Day 32 at sea and in a shitty mood!

What a shitty couple of days... Literally!

Going back a couple of days... On the day at sea, well, not to gross you out with the details, but Michael and I came down with 'Stomach Flu'... Or GI as the ship are calling it! At first, I thought I was the only one, as I had the fish for lunch on the Nile a couple of days before. No one else from our group did, so I thought it was just me. But during the day, I was told that Michael was also not well, and it all came together. We tried to think what we had that mum and Julie hadn't, and the ONLY thing we could think of, was the fish from the dinning room. So we took ourselves down to the medical room and we were both given a 'complimentary' consultation with the doctor, even though we just asked for something to 'block us both up'!

Now the process was great, fill out around 4 or 5 forms, they asked what we had eaten the day the symptoms started, the day before, 2 days before and even 3 days before... I only filled out the day before as that was ALL I could remember! Vitals were taken and I was in to see the doctor. Left with some Imodium (can ONLY be prescribed by the doctor, yet at home, I can buy it over the counter...) and a special diet. Additional paperwork saying that we are isolated to the room, the minibar is now free (YAY!) as with movies on the pay to view! So far so good...

I quickly fell asleep just after mum and Julie went to the last Formal Dinner and briefly woke up to get changed (10pm ish?) and the next thing I knew, it was 7.30am the next day! So far so good...

I called room service and mentioned what I wanted OFF the special diet we were on... I also asked for a banana (ON the menu) but was told there was none. This is where it all started to fall down... When mum came back from breakfast, I told her what I had and that no banana's were left. Yet she had one for breakfast! Anyways, I had another nap through the morning, and as it was getting close to the 12 noon 'clearance call' from the medical room, I took a shower. 12 came and went, so I called them and got a VERY rude, ignorant and pathetic nurse, who had the compassion of an absolute twat! She had me repeat what I was asking 4 times, before I was handed over to a nurse who could understand English! And this nurse was the same nurse we saw the day before! I was told that, it needed to be 24 hours since my last, well, you know... before we will be released! I reminded her that she said she will ring me at 12 and if all was ok, I can be released and be ready for the day excursion to Sicily. She sternly repeated she will NOT release me until at LEAST 2pm which is when we were to be boarding the bus, and reminded me that the Seapass is blocked and would NOT be allowed off the ship! I reminded her that I WILL be leaving and I WILL be coming down to see the doctor if SHE wants, but I was told to (FIRMLY) stay in my room!

So, I called for Room Service, 2 soft eggs and toast please, a Banana as well and was promised it will be here within 30 mins. 45 Mins later, they arrived and when I cracked my eggs, I cracked it!! They were HARD as a rock, green instead of yellow, and I had had enough! I called Guest Services to complain (by the way, due to there being NO banana's I was given 2 jellies) about the food, I was directed to the Medical room! To add salt to a very raw wound, Michael had been released!!! Anyways, I hung up on her (I eventually had to ask the nurse after another 4 times of repeating myself to her, if she actually UNDERSTOOD English!) and called Guest Relations again! Getting nowhere with this call, I was well and truly ANGRY by this stage, I picked up my tray of green eggs, and headed down to deck 5.

When I got there, there was a line of people there, so I bypassed them all and asked for the Manager immediately. I was assisted by the assistant Manager, and she could 'understand' my frustrations... Yeah right! By this stage, the line of people had grown, and were looking and listening to my conversation. I should mention, that the Captain had put out a flyer the night before saying that an outbreak HAD occurred. He also mentioned it in his normal noon address over the speakers. Anyway, I put it all out there, and reminded the Assistant Manager that my last motion was very firm, and that the medical staff were so rude to me, and how could they possibly know what my condition was, as they had not taken any stool samples or conducted any blood tests to determine what, if any, illness I had! I also said to her, that the companies Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's) needed addressing as clearly they were making decisions as they occurred in this instance as they couldn't give the same answer twice to the same person! In the end, she called the chef who came out to have a look at my eggs (proudly on display for all to see and smell) who apologised profusely! She also called the medical room, who finally said they will release me as of 2pm and I could eat as normal from the FULL Room Service menu. With it now being 30 mins until the tour left, and with the two head chefs standing beside me, I was PROMISED 2 cheese and tomato sandwich's will be delivered to my room in 8 mins. He even called his kitchen to get it done!

2pm came (yes, thats 30 mins now) so I left without my sandwiches, and I met the rest of the tour in the Ixtapa Lounge just as our number was called. By the time we walked down from deck 5 to deck 1 to 'check out' the Head Chef was at the machines and was HORRIFIED to learn I was not a happy caper as no lunch had arrived. And to top it all off, both Michael's and my card were rejected due to being ISOLATED by the Medical Team! A quick phone call by the security had that cleared up in no time at all, and we were on our way to Mt Etna!

I will blog tomorrow morning on how the day went, but I will be putting photo's up on FB...

Hoo Roo!!

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