ordered lamb chops and was asked how I like them cooked, I said pink and that's how they came.

On top of being a maitre d my wife was certified by the Miami coast guard as a fire fighter.Up until 4 yrs ago we spent 6 wk Jan/Feb a year in Kendal Miami

Our annual Tday cruise is coming up in 3.5 weeks!

Learned not to over pack years ago, but had surgery last week (gallbladder, the procedure where they make some stab incisions and blow your belly up with gas) and am still SO swollen!

Hurts too much to even try to button things (mainly jeans and skirts, shorts).

Please someone reassure me that this will resolve before I have to buy more clothes and pack 2 sizes of everything.....

 

mimi

Mimi,

You will be just fine. The first 3-4 days are always the worst. Stay away from anything tight for now. Laparoscopy is usually 2-6 weeks recovery but every patient is different. Take care of the incisions.
When getting up from a sitting position , go slower , the last thing you want is an incisional hernia.

Be good to your body and it will heal quicker & stay positive. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Petals

I had colon and gall blad. problems > wore a bag for 6 monthes developed 2 hernias had them fixed with Mesh and it got infected. 326 suitures later they removed infected mesh and replaced with new kind. Still bothers me 6 years later. The Mesh stuff is No Good and there are many law  suits regarding it. I am in a class action one  myself.. I was on introvinus med for 3 weeks for infection. The original stitches actually blew out from the infection. .

We are getting soo OT, but just a comment here.

Ed...I had some "female" surgery and a urologist was supposed to place one of those mesh things during the bladder part of the procedure.

Well, when the doc came around the next am, he told me he was not charging for his part of the operation because the hospital didn't have the proper mesh available.

The day I was discharged I started seeing the attny ads about all the problems related to its use.

I guess he (urologist) got the word about them recalling this dangerous product and would rather lie than admit he had been using a faulty item.

I cannot imagine the suffering you (and others) continue to experience.

 

mimi

Blimey I had Laser surgery 3 month ago to remove a beach load of stones.Two days later I could pee over my garden wall, the neighbours were as un-impressed as the judge.Thank you NHS.

The reason for the use of mesh is because in med school  they do not teach as much about suthering as they used to. They also started  using staples and  now glue to seal  outer incisions

   , Mesh is used cause its fast, and both time and labor saving.   But like cooking some things are not good when done fast and are just done to save $.  There are many mesh manufacturers that are involved in class action law suits as we speak

   , I for one hope they all lose.  They all  do supposed  extensive testing, and  knew in advancewhat could happen.  I also blame our esteemed FDA whose executives are former drug company people.

     I know what it feels like with mesh and hope it does not happen to others. Many surgeons will not use it.

We should ask the CT powers that be to open a new "just talkin' thread for all us oldtimers.

You know, a safe place that we can b###h about our sorry health and post pix of our scars, ROTFL!!!

 

mimi

 

* Oh yeah... and post the vids of our grands breathing ;-)

 

m.

i've been on royal caribbean, princess and holland america.

 

each ship had something i liked best about it, but holland america definitely had the best food!