Katgoesonholiday

I feel sorry for the family having their holiday disrupted and cut short. But I've had a child a similar age who went from having a congested nose and spitting up to being severely dehydrated in less than 12 hours. We ended up in isolation at hospital with my son on oxygen and needing to be tube fed for five days.

This happened over 12 hours. And the culprit? RSV - a very common virus that most of us carry in our noses with little ill effect.

In retrospect (and without all the facts) we can say it was an over-reaction and the baby was fine. But can you imagine the fuss if the doctor had given the baby medicine for seasickness (which in that age can often be mildly sedating) and then the baby had deteriorated massively overnight? That would have been the doctor's fault for not being cautious and vigilant.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't!

We've recently finished a cruise on Disney and about halfway through I got a very polite letter asking me to come to Guest Services as there was a problem with my credit card. My bank was super over zealous and I had already had to ring up and have a go at them four times in the preceding weeks. They had all the information about our travel long before the trip but some of their blocks are automatic. For instance, purchasing stuff at Walmart in Orlando meant our card got blocked after the first transaction because it's a indicator of possible fraud to shop there! Thankfully I always travel with at least three different cards from different banks so I was able to give Disney another card and have that go through with no problems. Thankfully they were polite and understanding about it. Whilst it's not the cruise lines fault that cards occasionally (or fairly frequently) get declined, how the guest services staff deal with it is well within the control of the cruise line.

Oddly, we didn't have any trouble at all with our cards with our two week holiday in Europe in July even with cruising MSC. But I had nonstop issues for the first few weeks in America.

I had this after our first cruise in July. It lasted almost a week and was HORRIBLE - especially in confined areas such as the shower.

On this cruise we were at the front of the ship on deck 16 (top) and I do wonder if that was part of it - more movement to adjust to.

We have just got back from our second cruise and this time we chose rooms midship on deck 2 and I didn't have ANY issues at all.

Just don't.

I've never tipped in NZ and I have lived here 40 years. We really don't want that kind of thing becoming the norm here.

In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, it is illegal to take even chewing gum or mints ashore. You will be arrested and fined if caught.

Nope. We will freak out and throw the book at you if you try bringing an apple into the country but gum and mints are fine. I've done it numerous times through airport customs.

Thanks Tara Jane! I eventually got the agent to change the flights at no extra cost to my parents - much to their huge relief. Tom from TownCars.com picked them up from the airport and my mum said he was absolutely lovely! He pushed her chair through the terminal to the car whilst Dad dealt with the luggage. The car was excellent and when they got to the Quay the driver asked them to wait in the car and he went right in and got a staff member to come out and help my mum and dad. This staff member whisked them through a priority queue and before they knew where they were they were on the ship! Mum and Dad were very impressed and grateful at the service provided by TownCars.com.

They had a lovely first cruise and came back really happy they did it - which was a great relief to my husband and I!

I deeply appreciate the help, advice and encouragement I got from this board. It made all the difference to my parents! Thank you!

The rest of hospitaly industry doesn't work like that: "You want to book a room just for Christmas. Of course you can, and we do have a room available, but we happen to have our Super Christmas Special which lasts 10 days. We can't just let you book for 2 days"

Not to be nitpicky, but when planning for our trip in July I found it difficult booking a hotel in Venice because most has a 2 night minimum stay. I wanted to book one night before the cruise and one night after and this proved to be quite challenging and seriously reduced my options.

That was fascinating!

CDC is now saying droplets from sneezes and coughs can spread the disease - fortunately these aren't common symptoms of Ebola. It only makes sense that is the case. One would have to be standing/sitting very close to the SERIOUSLY ill person who is showing severe and unmistakable symptoms in order to be infected by their droplets but those bodily fluids can infect if they enter eyes, ears, nose or mouth of bystander. Thankfully this is only likely at the end stage of the illness when the viral load in bodily fluids is very high - so will generally only be of relevance healthcare workers.

 

I've corrected your post for you. No thanks necessary. :)

I think the key thing in this case was that members of the group had sought medical treatment for noro - so they knew they had it - and they still boarded a flight. Its pretty rude in my opinion.

Seems like quite a few people would. :mad: There are a lot of people upset at how the airline handled this but not so many annoyed at the passengers who got onto the flight knowing members of their group had norovirus!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/62770640/norovirus-fears-on-air-nz-flight.html

Yay! My parents are on the Spirit today!

Google and read blogs to get a feel for various options. I read heaps whilst choosing our east med cruise.

That's good to know! Did you use the Disney Transfers? Any idea what time they started?

Personally, I have found that kids tend to be little conduits for viruses until they are around 7 years old when their immune system has finally built up immunity to sufficient things. Cleanliness helps but its inevitable that when you have younger kids around then stuff will be passed around.

That said, I think it is just as likely that its the adults. Its not at all uncommon for a parent to be rushing round and running themselves ragged before a trip only to get sick the minute they start to relax. It used to happen to me every single time!

This is why nowadays I always make sure I plan to get everything finalised well in advance, prioritise early nights in the last few weeks before a holiday, exercise daily, and I take zinc and Vit C and multivitamins in the last month. Since I started doing that I have had trips with multiple plane flights, massive jet lag and completely changing seasons and I still haven't got sick.

We are now 40 days out from our next holiday (going from summer to winter with all the associated germs and viruses) and I have just started the kids on multivits and additional daily exercise (walking to school plus an evening walk before bed). In a few weeks I will add Vit C and zinc. And on the first day we arrive in our destination we will be getting the flu vaccine. That, along with hand washing, is the best I can do to protect my family and so far its worked well.

No longer the lead story on the nightly news and the emphasis has shifted to "managing" the panic.

Ironic given that the media bears most of the blame for creating that panic

LOL! That is quite cheeky! Maybe I should tell them to schlep their bags over to domestic? They have plenty of time now! :p

(P.S. i am totally just kidding!)

i did a quote and it came back at $55 so thats better than the other company

Oh wow? I wonder how that works? I did a quote and came in at $75 :/

Good to hear you got the flight sorted out. Sometimes I just shake my head at the things TA's do (or don't do!)

 

We have used Towncars http://www.towncars.com and were very happy with them.

 

I think a few others on this board have also used them.

 

Clean car, water bottles and a courteous driver.

Sensational! I have made a booking with them for $75. :)

Perhaps as David said arranging a private transfer (around $70) will be best.:D

I think so. She can walk slowly but stairs are an issue for her.

I'm getting confused and lost looking at all the different options. If anyone can name a decent company that does transfers for about $70 I'd be very grateful!

Carnival do run shuttles from Sydney Airport and they were saying on facebook about $20 pp so get your TA to book it if you wish

I spoke to Carnival and its too late to book ahead of time. They could go to their pick up point at the airport but with Mum's mobility I'm not sure she could get up the stairs onto a coach.

Hi all! I have finally (as in just an hour ago) got this resolved. It was a little frustrating as, despite multiple phone calls, I only managed to speak to the agent for the first time yesterday afternoon. He has, without demur, rebooked them onto the earlier flight at no extra cost. Mum and Dad are very relieved and are now starting to feel excited rather than stressed about their holiday!

I am now trying to sort out transfers from the airport to the cruise terminal - any recommendations?

So envious!

I looked very seriously at doing the Quantum in Dec when we are in NY but we are already going on a disney cruise so I couldn't justify the extra cost for five of us. :(

It's on my 'must do' list though!

I caught H1N1 during the 2009 epidemic. Its absolutely horrible. Its the sickest I've been in my life. And sadly my husband and I developed it two days into a holiday and we couldn't even fly home so we had to fly my mum to join us and look after the kids. Then she got it too.

Good news is that there is indiction that in fighting off swine flu, your body produces a vast range of antibodies that give a supercharged natural immunity to other flu viruses. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12152500) I still get the flu vaccine every year just to be safe.

But now I don't feel guilty about passing it on to my mum! :D

I'd book it!