Great Cruise! until Second to Last Night

[SingleFatherofDD]

Let me give you all and introduction to our cruise. My DD and myself took a New Years cruise on the lovely MS Noordam out of Fort Lauderdale on January 30th. It arrived today and we are off the ship now, sitting and relaxing at the Fort Lauderdale airport. This was my second cruise with my DD. I have multiple cruise experience prior to adopting my cousin. Adoptive DD is 5 years old.

 

With the bad weather in New York we had our fingers crossed that we would be able to get down to Fort Lauderdale to meet our ship. Luckily we arrived at the airport on the 30th and got on our flight down to the ship. Transfer from the airport to the pier was with ships transportation. DD started jumping out of her seat as soon as she saw the big cruise ship. Also in port was the Oasis of the Seas and two Princess ships. I told DD that we might be taking a cruise on the Oasis in the near future. If anyone has good information about this please pass it on. Of course we had to get to the Lido and also the pool. I fed DD and then it was off the the pool. On the Noordam this cruise the middle pool was the family pool and the Aft pool was suppose to be the adult only pool. From time to time I did see children in this pool. That night the children had a meet and greet and the adults were educated about the program for the next 7 days.

 

Each day DD would get up before me and find her bathing suits put that on and then her cover up. I had to get dressed quickly or she would start jumping off the beds telling me she wanted to have fun. The first day was Nassau Bahamas. This port we didn't do much. We went into the port to do some small shopping and then we visited the Atlantis Aquarium. Then it was back to the boat for some swimming. That night the children had fun watching some movies and do some activities. While she was there I took my spot at the casino table and gave my daily donation to the casino gods.

 

Second day was a full sea day. In the morning after having breakfast I dropped her off at the Youth Club. Then I went back to my room for some alone time. I didn't see DD until the Club broke from lunch. During this time we had a nice buffet lunch at the pool side. She took her daily swim and then went back to the kids club. I was a horrible father I let her go back to the club in her wet bathing suit. I tried to change her at the pool side but she didn't want to. She just wanted to go back to the club as fast as I could bring her.

 

Third and fourth day saw us at port. We went to San Juan and St. Thomas respectively. In San Juan we were there until 8:00 at night so DD didn't participate in the kids club that night. We spent it together at the Pinnacle Grille. Dinners were our Daddy, Daughter time. In St. Thomas we went to Magens Bay after shopping for some jewelry for DD. DD got new studs for her ears. Ok I spoil my DD, sorry. However, they weren't diamonds, they were Tanzanite. Just kidding, only gold studs for her. It was a little windy the cruise at the ports until our last port on day number 7. Luckily I brought her rash guard with us because that kept nice and warm when she was out of the water.

 

Day number 6 was just like day number 2 with a full day at sea. Until the middle of the night when all of a sudden I heard a loud bang. I got out of my bed to find DD laying on the floor with a very painful face on. After turning on some of the lights and attending to my DD it seem that DD tripped on the threshold of the bathroom when she finished using it. I asked her immediately if anything hurt and she pointed to her left shoulder. I took off her nightgown to look at her shoulder and sure enough she had a deformity to her clavicle. When I saw her on the floor I knew immediately that she broke it because of the way children fall. The clavicle for all the parents out there is the most commonly broken bone in children. It happens when children rough house or even fall out of bed. The morning of the last day on the cruise I took her to the medical clinic on board. Told them I am a physician and I believe my daughter had a broken clavicle. They asked me what happened so they could right up an incident report and also to take an x-ray. It should what I thought a mid shaft clavicle fracture. Luckily they had a shoulder immobilizer. This is slightly different than a sling.

 

This put a wrench it what I had planned for us for the last day on Holland America's private island. They have a small water park with some slides and jumping mats. I allowed DD to go into the water but she couldn't use any of the exciting things she calls them. DD didn't complain of pain for most of the day. At night when it was time to go to bed is when she did. DD has a sensory perception disorder. Her pediatrician thinks it has to do with the abuse she suffered at an early age. She keeps most of her feelings inside. This is also true about pain. So when she told me she was in pain I new she was. I carried some Children's Motrin with me. This put her right to bed.

 

First, I want to tell you that HAL did a great job with the kids. During most of the time except between session of the Kids Club you wouldn't know that there were children on board. The activities the the normal ones you find on any ship. Face painting, bingo, arts and crafts, movies and the such. They also have games systems for the older children. The youth counselors were great with DD on the last night when she was in the sling. They gave her extra attention, which they shouldn't have. They went our of their way to make every child's experience and exceptional one. I did tip the two girls that worked with my DD age group mostly. If they make my DD trip enjoyable then why not reward them for doing that, even though it is their job.

 

That pretty much wraps up my cruise on the Noordam. If anyone has specific questions about the ship or even Holland America Line please feel free to ask the questions in here or even email me them. I can't believe it is back to work for me tomorrow and also Sunday. Back to the normal grind.

[6rugrats]

I am sorry to hear about your daughter's accident! Welcome to the wonderful world of parenting; sometimes things don't go as planned, but it seems as if you had a great trip anyway.

 

My kids also loved HAL. At least she got to go in the water at Half Moon Cay; IMO, it's the best stop HAL makes in the Caribbean.

[driftingaway2017]

That's too bad about your daughter's injury, but at least it happened towards the end of the cruise, rather than at the beginning.

And, I do agree with the previous poster about Half Moon Cay. It really is beautiful there.

The Oasis of the Seas is a wonderful ship for children. There are so many things for kids to do on board, such as the H20 Zone water park, and the carousel. It really is a very kid friendly ship.

Good luck.

[fisherhum]

Glad to hear that your DD still was able to enjoy HMC as my kids loved it there. I am happy to hear that you had a good experience on HAL. Our family loved our cruise on HAL and found the same thing in the kids club. Great staff and they spent lots of time making the kids feel special.

We are sailing on Oasis in less than a month... Very excited.

 

Glad to head that your trip all in all was a success. Good luck getting back into work mode!

[crusinmama06]

Oh no, no, no! :(

 

So how is she now? How long does that take to heal? That poor little girl. :( I know how much you were looking forward to your second cruise together. I wish her a speedy recovery.

[pabrett46]

Hi,

 

I can totally relate to your broken collar bone story. A few years ago my daughter did the exact same thing.. only she was tobogganing. She was x-rayed and I was told the two bones that had broken were over an inch away from each other and the dr's were concerned about them meshing together an healing properly. So every week we were getting x-rays. Finally they decided the bones were not going together so she was to see a specialist and see if surgery was in order. So on the day of the appt with the specialist.. we were getting out of the car and I'm not sure how it happened but I managed to trip her and she went down.. I was in a panic.. what have I done to her. Of course I never said a word to the specialist .. so they take xrays and low and behold the two bones were now quite close to each other and there would be no problem with it healing. Now..it could be the bones found their way to each other on their own.. at least that what I keep telling myself.. ;)

 

Thanks for the review.. I hope your daughter has a speedy recovery!

[kassimer1]

Sorry your DD had a rough time on her last day. Hope she is doing better now. She must be related to my DS cause he fell on the last day of our last cruise , lacerated his scalp and got a concussion. Kids bounce back fast though . Im sure she is ready to go on another cruise already>

[Lizzie1213]

So sorry to hear of your daughter's injury! HAL has always been my kids' favourite cruise line. They have a wonderful children's and teens' program.

[SingleFatherofDD]

Thanks for all the well wishes. I will pass them on to DD. She is very upset that she can't participate in her gymnastic classes for 4-6 weeks. She was one of the top in her class and was heading into starting competition soon. It will be a small set back.

 

As you can see I finally was able to sit down and open my laptop for some typing. The only thing I can say is that after the injury HAL was very cooperative with everything, especially the youth counselors. These counselors went out of their way to make sure my DD wasn't left out of any activities because of her injury. Our room steward checked on DD a couple of times and even left her two towel animals on our last night. The crew on HAL is always great. Sometimes they treat the children like their own. Our dining room steward to us that he had a daughter my who was DD age. However, he hasn't seen her in 6 months. Most of the crew work long contracts and send their money home to their family. They don't see their children for months at a time. It is just hear breaking to hear a father say that he has a new born at home but hasn't been home since the birth. I try to do what I can with all the thank you s, the job well done and even the tips. I think as passengers we have to understand the background of the crew who always smile and make sure we have a wonderful experience.

 

Thats enough of me being on the soap box. DD went back to Pre-K on Friday. They had a half day because of the snow that never really happened. Now she is at a friends house. So she is back to herself, but her arm is in a sling and it is bothering her because she is so active but can do her normal things. Even showering is harder for her.

 

Thanks for your ears as I vent a little. Talk to you all later.

[RoadTripFanatic]

:( I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's injury! OUCH! Poor little thing!

 

Out of curiosity what did you think about HAL's medical care?

 

I know the crew member's stories can break your heart. Our last cruise our cabin attendent was crying after she left our room. (DH was working with DD on her Math homework) I asked her if she was ok and she said she missed teaching her children. :( She had two children at home.

[youngestof9]

oh NO!! I missed this post. I hope it's a speedy recovery. Kids are amazing, though aren't they - that would make me grouchy, whiney and annoyed. Yet kids just roll with it. I'm so sorry it happened on vacation. Sounds like your cruise was great, in spite of what happened.

[Julienatul]

goodness, sorry about your DD's fractured clavicle. Fortunately it was at the end of the cruise and it sounds like you both really made the best of a bad situation. Im glad you all had a nice time and the crew and medical staff were so wonderful. We were also cruising for New Years out of Ft lauderdale on the Carnnival Miracle to St Maarten, St Lucia & St kitts. I know what you mean about the weather. It was very windy and chilly the first few days of our cruise. My DD is a fish too, I cant keep her out of the water. Even on the chilly days, she swam.

[CariBear]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your DD's fracture! Glad she was able to enjoy most of the cruise though!! Sounds like she will be back to her old self in no time....swinging from the gymnastic bars and enjoying herself to the fullest!

 

I can understand about the crew missing their kids. When we were on Oasis in November there was a member of the bar staff who circulated around the MDR each night. Since our DS3 regularly fell asleep in his chair many people would come over to comment or tell us stories about their children. This particular crew member told us he had a little girl at home who was our DS's age and he missed her dearly. While it was hard to understand every word of the conversation due to a language barrier I always made sure to listen carefuly and participate in the conversation. He missed his daughter so much! We had my time dining and this crew member would find us each night to talk with us. Each night he would talk about his daughter as his face lit up with love for his child. Some nights it felt a little intrusive, but I understood that it was his love for his child that kept him going day by day...working on the cruise ship to afford a good life for his family. DH did not know how I understood so much of the conversation and would ask me how I knew how to respond.....but I just listened as best I could as I could not imagine being seperated from my children for months at a time.

 

As for Oasis.....it's a kid's paradise!! My DD8 was in the kid's club 24/7. She didn't even want to come to dinner with us. I had to bribe her to come sit with us on formal night! She made so many project in the club...from a clay volcano to a bugs web. They also played bingo several evenings and she came home with 2 Adventure Ocean octopi (I hope that is plural of octopus!), an AO hat, a decorated pillow case, a lanyard....and some more goodies. I think we rode the carousel about 100 times in 7 days!! They loved the water park feature too! My DD8 also really enjoyed Hairspray...which surprised me. DS3 was a little apprehensive about the kid's club as he is home with me during the day, but he did give it a try and I think he enjoyed his time there. The kid's parades/family festivals on the boardwalk are great too! Lots of games for the kids to play with little prizes, face painting, balloon making.....tons of fun! I can't wait to be able to sail again on Oasis or Allure!

 

Best wishes to you and your DD!

[SingleFatherofDD]

Good Evening all!!!

 

Just thought I should come back an check in. DD is doing great with one arm. She goes to see my partner tomorrow. Maybe she will be able to come out of the sling and start moving her arm again. It has been two weeks since the injury.

 

Someone asked about the medical staff on HAL. I thought they were very professional and very kind. They might have given me professional courtesy because I did tell them that I was a medical doctor. However, from some of the the passengers that I met on the cruise who saw the doctor said that he as very kind and caring. I got this feeling also. After I saw the medical staff in the morning they called me in the evening to see how DD was doing. I really like how they followed up and not forgot about us.

 

For the posters who have given me information about Oasis and Allure thank you. I have only sailed on Carnival, Regent Cruises (before they went Bankrupt), HAL, Celebrity, and Princess. So I don't know anything about Royal Caribbean so that is why I wanted to get some information about them. Thanks again.

 

I will talk to you all later have to get DD to bed. She has school tomorrow unless she is lucky enough that they cancel it. More snow on the way.