virginiab

Aft will be great, and in Alaska it is great to have some extra money for excursions. Use your $922 to see sights/wildlife!

I have generally enjoyed fixed-time dining, but on our most recent cruise, on the Legend, it was too noisy to hear each other, except for the person seated right next to you. The maitre 'd didn't have another table that was is a quieter location, but when we said we'd be happy to try YTD, he was happy to set that up for us. At least on that ship, fixed time diners are on the lower floor and YTD folks on the floor above, where it turned out to be significantly quieter. 

We brought two of those folding chairs, not to a cruise, but when we had to kill a few days out of town between medical appointments. Our inexpensive motel (Motel 6) did not have any upholstered chairs, just wood chairs for the table. Having the camping chairs let us be more comfortable between our various excursions to movies and meals. I think it's worth a try. I hope you will come back and post about how it worked for your mom. Maybe you will post some photos for us??

I think it was 2003, so not recent. We had an Inside Guarantee and got assigned to a obstructed view balcony on the Legend.

We were thrilled.

I'm trying to construct a narrative in my own head about the staffer who was wiping the possibly/probably used silverware. I'm pretty sure it would be less work for this person to toss everything in the bin of dirty silverware than to do that, so I wonder if they are supposed to clean the crud (cole slaw, for instance) off the dirty silverware so it doesn't end up glued to some clean plate/fork/coffee cup when it goes through the dish machine. If so, this person may have been putting it in the wrong bin after wiping.

As others have said, that would be a failure of training and supervision of staff, and possibly exacerbated by fatigue or just lack of attention. 

I have not cruised during chemo, but I have cruised shortly after chemo and radiation. I planned for a quiet cruise. We got a shady balcony (a Cove Balcony, in our case) so we could hang out there a lot. I took extra care with the sun precautions and did what I could to avoid folks who seemed like they might be having colds or anything else communicable. We bought Faster to the Fun so we could get right to our cabin and I could take a nap if I needed it.

It was great to get away from all the medical stuff and we both came back much less stressed. 

We had to change our cruise date, as the original date we had planned was right at the end of chemo and before radiation. I believe we paid the $50 per person penalty, but they held the rest of our deposit for the new cruise which I booked as soon as I had the schedule for radiation. I think we boarded the ship 2 to 3 weeks after radiation ended.

One you see how it goes with the oral chemo, I suspect you will be able to pick a new date confidently.

Thanks to the OP for posting this. We love the AMEX offers. I got $150 back on my deposit of $750 back in September, then another $75 back by paying another $350 with this current offer. As I was paying that, I saw the notice to get a Carnival/Barclay Bank credit card and get a $200 statement credit, so I said "what the hell" and applied for the card, paid off my cruise balance of $499 with the new card, and will get that additional $200 savings. So the bank cards have conspired to save me $425 off a total fare of $1599.

I suggest that you all meet for lunch at a restaurant in town and then board between 12;30 and 1:30. Everyone's cabins will be ready for them to drop off their luggage and then you can all head up to Lido for some sun and a beverage. You should be able to board quickly ans easily at this hour.

Anytime you are planning to go barefoot on the beaches or elsewhere, it is good to be sure your tetanus shot is up to date. It is recommended for every 10 years. As a gardener, I need to get a fresh one this year.

When OBC gained because of price reductions after final payment was not split the way we wanted, we just went to guest services with all the parties involved and asked them to move the credit as we had wanted in the beginning. No problem.

Thank you for this review. I wasn't sure that Havana would interest me, but your descriptions and photos have turned my thinking around!

To my knowledge, folks on Cruise Critic only reported the outer doors being closed once. It was on the first or second cruise on the Dream, when Cove balconies were first introduced. If there have been other incidents, they happened when I was not paying attention. Folks on that cruise posted photos of crew members going down the line, traveling through the doors that connect balcony to balcony, and closing the doors from cabin to balcony.

So that COULD happen if you run into really terrible weather, but the odds are that it will not happen to you.

We avoid much sun exposure and we love the cove balconies. Like any cabin that is above or below a deck that is anything other than passenger cabins, there could be noise from dining areas, pool decks, casino, bars, showrooms, etc. It is good to look at the deckplans for the deck above and below yours and make your best guess as to whether noise from those places has potential to bother you.

We have chosen the most forward cove balconies to avoid smokers who might be in balconies in front of ours. We may have gotten more salt spray from being farther forward but we are at sea, so some spray doesn't deter us. We just plan to wipe down the railing, chairs, and table each time we go out on the balcony and we generally sit on our beach towels, them bring them inside so they can dry off again.

SO some people find these balconies damp, dark, and a bit disturbing with the lifeboats lurking above. And others of us book them as our favorite cabins whenever we are on a ship that has them. Read reviews and look at pictures from others who have booked Coves and make your own best guess as to whether they will be of interest to you.

JUst because you have "wheels" already, whether a knee scooter or a walker, you can still get wheelchair assistance. When my mom was using a walker we asked for wheelchair assistance, both at the airport and at the port, and she was pushed in a wheelchair while I wheeled the walker with her carryon and mine stacked on it.

I second the recommendation for breastcancer.org. There is a wealth of information there and the message boards are awesome!

Usually, waiting for a diagnosis and treatment plan is the most crazy-making part of having cancer. It is good to be able to split your attention a bit by also thinking about cruising.

I had a different cancer a year ago and had to go to out-of-town specialists to find the experts in treating it. It took a while to get the appointments and we ended up with appointments to see a medical oncologist and a surgical oncologist 3 days before a planned cruise. So we packed for the cancer center and we also packed for the cruise. I made sure I had all the phone numbers to cancel our cruise travel arrangements. 

The medical oncologist said this was a very fast-moving cancer and I should start chemo next week; they would make arrangements so I could do that close to home rather than at their center. I asked if we could wait and start in two weeks. He said we should really start next week. I explained about our vacation plans, including the fact that they were cancellable. He thought about it a minute and said that we were in for a rough 8 or 9 months of treatment and that a cruise before we started might be just the thing.

I spent the couple hours as we were driving to the airport on the phone with the medical folks at home, asking them to make the arrangements so we could start as soon as we got back. They got that done by the time we got back to the USA after the cruise.

The end of the story is that there was a lot of chemo, some surgery, and a good result in the end.

Followed, of course, by another cruise.

Hang in there. Many thing will become clear once you know what you are dealing with. My thoughts are with you!

21 hours ago, firemanbobswife said:

You do not get to keep the OBC. You totally reprice to the new rate minus penalty fees. This changed when they went to Early Saver fares. The days of "sleeper cruises" are long gone. 

Thanks for telling me this. I did not know about this change.

When you change dates, you pay the fares that area associated with your new date at the time you book that new date. So you have not locked in a fare, only the OBC, which you should be able to carry over to your new date.

Six years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of June. At the time I had a November cruise booked. Once I knew I would need chemo, I looked at the schedule for chemo versus my cruise plan. I would finish chemo a couple of weeks before the cruise and it seemed to me that my immune system would still be pretty vulnerable. So we cancelled the cruise before the final payment was due. I had booked Early Saver fares, so Carnival kept $50 per person and held the rest of our deposit to use for a future cruise. Once I saw how my recovery was going, I booked a cruise for the middle of January. 

My advice would be to keep an eye on the date that final payment is due, and be prepared to cancel at that time if you need to. Whatever your treatment plan turns out to be, I hope it will be pretty easy to deal with and that we will see you back aboard soon!

I used a previous amex offer of $100 on $500 Carnival purchase. I added gratuities and travel protection to the balance due on our cruise which just squeeked the total due over $500. I paid it off and got the $100 promptly. I don't know about the multiple cruise issue.

We have stayed at the Springhill in Dania a couple of times. It is convenient for our purposes. There is a Walgreens just across the parking lot and across the street is a strip mall with a couple of restaurants (we like the Chinese one) and a grocery store. There are not attractions to walk to. We have gotten a rental car when we are arriving on a very early flight and go to a movie or to the nature center in Ft Lauderdale. The car takes care of those pesky luggage storage issues for us.

9246 & 9250 are both fine - those are the only lido balconies we've done.

Thanks DMDIVER!. We have 9250 booked for a December cruise on the Glory and we are looking forward to it.

I have also read here on Cruise Critic that some of the people checking us in at the port have a packed bag with them, hoping to get a free last-minute cabin. So that would help fill up that empty cabin.

I was on the Conquest earlier this month and they have the pay-per-item sushi now. It is at the window on Lido, opposite the deli.

We had our lunch there on embarcation day and were pleased with the quality and the price. The selection is not huge, but they make good sushi.

I took a Carribean cruise about 4 weeks after finishing radiation for breast cancer (6 weeks of 5-day-per-week treatment). We had cancelled and rebooked in order to fit with the medical schedule.

When we headed for port, I felt pretty good, still had a lot of fatigue.

It was good to get on a ship and just relax. No excursions. Plenty of naps. Lots of time just reading or watching the water from a balcony or a public area.

On the other hand, for me a Med cruise would have me wanting to see things in every port, and I don't think I would have been up to that at the time.

In the past, we have rented a minivan and spent a pleasant day in town. Have lunch. See a movie. Or go to the everglades. The tours are probably still going to get you to the airport very early for your flight. A car is more flexible.

I always travel with the gel ice packs and neoprene wrap. I bring a collapsible cooler and keep the gel packs in the ice. Ideally I keep them in the ice with water added, so there is good contact of the cold with the gel pack.

These are not as cold or as long lasting as if they were in the freezer, but they do provide about 10 minutes of good quality cooling. I bring three along and that seems to be the right number for me.