Sarge6870

Royal Caribbean International’s Brilliance of the Seas has emerged from a $30 million dry-dock renovation with twice as many dining options and an aerial show in the transformed Centrum.
The 90,000-ton, 2,100-passenger ship now has Giovanni’s Table trattoria, the intimate multi-course Chef’s Table, Izumi for Asian cuisine, the casual Park Café, Rita’s Cantina for Mexican food, and an English pub. The five-story Centrum now features the 60s-inspired R Bar and entertainment that includes aerialists gliding through the space.
The Royal Babies and Tots Nursery cares for infants as young as six months. Also, there are new locations for the Concierge Club for suite guests and the Diamond Club for Crown & Anchor Society loyalty program members.
Royal Caribbean has improved the wireless Internet access throughout the ship and also added flat-panel televisions in all staterooms, an outdoor LED movie screen on the pool deck, and an interactive digital way-finding system.
Brilliance of the Seas will debut the innovations as it embarks on a Baltic season from Harwich, England, to visit destinations such as Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; and Helsinki, Finland.
By Theresa Norton Masek, Travel Pulse
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Plans to build a life-size sailing replica of the Titanic look set to go ahead after it was revealed that the shipyard chosen to build the ocean liner has begun upgrading its facilities in preparation of the forthcoming construction work.
Titanic II is to be built at CSC Jinling Shipyard Company in Nanjing, China, and is being funded by Australian billionaire businessman Clive Palmer.
The ship will take three years to build and will be constructed to the same dimensions as the Belfast-built White Star liner - 270 metres long, 53 metres high and weighing 40,000 tonnes.
It will have nine floors and 840 cabins, accommodating 2,400 passengers and 900 crew members, along with Turkish baths, a swimming pool and gymnasiums.
Its exterior will be an exact replica of the ill-fated vessel but engineers will incorporate the latest technology when it comes to engines and electronics.
It will also remain faithful to the classifications of the original ship with passengers able to buy first, second and third class tickets.
The shipyard’s director Ge Biao, told China's Xinhua news agency: 'It's difficult to replicate a luxury liner, but Jinling Shipyard has a history of 60 years of building various kinds of vessels with high quality.'
Titanic II is expected to make its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 2016 along the same route that the original ship sailed.
A spokesman for the shipyard, Li Wenbao, told the Sunday Times newspaper: 'The liner will be equipped with advanced technologies including the latest life-saving and communications systems, to meet the requirements of modern navigation.'
Mr Palmer’s company is reported to have been inundated with enquiries from potential passengers, with some offering up to $1m (£640,000) for a chance to be on the maiden voyage.
The original Titanic set sail from Southampton on April 10, 1912 and was thought to be unsinkable at the time.
But the ship hit an iceberg in the Atlantic on April 14, 1912 and sank the following morning, killing 1,517 passengers and crew.
A special cruise recreated the voyage of the Titanic last year to commemorate 100 years since the ship sank.
MS Balmoral set sail from Southampton with the exact same number of passengers as the famous liner that sank on its maiden voyage.
Passengers onboard the 12-night cruise included relatives of people who died onboard the Titanic and a memorial service was held at the spot where the original ship struck an iceberg and sank.
By TravelMail Reporter, Dailymail.co.uk
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Can you imagine having to spend five entire days in the tropics confined to crowded quarters with thousands of others, without functioning plumbing or adequate food? With sewage and its stench surrounding you, helpless to escape? And, needless to say, no air conditioning?
That experience is not limited to the unfortunate travelers on the Triumph cruise ship that lost power in the Caribbean last week. To be exposed to those conditions, just visit Korogocho, a massive slum in urban Nairobi, Kenya. Or a slum in Calcutta, or Quito, or any of the hundreds of "high density areas" (as urban slums are euphemistically known) around the world. There, those horrific conditions represent normal life for approximately a billion people globally, and the UN predicts that number will double by the year 2030, meaning that much as 25 percent of the entire projected global population will live in urban slums.
We in America are largely insulated from the way the rest of the world lives, but my work in international public health has taken me to a number of places that frame how I see the world today. I will never forget a walk through Korogocho many years ago. I was working with a nonprofit group that had developed a range of services for adolescents living there -- education about reproductive health, training in skills that might someday give them an opportunity for paid employment. But only a few minutes of walking through the narrow, trash-filled paths made me realize the massive challenge of bringing any meaningful improvements to their lives. HIV prevalence rates were high, crime was rampant, abject poverty was ubiquitous, and the struggle for food and clean water was a daily one, with essentially no public services. The crowded houses were makeshift arrangements of rusted tin and irregular pieces of rotting wood. They were adjacent to a massive garbage dump, and the inescapable odors of human excrement and decaying garbage in open sewers made it the most foul-smelling place I had ever been.
Yet many urban slum dwellers are born, grow up and die in such settings. While the Triumph cruise vacationers were desperate to leave the ship and get home after their harrowing experience, the dominant fear in most urban slums is that they will be evicted from their humble homes and become even more destitute. Many advocacy groups now resist the use of the term "slum," as it leads to pressure on cities to promote "urban renewal" and raze the shantytowns. But urban slum populations continue to increase. In India, for example, their numbers have doubled since 1970, and in Manila, half the population lives in slum areas. As world population increases, most of that expansion ends up in cities.
The reasons for this situation are many and complex. We know that global climate change and corporate agriculture takeovers of massive amounts of farmland have reduced the ability of family farmers to make a living on their own land, and see moving to cities as their only alternative. Economic and "free trade" policies have shackled the ability of poor countries to maintain profitable prices for their products and to subsidize basic needs of their citizens. Meanwhile, the vast inequality in the distribution of the world's wealth continues to grow.
But the movement of the world's poor to its cities also represents a migration of people hopeful for a better life, and that hopefulness is also a clear memory from my visit to Korogocho. The program staff there was proud to show us their orderly meeting room, the T-shirt uniforms they sported, and their educational materials. They described their success in helping a few young women become literate and eventually move away to paid employment. The picture of that room, and those young people, is only in my mind, but it's as clear a memory for me as all the smells and the makeshift shacks.
While I was sympathetic to the plight of the travelers on the Triumph cruise, I was impatient with all the attention they received. The media reporting was intense, with CNN focusing most of a day on television coverage of the plight of the Triumph passengers. We can exclaim our good fortune that we were not one of the luckless travelers on that cruise, or try to talk about their experience in a way that recognizes how essentially trivial five days of unpleasantness can be in the context of the poverty of most of the rest of the world. Instead of thinking of the predicament of those Americans as an unusual human experience, an aberration, why not use the cruise story to remind ourselves and others that it is all too similar to the living conditions of as much as 15 percent of the world's population?
I worry when we in the privileged world think that a bit of inconvenience for a relatively few "people like us" is worth a media storm. What might change that? When they "miss the boat" on such big issues, letters to the newspaper editor or online notes to the stations we most watch or listen to would help. It's also important to make positive comments on stories that give you new perspectives and provide serious analysis on important issues. You might follow a media source that challenges mainstream coverage, such as FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). However it's done, we need to push our public media to include broader perspectives -- that sometimes include the rest of the world.
By Mary Anne Mercer, Huffington Post
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An abandoned Russian cruise ship, drifting in the sea with no crew or warning lights, has turned up off the west coast of Ireland.
The MV Lyubov Orlova – once used by the Soviet Union for polar cruises and expeditions - was being towed from Canada to a scrapyard in the Caribbean in January when a cable snapped setting it adrift in international waters.
At the time, the Canadian authorities said it was decided not to pursue the drifting vessel as there are no people aboard the ship and there was a serious concern for the safety of Canadian sailors involved in the salvage operation, given the weather and dangerous sea conditions.
Transport Canada later claimed the ship was no longer Canada's responsibility because it had drifted out of the country's jurisdictional waters.
A week or so later on February 1st, the derelict vessel was intercepted by the Atlantic Hawk, a supply craft used by the Canadian energy firm Husky Energy, only to be cut loose once again in response to fears of a possible collision.
Following this incident, Transport Canada insisted the vessel no longer posed a threat to "the safety of offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment".
“The vessel has drifted into international waters and given current patterns and predominant winds, it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction,” it said.
However, earlier this week, maritime officials admitted they did not know the location of the ship as its global positioning system was no longer functioning. Since then there have been conflicting reports as to the ship whereabouts.
That was until a document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency obtained by the AFP news agency yesterday said the Lyubov Orlova had now been spotted about 1,300 nautical miles from the Irish coast.
The ice-strengthened ship - named after the Soviet star of the same name – was built in 1976 by the Russian-based Far East Shipping Company.
She served as an expedition cruise ship before being abandoned dockside in St John’s, Newfoundland.
By Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Irish Times
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For the last week, we have been inundated by reports, mostly negative about the failed sailing of the Carnival Triumph. These negative reports came from mostly the media but had also been introduced by lawyers, using an undertone of "Let's sue 'em". Much as the reporting that has been ongoing in a mostly negative manner by major media outlets about the war against terror, without an open mind, you will come away from these reports with a negative attitude towards either. I do not want to stray away from my story and get too political, but what you never hear reported by the media is the POSITIVE outcome we have had in many areas overseas during the war on terror. How do I know? I served in Desert Storm and am a 12 year Veteran of the United States Army. Removal from power of dictators such as Saddam Hussein, the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and the rebuilding of schools in those countries are just a FEW of the positive things our brave, volunteer Military, has accomplished. BUT, you never hear of these positive things being reported and there is where you get the negative attitude about the war from many.
Such as the media reporting of the war, the media takes a negative approach towards the unfortunate failed sailing of the Triumph. Granted, in NO means should this situation be sugar-coated and I am not going to do that. What I am trying to do is attest to my sailing on the Triumph on a previous cruise where my wife and I renewed our marriage vows and try to show somewhat of a positive attitude regarding the Triumph incident and cover a few sea mishaps and disasters that seem to be what most of the uninformed public seem to harp on regarding taking a cruise. Let's take a look at some of the most know cruise disasters and incidents at sea.
The Titanic
On her maiden voyage to New York, the "Unsinkable" Titanic hit an iceberg and sank causing the death of 1502 of the 2224 souls onboard. Even with her double hull and water tight doors, she had been unable to maintain her buoyancy and sank because five water tight compartments were breached. The Titanic had been designed to withstand only four of those compartments being breached. The Cunard lines "RMS. Carpathia" was able to rescue only 705 of those souls. The failed planning came with the lack of life boats and the crew allowing life boats to be lowered and released sometimes less than half full. The designers were more interested in uncluttered decks which is why some of the life boats were removed prior to her sailing. Although only 705 passengers were saved, this disaster could have produced a much worse response. In 28 degree water and those jumping overboard to try to swim clear of the sinking vessel, many more could have perished. At the time of the sinking, cruise ships were designed less for leisure and more for transportation. Maritime laws and cruise line regulations have come a long way since 1912.
The Costa Concordia
On Friday, January 13, 2012, the Concordia ran aground and partially sank off the coast of Giglio Italy causing the loss of 32 souls. Although still under investigation, it seems the Captain ventured onto the rocks to get closer to land to entertain those on land. The Captain insists he was ordered by his Corporate office, knowing of the shallow conditions, to take this dangerous course. In my opinion, even "IF" ordered to do so, it is still his responsibility to make the final decision in the best interest and safety of his passengers. This disaster is one where I can see even veteran cruisers would shy away from cruising in the future, if only for some time. It has been reported that the disaster of the Concordia had absolutely no effect on the cruise industry and people still chose cruising as their vacation.
The Carnival Triumph
The Triumph, a ship I have sailed on in the past, developed a fire in the engine room knocking out power to a majority of the ship and due to the failure of toilets, sewerage had been found in many areas of the ship. Comfort equipment such as air conditioning, lighting and some cooking equipment were disabled. Emergency systems such as fire suppression equipment, communications and exterior lighting remained in service. But did you know that the bilge pumps, used to evacuate accumulated water in the hull was also operational after the power outage? Without the bilge pumps operating, the vessel may have sank! When we sailed the Triumph, we renewed our wedding vows during an itinerary that was the same as we had for our honeymoon cruise aboard the Carnival Celebration some 20 years earlier. We absolutely loved the Triumph and found new friends onboard that had sailed her numerous times prior. The cruise agent we had said that the Triumph seemed to always sail at full passenger capacity. After this mishap on the Triumph, would I sail on her after repairs....YES!!!
The Celebrity Meridian
The Meridian, also a ship we sailed on back in 1992, had been the flagship of Celebrity cruise lines. Built in 1961 and commissioned as the "Galileo Galilei" for Lloyd Triestino, she was renamed and sold to Celebrity cruises in 1990. She remained in service with Celebrity until 1997 when she was then sold to Sun Cruises and renamed the "Sun Vista. On May 20,1999, the vessel suffered an engine room fire, which cut all power and caused her to sink on May 21,1999. All 1,090 passengers and crew were safely evacuated and the ship sank near Malaysia.
Let me get to my point. I have been on 8 cruises and have experienced inconveniences on only one. It was a minor one at that where the ships turbo chargers broke down and the vessel was only able to cruise at 50% of it's max speed causing an itinerary change. If you have never been on a cruise before, hearing of and reading stories such as have been reported lately by the dramatic media outlets may cause you to second guess ever going on a cruise. Taking into consideration reports of airplane crashes over the years, "There are approximately 25 plane crashes a year since records began in 1950"(wikianswers.com) as opposed to cruising, "In 2000/2001 we had 3 ships on their way to the breakers sink off our shores and over the past 20 years 2 ships which were part of our cruising industry were lost, fortunately without serious loss of life."(allatsea.co) , it is obvious that cruising is still the best choice you can make. You MUST approach your cruise vacation with an open mind. Speak to others that have cruised in the past. Read and ask questions of my fellow veteran cruisers regarding their cruise experiences right here on the Cruisecrazies forums. When you consider you can cruise for as little as $149 for a three day cruise (just to get your feet wet, so to say), you have an amazing opportunity to see what cruising really is. When reading reviews, take only into consideration the average reviews of positivity or negativity. It is very easy to be "Arm-Chair Quarterbacks" and draw our own conclusions on what was done or not done in the above situations. But do not allow yourself to be swayed by a news agency or the report from an attorney on how you should approach one of the only inexpensive, fun and beautiful vacation choices you could make. Hope to see you onboard soon.
By CruiseCrazies Member Sarge6870

(CNN) -- Days of sipping umbrella drinks have given way to the stench of backed-up sewage, stuffy cabins without power and limited food. The Carnival Triumph engine fire shows that the best-laid cruise plans can veer terribly off course.
Sometimes it's rough waters forcing the ship's captain to change or skip a port of call at the last minute. And then there are the extreme cases of a days-long stranding, or in the case of the Costa Concordia disaster, the loss of 32 lives. When accidents happen, it's not always clear what the cruise line is required to do next.
Here are five things we've learned about cruises since the Triumph's engine room caught fire on Sunday:
Emergency systems aren't designed for a pleasant trip
It's unclear at this point what systems are in play aboard the Triumph, but we know that generators are supplying power. And from passengers' grim reports, these emergency measures do not a fun vacation make.
"The emergency generator is sized to provide sufficient power for systems that are necessary for the survivability of the vessel, passengers and crew," according to marine engineer Robert Jackson, who is the chair of the engineering technology department at California Maritime Academy.
The plumbing systems on the ship are powered by electricity, and passenger accounts of sloshing sewage indicate that there's not enough to operate facilities for more than 4,000 passengers and crew.
"Since the incident happened on Sunday, technicians have managed to restore limited power on board to operate some toilets and limited functions in certain areas. There is running water, albeit cold water," Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said via e-mail.
A Coast Guard helicopter delivered an additional generator to the ship on Wednesday to supply more power.
Itineraries can change without notice
Cruise lines may change a ship's course mid-voyage. In the case of an engine fire, that's a given, but more routine sailings could also change. Diversions may mean changing a port of call or skipping it altogether, and passengers agree to the unexpected when they purchase tickets. The conditions are included in the cruise line's ticket contract.
Carnival ships can "deviate in any direction or for any purpose from the direct or usual course, and to omit or change any or all port calls, arrival or departure times, with or without notice, for any reason whatsoever," including mechanical breakdowns, according to the cruise line's ticket contract.
While terms and language vary by cruise line, according to Dan Askin, senior editor at online cruise community x, "it's pretty standard legalese across the industry that aims to protect the line against every contingency."
This week Triumph sister ships Carnival Legend, Carnival Conquest and Carnival Elation all diverted to provide provisions to Triumph. However, those diversions did not result in any delayed arrivals or skipped ports of call, Gulliksen said.
Passenger compensation often is not required
Itinerary changes after a ship departs are considered part of the "proposed voyage," according to Carnival's itinerary change policy. Under the policy, Carnival is not liable for refunds or damages for post-departure changes.
But when more than 3,000 passengers are stranded for five days, the cruise line is willing to concede a failed voyage.
Triumph passengers will get $500 in addition to a full refund for the cruise and most expenses on board, transportation expenses to get home, as well as a credit for another cruise, Carnival said.
Even in much less dire situations, most cruise lines do offer prorated compensation for cruises that are cut short, Askin said.
"After that, there's significant variability in compensation, event by event," he said.
After a bad cruise, can you cruise into court?
Cruise ship inspections vary by ship and country
In addition to the regulations of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, a ship is subject to the laws of the country whose flag it flies. The ship may also be subject to the laws of a country where it stops.
The Carnival Triumph sails under a Bahamian flag, so authorities there are taking the lead in investigating the incident. But because the Triumph stops in U.S. ports and carries U.S. passengers, the U.S. Coast Guard has some inspection oversight over the vessel. The Coast Guard issued a certificate of compliance for the Carnival Triumph on May 17, 2012, after the ship's annual inspection.
The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board have also launched an investigation into the cause of the engine room fire.
In contrast, the Costa Concordia, which ran aground and sank off the coast of Italy in January 2012, didn't stop in U.S. ports carrying U.S. passengers, so it wasn't subject to U.S. Coast Guard regulation.
Passengers may have a legal case
Carnival's ticket contract says the cruise line is not "liable to the passenger for damages for emotional distress, mental suffering/anguish or psychological injury of any kind under any circumstances, except when such damages were caused by the negligence of Carnival and resulted from the same passenger sustaining actual physical injury, or having been at risk of actual physical injury."
While no physical injuries have been reported, if a passenger contracted a significant disease, such as hepatitis, from unsanitary conditions on the ship, maritime trial attorney John H. (Jack) Hickey believes physical injury could be argued.
"I think that a case can be made that everyone on that ship is at risk of actual physical injury," he said.
Will passengers file suit and can they win? Yes and yes, Hickey said.
Carnival's contract prohibits a class action suit, but Hickey said he's not sure whether it is legally enforceable.
Hickey has never filed suit over a cruise ship stranding, but he said these circumstances, particularly the reports of sewage on decks, are exceptional.
"It's a public health disaster in the making."
By Marnie Hunter, CNN
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From the pitch-black depths 2½ miles beneath the North Atlantic, salvagers of the Titanic made a notable discovery when they located the personal effects of William Murdoch, the bridge officer who tried in vain to keep the doomed ship from colliding with an iceberg.
The artifacts — including a shoe brush, straight razor and pipe — are the first to be specifically linked to Murdoch, who gained added notoriety after James Cameron's polemical portrayal of him in the 1997 blockbuster movie "Titanic."
In the film, Murdoch accepts bribes, kills two people trying to get on lifeboats and shoots himself in desperation as the ship sinks. Historical accounts, however, say Murdoch gave the order to try to avoid a collision and acted selflessly to get passengers on lifeboats.
"This will bring Murdoch back front and center to the tragedy," said Bill Sauder, who manages Titanic research for RMS Titanic Inc. The company oversees the artifacts and gave The Associated Press an exclusive look at a new exhibit that opens Friday at Premier Exhibitions in Atlanta. RMST is a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions.
The movie created a furor when it came out. Murdoch's extended family and people from his hometown of Dalbeattie, Scotland, were angered. They asked that movie credits be amended when the video version of the Oscar-winning film was released.
The studio, 20th Century Fox, refused. Executives said the movie was never intended to be a reflection of real events, and that Murdoch was portrayed as a hero because he saved many lives before taking his own. Eventually, the studio issued a personal apology and made a contribution to an annual Murdoch memorial prize that Dalbeattie High School had given out since 1912, the year the Titanic sank.
Attempts to find Murdoch's extended family of Murdoch by contacting community members who had had contact with a now-deceased nephew of Murdoch were unsuccessful.
"There was no controversy about Murdoch shooting himself until the movie came out," said Lee W. Merideth, a Titanic expert and author of "1912 Facts About Titanic." ''Cameron took a lot of liberties, and that's why historians don't like the movie."
Controversy aside, Merideth said the artifacts are a significant find and will help viewers make a personal connection to an important historical figure.
"If that is his pipe, that means he smoked it at one time," said Merideth. "All this stuff belonged to somebody."
Recovering artifacts from the depths of the North Atlantic is painstaking work. Teams are only allowed to gather material from what is known as the "debris field," an area outside the actual ship; by court order, artifacts can't be taken from inside the vessel, which broke into two pieces when it sank.
The Murdoch items are part of some 5,500 artifacts that are being auctioned as one lot and include: clothing, fine china, gold coins, silverware and "The Big Piece" — a 17-ton section of the Titanic's hull. Many of the artifacts are part of a handful of exhibits around the United States and one in Singapore.
The winning bid will be announced April 11. The collection was appraised in 2007 at $189 million, and the public company decided to auction the collection in response to shareholders' wishes.
Connecting items to owners is often impossible. Researchers have only been able to link a handful of passengers or crew members directly to artifacts, usually with items like suitcases, trunks or wallets. The Murdoch artifacts were found in 2000, but just recently linked to the former officer.
The central clue came with the initials "W.M." embossed on a toiletry kit, said Alexandra Klingelhofer, Premier's vice president of collections.
Some of the items inside the toiletry kit, like a button, the razor and long-johns, would seem to belong to Murdoch. Officers were given uniforms, but had to buy their own buttons, making easily-accessible spares necessary, said Klingelhofer. And while early in his life Murdoch wore a beard, he began shaving it after marrying, she said.
Officers and crew members often had several pairs of long-johns, necessary for frigid overnight watch shifts.
The items "bring you face to face with things that belonged to a man so integral to the story," said Klingelhofer.
The items are displayed together on a table under glass. While the long-johns and toilet kit are faded and have holes, the button sparkles, and the pipe and brush appear in good enough condition to be used today, extraordinary considering they spent 88 years in the ocean.
Behind the case is a portrait of Murdoch, along with blurbs about his upbringing and attempts to skirt the iceberg.
"He did what an officer should do," said Klingelhofer. "He followed orders and got people into the lifeboats, and I think that tells you something about the man himself."

A derelict ship that has been taking up space on the St. John's waterfront for nearly two and a half years has finally left port.
The Lyubov Orlova, an abandoned cruise ship, had its last line to the wharf cut at about 12:30 p.m., and was towed out of the harbour by a tugboat shortly afterwards.
The tow rope broke on Thursday, just one day after the decrepit ship was towed out of St. John's harbour.
Sea conditions had improved overnight, but the winds Friday morning were still about 35 km an hour and the waves were up to three metres high.
A DFO spokesperson said the crew of the tugboat that had the old cruise ship under tow will try to reconnect the line today.
The Lyubov Orlova will be towed to the Dominican Republic, where it has been sold for scrap. The voyage should take three to four weeks.
The ship was arrested in St. John's in September 2010 after a creditor put a lien on the vessel.
A Russian company, Locso Shipping, owned the 90-metre Orlova. At the time of the ship's arrest, the Russian-based company owed Cruise North Expeditions $250,000. The company also owed 51 crew on the vessel more than $300,000 in wages.
Since 2010, the abandoned ship has been sold and resold, all the while being moored on the St. John's waterfront.
Reza Shoeybi, owner of a tugboat from Boston, arrived in St. John's in early December to prepare the Orlova for towing, and has been waiting for five to six weeks for the right conditions in which to move the vessel.
Source: CBC News

When many of us plan our cruise, even with the great packing list supplied by CruiseCrazies, there are some of that must think a little deeper. I am referring to those of us that must take certain medical equipment with us on our cruise. These items can be Wheelchairs, Medication that must be refrigerated, Oxygen and CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) breathing machines just to name a few.
A few years ago, my wife had used a CPAP machine. The device is completely mobile so we gave no second thought when bringing it aboard the Carnival Pride as a check-in bag. Because the equipment required the use of distilled water, we had to bring our own with us. We planned on 4 gallons being enough for the 7 day cruise. When we arrived at Port Canaveral, the check in staff stopped us to inspect the device since they had seen it when going through the X-Ray machine. They also closely inspected the 4 gallons of distilled water. They asked if we had a prescription for the device. We explained to them we weren’t aware that a prescription was needed. They retained the device for two days until Carnival received a letter from my wife’s doctor confirming it was a CPAP machine and was required treatment for my wife.
I did some research and all cruise lines have regulations and standards in place for special needs passengers. For example, if you use oxygen, you must bring enough of your own to sustain you for the entire cruise or make accommodations to receive replacement bottles at the ports of call. The oxygen in the ships infirmary is only for emergencies. If you must bring medication with you that must be refrigerated, please be aware that cabins that have mini-refrigerators are NOT sufficient for the storage of your medications. On Carnival, they have special refrigerators that meet the temperature requirements to store your medications but they must be requested and are in limited availability. If you require the use of a wheelchair, ensure that you are booking a cabin that is “Wheelchair Accessible”. NOT all cabins are designed for wheelchairs.
The best advice I could give is if you have a question regarding your medical condition, all your respective Cruise agent or the cruise line directly. We were inconvenienced for a few days. But it’s YOUR cruise, why be inconvenienced at all.
By Tim Hickey, aka Sarge6870