Diary of my 1st disabled cruise! Victory 14-21st!

[MistyMeanor]

Well this will have to be broken up as there is too much to write at one time. Right now my Mom may come in and be ready to get me into bed if I happen to cut it briefly. I am going to double post if it's ok? In the normal Carnival area and in the disabled.

 

I had posted a few threads prior to sailing as I had lots of questions regarding cruising with an electric wheelchair, the rooms, and traveling with a service dog. So now I have answers to all of that and positive and negative feedback on all.

 

January 13th, 2007

First off, do NOT book a multiple carrier flight when traveling with electric wheelchair, manual wheelchair, and a service dog. We had to stop in Houston and the change flights. Problem was, the AA terminal was 3 terminals over from the Continental. We made it though, but on the way back is another story.

 

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Miami because they told us they had their own wheelchair lift transportation to and the hotel AND the port.

A big nice Marriott bus came to get us with a nice lift on it. All was well.

 

The area it was in was nice, and the scenery was nice, but they did not give us a handicapped room (but we didn't cause a fuss) and our room quality was maybe a little better than a super 8. No big deal, we rested well for the next day and had a nice full breakfast.

 

January 14th, 2007 - Embarkation

Had all of our luggage ready and went to the front desk to get our handicapped transport. We were told, "we do not have handicapped vehicles to the port". They told us they contract 3rd party for transportation to the port and had no vehicle with a lift for us. My Dad was furious, as that is the whole reason we stayed there. Had to get the manager and he said that he could arrange something and "reimburse" us. My dad told him he wasn't waiting for any kind of reimbursement and they needed to find something and pay for it now. Well they had trouble because most places want 24hr notice to arrange a vehicle with a lift. The manager said, "well if you had given us notice..." I thought my Dad was going to go postal! We booked the room at LEAST 3 months prior and my Dad made sure to bring that up!

 

We waited over an hour and a half before Fairfield finally made the situation right. They arranged the same bus that does the airport route to come get us and take us to the port.

 

We arrived in about 30mins as traffic and construction was bad. Then gave our luggage to a porter and off we went. Check in was unbelievably easy. As soon as they saw my chair they pulled us into a private room and did VIP check in. So we got to skip all the lines.

We got on, got our Sea and Sail cards, room number and were told where to take my dear Nellie to the restroom. But I have to say, we felt like rats in a maze at first!! lol!

 

Right after getting on, a lady walked up and said, "Is this Nellie?"... it was GrandmaDottie from here on CC! How neat! and it was so nice to meet her!

 

We found our way to our room. I was pleasantly surprised as it was better than I expected based on being an inside stateroom and to have room for my chair. They did several extra pieces of furniture in there but we got our steward to remove them. The roll in bathroom was a dream! I wish I had one at my home! and the beds were unbelievably comfortable! We were in Handicapped Room 7394.

 

Nellie had to go potty by now and so her "litter box" was on Level 4 at the very end of the ship. (Sorry I don't know all the proper terminology!). We got there and were very disappointed. It was a 2x2 wooden box, but we knew that... but had the pelleted paper litter in it just BARELY covering the bottom of it. It was spread THIN. It took Nellie a few times before realizing that was the place to "go" and the ONLY place to go! Finally after about the 4th attempt, she went. But as she went, pee was running all over the box and all over her feet. Well I don't know about your dogs, but mine is a picky pottyier anyway. This box would have been fine for a small dog with that amount of litter. But a 90lb yellow lab??? 1x of peeing and the half of the box was soaked, which also deterred her from wanting to go in it again.

 

We went to the purser and asked them to get someone to put more litter in. The box was very deep, I was expecting it to be at least half way full so when she soiled the wet would break up to dust and filter to the bottom, also it was stay stirred up so she wouldn't be standing in her own mess...

 

... More Later to Come...

[shamrockace]

I'm enjoying your diary. Keep it coming Misty!

[clopaw]

Misty, I'm so happy that you are reporting in. My husband just asked if I knew how the trip went for you. Did I tell you before about our trip on Holland America where they gave our dog a plastic litter box that said it was designed for dogs up to 35 pounds. Hero weighs 95 pounds. My husband said that Hero got to be good at precision peeing and pooing.;)

 

One thing that I noticed recently is that Celebrity now says on their website that they provide a 4 x 4 box with mulch for assistance dogs. I have never seen any reference like that before. I hope we will see more understanding as more people with dogs cruise.

 

I'm looking forward to the rest of your story.

[MistyMeanor]

I will be posting soon again probably tomorrow when I am off work. I just got in and am about to go to bed. But letting y'all know that I am gonna finish my diary, it just may take me a while.

 

Yeah Clopaw, I plan on writing a letter to carnival about the litter box. It was just not acceptable...

Here is a pic of the box... I do have time to add a blurb though...

They did not clean it for the first 3 days! This is after use of it 2x!

[MistyMeanor]

Ok finally a little more, at this rate it'll take me months!

 

January 15th, 2007 - 1st day at sea

So we this day we got up early. I had been taking dramamine because I have been known to get motion ship. Even though everyone had always told me, "the ship is so big you will hardly tell you are moving". We had breakfast on the Lido Deck. I don't normally eat breakfast just because I am not a morning person. However I woke up very hungry. My Dad is a juvenile diabetic so he has to eat pretty quickly after getting up. I got eggs and sausage. I am a very finicky eater before I go on much further as you may see me making several jabs at the food. The eggs... umm does anyone know if they are real??? They didn't taste real, nor the texture of real eggs. The reminded me of hospital cafeteria eggs, like eggbeaters or something out of a carton/box. They were soupy and mushy and bland!

I coated them with tons of salt and pepper and ate a bit... the sausage was "ok".

 

My Dad and I are both smokers, I know bad. I felt the ship was very fair to the smokers and non-smokers a like. You couldn't smoke just anywhere, I am a smoker but still don't like a ton of smoke wherever you go. We found a good place to always go to to have our smokes, and it was the Caspian Wine Bar. That ended up being our "meeting place" for if we ever separated we knew where to find one another.

 

With having Nellie with us, I now know what it feels like to be a celebrity! Keep in mind we always draw attention no matter where we are with having a beautiful and smart dog like her. But this cruise... man at times it was overwhelming from staff and guests a like. I loved all the attention and getting to talk to so many people to begin with. By day 4-5 I was thinking, even though flattered by some of great people... "ok people its a dog!" lol! No offense to anyone though, it was quite enjoyable most of the time and I got to meet so many cool people!

 

Of course first question from 95% of people... "can I ask a question..." always followed by..."where does she go to the bathroom?" lol!

 

Which speaking of by this day her box was soaked. Poor thing was holding it most of the time for the first few days.

 

This was our first formal night...

We went back to the cabin early to start getting ready. I tried putting on false eyelashes which was took me ages. Didn't have time to grab lunch before we went to the room, so we got room service. A cold sandwich.

 

Then they did free cocktails in the Adriadic Lounge. We met a nice couple named John and Pat. John... man he could throw them back! It was funny cause he was very boisterous and reminded you of the uncle you may have had as a kid, that drank to much, but was so much fun to hang around? and I mean that in a positive way.

I had a screwdriver... man they really pump up their drinks! and my dad I think had as many as he could get within the hour!!! lol!

 

We went to dinner in the Pacific Dining Room. I didn't take Nellie the first night to see what the setup was like first. I was glad cause it was tight just for me to get my chair parked in. We had the late sitting at 8pm. We had dinner with Penny and Bob, Ann and (oh my I forgot the other ladys name) but they were all from our group ABMA (Animal Behavior Management Association) which was nice to be able to sit and chat about animals, and training.

Our waiter was William from the Philippines and he was so funny and an awesome waiter!

I was so excited to try the dinner meals!

I remember I got Coconut shrimp. Any shrimp is my favorite seafood.

It was mediocre.

 

We just socialized a bit and played a few slots, $20 goes fast in those bad boys! But I started feeling not so well.

I am sure you cruisers know what I mean by me saying, I didn't feel nauseous, but I just didn't feel right in my head or overall which didn't make me feel well. Kinda how you feel right before you are about to come down with the flu or something?

 

So we cut it a bit early so I could rest and lay down...

 

Time for my Mom to put me in bed... 29 years old and still have to go to bed when mom does! lol!!!

... More Later...

[brigittetom]

Misty, I just noticed you posted at 2:12 am. Not too bad, when I traveled with my mom it used to be lights out pretty early.

 

I hope you will find the time to finish your diary. It's such interesting reading. Brigitte

[MistyMeanor]

January 16th, 2007

Costa Maya

 

So it was our first port of call. I was very excited. We knew that Mexico would allow for Nellie to get off the ship and come on port on this one. I went ahead and took my electric chair as we really thought there would be something for us to do. The town was meek. I didn't really get into the shopping scene there as I thought there would be more to do right off the ship. So we met up with our animal training group and they were going to Dolphineus a private beach. They were all taking charters. Of course there was no handicapped transport. We had a man offer to take us in his pick up and load the chair in the back, for $30 per person... NOT round trip. Well we thought it was too risky, he could leave us stranded anywhere.

 

My Dad figured out and got some men with out group to help turn my 300lb power chair on its side and load it into the cargo area of the charter. So we got to go.

 

Nellie got right up in the seat with me and braced me to keep me from falling over in the bus. The beach was pretty... and it was a beautiful day. Very deceiving though cause it didn't feel "hot", just warm. I sat out for an hour and Nellie went swimming in the ocean for her first time.

Then Lee from the group offered us to go swimming with the dolphins!! I had wanted to do this so bad. We were going to book it, but it was $159 per person. The group was doing a raffle for 80 free swims. There was 250+ people with our group so we just gambled it. But didn't win, but two of their winners did not claim their tickets, so they knew how bad I wanted to go and let me use one.

 

Someone watched Nellie up on the dock while we were swimming.

 

Dad carried me in and stood on the platform with me. They had the dolphins come give us kisses. Then they told everyone to get into the water the rest of the way. Well we didnt think we'd be able to cause there would be nothing for my Dad to support himself and me. But the trainers were SO NICE. They kept incouraging us and one offered to hold onto the back of my dads life vest to support him while he held me.

As we were getting in, I felt pecking on my head. One of the dolphins came up on its own without command and started just kissing me!

That was the coolest part ever!

I didn't get to touch them as much as I had hoped, my range of motion is VERY limited as my arms are contracted. The waves from the dolphins swimming by you were much stronger than they appeared. So just when I'd reach out the waves would push me back.

But, it was the experience of a lifetime.

 

I'm glad I technically only sat out in the sun for about and hour cause I was burnt to a crisp!

 

By the time we got back to Nellie, she was sick. She drank too much salt water :( She was vomiting and her stomach was distended double the size. We kept pumping fresh water into her to try to flush her out.

 

On the bus she laid in my lap and was miserable and whimpering. I felt so horrible for her I wanted to cry. She sat up and leaned over (isn't that amazing?!) and threw up again in the floor of the bus where Dad had put towels down.

 

We made it back to the ship. Nellie threw up a while longer, and I suppose the salt water is dehydrating cause she couldn't seem to get enough to drink. We stayed with her. A very nice man from the cruise brought us pepto bismal tablets to our room for Nellie. His dog he said loves the ocean but gets sick every time.

Then she developed a cough. She must have aspirated on some of the water or vomit. She was lethargic and just wanted to lay around cause everytime she'd get up she'd start hacking.

I told Dad we had to get her up moving even if she didnt want to and felt miserable because with her aspirating she could have developed pneumonia. Once we got her up walking around the ship, her cough slowly diminished. Luckily I own a lot of animals and know what to do with illness! lol!

 

Now I am going to skip onto the 18th because I don't remember the details from the next day at sea.

 

January 18th, 2007

Grand Cayman

 

For Grand Cayman Island I didn't get off the ship. There was a tender and also I had found no one to watch Nellie that day. Dad had the Stingray City excursion booked. I told him just to go ahead and go, and Nellie and I would stay on the ship. She takes such good care of me, and picked up my wallet when I dropped it, then pushed the buttons in the elevator for me, the ones I couldn't reach.

The ship was deserted! I expected to find someone we could hang out with but didn't. We were alone for about 5hrs.

One of the staff helped me take Nellie to the restroom, the box was finally clean by now but had less litter in it than it even started with by the first pic I posted. They didn't clean it for the first 3 days!!!!

I asked the staff member why after our requests were they not putting more litter in it. She said she thought they had run out!

Run out??? They knew for months a huge labrador retriever service dog would be on this ship!

What could you do though? We just worked with what we had, even though Nellie hated it.

 

That night was a formal night, so I just dressed semi formal this night. Nellie wore her pink foo foo collar that made her look like a ballerina! lol! Boy it was a hit!

 

That day or night (can't remember) a man from the UK walked up and asked to pet Nellie. Started talking about his dog and how much he loved and missed him. Well the man said his name was Paul and, "do you post on Cruise Critic?"

He had seen my posts before I left asking questions and talking about traveling disabled and with a service dog.

He said, "well I would be honored to watch Nellie while you go to Jamaica".

Well I wouldn't normally leave her with a stranger, but after further talking... you really know when someone is special. I agreed, and we exchanged room numbers. He followed up and and called us that night to make sure we were still on.

I asked him, "you don't want to go to Jamaica?" Well he had been numerous times, he just wanted to go long enough to get his free margarita from Margaritaville!

 

Will post the rest later!

[Valentine's Mom]

Misty,

 

I am so glad that you are finishing your story. I am really enjoying reading your accounts of the trip. I can't believe that they would neglect Nellie's box that way. It's no wonder she hated it!! Running out of litter is no excuse! We had just the opposite on The Elation. They gave us a 25 LB bag for our 10 Lb. dog. Seems with more and more people traveling with a service dog they would get use to it.

 

I loved reading of your encounter with the dolphins. They are so smart and it seemed that they new instinctively to come right to you.

 

I hope that Nellie has recovered from her ocean swim. It worried me just reading about how sick she got. I'm glad that you knew just what to do.

 

Can't wait to hear more!

 

Barbara

[MistyMeanor]

January 19th, 2007

Jamaica

 

This morning we spoke with Paul and had him meet us on the lido deck. I wrote down a list of commands for Nellie and when to praise her and when to ignore any bad behavior. He was really excited to look after her.

But I told him to be prepared for people to stop him constantly.

We figured the best exchange was to have HIM walk off with Nellie. Not have us walk away from her.

She went right with him.

 

We headed off for Jamaica. I took my manual wheelchair this time so I wouldn't be as limited on where I could go. We did a bit of shopping, particulary at Del Sol where the sell the sun activated color changing garments. Wow, it was pricey! I got 3 shirts and a visor... then because we bought more than 2 shirts we got a free color changing tote bag.

 

In Jamaica we had people stopping us left and right. I know this happens to most people but most of the people stopping us were attracted to my chair it seemed as they were offering rides for the wheelchair, wheelchair help, etc. When we would turn these down, then they would offer ganja of course!

 

We went back to meet the bus and there was a man there that had a van with a lift! surprising!

However, since we were with the group... we had FREE transportation on the charters. Of course he wasn't offering his services for free. Since we had my manual, and I only weigh 50lbs. It would have been no problem for Dad to load me onto the bus. We kept explaining, we had a ride and it was free. Finally we walked past him and was about to load onto the bus. The driver of the van walked up to the tour lady from Jamaica with our group and were speaking (kinda loudly) at each other in Jamaican. He apparently was still insisting to her to let him take us. She told him in english "You take them, for FREE".

 

So he did, on the way to the beach area he tried getting us to go on a bunch more tours, including seeing Bob Marleys home, and "the fields" But we really were not all that interested. He proclaimed he would pick us up at noon. We were like, whatever.

The van though wouldn't have worked for me if I had taken my electric wheelchair. It didnt have a lowered floor, or bubbletop roof. So even as tiny as I am I barely got head clearance getting in and out.

 

So we went to the beach area, saw dolphins, sting ray, and sharks. They did a whole shark show for us which the people doing it were hilarious. The actual shark show was scary! lol! But these were not like great whites or anything... they actually appeared to be sand sharks. I am no expert, but they were brownish in color and has whiskers like an overgrown catfish. This would explain their more docile behavior. However, a shark is a shark and when they would feed them, you could hear the snap of their jaws from afar! So if they were to bite, it would still be life threatening.

 

We actually hoped to get out BEFORE noon as we were going to get the bus instead of having to deal with our pushy driver.

But we got something to eat, pulled pork... it was GOOD... and then I had to get my hair braided!

I just got half of it done, the lady did it for $20. She coated each strands she worked with with vaseline. Yuck! It didn't hurt near as bad as I imagined it would. I had had a perm put in my hair a month before the cruise, my only fear was that it may pull some of it out.

She got it done, and also offered some ganja to me and my Dad lol!

 

We lost track of time, and it was 1pm by the time we got all done. We walked out, and there was our driver... sigh... we thought he would had left by then.

We got loaded up and he started talking about how long he waited for us, and was obviously mad. Then went on to say he expected a large tip.

We just got to our destination, and we gave him the rest of the cash we had, which was I think $6.

 

We had told our steward that a man would be bringing my Dog back to my cabin and to let him in long enough to leave Nellie. We got back to the cabin and there she was. She was tired though! lol

 

I played BINGO that night, and won $150! so that was very cool! I have always been lucky at BINGO as I play here at home sometimes and have won 3x.

 

We were not able to track Paul down to get the status of how Nellie was for him, or what all they did.

 

January 20th, 2007

Last Day and Night

 

We really just did a lot of lounging around for the majority of the day.

Well we had to get dressed formal again for this night because it was the awards banquet for the ABMA group we were with. I wore my nicest dress this night. Nellie, Dad and I took the professional pictures.

We finally tracked down Paul and he said Nellie was wonderful for him and he loved watching after her. He took her running on the track, and walked her all over the ship. That was why she was so tired! He also took her to the bathroom, but she did her dootie right outside of the box, cause again by this time there was urine standing in it. But he took a towel and covered it and the lady in charge of the potty area said it was no problem and they would take care of it.

 

We watched one of the shows, and I REALLY wanted to watch the Finale show where they had people impersonating celebrities... but got sidetracked with picking up our pictures and missed it. :(

 

Stayed up pretty late.

 

January 21st-disembark

 

Luckily we were VIP and got to be one of the first off the ship. We called SuperShuttle right before security clearance and they said to call when we were officially off the ship.

Well so we did... it took them an HOUR AND A HALF to get there! Mind you, we reserved the lift van months before. Well our flight was at 11:45am!

We got there finally at around 10:30am. But I tell ya' I have never seen such chaos as I did at MIA. The only reason we didn't miss our flight was because being disabled I got to go into a "shorter" line.

 

Summary

 

I am so glad I did all of this... but in the end, I don't think cruising was for me... or for Nellie. It wasn't quite what I expected and there were a lot of elements that were stressful and unpleasant. It was also too much for Nellie, and we are talking about a well traveled dog that has flown all over the place and been to places like Disney World etc.

But the potty thing was the biggest stress and issue for both of us, along with everything else.

 

I may cruise one of these days, but I will pick the cruise next time. First off I will leave from Galveston so we can drive cause the flight stuff and time constraints were miserable. Second, I will pick ports that you can stay on longer, and something that maybe only has two ports and no tenders.

 

But really in the end, I think I will stick with flying somewhere and staying there! An all inclusive resort would be nice. To knock off the transportation issues, time constraints, etc.

[shamrockace]

I enjoyed your diary Misty. Thanks for taking the time to write it. :o

[momonwheels]

I was very happy to read your post. I am a double above knee amputee and I have cruised before. I must say I really enjoyed it. I loved your post & I really felt bad for Nellie!! I am very glad you had the experience of cruising! I am trying right now to find some accessible excursions for when we cruise in Aug 2007 on the Freedom of the Seas.

[FastFreddie]

Thank you for taking time to type your post Misty! I am actually sad that you won't be cruising because I'd like to see you on a ship. I do understand though, that it was quite stressful for you and that's the opposite of what a vacation should be. But by the tone of your postings that the cruise went well enough for you to enjoy! These postings give some insight to AB cruisers what HC cruisers with situations they have to deal.

 

I wish you and Nellie all the best!

 

 

FF

[clopaw]

Misty, I was glad to see that you posted about the rest of the trip.

 

As far as Nellie and the cruise goes: The first cruise we went on with Hero was stressful for him and us. Princess had promised a box and then gave him astroturf. He basically just held it for as long as he could the entire week, and he had several accidents. The next cruise was on Celebrity and they built him a big box and kept it filled, and he was fine from then on. I was counting recently and he now has 63 days at sea, with 13 more coming up in May.

 

I hope that as more people with dogs cruise, the cruiselines will all become better about what they need to do.