Three Things That Will Ruin A Vacation on a Cruise Ship

I'm hoping that the three things that happened to me on a cruise never happen to you!

Summer is here, and lots of Hudson Valley families are planning to take various vacations over the next two months. Some will stay close to home, while others, like me, plan to take a big family vacation this year.

Last year, my fiancé (Kim) and I decided that we were going to go big this year and take three of our kids on a cruise at the end of the school year. After months of saving and planning, we set sail last week aboard the Norwegian cruise ship "Getaway". I should mention that when it comes to vacations and life in general, we are both glass-half-full types of people and try not to let small things ruin a good time.

Sadly, that "attitude" was put to the test while we were on our cruise.

Things You Never Want to Happen on a Cruise Ship

The cruise started great, everyone was having a great time walking around and enjoying all of the amazing amenities that were available. That was until the middle of day two when my son pulled me aside and told me he didn't feel good and thought he might be getting sick. My first thought was we are on a ship, so I'm not sure what we should do??

Visiting the Doctor on a Cruise

After a little research, I discovered that the ship had a doctor onboard who sees patients during a small window of time each day. Unfortunately, we were 12 hours away from the next available time, so I called the office and they told me that the doctor could see him now, but it would be considered an emergency visit and it would cost more money. I agreed and we headed to the office where the doctor examined him and prescribed antibiotics.

He started feeling better within hours, thank god!

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The next day, my fiancé and her daughter began to feel sick and also had to visit the same doctor (they went during normal hours) and were also given medicine to feel better. A few days later, my daughter started feeling sick as well, so she also had to see the doctor.

Four out of five of us visited the doctor in 7 days!!! By now, you might be wondering how much the visits cost??? In total, we spent approximately $1900!! Yes, that hurts, but I was able to submit the visits to our insurance companies to see if they'll cover anything. Fingers crossed!!

What Else Could Go Wrong?

Thankfully, nothing else "doctor serious" happened, but I did fall down in the middle of the night after getting up to use the bathroom and got a nice bruise on my elbow, but NO doctor visit....LOL. Good times! Oh, and as the cruise ended and we left the ship to grab our luggage, one of our suitcases lost a wheel.

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So now that I've shared some of the things that can ruin a cruise, has something ruined your vacation? Text me through our station app above, and I might use your story in a future article. If you are boarding a ship in the future, I hope you never have to visit the doctor!