Flytko

We might have to try NCL when they start cruising out of Galveston.

I just tested my antibodies and they are positive lol.  I don't care what your stance is on the vaccine, but thought this was a funny tidbit.  So a couple of weeks ago, my MIL who is single boosted caught Covid and my wife who just has the original Vax, also caught it.  Somehow, I tested several times while they had it and was negative.   I have never been vaxxed......  That's my 2 1/2 cents on the issue.  

2 hours ago, bdever said:

While I completely understand and respect ✊🏼 your personal choice it doesn’t sound like a cruise vacation is right for you. At least not for the foreseeable future. Not only from the perspective of the cruise lines needing to mitigate risks but also in terms of your own family’s vacation value. Did you hear about 2 positive cases reported on MSC Seaside this week? The 2 passengers, their families and the other passengers who came into contact with them while on board were all isolated and the positive passengers and their families were taken off the ship at the next port. Note that this was their 3rd COVID test of the cruise so it’s not about testing negative prior to boarding. This could have been you and your family as well.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/7627317002

Thanks for the input.

Though, I have looked at MSC's protocols, and they are not much different to what Carnival is proposing, except I didn't see MSC with a vaccine requirement.  This is for Europe as they are still working on the protocols for the US.  They restarted in August last year and were able to keep cases to a minimum.  I can see that working here, but unfortunately this is really the CDC we are fighting and not the Cruise lines. 

Of the article referenced above, they were able to offload the cases without disruption of the whole cruise.  I know that would suck if I were that family, but that is a risk you take while traveling.  That could even happen in a non-COVID ridden world with any sort of injury or surprise illness.  That is why we always purchase the travel insurance.

3 minutes ago, Buckeyefrank100 said:

I completely agree with you but will correct one point you made.  You mention that you still have antibodies...  Antibodies will go away, usually in about 3 months but can hang around later but it doesn't mean you're not protected.  Your body has T-cells that can remember viruses that attacked the body in the past.  Those T-cells will reproduce antibodies if you are exposed and eliminate the virus.  T-cells have been shown to be with you for life.  In 1998, a study was done on people who were infected with the 1918 flu.  Those people were exposed to the 1918 flu strain and in a few days, they were tested to have antibodies again.

Point well made and taken, still a lot of studies being conducted on the effectiveness of natural immunity and how long it lasts.  At least it could be taken into consideration though....

2 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

Have you even talked to Carnival about your situation?

I have talked to my PVP about it and recommended to push out my final payment. When I booked last week, it only gave me until June 14th to pay it off.  I was able to push off my payment until July 14th to give time to see what Carnival was going to say about cruising in August.  As soon as they made a decision then that would make our decision and would get in touch with them again.

A little bit of background from our perspective:

I wouldn't consider my wife and I anti-vaxxers by a long shot. Last year when they were still in testing, my wife actually signed up to test the first vaccine they brought to market.  My wife is the Nurse Manager for the largest Ambulatory clinic in the UTMB Health System close to Galveston.  She ended up getting denied for the test trial due to having and Upper Respiratory Infection (not related to COVID) and having to take steroids to clear it up.  We both signed up to get the vaccine when it was first made available.  My wife was a week away from getting the first shot when she found out that she had COVID.  She ultimately had to cancel.  Her mother and grandmother live with us, we chose to have them vaccinated as well as my mother who lives in Galveston.  I had signed up for the shot since I was eligible at the time due to a couple of minor underlying conditions.  They cancelled my first dose when they ran out of shipments.  I started doing more research into the vaccines and saw how many adverse effects it was having on the population.  At the time, my wife wasn't truly convinced until she got assigned to work in the vaccine clinics and saw how many people were having issues, including some of her own staff.  She knew then it was not a good idea at this time to take the mRNA vaccines.  We were leaning towards the J and J vaccine as it is somewhat more traditional.  We were also trying to have another child through treatment and heard of how many possible miscarriages were happening with the vaccine possible to blame.  Our fertility office was recommending everybody be vaccinated, but our fertility doctor was urging us to wait.  Lastly, even though my mother in law who lives with us was fully vaccinated, she still managed to get the COVID, luckily a very mild case.

Anyway, that's my story to share since the unvaccinated voice seems to be in the vocal minority.

I don't tell people not to get it, but the important thing is, do your research and make it your choice, not because someone is constantly telling you that you need to, or for the "greater good" 

Depending on what Carnival does, more than likely we will be taking our hard earned money elsewhere until this madness calms down.

1 hour ago, kaycee711 said:

The one group of people that no ever mentions is the ones that had Covid and recovered. We also have immunity. Have you looked up the confirmed reinfections? Lastest number is around 66 and how many people got it? This shows the immunity is real. I’m not getting a vaccine because I have health issues and I have no idea if it would aggravate them. Don’t worry, I canceled my cruise. No attacks needed just giving another point of view.

Thank you!!!!!

 I have been lurking for the last week on my phone, and you are right, there is almost nothing mentioned about the people that had and recovered from COVID.  My family and I had it over the Christmas holidays, thankfully very mild, my wife tested for antibodies last month and found out that she still had them. Her doctor told her that you have antibodies, it's not logical to get the vaccine.  I plan on having getting the test as well.

We did travel to Disney not long after we recovered, and despite all of their protocols, everyone had a great time.  It was plenty crowded for being at 35 percent capacity, we had no issues at all with flying and being in the parks.

  Unfortunately, everyone is high and mighty on the vaccine talk and forgets that there are plenty of people who recovered and have immunity.  I booked for an August cruise on the Breeze last week with the intent that Carnival was going to go the test cruise route.  Now, I am really reconsidering what to do.  I was able to push back my final payment until next month just to see what they say for the August cruises.  If they do the exemption list, we could get our 5 yr old twins on it, but I know we wouldn't make it since no one bats an eye at natural immunity.

 We were really hoping on cruising, but with the uncertainty and the collective mood I have been seeing, we will probably wait. 

Go ahead and flame away........  Just my 2 cents

7 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

You look like birds.

HAHA too funny, we did feel like that once we finally got aboard.

We did the Vista back in April with our three year old twin boys.  Yes, on the first day, there really isn't anything scheduled in Camp Ocean until late/night owl paid time.  They did love it there, when they were in there. Unfortunately, we didn't get to utilize it as much because they would get a bit rowdy and we would get calls from the councilors to talk to them. My wife would just pick them up.

We did spend a lot of time at the water park, i'm not too sure if they had strict hours though.  We were usually done before 5pm though.

After a long hiatus, I'm back to post the other half of our cruise!!!

Day 5 Belize:

Our one and only tender port for the cruise.  We woke up early to grab breakfast and make sure we get to our meeting place in time.

We tried the Calypso Train City Tour, the boys love anything with the word train in it 😁.

We met up in the Main Lounge for them to call our tour, so we can go down to the tender.  After what seemed like forever, they finally called our tour, and we made our way down to the tender.

The boys did good for the tender ride and chatted up with some of the fellow passengers.

We didn't get a picture of the tour train, but it was a whirlwind trying to get aboard with wheelchairs and strollers, but it was a nice ride around the city.   

We got back to the port and hit a few stores, but it was really hot and we were ready to get back to the ship.

We got back to the room to find our next friend:

We went up to the lido for lunch and drop off the Boises at the Ocean Club.

The wife and I go to exploring the upper decks.  First off, we get a half priced fishbowl from the Red Frog Pub.

We make our way to the upper decks and I want to try the Skyride.

Half way to the ride, I get a call from the Ocean Club saying that they are having some issues with the boys.  We pick them up and try to explore a little more with them.

Some Pics from the day:

We had a little excitement that delayed us from leaving port.  Apparently a couple had an argument in their cabin and the husband preceded to throw his wife's suitcase overboard.  Needless to say, they spent the rest of their vacation in very close quarters...

Thanks to our facebook group for capturing this photo.

My wife and boys were exhausted after today's activities, so I ventured out and took a walk on the upper decks to get some fresh air.

On to the next port, or are we???  Stay tuned to see.....

Day 4 Costa Maya:

Today was a bit more relaxed since we didn't plan anything in Costa Maya.  We got ourselves together and ate breakfast in the lido where all of us gathered.

We got off the ship and were greeted by the photographers:

The Boises of course had to have pictures with all of the ladies😁.

We made it to the port area to look around and get some souvenirs.  The locals were putting on a traditional Mayan show:

It was really hot that day and there wasn't very much shade to be had.  We looked through some of the stores to try and stay cool.  We made it through half of the port area before deciding it would be too much for the young and old to go on.  Luckily they had a trolley that ran back and forth on the dock.

Here are some pictures from the port area:

Lovely selfi:e of the Wife

Nice area with Flamingos.

Beautiful Water!!!

!

This picture comes from the FB community that we joined for the cruise.

Port area pictures:

All of us got back on the ship.  Nana spoiled the boys by buying them a bunch of wooden toys that they played with for the rest of the day.  While they played in the room, I took advantage of the Red Frog Pub half price drink special they run on port days.

We were delayed a few minutes leaving due to a medical emergency, but we were on our way to our next port and a whole bunch more excitement for tomorrow.

Later on that evening,  we got dressed and did a bunch of pictures since the boys were rested.

Here are a few:

Afterward, we dropped the boys at Camp Ocean and went to dinner.  

Of course we did pictures there too:

We had a really good and attentive waiter that night, probably the best of the cruise.  Too bad we only got him once, the downfall of Anytime Dining.

Also, here are some pictures from the sail away party and the first elegant night:

15 hours ago, Voldy said:

I love the pics of your boys--brings back so many memories of similar pics with our twin girlies (like bring passed out with dad!). We're taking our girls on the Vista in January as a late graduation trip (can't go over the summer because of older sister's internship), so they're pretty much grown now.

 

Thanks for the review--hope your up and at 'em soon!

It is a wonderful ship, I think y'all will enjoy.

Thanks for following!!! 

49 minutes ago, Ideb said:

Oops! My bad! From seeing the family pictures, I assumed the wife was doing the writing. I guess because I'm the one who does this sort of thing. Also, I couldn't really tell from your user name, although it probably is a little more masculine now that I think about it  I'm sorry about that.

I'm glad you're doing better. I'm still enjoying your review and latest pictures.

No prob. I could see the confusion and the fact that a majority of the review writers are women.😁

I did find the cache of photos that we took with Carnival.   The joy of scoring a good deal on the pixel package before they dissapeared 😎.

Stay tuned for some more fun pictures!!

We did all 3 runs out of Galveston and loved the Key West, Freeport, Nassau itinerary.  It was also our first and most memorable cruise. My wife and I did the Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel itinerary not long after.  It was fun, but not like the first cruise.  Jamaica was nice, but probably wouldn't return. I wished we got to do more in Grand Cayman. Cozumel is Cozumel.  We just completed the 3rd run a couple of months ago.  We will need to revisit that one due to missing out on Roatan. Belize was okay, but definitely have an excursion planned.  Costa Maya was beautiful, but didn't get to do much because it is geared for the active adult, or families with older children. We traveled with the really young and really old this last trip.

I am so excited that you could do that!!!  I am so going to talk with my PVP about it tomorrow. 

Day 3: Craziness in Cozumel

We got up early this morning because we had to be off the ship in a QUICK fashion to make our excursion, swimming with the dolphins.  We met with Nana and Grandma on the lido for breakfast and found out that they didn't bring their excursion tickets.  With the boys acting in not so rare fashion, I left them all to run down to Nana and grandma's stateroom to find the tickets.  I told them to meet on the gangway, they could not leave the ship though because I had Nana's and one of the boys cards.  I finally found their tickets by the grace of God in the bottom of their closet, we had about 25 minutes to get off the ship and reach the excursion meeting point at the end of the pier.  There ended up being 2 gangway exits for today and didn't clarify with the group on which one to meet.  I made it to the Midship gangway and didn't see them, I thought maybe they were caught in a rush from upstairs.  After 15 minutes, I began to worry and paid 5 dollars for the chat function on the Carnival app.  I found out that they were waiting in the other gangway. UGH......

At 905, we were finally off the ship and as stressed as could be.  We were supposed to meet with our group between 845 and 9 AM.  At this point we didn't think we would make it and ventured into the port area to see if we could salvage our day.  The weather for today called for some rain, but weren't sure how much.  We find out later on in the day.  We make it through the madness that is the mandatory shopping spot you have to walk through to get into Cozumel, and lone behold our excursion is still there.  We make a mad dash to them and explain our situation. Thankfully, they were able to accommodate onto the next shuttle. It was a long walk to the shuttle and it was hot, well at that time the clouds and heavens opened and it began to rain.  Not just a light rain, but it had been a monsoon coming through!!!!

We finally made it into the shuttle and to the aquarium park.  The streets started to flood, which made my wife worry a little bit, but we were able to get there in one piece.  It was still pouring and it was busy with people scrambling for places to stay dry and put their belongings.  We all stayed huddled by the restrooms until everyone was in their swimming attire.  It finally stopped raining long enough to swim with the dolphins.  It was a really interesting excursion and learned more about how the dolphins live there in the park and in the wild.  Come to find out, the dolphin we swimming with was 35 yrs old.  Much older than if they were in the wild.  They get treated like royalty there 😉.

This was just a fraction of the pictures we had gotten.  My wife can drive a mean bargain and was able to get all of the pictures for about half of the cost.😁

This excursion came with an all you could eat buffet, but by the time we changed, we were exhausted.  We also found the buffet was located in an upper level of the park that looked to be hard to get to, especially with someone wheelchair bound.  Also, we ran into some people that have done the excursion before and had said the food is not worth making that trip.  With that said, we hopped back aboard the shuttle back to the port.  The sun had come out for a little bit, making it very steamy and hot.  We stopped for some pictures and wanted to look around the port some more, but the boys were not having it.

We grabbed some snacks at the mandatory shopping spot before making our way to the ship.  We made it back on the ship, dropped off our stuff, and went up to the lido for some lunch.  The boys were tired and acting a fool, so we quickly finished our lunch and went back to the room.  It had started raining again, so we enjoyed some downtime in the room.

The boys and I napped for a little bit before I was able to sneak from beneath them and look out the window for sail away.

Day 2 of Fun Continued:

After getting back to the room, my wife decorated our door for a contest being conducted by a facebook group we joined for the cruise.

We also brought ducks to hide around the ship throughout the cruise.

After fighting the boys to get pictures with us, we fed them dinner and were able to drop them back off at Camp Ocean for a bit of dinner.  Since it was elegant night, we didn't want to miss it like we did the first night.

After dinner,  we picked up the boys and called it a night.  We returned to our cabin to find the first of many towel friends.

Also, couldn't resist getting a picture of the boys sitting in the window.

Priceless:

I would also like to credit my wife for taking a majority of the pictures on the cruise!!!!

21 hours ago, Ideb said:

I enjoyed your review so far and came back today to see if you posted any more. I'm sorry to hear about your health problem. You have such a sweet looking family. I'll bet your husband and mom are taking good care of your boys while you are recovering.Prayers for a speedy recovery.

I tried to send a message, but I'm actually the husband lol.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers though.

I am at home resting, my personal nurse aka my dear wife and family are making sure I am comfortable and compliant. I may even try and post the next portion of the review while I am down and out.

Thanks everyone on here for the continued support!!!  😎😀

44 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

Oh my goodness, feel better!

Thanks 😎

48 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

I hope everything is alright.

I am in the hospital recovering from a blood clot in my leg.

I'm so sorry I haven't been real active here lately. Been dealing with personal and health issues.

I hope to be back soon!!!

15 minutes ago, ehughes said:

Flytko,

 

What a beautiful family you have!  Thank you for the interesting and fun review.  Can't wait to read the next episode.

 

Do you know if adults, without any kids can do Build-A-Bear???

 

Thanks

I do believe there were a few adults only that got build a bears on the last day.  Money is money, I didn't see them discriminate 😁

20 hours ago, ZeeWP said:

 

Thanks for checking! 🙂 I hope my kids like it enough to give mom and dad some time. ha ha!

I'm sure they will love it.  My boys loved it, but they get kind of rowdy with each other and freak out the staff.  Luckily they just attack each other and not the other children lol

First Full Day of Fun!!!

Our first day at sea speeding towards Cozumel started early with the boys waking us up before 7 am, so we started our daily fight of getting them dressed (even to swim ugh) and headed up to the lido to swim.  We were the only people in the pool at that time, and now I know why.  That water was sooooo cold!!!!!!!!  The Boises begged me to give them life vests, even though they know how to swim.  Of course, I let them, you know safety first.  After freezing, I mean swimming for about 45 minutes, we got some breakfast from the marketplace and tried the Blue Iguana breakfast burritos.  They were to die for, that was the wifey's go to breakfast for the remainder of the trip.  Me, I like variety....... 

After breakfast, the boys were playing with their towels on the deck by our table, I think they were garbage men or train conductor, they have such livid imaginations thank goodness.

We shuffled back down to our room to grab showers and meet Nana and Grandma to plan out our day.  We dropped off the boys at Camp Ocean and prayed that they wouldn't call us after 10 minutes telling us to pick up these crazy children 🤣.  The 4 of us did some exploring around the ship, checked out the casino, my favorite place, and so on.  We stopped in at the Java Blue Cafe to grab some yummy Starbucks "style" coffees.  Boy, were they delicious!!!!  We sat around on the promenade outside of Ocean Plaza and had a moment to chill.  We took a few pictures of us at the railings, because everyone does that, right?

It was time to pick up the boys and get some lunch, back to the lido we went.  We spent most of our time either on the lido or at the pizza shop.  I think we ate all of our weights in pizza that week 😀.

I will leave it here for a bit while I think back to what we did later.  Plus, I need to get ready for work.......yay😑

Thanks to all of my faithful readers so far!!!!!

On 5/4/2019 at 12:20 PM, ZeeWP said:

Thanks for your review! Husband, sister and I are taking my 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son next February on a similar itinerary (your original) SO I am definitely looking forward to your feedback. 

Excited to read more! 

PS-if you happen to have the Camp Ocean Penguins activity schedule, I would love to take a look at it 🙂

Sorry it took so long to get back with you, I had a chance to look around and through our pictures.  Unfortunately, we didn't keep or take a picture of the bloomin schedule.  They do vary depending on the length of cruise you take and what ports.  They usually have some sort of party everyday and every evening.  They do movies, arts and crafts, and so forth.  They will usually have 1 to 2 build a bear workshops towards the end of the cruise.  Nana spoiled the Boises and took them to both 😁.

Now back to the Embarkation fun!!!!!

So, now Nana and Grandma are nowhere to be found, they were whisked so fast to keep everyone moving, that we were left behind with their stuff as well.  We braved through security with 6 bags(1 with 60 pounds of soda 😮😓),2 rowdy boys, 1 stroller, 1 rollator, and 2 very exhausted adults.  On a side note, my wife is a beast!!   Alas, we finally made it aboard!!!!  The fam and I made it to the stateroom via the stairs, yes the stairs, the good thing about being on level 2.  We collapsed in our room by about 230pm.  No chance for lunch right now, lets unpack all of this stuff!!!!!.  At 330, we searched for our muster area, thankfully just one floor above in the dining room and the crew there couldn't be any nicer. The boys were acting like boys and didn't want to sit and wait, so one crew member took them to explore and get their special wristbands.  But then they brought them back..... Oh well, a few minutes of bliss 😁.

We made it through the muster drill, after having to do a search and rescue for 70 or so passengers, and we were on our way!!!.  After many calls and chats, we met up with Nana and Grandma at lido to get this cruise a going!!!

Everyone grabbed a guys burger and chowed down since we never had a chance to have lunch.  Talk about some awesome burgers!!!!!   Once Galveston was far behind us, we went back to our room and continued to unpack.  The boys were playing on the top bunk and testing the ladder.  We were all so tired from the day that grandma stayed in their room while the rest of us explored the Camp Ocean, where hopefully the Boises would be able to stay and not cause too much of a ruckus.