Good advice. We gave a waiter $100 on the first day and he treated us like kings the rest of the cruise.
OT: cruise from New Orleans
- Thread starter BhamDawg91
- Start date
The wife and I went on a 7 day cruise with NCL out of NO. No problems parking or getting onboard. We stayed at the Hilton the night before down near the cruise docks, just a block or so from Couchon Butcher. Made 4 port calls, 2 in Mexico, Honduras and Belize. The cruise and all was fun. Took some tours to some Mayan ruins, did a salsa & salsa thing where they show you how to make salsa and dance the salsa plus a tequila tasting. Did tequila tastings in both Mexico ports. Brought home a $200 bottle of 12 year old tequila and some flavored tequila, good stuff.
The cruise was much fun but the problems started when we got home. Just a day or so after arriving home we both felt kinda ill, like flu or covid symptoms. Went to the local doc-in-a-box and tested negative for flu and covid despite having all the classic symptoms. Doc gave me a weeks worth of anti-biotics and sent me home. Did the anti-biotics but really didn't get well. After the anti-biotics ran out I got worse, vomiting, diarrhea the whole nine yards. 3 days after the anti-biotics ran out I made the decision to go to the ER but had a seizure and fell out in my house. After the seizure episode had kinda passed I managed to call 911 and get an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Turns out I had contracted a nasty thing called C-Diff (Clostridium difficile) and had become seriously dehydrated due to diarrhea and vomiting. The wife didn't get it but just felt ill for a week or so. Anyways I spent 5 days in the hospital, 2 in ICU. but the fun didn't stop there. This insidious disease had lowed my immune system so much that in the next month I was re-admitted to the hospital 2 more times for similar stuff, 3 days and 5 days. Our theory is I must have picked it up somewhere on the cruise but don't know where. Good luck.
The cruise was much fun but the problems started when we got home. Just a day or so after arriving home we both felt kinda ill, like flu or covid symptoms. Went to the local doc-in-a-box and tested negative for flu and covid despite having all the classic symptoms. Doc gave me a weeks worth of anti-biotics and sent me home. Did the anti-biotics but really didn't get well. After the anti-biotics ran out I got worse, vomiting, diarrhea the whole nine yards. 3 days after the anti-biotics ran out I made the decision to go to the ER but had a seizure and fell out in my house. After the seizure episode had kinda passed I managed to call 911 and get an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Turns out I had contracted a nasty thing called C-Diff (Clostridium difficile) and had become seriously dehydrated due to diarrhea and vomiting. The wife didn't get it but just felt ill for a week or so. Anyways I spent 5 days in the hospital, 2 in ICU. but the fun didn't stop there. This insidious disease had lowed my immune system so much that in the next month I was re-admitted to the hospital 2 more times for similar stuff, 3 days and 5 days. Our theory is I must have picked it up somewhere on the cruise but don't know where. Good luck.
Took a cruise in May out of Port Canaveral, RC on the Allure of the Seas ship. Lots of fun, want to go on more cruises now. Might take one out of NOLA, but I think I want to stay on newer ships like the Allure, so i hope NOLA has some.
In May we stopped at Nassau and the RC-owned island Coco Cay. Didn't have any paid excursions and wasn't wowed by either stop, so I don't know if I don't care for the cruise stops or if I need to actually do something like snorkeling. Didn't use the pools until the last day and wish I had earlier.
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A week or so ago there was a thread on here about hotel credit cards. What that has to do with this thread is that MGM properties matches tier status with Royal Caribbean. Once you reach Emerald status on Royal Caribbean (55 nights at sea), you will become Gold Card status at MGM by signing up and having them match your RC tier status without having gambled a dime. And, unlike having to start over in gambling every year to work your way back up, all you have to do is call MGM with your Crown and Anchor number every year and they will automatically renew you at Gold.
With Gold status, you get several perks with the best maybe being no resort fee when you stay at an MGM hotel. Also, there are a couple of free MGM slot apps you can play on your phone to get MGM reward points which you can trade in for room comps or a certain percentage off of the room price. The gf and I stayed in the Mandalay Bay and Luxor for 5 days a couple of years ago for a total of $56.
With Gold status, you get several perks with the best maybe being no resort fee when you stay at an MGM hotel. Also, there are a couple of free MGM slot apps you can play on your phone to get MGM reward points which you can trade in for room comps or a certain percentage off of the room price. The gf and I stayed in the Mandalay Bay and Luxor for 5 days a couple of years ago for a total of $56.
New Orleans is my favorite port....easy in and easy out. Done 2 Disney and 2 NCL from there. Tried to get a post Christmas cruise from there but family is tired of Western Caribbean. so we're headed back to Port Canaveral and the Eastern Caribbean this time. Done 2 Disneys from there too, but we're going Carnival Vista for the first time. Keeping an eye on it...it's been having engine trouble the last 2 weeks
I also want to point out a couple of things from my experience on RC.
I see some people saying cash tips make you king. I am a fan of one card all transactions. Sea Pass with a lanyard is how I roll. We hit Coco Cay on the second day, and as I said we were probably the 3rd people in the Waterpark. Got a spot in front of the wave pool, and right behind us in the “jungle” was a bar. I hit that bar all day long and tipped every time with my card. After the 5th time, Byron told me where he was going to be when we got back on the ship, and I did not have to wait for a drink after that.
The other thing is when you buy a drink package it is calculated by adults in the room. My wife is not a big drinker so I told myself I need to make up for that. I think my number was 8 a day. Thanks to Coco Cay and all of the exercise, I averaged 13 a day. Dont judge me. I’m built different than you.
I see some people saying cash tips make you king. I am a fan of one card all transactions. Sea Pass with a lanyard is how I roll. We hit Coco Cay on the second day, and as I said we were probably the 3rd people in the Waterpark. Got a spot in front of the wave pool, and right behind us in the “jungle” was a bar. I hit that bar all day long and tipped every time with my card. After the 5th time, Byron told me where he was going to be when we got back on the ship, and I did not have to wait for a drink after that.
The other thing is when you buy a drink package it is calculated by adults in the room. My wife is not a big drinker so I told myself I need to make up for that. I think my number was 8 a day. Thanks to Coco Cay and all of the exercise, I averaged 13 a day. Dont judge me. I’m built different than you.
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