There isn't a better family vacation than cruising. We typically book our cruises over Thanksgiving, when we can get some pretty awesome deals, unlike booking over Christmas vacation when prices are sky-high. Our annual family vacation this year was scheduled for tomorrow, November 19, on a cruise departing from Rome and visiting a number of ports, including Athens and Istanbul. I say it "was scheduled," until our son, Davin, came down with chicken pox.
Davin was diagnosed with chicken pox Saturday night, just ten hours before our early Sunday morning flight. And, yes, he was vaccinated as a toddler for the chicken pox, just as were six of his school mates who also have come down with the disease over the past two weeks.
Fortunately, I had trip insurance that hopefully will make us whole, financially. Right now, the toughest pill to swallow is the loss of the time and effort put into planning and preparing for the trip and the expectation of making memories as a family. As I write this I am looking at five fully packed bags that were anticipating starting a long journey in just nine hours.
Many of you remembered all the drama from our cruise last year when Celebrity canceled a portion of our cruise and my daughter's cat had to be put to sleep while we were in the middle of the Atlantic. We all wished for a "drama-less" trip this year. I guess we got less drama, but in a more intense dose.
My daughter, London, cried her sweet heart out upon hearing the news. She concluded, with big tears rolling down her face, that Celebrity is "just a jinxed cruise line," and that canceling our vacation on her birthday was not exactly the present she had in mind. She was ten years old today. I was reminded that last year the cat we gave her for her birthday died while we were on our cruise. From her perspective, she may have a point.
So for the last hour we've been calling tour operators, Northwest Airlines, Celebrity, our house sitter, shuttle companies, and hotels canceling reservations that we've worked on for eight months. Monday we file a claim with our trip insurer, Travelex, and begin collecting all our receipts, about $8,000 worth of non-refundable deposits, and cross our fingers that they will pay.
Certainly, we are sad and disappointed. As the doctor, who so generously opened his clinic at 8:00PM on this Saturday night, said, "I had to see this to believe it. Kids that get vaccinated aren't supposed to come down with this stuff. I mean, what's the point of spending the money on a vaccination if it doesn't work?"
I am sure that before too long, the planning will start all over again. And next time, we can be reasonably sure that chicken pox won't be on the list of culprits that could result in the best laid vacation plans (and vaccinations) going nowhere!
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