POX GOES THE VACATION

Dream Vacation Cut Short
When Chicken Pox
Forces Crash Landing

We should have known this vacation was doomed from the start. We had several family members seriously ill and tried to reschedule but, because we had one of only eight penthouse suits on the newest (it's only been out since November) and largest cruise ship ever built, the Carnival Destiny, the next open suite was in 1999. Needless to say, we kept our reservation and decided to continue--BIG MISTAKE!!!!

After leaving Friday for Phoenix, and flying to Miami Saturday, we finally boarded the ship Sunday afternoon. Our cabin was absolutely great. We had a sitting area, wet bar, TV/video, dressing room and a spa.

Even the outside verandah was excellent. The regular steel wall on the balcony was made from glass which was great for the children.

We headed outside to check out the "Carnival Destiny", the newest ship in the fleet. This one definitely had a nice slide.

Equipped with one of the largest playrooms we had ever seen, we were assured the kids were going to have a great time. The playroom had a jungle gym, a whole wall of televisions playing in unison, small kid video games, and activities all day every day.

We got to be part of Carnival's 25th anniversary celebration. The kids had been angels through all of the travel and were as polite as could be at dinner. Sailing was postponed until 7:00 p.m. so the the ship could go into the harbor for a great fireworks display. Helicopters circled us taking media shots. After that we headed for the evening show. Preston stayed awake through the whole thing but the long trip getting there proved too much for Brooklyn who gave out in the first 30 minutes.

Returning to our cabin, we got the kids ready for bed. Susan noticed what looked like a small bug bite on Preston's back, but didn't think much of it. The next morning the small spot turned out to be more like heat rash. We dressed and went to breakfast, played in a fabulous playroom and then went swimming.

That's when Susan noticed the rash had spread and she feared Preston had chicken pox! We headed for the infirmary where the nurse asked if we could stay in our cabin until 3:00 when the doctor got in just in case it was Chicken Pox. We returned at 3:00 only to have our nightmare confirmed--Chicken Pox!!!

The doctor was at a loss. He said he had never had a child with Chicken Pox on board before--almost hard to believe--and that he wasn't sure what to do. He proceeded to tell us his predicament. See, Chicken Pox is a highly communicable disease and is airborne (which we didn't realize). Most of the crew on this ship was from Panama where they don't have the Chicken Pox (which, again, we didn't realize). If the doctor has a crew member come down with it, he quarantines that person to his quarters for 14 days. He agreed there was no way to quarantine a four-year-old to a small cabin even for seven days.

After several meetings with the doctor and hotel manager, we agreed to voluntarily leave the ship at Cozumel. In doing so, Carnival agreed, for the first time in 25 years, to give us a certificate which was good for any voyage in the future. They were very thankful that we were honest about the illness and had come forward with this information as it could have brought the ship to a dead stop if too many crew members had become infected.

So, after nine hours of airports, customs and flights, we made it into Phoenix at 10:30 p.m. with sick, exhausted, broken hearted children. Susan lost her watch getting our luggage--typical end to a bad day--and by 1:30 a.m. in Globe, what else could pull out in front of us but a highway patrolman. We got to do 50 m.p.h. from Globe to Safford at 1:30 a.m.--Go Figure?

Well, the sun did come up the next day, or so we temporarily thought--yes, it gets worse! We figured, no one was dead, nothing was broken, we did get a new cruise so things weren't horrible--Yea right. That was Wednesday morning. Greg called Carnival to see just how long we would have to wait to get back on board. The lady said the next opening was indeed in 1999, but she had just received a penthouse suit cancellation and had an opening in late spring of this year. We were so excited. She booked it for us and we thought finally something was going our way.

Just like all surprise endings though, that was not to be. We received a phone call on Thursday saying we could not use our certificate for the spring date. Why? They explained that our certificate said "Space Availability". Yes, we knew that. That's why we were so excited when space became available. Oh no, silly you, that's not what Carnival's definition of space availability is. According to their policy, it means when a cabin becomes available and there is no one on a waiting list for that cabin and no customer is willing to pay for that cabin, then it becomes available for our certificate. In other words, our certificate was not worth the paper is it was written on because this would never be the case for a penthouse suit. Greg set our travel agent to work on this new situation.

Friday morning our frustrated travel agent called me and said she had gotten no where and Carnival's was not going to budge so if we want to pursue this, we would have to fight it ourselves because she hadn't been able to get anywhere. Well, up until this point, Susan had stayed out of it but she took over. First she called the guest relations number. After being on hold about 20 minutes she called our agent back to see if we had the right number. Yes, she had waited on hold for 1 hour and 30 minutes the evening before and one hour that morning. Susan hung up and decided reservations would want our money, so they would answer their phone. Sure enough, Susan got through. She told them she had been talking to so and so in guest relations and was suppose to get back to them but forgot to write down there direct extension (yes, frustrated, she flat out lied). Guess what? They gave the direct extension to her and connected her. Well, she figured if it worked once, why not push her luck and try it again--besides, what did we have to lose--so she begin climbing the chain of command asking for department heads and directors using this method. Two hours later, she finally hit someone who had a secretary--not just a voice mail, but a real live person. Okay, this person must be important.

She explained to this secretary that she needed to talk to this person who happened to be the director of reservations administration. The lady called us back. She nicely listened to our sad tale of woe and said there really shouldn't be any problem solving this, but this really wasn't her department. She then said the director of the department we needed was out of town until Tuesday so she was going to hold this booking until then and she was sure that person would be able to work this out for us. After a very frustrating week, two very long days, and two broken hearted children, we must say we really weren't as patient as we probably should have been. Susan, not so politely, declined this solution and let this lady know this problem needed to be solved right then or she was going to raise more chaos than she or Carnival wanted. In fact, she really threatened them with something she probably shouldn't have.

Well, it must have made some sort of impression because she called back in TEN MINUTES!!! After getting our travel agent on the line, she informed us that she was able to contact the senior vice president at Carnival Cruise Lines and that she had approved this and they were in the process of faxing us our confirmation with a zero balance.

We were somewhat concerned because once we got home, Preston's Chicken Pox ran their course, but Brooklyn showed no sign of getting them. Can you just imagine the nightmare if hers showed up on the cruise the second time around! Fourteen long days later, she finally got her spots. While we thought Preston's were bad because they were through his hair, in his ears, and what seemed like everywhere, Brooklyn's were five times worse. We're not sure there was a place on her back or butt that didn't have a spot. Her 103 degree temperature didn't make living with them any easier.

Both kids are fine now, minus the few scars to show for our venture. Thanks to Carnival's eventual cooperation and their help, we were planning to soon be off again for a second round at a Fun Ship Vacation!