Mardi Gras / Live / Solo / Nov-27-Dec-04-2021...

[sid_9169]

I'm back to being deep in the rut of reality back home, with work and bills and such... The owner of my company took me out for dinner at Houston's on West Paces Ferry last night, which was very nice. Their margaritas aren't as good as the ones in Mexico, but strong and delicious. I also had my usual traditional salad with buttermilk garlic dressing, grilled artichokes, double cut pork chop, whipped potatoes, and red cabbage with goat cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ProgRockCruiser]

34 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I'm back to being deep in the rut of reality back home, with work and bills and such... The owner of my company took me out for dinner at Houston's on West Paces Ferry last night, which was very nice.

That was very nice indeed!  The food and drink look delicious!

 

Yeah, reality sucks, but it does make looking forward to the next escape (cruise, AI, cabin in the woods, whatever) exciting!

[catgags]

Your dinner looks very yummy!!

Hope you enjoyed your night!

It must have been a long week at work! I always hate the first week back after vacation!

Take care

Cat

[nanaof14]

Long time reader of everything Sid.  It was nice to briefly speak with you at Bar Della Rosa one morning.  Great review.

 

[sid_9169]

Sorry it's taken so long for me to wrap this up... My first week back at work has been a ball buster, and I still have so many things that I need to straighten out here at home. I'm considering switching jobs right now, which is stressful, but I know that I'm pretty much topped out at my current job as far as money goes. The owners are GREAT, but at the end of the day, I need to be bringing in more to get anywhere but week to week. I went out today for probably the only healthy thing I've eaten in awhile, Karv Kitchen... Pork with collards, mushrooms, zucchini, and a side of zucchini and eggplant fries... I promise to have the "Thank You" list published by tomorrow...

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by sid_9169

[Von & John]

Sid  ---  I know I've been mostly AWOL for most of the year...
Just want to say take care of yourself & all the rest will happen!

Sending many positive thoughts your way 🙂

[sid_9169]

[sid_9169]

This ended up taking longer than expected, but I'm finally settled in here at home, and I wanted to return briefly to thank each and every one of you who followed along on this journey... Special thanks to Shaded Lady, who kept up with the list of usernames... If any of you feel that you were left off the list, I sincerely apologize... It's been a rough week back at work, and I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow... I was hoping that this would end up being my "biggest and best" review ever, but I fell short of my own expectations. This past year and a half has beaten us all up in one way or another, and I just hope that I can get my "mojo" back before my next cruise in May 2022... 

 

So, without further adieu, here is the official Thank You List (*In order of appearance): pcvtmom, wesorbeth, Jamman54, 19cruiser59, Saint Greg, TravelGirlinDallas, SummerRoze, mjrcruiser, princess76021, naxer, mkcurran, SenatorsFan, wajowander2011, GTO-Girl, darleean, balcony bound, #55worktoplay, Sea Viewer, Isasprings, Roscoe13, JandPB, AKR2011, lazydayz, hockeyluver, crewsweeper, jbhcw, SNJCruisers, sunshower9, jmklade, MeganGC1983, catgags, purpleally, meatball_nyc, rwest898, blarko, LuvCruiSun, Beagleluv6107, canes20, mlshum, ceilidh1, firstimecruiseronncl, Ellusionz, odie1024, HeyJut, Lady Hudson, Shaded Lady, luvcruzing, TravelE, ZoeyVictoria, Hogladyrider, Jim and Monika, kpark895, cruisin*tigger, IntrepidFromDC, gotscrapz, Cscomedygrl, AmyJA, figmentfreak, pbxtech, BasicSailor, Spif Barwunkel, Slainte57, MeMetwo, CruisinMama2003, emm126, ninjacat123, surf kahuna, sanmarcosman, ReneeFLL, Cairns Cruisers, retiring soon, rainbowflag, prbffd28, DeanDeeDee, cruiser147147, jimbri, Roger88, KmomChicago, TN Roz, stellarose, rtw68, LincolnLegend, PortSideCruzan, BohJang, flwinejunkie, aztekpm, BennyBrun, Beachiekeen, Joe817, lilchuckie, CruisinPedsNurse, Colorado Beach Bum, LeeRB, dcgrumpy, pinklucky61, Etta1213, audcc77, RoperDK, cml4958, WhiteOptima, doctork, pretty princess, BigNance, RenoNanaOz, jimbo5544, samiam0403, vettprincess, WorkerBee74, CruzinKristin, maluhia87, 2wheelin, mommio, cruisemom2, budgirl, HxFx, ober134, CruiseBro16, L1211, MzShae, pcrum, kdr69, JoeTec, JROBTX, ktmush2, Ilovesailaway, dcwalker, DrSea, EllaDuChien, Encore37, brilliantseas, CelticMCO, pebbles1102, Eskylady, zencruisers, ObstructedView2, mcgore83, Webecruzen, maxydu, peteandpris, Von & John, LaRue1975, heffy2, flwinejunkie, ProgRockCruiser, beachbum6264, tlcm, Houst, and nanaof14.........

 

Again, thank every single one of YOU for being part of this... (Even the lurkers, though I can't list you by name if you don't post...)

[Roscoe13]

Sud, as someone else dubbed you, in the words of my sophomore year in high school German teacher. 

Was kan ich sagen? Du bist eine grosse studente! 

Of course that's what she wrote in my year book when I suggested she she dump her husband and get with a hero for the summer. Wait, what...I digress. What I meant was Wundebar!

[sid_9169]

The bug bites from Roatan were starting to go away, when all the sudden yesterday, they started itching again... Hopefully they'll settle down soon... 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by sid_9169

[meatball_nyc]

Thank you, Sid! It was a great escape for all of us!

 

Get some Calamine Lotion or Benadryl Itch Gel for those bites...

 

P.S. Nice rug 😉

 

 

 

 

[JaniceB]

Just finished reading your review.  I wasn't too interested in reading reviews of the Mardi Gras until I was able to snag a cabin for Sailabration and so now I am soaking up all I can.  I have one question how much was your food at Emeril's.  Do they have any "free" items?

Thanks for sharing your trip with us and all the fantastic pictures!  

 

[LeeRB]

Sid I am NOT trying to alarm you and I am definitely NOT a doctor, but you may want to see a doctor about those bites. Sand flies like mosquitos have some varieties that can carry diseases and microorganisms. In the case of sand flies one of the most significant disease risks is Leishmaniasis; which I believe is caused by a group of parasites carried by infected sand flies. It is found in tropical and sub-tropical areas around the world including some parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America. 

 

 Rick

Edited December 20, 2021 by LeeRB

[sid_9169]

1 hour ago, JaniceB said:

Just finished reading your review.  I wasn't too interested in reading reviews of the Mardi Gras until I was able to snag a cabin for Sailabration and so now I am soaking up all I can.  I have one question how much was your food at Emeril's.  Do they have any "free" items?

Thanks for sharing your trip with us and all the fantastic pictures!  

 

I believe that those three items were about $17, and it was a HUGE amount of food. Most items there are about $5 each, other than the seafood items, which are "market price"... I would DEFINITELY recommend eating there at least once. 

[sid_9169]

1 hour ago, LeeRB said:

Sid I am NOT trying to alarm you and I am definitely NOT a doctor, but you may want to see a doctor about those bites. Sand flies like mosquitos have some varieties that can carry diseases and microorganisms. In the case of sand flies one of the most significant disease risks is Leishmaniasis; which I believe is caused by a group of parasites carried by infected sand flies. It is found in tropical and sub-tropical areas around the world including some parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America. 

 

 Rick

Oh, crap... I just spent a half hour reading about this disease, and now I'm paranoid that I may have it... Says that it's difficult to diagnose, and even more difficult to treat, and can cause DEATH ☠️...

[LeeRB]

5 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Oh, crap... I just spent a half hour reading about this disease, and now I'm paranoid that I may have it... Says that it's difficult to diagnose, and even more difficult to treat, and can cause DEATH ☠️...

Sid like I said, I did not want to alarm you. It may be a lot about nothing, but I thought I should let you know about them just in case. From what I have read about sand flies and the little parasites some of them carry. Most of what I have seen (and I don’t pretend to know everything about them) debt with the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia where it can reach epidemic level occasionally and they have little or no capability to treat infections, not the Caribbean; but since you said the bites had been going away and suddenly started itching again I thought I should mention it so you could have it checked out. I would think parasites could be confirmed or ruled out with a good microscope if they know the bites happened along the coast in a rather remote part of Roatan.

 

I think I have seen something on the CDC website about treatments for it. I also I think I saw (maybe on the CDC website was well) were the obvious symptoms of the parasites or disease sometimes may not show up for months or even years after the actual bites occur and that the bites themselves may take any were from a couple weeks to several months to clear up.

Rick

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by LeeRB

[JaniceB]

16 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

I believe that those three items were about $17, and it was a HUGE amount of food. Most items there are about $5 each, other than the seafood items, which are "market price"... I would DEFINITELY recommend eating there at least once. 

Thank you for the reply.  

I was reading the post about sand fleas and I wouldn't be too alarmed about them itching again, sometimes when you are healing you itch again.  I am sure it is worth checking out with a doctor just in case.

[spiritkat090909]

The only thing I have found to help with sand fleas...is to soak in a tub of BLEACH water.  A cup of bleach to the tub filled. It kills them (& eggs) & keeps them from reproducing.

[sid_9169]

In light of some of the stuff I've been reading about the sand fly bites, I'm trying to get an appointment with the  Emory Travel Well Clinic here in Atlanta... The bites continue to get worse, and from what I'm reading they could last for YEARS, and in some cases could cause DEATH... I figured that seeing my primary care doctor would be a waste of time, as he probably wouldn't have any experience with this type of thing. Fortunately, Emory is very close with the CDC here, and are probably the best place in America, if not the World to deal with stuff like this...

 

 

[kpark895]

Sid, good luck getting your bug bite problem resolved.  It's the itching that would drive me up a wall.

[stellarose]

when does the final health  assessment need to completed by?

[sid_9169]

2 hours ago, stellarose said:

when does the final health  assessment need to completed by?

I believe that it becomes available only a few days prior to sailing, and you just have to answer a few general questions about possible symptoms...

[LeeRB]

16 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

In light of some of the stuff I've been reading about the sand fly bites, I'm trying to get an appointment with the  Emory Travel Well Clinic here in Atlanta... The bites continue to get worse, and from what I'm reading they could last for YEARS, and in some cases could cause DEATH... I figured that seeing my primary care doctor would be a waste of time, as he probably wouldn't have any experience with this type of thing. Fortunately, Emory is very close with the CDC here, and are probably the best place in America, if not the World to deal with stuff like this...

 

 

Sid, those people should be knowledgeable about that, but you may need a referral from your regular doctor to get in to see them. I hope everything goes well and it turns out to be a lot about nothing.

 

Here is a little tidbit you may find useful. I learned it from other cruisers, with many, many more cruses than myself. I was planning for an 11 night Carnival Glory Journey cruise from San Juan to Miami back in 2016, which included the island of Dominica; I discovered a product called Permethrin. It is an insect repellant/killer that kills misquotes ticks and a multitude of other insects on contact and can be sprayed on to clothing and will last for up to 6 months or 6 washings once dried. I tried it because at the time Dominica had a warning about Malaria carrying misquotes; and I wanted to see the Emerald Waterfall which included a walk out through the “forest”; which looked more like jungle than forest to me. Ever since I have taken at least one outfit that was completely treated in permethrin with me and I also carry an insect repellant containing Deet (25% or better). I think the last I used was an “OFF” product. I am out of both right now, but and I don’t have anything booked currently. I don’t know if it is dumb luck or the repellants; but I have never been bitten since on a cruise since I started using them. I have also heard that if you treat the inside of your suite cases with permethrin you don’t need to worry about bringing any bedbugs home with you when traveling, but have not tried that yet.

[Guest BasicSailor]

On 12/23/2021 at 11:11 AM, LeeRB said:

Sid, those people should be knowledgeable about that, but you may need a referral from your regular doctor to get in to see them. I hope everything goes well and it turns out to be a lot about nothing.

 

 

 

Here is a little tidbit you may find useful. I learned it from other cruisers, with many, many more cruses than myself. I was planning for an 11 night Carnival Glory Journey cruise from San Juan to Miami back in 2016, which included the island of Dominica; I discovered a product called Permethrin. It is an insect repellant/killer that kills misquotes ticks and a multitude of other insects on contact and can be sprayed on to clothing and will last for up to 6 months or 6 washings once dried. I tried it because at the time Dominica had a warning about Malaria carrying misquotes; and I wanted to see the Emerald Waterfall which included a walk out through the “forest”; which looked more like jungle than forest to me. Ever since I have taken at least one outfit that was completely treated in permethrin with me and I also carry an insect repellant containing Deet (25% or better). I think the last I used was an “OFF” product. I am out of both right now, but and I don’t have anything booked currently. I don’t know if it is dumb luck or the repellants; but I have never been bitten since on a cruise since I started using them. I have also heard that if you treat the inside of your suite cases with permethrin you don’t need to worry about bringing any bedbugs home with you when traveling, but have not tried that yet.

 

So, how goes the bug bites sid ? 

[pinklucky61]

On 12/7/2021 at 7:11 AM, sid_9169 said:

Got my ankle caught in bike spoke around age 6, down to the bone, mom told me years later "we should have taken you to the doctor"! LOL     Not even the worse accident one of us siblings had as children.