N2Mischief

Lap Band would not be my choice. It has one of the lowest success rates. I have had 2 friends that had to have emergency surgery to remove the band when it started to perforate the stomach. If your relative has a lot of weight to lose, a more invasive surgery would most likely have a better outcome. Look into gastric sleeve (success rate not as high as more invasive procedures but done outpatient).

We have seen lots of dolphins, but coming up the Pacific from the Panama Canal we saw a LOT of sea turtles. They were so cute, just their little heads were above water and they would watch the ship before diving under. We have seen whales on 2 occasions but they were quite a ways away. We also saw a lot of barracuda in the Caribbean.

Lovecruising100%, have a wonderful time! We still have quite a wait, 116 more days! I am a bit jealous, I wish ours was sooner!

KPfromCT, ours is the first on Glory, then 2 on the Breeze, then one on Splendor for the Journey concert.

We have done b2b on different ships. We mentioned it when we checked in to the first ship. Then we went to guest services multiple times to ask if they could offer any help getting our bags to the second ship. They said "no". So on switch day, we stayed on the first ship until they were calling "last call" and then we rolled all our luggage to the new ship.

I have heard others report that they were helped with their luggage.

We have 4 b2b cruises booked for Feb/March for a total of 28 days sailing. 3 different ships. We will just take it as it comes! No complaints! It will be worth it I'm sure.

I remember on one cruise a honeymooning couple came on board. When they were checking in, it was discovered they booked a HC room because they heard they were bigger without the extra price. Turns out another guest needed a handicapped room and when booked there were none available. They put their name on some kind of waiting list. When it was discovered the newlyweds were not handicapped, they were bumped. Trouble was, the ship was full. So the honeymooning couple was put in a room with bunk beds. This was NOT an upgrade.

The four cruises encompass 3 ships, 1st on the Glory, second and third on The Breeze, and third on the Splendor. The last two the itineraries are the same but different ships. We plan on staying on board most of the time on the 4th.

On the first cruise some friends are meeting us, and on the third cruise my sister and BIL are joining. The rest are different itineraries, but we do repeat a few ports.

I think the super long cruises sound amazing!

I have done 9 months on the beautiful USS Ranger, touring the far east.

My husband was stationed on the USS Ranger in the early 80's!

I loved our Hawaii cruise, it too was out of Long beach. It was a very much older crowd, lots of wheelchairs and oxygen tanks (not complaining, I may be in a wheel chair for parts of the cruise's recovering from major surgery). I did notice the ship got very quiet very early. One night at the midnight comedy show there were only 7 people in the audience! lol Try not to get picked on in that one!

We had originally booked just 3, but then my husband saw the Journey concert on the Splendor and booked it. It is the exact same itinerary as our 3rd cruise so we will probably just stay onboard and relax.

How long is the longest you have spent at sea at one time, including back to back cruises? What did you like/not like about being at sea that long?

Our longest has been 15 day Panama, 15 day Hawaii, and 17 days total back to back Caribbean. We enjoyed all three and were not quite ready to come home.

This year we have booked 4 cruises back to back for a total of 28 days sailing. :eek:I am wondering if it will be too long, or if I am a true die hard and not ready to come home after.

This only happens in the movies or on TV. In reality, collecting and processing the blood is highly regulated and time consuming. First, the donor has to be screened both for their safety (to assure donation doesn't cause a medical event for them) and to assure that the donor does not have any medical conditions that could be passed along to the recipient. Everyone thinks of HIV, but they are also screening for things like malaria, Dengue, flu, various types of hepatitis, etc.

 

Once the donor passes the screening, the blood then has to be collected in a sterile environment and immediately mixed with anti-coagulant. Otherwise it will just form a bunch of clots and be useless — and even harmful — to the patient. After it is collected, the blood is separated out into its different components (red blood cells, plasma and platelets), and each type is stored at a different temperature. Meanwhile, samples of the blood are sent off for various infectious disease testing, which usually takes a couple of days. Only after this is received (it must be done by a different facility according to FDA regulations) can the blood be labeled with the blood type and ready for transfusion.

 

Sorry, I worked in a blood bank for 7 years, so I tend to get on my soap box about these things.:o What I'm trying to say is that they can't just holler "Is anyone O neg?" and take their word for it, and then hook them up directly to the other person. To do so would be risking not only the health of the patient, but also the person donating. And it's incredibly risky. The patient could have a reaction to the transfusion (which is still a danger even after all that testing), or they could be transfused with an illness that will impact them for the rest of their life!

When we were on Liberty last year they called for type O donations. Requirements were just that we were healthy and had had no alcohol in the past 24 hours which you would think would be hard to find on a ship. We rushed down to help as both my husband and I are O+, we stepped of the elevator and there were about 70 people lined up to donate! So it doesn't just happen in the movies! lol

Last Feb we did Liberty to the Breeze. Both my husband and I are handicapped and have trouble moving baggage. We are Platinum guests. We went to the pursers desk and asked if they could help and they said, "no". We asked again on debarkation day, same answer. We ended up having to drag our luggage 2 ships down. It wasn't all that big of a deal because most of our luggage has wheels, but I was exhausted when we got to the Breeze.

It must not have been too bad, because we are booked on back to back to back to back cruises starting end of February, 1st on Glory, next 2 on Breeze and final on Splendor. Between Breeze and Glory we have to stay one night in a hotel, should be interesting! lol

We just booked the Splendor for March 15, with Journey. We bought the VIP concert tickets. I don't think the cruise price was any higher, but the concert tickets for Journey are higher than for other artists. The VIP tickets were $250 each, which made the cruise more expensive in a round a bout way.

We are booked on back to back to back cruises starting end of February in the Caribbean. Last night my husband booked a 4th! The Carnival Splendor on March 15 so we can see Journey. We went for the VIP tickets, can't wait!

Thank you Wizard of Roz! It probably would be best to plan ahead...but my husband always wants to think he is a rebel and waits as long as possible to go to the muster. I think next time I'll go and save him a seat! lol

I have a neuro-muscular auto-immune desease called Myasthenia Gravis. I look normal, and a lot of times I can get around just fine. The nature of my disease is the weakness can come on without warning and stop me in my tracks. Climbing stairs is out of the question but I could do it in an emergency (though it would take me days to recover). I sometimes can't hold up my head, or chew, or swallow...and the worst is when I can't breathe.

Soooo, in the past, on cruises, during the emergency drill they turn off the elevators and I would climb the stairs to my muster station and then pay for it for a few days. I finally got smart and called carnival and they said they can arrange it so I can take an elevator but I don't need to get a handicapped room, which pleases me because I would rather see it go to someone who more needs it.

I have a handicapped placard and only use it on bad days, but boy do I get glares! I look like I am moving fine, but inside I feel on the verge of collapse. People can be so mean with the glares I get!

I gotta say, I love Carnival and I have noticed the downfall. That being said, it is not enough at this point to warrant another line. What has me the most upset is not being able to smoke on the balcony. I smoke E cigarettes. I only smoke on my cruises because I enjoy it and find in relaxing. They won't even let E cigarettes on the balconies.

I think it depends on you. What is important to you?? Believe it or not, we took ONE Royal cruise on the Monarch of the Seas, I don't have it listed in my sig because I don't remember the date. It was just ok. The reason we won't take another Royal is the coffee was in big urns and not in a machine. The coffee was always luke warm and weak. We happen to love coffee. Sounds silly, but that is what is important to us.