June 1st Mexican Disaster/Adventure

[HFC1969]

Our Easter 08 was a big flop...

In a nutshell :

Sept 07 My folks were on RCL for a 15 day cruise thru the canal. Dad had to have emergency surgery in Cartegna Columbia. Spent 3 weeks living there to recover. (Always get TRAVEL INSURANE because your medical insurance don't work outside the US.) So after getting back they book with us for Easter 08.

Feb 08 Dad gets sick and my folks have to cancel their res for the Easter 08 cruise. Always get Travel Ins.

The day before the Easter 08 cruise was supposed to leave our son was diagnosed with pneumonia. We had to cancel. Always get travel insurance and make sure to read all the fine print..

Since we did a 3 day to lift everyone spirits and are booked for Christmas 08, May 09, Christmas 09.

Get the travel insurance!!

 

[NewportCat]

I am looking forward to the rest of your report. Great start! I have a couple questions, if you have time to answer them. We are heading to LA in August with our 4 kids for the Eastbound Panama Canal Repo Cruise. We are coming in 2 1/2 days early to enjoy the LA area. Did you like your Hotel? We still have not decided where we are staying yet. We were not going to rent a car because we thought driving in LA would be a disaster and we would never find anything. I never thought of a GPS in a rental car. What airport did you fly into? Was the car rental place right at the airport? How was the drive to find your hotel? How was the drive to the port? Did you return your rental car before boarding the ship? If so, How far was the rental car place from the port and was there a shuttle available for you to get to the port after? What did you and your kids enjoy most doing in LA? We were planning on just doing Disneyland (because of the kids) but were thinking of maybe doing a sightseeing day for one day instead. Any suggestions? Sorry for the million questions!

I have lived in Southern Cal my whole life and have also driven across the USA twice. I have driven in the midwest, northwest, the southeast and all over New England. I can tell you wholeheartedly that the LA/Orange County area is one of the easiest places in the U.S. to navigate by car. If you are coming here and not renting a car, how do you plan to get around? Distances are FAR, and we are just not set up well for public transportation. Yes, there are busses and light rail, but they will not go to the places you want to visit. They accommodate the working class, not vacationing visitors.

Here are my tips:
Get a comfortable rental car (midsize or bigger) with GPS All airport have rental agencies (except not sure about Long Beach)
Avoid rush hour (7am -9am, 3:30pm - 6:30pm)
Stay central to cut driving time (Anaheim, coastal Long Beach - near the port, etc) and to give yourself the most options for sighseeing

Have fun! You are coming at a great time of year! Traffic will be lighter becase school is out.

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

That was not the vacation I planned! It was supposed to be a nice relaxing 12 days with my wife, two kids, and in laws.
.........

What an incredible story! As others have said, I commend you for your positive attitude! And I love your photo of the kids on the beach as the ship sails away. Thanks for sharing, and being a good example of seeing the glass half full!

 

[frdeb1999]

Wow....what a time you had! Glad you MIL is feeling better. Hopefully the next cruise/vacation will be wonderful!

 

[pbbtlchhk]

We will in 82 days. We had booked the 5 night Magic cruise that visits Castaway Cay twice at the same time we booked the Mexican Riviera cruise.

As much fun as the in-laws were, we are not bringing them this time!

OMG ~ I hope everyone is doing much better now!

And please tell me that you bought travel insurance for this next cruise??

I sure hope you & your family have a better cruise this time!!

 

[scottishwee35]

Oh, I am so sorry to heard about your story.

That why I saw one photo while ago which I thought you all missed the cruise.

However, I hope you all have a lovely times in 82 days.

Please make sure that you have an insurance cover for it. Never know what around the corner.

Scottishwee35