bobinsanantonio

Has anyone used the Dialysis at Sea and have Tricare as insurance?

Recently been diagnosed with kidney failure and have been placed on dialysis, but still want to continue cruising.

My wife, sister, sister-in-law, and myself just returned from a 4-day to Cozumel aboard the Enchantment of the Seas.  Full disclaimer:  we "won" this cruise from Casino Royale (IE, it was a payoff because they massively changed the rules for their casino points system).

First off, you can tell it's an older ship.   It seems worn, and it was glaringly obvious when we were docked next to a much newer ship in Cozumel.  The newer ship (don't remember the name), was gleaming white and Enchantment seemed a bit dingy next to her especially with the rust around the portholes on deck 1.   Everything was maintained, but little things popped up here and there -- like a good 10-15% of the LED's on the big screen on the pool deck not working, the aforementioned rust, etc.  

Our cabin was in good shape, except the water in the shower never got hotter than lukewarm.   I told our cabin attendant about it, but it wasn't fixed during our trip.  The safe glitched once, also, requiring someone to come down and open it for us.

We didn't hit any shows, since this is our 11th cruise and we just wanted to relax and gamble.  We did do a couple of trivia games, which were fun.  The only issue there was that one was Star Wars trivia, and the person who was asking the question had a strong accent and difficulty with some words...his English was still a work in progress.   Valiant attempt on his part, though.

The deluxe beach break in Cozumel was worth it, even if I did discover that I'm much too old and much too fat for some of the activities I attempted.

Getting off the ship in Cozumel was an exercise in frustration.  We were told that the line to get off the ship started on deck 4.  However, deck 4 was a mass of milling, uncertain people and there was no staff on hand to organize things.  Worried we were going to be late for our shore excursion, I found a crewman who was kinda rude and told me to go back to deck 4 and get in line.  I told him there was no "line", just a crowd, and explained that we were going to miss our excursion, to which he replied that that was impossible since the excursion staff was still on the ship.  Kind of hard to figure that one out, since the excursion was operated by Mexican nationals ashore.  Later, I overheard a young lady from RCCL explain that they had told the excursion people that things were backed up and that they would wait for us to get off the ship.

Dining was as expected for RCCL (good), except the food at the Windjammer wasn't of the same quality as it was on the Liberty or Navigator....not bad, but not up to par.

Overall, it wasn't bad for a "free" 4-day cruise.  We are looking forward to going back on the Liberty later this year, though.

On Carnival Elation, had a kinda-attractive, extremely drunk, royally-pissed-at-her-drunk-boyfriend woman lay a lip lock on me. Quite unexpected, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been on my honeymoon.

We did the 9-day ABC cruise at the beginning of the month. At first, there was a sense of disorganization, but it smoothed out. Don't have any complaints, and a lot of praise for our waitress (Elgin).

I agree and this includes those who leave personal stuff on the balcony unattended, as this is obviously a fire hazard as well.

Things left on a balcony aren't a fire hazard. My sister routinely leaves her scuba gear on the balcony to dry, and I cannot imagine that as a fire hazard.

The problem is the careless smoker (and I'm a smoker myself, don't smoke on balconies or any other unapproved place on the ship).

The dining table next to my group's had an individual that one of us nicknamed "Grumpy Cat". Horrible table manners, open-mouth chewer, and had a perpetual scowl on his face. His Traveling-Companion-Of-The-Opposite-Sex alternated between a bored expression and an irritated expression.

The table on the OTHER side had a man who was hitting on his waitress in front of his family in front of his wife and kids.

Dunno which was worse, Grumpy Cat or Mr. Hitter.

I know that RCCL doesn't give ship pins (a la Carnival, of which I have several). But as my wife and I cruise more and more, I'd like to brag a bit about the ships we've been on. Is there an "aftermarket" or some place that sells ship pins?

I'd have some made, but it's expensive unless you do it in bulk and I'd have to sell some to recoup the cost which might irritate RCCL. Last thing I need is to get sued by my favorite cruise line.

Are there any hotels in Galveston that have shuttles to the port? What is the best way to get from the airport to Galveston?

As for hotels, Galveston.com has a listing of which hotels offer shuttles to the cruise terminal. Not sure about Hobby to Galveston tho....we're driving from San Antonio to Galveston.

http://www.galveston.com/parkandcruise/