I am going to calpso and dixie land is it nessary to have innoculations?

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sad_dixie

I booked this cruise last November as a surprise for my husbands 50th Birthday.

We did not have any inocculations. I wanted to do a trip on Horseback (Cost Maya) but was advised against this as the nurse said I should really have a course of malaria tablets and I didn't want to take them because of the side effects, so I cancelled this trip.

When you get off at Barbados you dont go through passport control, just get on a bus which takes you to the port. That means that you may not see your suitcase for some 4 or 5 hours as they load thousands of them from the plane and transport them to the ship. I recommend you take a light change in your bag and have the essential toilteries with you. When you are leaving the ship you have to put your luggage outside the room the night before which hampers you a little. However this time your case stays with you as you leave through New Orleans

The only downside to this cruise is New Orleans airport, because of the hurricane they had no electronic booking in procedure and had to do it by hand. It was an absolute mess, took 4 hours, was a virtual free for all at the desks and the poor staff could not cope and even then all the seats had been booked wrongly. At one point they had booked 55 rows in and there were only 49 rows on the plane!! creating mass pandamonium!!!

The airport itself is tiny and can not cater for a mass influx of passengers. Once through passport control, there is only one cafe (not good) and two tiny tiny shops - no duty free!!. I have vowed never to use this airport again!! Dont let that put you off they may have fixed it by now!??!

Make sure you take an umbrella - it poured it down for us on the Coast of Mexico and in New Orleans, I have never seen it rain so hard - plus the temperature dropped and I hadnt really taken any wolllies or a decent jacket - or proper shoes for that matter!!

The cruise itself was absolutely fantastic but I had to go to the gym twice a day because the food you can eat will make you put on weight.!!

We were a bit nervous about the seating arrangements - a table of six, but you dont have to eat at your table every night just when you want to as there are many eating options. You can have wine with your meal (from about Â£12 upwards or drinks from the bar!)

I didnt take anything too formal for formal nights and never felt out of place.

They do have other nights such as 60s/70s, hawaian nights etc but these are not my style - you dont have to dress if you dont want to.

I did a lot of the excursions because it was such a treat but by the end I got a bit fed up of them and I felt like hearded cattle, a lot of waiting around for tenders to be called for your group and waiting for peple to get back to coaches etc. Many people who had cruised before just took themselves off to do their own thing which is fine with this cruise as you are never far from the main attractions

Make sure you have catered for tips for the waiters that serve your table and the cabin steward (in total we gave about Â£40)

Tell your credit card company where you are going as mine got blocked because they thought there was unauthorised.
spending on it when I tried to use it to pay my bill half way through the cruise!! . They ask all passengers to do this (pay halfway), you can pay by credit card, cash or cheque but not by Switch.

All drinks are "signed for" and we didnt think that the prices were all that bad".

The onboard shop just does the basics - including washing powder - the prices are a bit higher than normal which is to be expected

The ship (I take it it is the Arcadia?) is jaw-dropping when you first see it - I was transfixed and a bit worried as to how it would get up the Mississippi River because it was so huge -but I needen't have worried. It is run so smoothly and all the staff are extremely polite and efficient.

One thing I didn't like is the incessant taking of your photo all round the ship, getting on, getting off, at dinner, with the captain! which they then charge quite exhorbitant prices for - but then again I suppose on the ship you are a captured audience but I found this very annoying especially when I was trying to eat a meal!!

We enjoyed it so much that now we are hooked and have booked to go again in Feb 2008!!

Hope you have a lovely time!

kimmer727

No - you do not need any at all.

Tivogal

call your Physician. they should know what you need to do.
have a great cruise
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Bardic

You don't actually say what countries, but I'd speak to your GP, he/she will have the latest recommendations.

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