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I had TOPAZ performed on November 21, 2017. (My heel looked like a plucked chicken. :D) I was walking well and pain-free on February 21, 2018, which is the day I ruptured my Achilles for the first time. :eek: Admittedly, the three month recovery from TOPAZ was very tough. I shed a lot of tears in those three months.

I had my three-week, re-rupture repair, post-op two days ago. I'm still non-weight bearing but, according to my surgeon, I have great plantar flexion (pointing toes) strength already. I started mild physical therapy today.

My next appointment is October 2. We'll see what's going on then.

 

I wish your wife well!

Which cruise are you sailing. Details! I want details!

We'll be on the Vista out of Galveston heading to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Coz. First time on Carnival and we're looking forward to the trip. We're driving down from K.C. leaving Friday afternoon and taking our time to get to the boat. I've already warned DW she can bring back almost any souvenir she wants EXCEPT a Jamaican cabana boy! LOL!!! After the cruise, we have a week to get home with stops in San Antonio, Dallas, and OKC.

She was only six weeks removed from surgery the last time we cruised so it was rough - she didn't have as much fun as she could have. She really was confined to the wheelchair almost all of the time so, yea, not so much fun. This time - we know pretty much what to expect even though it is a different line so we can be a lot more at ease.

My wife had to have the Topaz Procedure done on both of her Achilles, one at a time, in two separate years - basically poking 36 holes into her heels while she was sedated and then putting in electrodes to zap electricity into the Achilles to repair the tears that she had. The last procedure was done in April of last year and she is JUST now starting to get rid of the pain in her heels to where she can walk significant distances pain free. We are leaving on the 23rd of September and taking a collapsible wheelchair for those days that get to be too much for her.

Be patient with the healing process on these ankles. You'll have good days and bad days. Definitely do not feel bad about letting people help you AND do not suffer people who do not understand what you are going through! Have a great cruise!

My son's plate of baked beans, brisket, mac-n-cheese and one of the Sweet and Zesty sauces.

 

 

 

My daughter's plate of greens, baked beans, bbq chicken, and mac-n-cheese (this small portion I asked for)

 

 

One strange thing about Pig and Anchor is that they do not have drinks for purchase nor a water or juice dispenser like the buffet. Instead my son Langston had to go inside near ocean plaza to the Shake Spot to get drinks for our meal.

 

I really expected more from Pig and Anchor. I left full but disappointed the only thing that was seasoned well was the meat. You cannot violate the Southern Code of cooking collard greens.

I'm going to be on the Vista in September, and I was hoping that the greens were going to be at least acceptable... You are definitely correct about the Southern Code of cooking collard greens - ya gotta give them love and seasoning!

I am loving your review - thanks for posting it and I am continuing to follow along!

Since y'all were late getting in, we were able to start boarding the ship right around 2:00, muster at 5:15, sail away a bit before 6:00pm. Rooms were ready around 3-3:30.

The crew sounds like they did an awesome job turning and burning! I think the last passengers on our cruise were scheduled off just after 1pm! I was glad to see the lights of the Mexican Coast at night - the circumstances WHY we got to see them were not good - I'm glad Captain Johnsen made the correct decision to turn around and get that man the needed medical attention.

We were on the 10/9 cruise - how late were you in departing on the 16th? Hopefully, we took good enough care of Liberty for you! :)

This thread is just kind of sad. I realize that you can't please everyone but the mattresses should not be so bad you can't sleep.

 

We were on the Liberty in May and had a foam topper on the bed they provided and it was great. We sail again on her in less then 2 weeks and I'm getting kind of worried. I don't want to be miserable but if I suggest to the DH we take a topper he will laugh. Really, we now have to resort to taking our own bed. Come on RCL what were you thinking putting hard as a rock mattresses on your ships!

 

Guess we will gamble on it but if it's rock hard my poor steward is going to have to do something. Catching up on good sleep is part of our vacation.

We were on Liberty last week in a lowly interior on the 10th deck (1659). We had some sort of topper on the mattress that was already on there and I slept great (well, my DW said that I was snoring BEFORE my head hit the pillow.) I can't stand a hard bed and I thought the mattress was fine. Have a great cruise - say hello to Allon and Valentina in the Schooner Bar - they'll take great care of you!

Thanks for taking the time to review. My wife and I will be on our first (at least in 20 years) in February on JOTS so it is nice to see opinions from other newbies.

You're welcome. The biggest thing - just go with the flow and enjoy yourselves! I worried WAY too much about schedules, and would the food be good, and would the mattress be soft enough, etc. Here's the trick that worked for me... Be friendly with the cabin attendant and with the waiter, if you dine in the MDR (actually in any of the restaurants, a little kindness goes a LONG way!) They can help with some of the little inconveniences that come along. You'll have a great cruise!

Wonderful review. We will be on the ship in December. Your review gives me a good idea of what to expect. Thanks

You're welcome. I do apologize that I don't have all of the great pictures that other reviews do. It was VERY hard to take in the sights and push my DW around without dumping her. Guys don't multitask well, and this guy was doing good to enjoy what he did and keep the little wife in the wheelchair without sending her flying! :)

By the way...was Liberty late getting back due to the medical emergency? If so how late?

My understanding was that we were supposed to dock at 6 or 7 am. We actually docked at 10:30am because of that medical emergency. Those passengers that HAD to make airplane connections were let off first, followed by self assist, then suites, then our group of handicap assist. We left the ship at 12:10 and I was through customs by 12:40pm. It was actually easy peasy. That said, the crew was going to have to bust their hump to get the ship turned around and back out to sea. I heard they were going to try to get going by 5pm.

Again, only if you were watching and were aware did you see every one of the crew doing their utmost to get and keep things moving. Heck, even Jeff Arpin the cruise director was down by the luggage getting the porters to move faster in an effort to keep things moving along.

This will be a quick and dirty review. I'm an unreformed 54 yo "Chatty-Kathy" (so called by my DW) who has never met a stranger. My DW is a little more reserved. She also currently has early stage Parkinson's and tears in both Achilles' tendons. She was pretty much confined to a wheelchair if there was much walking involved. This fact really affects our viewpoint on our cruise. I do appreciate the fact that fellow passengers were patient while we maneuvered through the crowds and onto elevators. It did crack me up, though, to hear a couple of entitled 10 and 11-year-olds complain that the elevator was stopping on every floor. Umm, quit complaining and take the stairs!

As this was our very first cruise of any type, we decided to go ahead and book an interior on the 10th floor. We heard that the cabin attendants who handle the upper crust suites also take great care of the interiors across the hall. Our cabin attendant, Edna, was such a joy and actually made our entire cruise.

I felt (and feel) that the food was actually really good - here is my take. If you have Morton's and Ruth Chris' tastes and expectations, you will be REALLY disappointed. Our Chili's or Applebee's tastes were quite satisfied. Again, the wait staff - Jonelee and Keti were great. Dinner pacing was kept a decent pace and food recommendations were spot on.

Entertainment on the boat was generally good - loved the live music in the bars. Phil Anderson, Maneolito, Bubba Feathers all were excellent. Headliners were generally good - didn't care for the ventriloquist, loved El Gaucho, In the Air, and EnCore; liked Saturday Night Fever.

I can't really comment on the alcohol on the boat - I get migraines from it and my wife doesn't drink. We did like hanging out in the Schooner Bar where again we got great service and got to listen to great music. We thought that the "virgin" strawberry daiquiris and lava flows were fine and quite tasty!

We did two outside tours - Victor Bodden in Roatan and Native Choice in Costa Maya. I HIGHLY recommend both of these companies. The Bodden Tour consisted of a Glass Bottom Boat ride, a visit to the Cameo factory, and a tour of the island. The Native Choice tours was a tour of Chacchoben Mayan Ruins and a Native Mayan lunch. We just did about 90 minutes of shopping in Cozumel.

As was said earlier, there was a medical emergency three hours out of Coz. The captain went back to Cozumel, dropped off the patient and family, and was back at sea in about 20 minutes. Definite prayers to the family involved - definite razzes to those fellow passengers who felt SO entitled and SO inconvenienced that their schedule was MORE important than the life and safety of a fellow passenger.

Impressions - I believe that Royal Caribbean "gets" it. They know that they are in the Customer Care business that happens to cruise. This was seen from the Captain (Rune Johnsen) through the Cruise Director (Jeff Arpin) through the staff members who cleaned rooms and assisted passengers off the boat. I guess that I am a little more sensitive to good and bad Customer Care as I sit behind a phone doing software support for a major company. Were there problems - yes - but they were addressed quickly.

The biggest question - will I cruise again? Yea, probably. I have over 30 years experience in doing land vacations and actually I am finishing up with another week in San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Am I "hooked" - not really - it was fun, but so is driving somewhere for me. My wife pretty much summed it up - cruising is a "sampler" platter. Thanks for reading!

Departing Sunday from Galveston on Liberty of The Seas. With current Hurricane, have there been any changes with Itinerary?

Take good care of Liberty - my DW and I are on the ship the week after...

is this the one?

https://www.chacchobenruins.com/costa_maya_tours/mayan_experience_tour

That's the one I have booked - she be quite interesting and fun.

Which Mayan ruins did you visit? There is more than one. Costa Maya is one of our ports calls so it would be nice to know the name of the one you visited.

 

You mentioned that you didn't receive pillow chocolates or welcome aboard champagne. Unless things have changed since the last time we were on a RC cruise, only those who are booked in a full suite (Grand Suite and above) receive those amenities. We don't drink so I always ask the concierge to exchange our champagne for bottled water and soft drinks. The pillow chocolates are a nice touch. My wife always gives hers to me. :D

 

Which activities did you skip because they require a fee? This would be good to know for our upcoming cruise. We will be on the Liberty of the Seas in December.

 

Thanks for your review.

JimAOk1945: Since it was the Mayan Experience with Native Choice, that would be the Chacchoben Ruins. They are about an hour away from the port one way. I have the exact excursion booked in three weeks.

Mam11: Thanks for the review, especially of the excursions and ports. I am especially glad to hear about the Mayan Experience Tour. The Chacchoben Ruins sound very nice, but the chance to interact with the Mayan ladies at lunch really sounds facinating.

I have a private tour scheduled with Bodden Tours on Roatan and it sounds like I'm doing the exact same thing on Cozumel. Thanks for the info on the 2:30 time frame on the Bodden Tour - this is my first cruise and I don't want to be in a panic getting back to the boat.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise! We'll be on Liberty in 19 days! Go, clock, go!

I second the above sentiment most hardily! :D

You're very welcome.

 

I'm not trying to sound sarcastic, so I hope this doesn't come across that way...it was Marine boot camp. I really didn't give it much thought once I arrived :eek: LOL. All I do remember is that we were on a bus from Savannah after dark, so we didn't see much.

 

I guarantee you had a much better time than I did :)

Sorry - forgive this lifelong civilian... Marine boot camp. Parris Island for the east - Camp Pendleton for the west. Seriously, no offense taken - I saw what the devastation looked like through central South Carolina and I'm sure Parris Island was just in as bad a shape in '89, so I'm definitely sure your Marine training was more intense because of it.

Yes, I can definitely report that my playing tour guide to my grandmother and my wife was eleventy-seven thousand times easier, but your experience was MUCH, MUCH more important! BTW, Savannah is actually where we ended up because of Charleston being trashed - small world.

Hugo was an end of September storm. I know this because I reported to boot camp at Parris Island on 9/26/89. and I had to fly into Savannah rather than Charleston due to the damage from Hugo.

You're right - my wife and I normally take vacations in October, but we went early that year because we had my Grandmother with us... She was on the phone to my uncle in Dallas all night because of that storm.

I can still remember how warm and still it was in Lumberton two days after the storm, and how all of the trees and road signs were snapped off four or five feet from ground level all through South Carolina as we drove on I-95.

Thank you for your service - it had to be interesting going through boot camp during that time period!

To continue on these great points Hurricane Sandy formed in the third week of October in 2012.

Hugo in '89 was a mid October storm - I'm still upset about that one 'cause I didn't get to go to Charleston. (Probably a good thing as 3 days after that hurricane wasn't a good time to visit!) I was in Greensboro, NC, where Hugo was just a tropical storm when it came through - it still scared this Kansan pretty good. We'll get weather like that for an hour or two, but that was a solid 12 hours of nasty winds, rain, and lightening, definitely no bueno!

As a first time cruiser, I appreciate the hint about making sure to put small things in plastic ziploc bags when stashing in the safe. Definitely something I am thankful of people giving hints like that! :)

Ah, another thing to look forward to on my first cruise! :D

Which stops did you make on your tour? We are visiting Roatan in October and haven't decided what we'll do there yet. Thank you!

We're on the same LOS cruise as you - we're using Bodden Tours on a custom tour to do some general sightseeing, lunch, and going on the glass bottom boat and to the Cameo Factory so my wife can contribute to the Roatan economy! We're not very beach people - especially now with my wife having issues with her ankles, but I thought that the glass bottom boat would get her out on the water to see the fish. The pictures I've seen of the island are great - Roatan HAS to have better scenery than Kansas City! :D Hope to meet you in 5 weeks!

My wife and I are going on our first cruise for our 10 year anniversary on 09/05 and leaving from Galveston. We'll be driving in from Kansas - we'll leave on 09/04 and stay the night in Sugar Land and head from there to Galveston the morning on 09/05.

 

What I'm looking for are opinions on what route to take from Kansas to Sugar Land. There is the direct route of going down I35 the entire way - going through OKC and Dallas or alternately we can head down Hwy 75 through Kansas and Oklahoma and then some Texas highways (either bypassing or going through Dallas).

 

I'm not concerned about Dallas traffic or anything - especially as we'd be passing through on a Sunday afternoon. I'm more wondering if going the non-I35 route would be a more pleasurable and scenic drive. Google maps puts I35 as around an hour faster so that isn't really a concern either.

 

So I'm on here for opinions from people on if there's any value on the non-Interstate route or if we should just take I35 down.

 

Thanks!

I'm going to Galveston from Kansas City on 10/7 to get on the boat on 10/9. Since I'm leaving right after work, I'm going to drive to Tulsa, spend the night then drive HWY75 / Indian Nations Turnpike to Dallas. I'll pick up I-45 from there and head to Houston to spend the night of 10/8 on Galveston Island. Four hours that first day will be plenty and then the eight from Tulsa to Galveston should be fine. I'm getting to the point where 12 hour drives JUST aren't that much fun anymore. :D

I'm dreading HOUSTON traffic much more than Dallas - driving in Houston seems almost to be a contact sport! LOL

Hi - thanks for your detail on the tour. Was this a custom tour you arranged with Native Choice? When reviewing the tours offered on their website lunch is not included on the Chocchoben Ruins tour. Was it perhaps one of the other ruins? We will be on the Dawn in less than 2 weeks and still need to finalize some shore excursions (yikes!) - we will probably book with Native Choice.

 

Thanks very much!

 

Eric

The described tour is the Mayan Experience Tour - we have this tour booked for early October and REALLY looking forward to it.

You do realize that it's 300 miles from Dallas to Galveston, don't you?

With the way Texans drive - it should take about 14 minutes to cover those 300 miles! :)

We have had our October Tour from Native Choice booked since February based on all of the positive feedback. We're really looking forward to seeing the ruins and having lunch.

If you walk around the pool area around 10am on a sea day, you will find plenty of unattended towels, Just help yourself :rolleyes::rolleyes::D

I kinda like that - can I use the excuse that I'm a newbie cruiser to move a chairhog? hmmmm.... I KNEW I could learn lots of stuff on these forums! :D:D:D