Breakaway 13 Day Southern Caribbean Review with lots of pictures (plus Haven) again

[cxxviii]

Thx so much for this review, it's spectacular. We're on Breakaway Mar 26 out of NYC, with 2 teenage girls. Your posts are a huge help in convincing them they won't be bored... :)

 

We're in the same suite but on 16, I was curious if you picked a suite on 15 for a reason? Some of those are still available. Also, can you use the Haven pool/courtyard out of NYC? Is it closed and heated like an indoor pool? Or is it likely not warm enough if it's freezing outside?

 

Thx so much, can't wait for the rest of the review. Seems we have very similar interests/tastes. Can't wait to do the Raw Bar thing. Amazing.

[ncklhaus]

Thx so much for this review, it's spectacular. We're on Breakaway Mar 26 out of NYC, with 2 teenage girls. Your posts are a huge help in convincing them they won't be bored... :)

 

We're in the same suite but on 16, I was curious if you picked a suite on 15 for a reason? Some of those are still available. Also, can you use the Haven pool/courtyard out of NYC? Is it closed and heated like an indoor pool? Or is it likely not warm enough if it's freezing outside?

 

Thx so much, can't wait for the rest of the review. Seems we have very similar interests/tastes. Can't wait to do the Raw Bar thing. Amazing.

 

So glad I can help!

 

Yes, I picked deck 15 because it is a very quiet, low traffic area. You are in the Haven proper, but the Courtyard, Lounge, and Restaurant is one flight of stairs up. We have stayed in this room twice and I just booked it again for December.

 

The Haven courtyard/pool area is heated. The roof is retractable so it opens when the weather is nice.

 

You're going to love it. And your teenage girls will not be bored.

[ncklhaus]

Thanks for the share.

 

My pleasure.

[ncklhaus]

Day 4, Thursday January 5th, Morning Sea Day - San Juan scheduled for 3 p.m.

 

This morning we would wake up still at sea. We were originally scheduled to arrive in Puerto Rico and be able to go ashore by 3pm. Apparently we were delayed a bit so we would be arriving closer to 4pm. Due to the later arrival time the Bacardi tour excursion was canceled and people that had booked it (through the ship) would be getting a full refund. The Captain said he would see about having us stay a little later than we were originally slated to leave.

 

This is where we were at 9:20am.

 

 

 

It was really beautiful outside.

 

 

 

 

We went to breakfast as usual in the Haven restaurant. Then Melissa wanted to go swimming. We went to the pool deck and went in the Children's pool. Holy salty! We did the water slides (chlorinated) a bit and swam in the pool for a while. Then the salt was really bothering Melissa's eyes, so we decided to go to the Haven pool.

Melissa would swim in the Haven pool and the Haven hot tubs with some friends.

 

 

 

After a while of swimming, I said it was time to shower and get ready to go on the hunt for Tighty Whities in Puerto Rico.

 

By 3 pm, we were getting close enough to land to see this fishing boat.

 

 

At 3:30, we were entering the Harbor.

 

 

[ncklhaus]

We went up to the Haven sun deck (deck 17/right next to Vibe) to watch as we pulled into the Harbor and dock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've created a monster. Melissa is now taking pictures of everything too!

 

 

[cage keeper]

San Juan is one of our favorite ports. Love it. Was the luggage found? On one cruise about day 5 or 6 as we were leaving our room the two guys across the hall from us were discussing a bag that has been in their room from the start of the cruise. Didn't know what to do with it. I asked if the tag gave the room number. It did. The poor lady that was missing it, all her makeup, jewerly and accessories, missing most of the cruise. Couldn't figure out why they did not turn it in on day one.

[ncklhaus]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were docked by 4pm.

 

Mike was starting to not feel good. He was having pain in his upper right abdomen. Oh no. He's had gall stones and a polyp in his gall bladder before. Yikes.

Something you should know about Mike. He's a horrible patient. He doesn't like to be sick and will refuse to go to the Dr. He will suffer through. And suffer he would.

 

Meanwhile, Melissa and I, and our friend Tom would go on the hunt for Tighty Whities for Mike, and Sriracha hot sauce for Tom. The bartender at Maltings, Jomar, used to make a Sriracha mojito but NCL doesn't carry Sriracha anymore. So Tom brought a bottle on board with him. Everyone that was at the bar while Jomar was making the mojitos wanted to try it, and being that Tom is so nice, they used the entire bottle.

[ncklhaus]

So the Tighty Whitie and Sriracha search began. We were off the ship by 4:20.

 

 

 

 

 

It was hot. And humid. First stop: CVS. They did not have what we needed. The only Tighty Whities they had were in sized Medium. Not even close to the right size. And they only had Tabasco.

But I also forgot contact lens saline solution and pony tail holders. I bought that and also 2 bottles of water. Like I said it was hot. Oh and Melissa bought herself a cute hat.

 

Next stop: Walgreens. No luck there either.

 

We went into the Puerto Rico visitors center and the directed us to a supermarket and Marshall's a few blocks away. The people in the Supermarket had no idea what Sriracha was. I showed them a picture. Nope. They didn't carry it.

Off to Marshall's. Marshall's was 3 stories tall and of course mens underwear was on the 3rd floor. I needed underwear in 2XL. He like room. Where was the 2XL? What do you mean you don't have any? Oh wait, here are boxer briefs in 2XL. It's not what he really wants but beggars can't be choosers. So that's 4 pairs of underwear. Look! Tighty whities! In 2XL! Score! So now he will have 8 pairs of underwear.

 

We try one more store looking for Sriracha and still it can't be found.

 

Then it's off to the Del Sol store. We love this store. $200 later and we are heading back to the ship.

 

Meanwhile, the next day is 3 Kings Day so they had celebrations going on.

 

Remember, it's so hot. I drank my water but Melissa says hers tastes funny so she's not drinking it. I'm going to cool her off,so I start pouring the water on her head a little at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this picture, you can see our room. If you find the bridge and then look at the row of balconies that have the big windows. If you count 3 big windows, the 3rd one is our bathroom and next to that window is an extra blond balcony. That balcony is actually our and our friends balconies.

 

 

 

[ncklhaus]

You can see Mike on the balcony in this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa in the pink hat and wet pink shirt and Tom in the red shirt.

 

 

I soaked her. LOL

 

 

[ncklhaus]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eucalyptus infused cold towels and iced water. Nice touch, very refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

[ncklhaus]

We were back on the ship by 6:30. I don't know what we did for food tonight but I do know that Melissa went back to Splash Academy after she took a shower. It was Carnival night.

The ship left later than originally scheduled. Mike was feeling a bit better, I was feeling great and so was Melissa. Mike had underwear. All was right in the world. Or was it. Dun dun dun. :o

 

To be continued......

[fivefirsts]

Enjoying your review. We are on the Gem 10 day cruise in 2 weeks, and your review is really getting me in the mood. This will be our 8th family cruise, and we are surprising our 4 kids (8yrs-18yrs) on my husbands birthday, only a few days in advance, so I'm going to be doing most of the packing. Your left out item made me LOL, now I'm going to be double and triple checking everyone's bags. I especially appreciate the Splash Academy schedules. I realize your cruise was longer, but it given me a good idea of the different activities offered. Thanks for all your hard work posting, and keeping your Dad and your family in my prayers.

[ncklhaus]

Enjoying your review. We are on the Gem 10 day cruise in 2 weeks, and your review is really getting me in the mood. This will be our 8th family cruise, and we are surprising our 4 kids (8yrs-18yrs) on my husbands birthday, only a few days in advance, so I'm going to be doing most of the packing. Your left out item made me LOL, now I'm going to be double and triple checking everyone's bags. I especially appreciate the Splash Academy schedules. I realize your cruise was longer, but it given me a good idea of the different activities offered. Thanks for all your hard work posting, and keeping your Dad and your family in my prayers.

 

Thank you so much. Happy birthday to your husband.

You're going to love your cruise. I can't wait to go again!

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

[ncklhaus]

We all went back to our room around 9:30. We decided we were going to go to Coral World Ocean Park in St Thomas in the morning. So I booked the excursion through the TV and went to bed as we were leaving Puerto Rico.

 

 

Day 5 Friday January 6th St Thomas USVI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ncklhaus]

 

 

 

 

[ncklhaus]

Just after midnight, Melissa comes in our room and says she's not feeling so good. Her belly hurts and she's feeling queasy. I'm thinking maybe it's motion sickness, so I give her some Dramamine and put some MotionEaze behind her ears. She goes back to sleep for around 20 minutes and then I hear her yelling for me. She's in her bathroom vomiting violently and crying. She feels like she's going to poop too. I get her on the toilet and dump the ice bucket from the living room and give it to her to use as a puke bucket. This goes on for an hour or so and then she says she feels better. For an hour. Then it starts again. It goes on like this all night long, until the morning. At 8am I go to the Concierge and tell him what's going on and that we won't be able to make our excursion. Normally, if you can't make the excursion due to illness you need documentation from the ships Dr and they will refund the excursion price. The visit to the Dr is $149 just to walk in. The excursion was around $180. I told him I didn't care about the money, we weren't going. Anoop said he'd see what he could do because we only booked it less than 12 hours earlier.

I went back to the room to find my husband helping Melissa in our bathroom. She had vomited all over her bed, the floor and her bathroom.

Enough was enough. We were going to the ship infirmary. Now.

We got down there on Deck 5 Forward. They were wonderful. Melissa was severely dehydrated. They were going to draw blood, give her IV fluid, IV Zofran for the vomiting, and IV ranitidine for the acid in her belly. The Dr examined her and he thought that it was possible she had appendicitis. What? Oh no. My poor baby. The vomiting, right lower quadrant abdominal pain, fever all pointed that way. The blood test showed elevated white blood cells which is an infection.

Time was of the essence because we had just pulled into the last U.S. port of the trip and the Dr said she may need to go for a CT Scan and then possibly surgery. If it were to have to happen, he thought it best here.

We weren't scheduled to leave St Thomas until 6pm so after the IV fluids were finished, they were going to cap her IV if she could hold down some food and have her come back at 4pm to repeat the blood test. If the white count was rising or she continued to vomit, we were going to have to leave the cruise and go to the hospital in St Thomas by ambulance.

 

 

The meds and fluids made her feel better

 

 

 

 

Chicken noodle soup and saltines

 

 

Now that she's eaten and been hydrated, she needs to pee. The Dr said let's just run her urine and see if we find anything.

 

So she pees and the Dr comes in 20 minutes later. Great news! It's not appendicitis, it's a urinary tract infection! Yay! They are taking out the IV. No further blood work needed. He gave her 5 days of Keflex, 4 times per day.

 

 

So after spending 3 1/2 hours in the ships hospital, which is amazing by the way, we are cleared to resume our vacation. Total cost of the visit: $1333.99

I have 2 words for everyone: Travel Insurance

We always get it, but this is the first time we needed to use it.

 

While we were at the ships hospital, a cleaning crew went into Melissa's room and thoroughly cleaned and sanitized everything. Every surface. She had vomited on her travel pillow, a MY Pillow and they took the pillow and had it cleaned and sanitized for her as well. They were fantastic.

[Frogdogpal]

What a story. So glad everything worked out for Melissa.

[ncklhaus]

What a story. So glad everything worked out for Melissa.

 

Thanks so much. Me too. :)

[ncklhaus]

Now let's add a little levity to the situation. Remember those 2XL underwear I bought for my husband? They didn't fit! They were tiny! There's no way they were true to size. I could have put them on and they'd be only slightly baggy. I don't know if maybe in Puerto Rico the sizes are different or what, but all I know is we were back to square one with no underwear. I couldn't help but laugh.

Melissa would sleep most of the afternoon so I decided I would get off th ship in St Thomas and see if I can find any in the main shopping district right in the port area. No such luck. Yikes.

 

When I got back on the ship, our Butler had dropped these off from Anoop.

 

 

 

 

 

St Thomas was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

[ncklhaus]

I was sitting on the balcony taking these pictures. Melissa was feeling better, so she was sitting with me.

 

 

 

And then I looked down and found this on the floor of my deck 15 balcony.

 

 

For those of you that don't know what that is, it's the end of a joint. I guess someone smuggled some ganja onboard. Very risky business.

I quickly grabbed a tissue, picked it up, and flushed it.

 

Back to the beautiful view

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ncklhaus]

 

 

 

 

We went to go "play" shuffleboard

 

 

The Butterfly garden was right there, but it had closed a few weeks earlier

 

 

The sky ride

 

 

[Jezo]

One note about travel insurance, some health care providers include international travel so it's worth checking with what you have before going.

 

It's rare and I am very fortunate to be covered globally with my version of BCBS, but fills should check first before buying additional coverage.

 

But back to this story, what insurance did you get, because if they reimbursed you without issues then that's a good vote for them for the future.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Forums mobile app

Edited January 29, 2017 by Jezo

[ncklhaus]

One note about travel insurance, some health care providers include international travel so it's worth checking with what you have before going.

 

It's rare and I am very fortunate to be covered globally with my version of BCBS, but fills should check first before buying additional coverage.

 

But back to this story, what insurance did you get, because if they reimbursed you without issues then that's a good vote for them for the future.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Forums mobile app

 

It purchased the insurance directly with NCL. I'm supposed to submit to my daughter's insurance first, get the denial, and then they will pay. We shall see if it is as easy as it says it will be.

[Gershep]

Enjoying your review. Glad your daughter was okay. That's a large medical bill to have to pay for. Hopefully you will get it all back and not have to wait too long for that.

[easyboy]

So glad it was just a UTI and not appendicitis. Hope she continues to be better. I would have panicked if it happened to a family member.