Cruisebug in Canada

It might not impact many CruiseCritic folks - but I'm a bit incensed with the notice I received today about the Mariner of the Seas' "redeployment" at exactly the same time we booked to take a 7 day SE Asia cruise out of Singapore (March 7/17). While it was too late in the day to contact travel agency (RCCL referred me back to them - due to a "legal contract"), it looks like they just suggest you take the cruise in January instead, or how about a 4 day cruise the week before ???

What a crock - like folks can just switch their pre-purchased airline tickets from North America to Singapore as easy as switching from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale. Or fight to get refunds on hotels around the other side of the planet that are already booked and paid for... When you plan the longest trip possible (i.e. almost exactly on the other side of Earth), you plan early.

Still to be seen what they will do (their rebooking idea is ridiculous) - but why schedule cruises, then yank them? Shame on RCCL for bait and switch - 8 months down the road. Grrrrrr!

Oh well, 900 square feet 5 star hotel rooms run about $90 a night in Phuket and Kuala Lumpur. If I can't get a flight cancellation, will try to make the best of it. Still, RCCL sucks on this one!

Hi Kim,

An amazing review - and I join the many who thank you for your sharing of your cruise (and land tour). Like another recent poster, we have booked a March 2017 cruise on the Mariner (same itinerary) - and your blazing a trail beats any travel book! Particularly, you have a way with diplomacy (must develop that in the air, I guess) - and although you give great insight and info, it is tactful and positive. Being from the great white north, I don't imagine we will cross paths - but you'd certainly be a welcome addition to our dining room table.

Good diplomacy cross-brand, as well. We've done a blend (lots of Celebrity, RCCL, NCL, one Princess - but no Carnival) - but love the RCCL ships the best. Carnival comes well recommended too - but we don't need the party atmosphere as we look for exploring and relaxation. For the just recent poster in your thread - we booked an aft corner balcony as well. Had them on sister ships and they are simply the best (and the price on this cruise is inside-cheap, too).

Anyway, even though you are a Carnival-heavy CC poster, I am so glad I found your review... Your review is the best I've seen in 10 years of reading and cruising. Kob khun!

Hi cruisers - I am a bedbug "expert" due to infestations that happened with large groups of employees at a former job. They are not to be dismissed or joked about - like some of the previous posters. If you are unfortunate enough to bring them home to your house after a vacation or cruise, you are looking at thousands of dollars to eradicate them. Due mainly to the banning of DDT (and far more international travel and immigration), North America is having a resurgence of these evil little creatures. They are the size of a flattened grape seed, brown to red to in color (depending on how lately they've had a feeding), and usually nocturnal. After having one of my staff battle with them in a Travelodge room, I started taking them seriously. It takes a couple of minutes - but here's what everyone should do:

When checking in to a hotel or cabin, pull the duvet, sheets and mattress pad off the bed (even if it messes up the good looking welcome decor) - and immediately look at the top corners of the mattress - in the piping, top and bottom, in any quilting patterns, along any headboard cracks, and under the mattress on any platform (covered with fabric or not). Then do the same at the mattresses bottom. If you are energetic, you can also examine the seams, etc. on any pillows or soft surfaces in the room (drapes, upholstered wall accents). If there are any bugs, you would likely see them scurry away with the light. But you should also check for the signs - red or brown stains/dots (i.e. the same type you would see on the cotton ball if you are giving blood) and/or brown "specks" which would be their droppings. We also take a look at drawers and shelves in the room for the same signs...

On our first 8 or 9 cruises, we used to take the common advice of storing our suitcases under the bed - but no more... Now, savvy travelers bring the large (lawn/leaf sized) garbage bags and, once clothes are hung up, the emply suitcases are put into the bags and sealed for the duration of the trip. When disembarking, a close look at the bags reassures that no bugs are attached (and, of course, they would not be able to lay eggs or hitchhike on your suitcase). BTW, the advertised sprays generally don't work - if they were strong enough to kill these pests, they would do some damage to you as well.

A few more things, the eggs and bugs can go without feeding for 6 months or more (that's partly why, in Britain, Royalty had summer and winter castles in olde times - the bugs became unbearable and the time away often was enough to starve them out). Extreme heat (+ 120 or -40 degrees) or extreme cold can kill the bugs, but not always the eggs. In the winter, one slight blessing of being a Canuck is that we usually have one or two weeks of -35 or so weather - the only good thing about returning from a cruise in the winter is that our suitcases spend a week in the unheated garage before they ever return to the house.

Paranoid - yeah, a bit. But if anyone ever brings these bugs home - you are in for a tough fight. At $1000 for a good mattress (and multiple chemical or heat treatments) - each at a similar cost, it doesn't take many brought out to the dumpster to cost a lot of money - plus the on your psyche toll for having bedbugs is often worth a lot more ... So take the 15 minutes at the start of your cruise to check out your room thoroughly - you'll sleep better all cruise-long. And if you do find signs and alert the crew, maybe you'll get an upgrade (DON'T allow them to spray or change mattresses and leave you in the suite - it needs full fumigation and to sit empty during those treatments).

For sure, identifying them helps the fellow cruisers coming after you. Remember, just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean that the bedbugs aren't out to get you...