Anyone else have any "frightening" pre cruise stories?

[bobbycruiser]

I have a short little story about my first ever cruise back in 2001 i believe.....

 

We (myself, my ex gf, her brother and their parents) booked a 7 night western Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Century. We booked the cruise in January for a mid-June sailing. Obviously I was BEYOND excited as it was to be my first ever cruise. So almost 6 months of counting down and preparing and being super excited then BOOOM!!!......12 days before we were to fly down to Ft. Lauderdale, my ex's little brother severely broke his ankle in a high school baseball game. Very gruesome actually, bone protruded through the skin and whatnot. Very bad injury. needless to say, we had to reschedule our cruise (thank god for insurance) for January the following year.

 

can you imagine the extreme disappointment of a 17 year old boy (myself) having the vacation of his dreams pushed back 6 MONTHS just 12 days prior to embarkation?!?!?!

 

I know it's selfish and that he was really hurt, but that hurt me a LOT. Lol. In the end though, it was a great cruise and it was an awesome vacation. The only major issue was that of the 2 cruises, one was pre 9/11 and the second was post 9/11. And apparently, airport regulations changed dramatically after that, but it didnt affect me as i had never flown pre 9/11.

[hoopslover]

We were on our way from Central California to LAX to fly for our Tahiti cruise. All of a sudden the traffic came to a complete stop. A big rig had jackknifed on the bridge overcrossing. It was on a stretch of the Grapevine which had no exits. We were told to be there 2 hours before the flight for international travel. We had allowed an extra 3 hours and needed every one of them. By the time the truck was cleared enough to open one of the three lanes, we were cutting it close.

 

My DH dropped me and the luggage off at the terminal and went to long term parking. I was at the front of the check-in line when he got back, exactly one hour and 45 minutes before our flight. Thankfully we were there in time, but it was so stressful.

 

We had a great time, but now we either go the day before or allow more than 3 extra hours. The Tahiti cruise was wonderful.

[Bill S]

I have had 2 events. We flew into Amsterdam 4 days prior to a Baltic cruise & took a train to Bruge for 2 nights. On the train ride back to Amsterdam, I realized that I had left a valuable item in our Bruge hotel room. Having no cell phone, a very kind conductor allowed me to use his cell phone to call the hotel, & the maid had turned it in. So, instead of spending the next day sightseeing in Amsterdam, we did a 1-day round-trip train ride to Bruge & back, leaving a nice tip & thanks to the maid. Since then, DW always runs a checklist & we do a sweep of hotel rooms & ship cabins prior to leaving. :)

 

#2: I took a tumble off my motor scooter a week prior to flying to Rome for a transatlantic, big-band cruise, with an extremely painful injury to my left thigh. We had taken dance lessons for 6 months! I had to be taken to the ER, and after a lot of x-rays, the doc told me I had a severe hamstring strain. Luckily, no surgery, but bad news, she told me to stay off my feet for a week. Abiding by the maxim that "if you cannot stand the answer to the question, don't ask it", I refrained from revealing our long flight & cruise. We did go, but I was in agony during the long flight & while sight-seeing in Rome. Also, I could not even think about dancing during the 1st week of the cruise. Now the rule is: no motor scooter riding within 2 weeks before a cruise! ;)