Norwegian Encore - Transatlantic - Day 9

Norwegian Encore - Day 09 - December 11, 2024 - AT SEA

Third sunrise in a row. Then, on a whim, I thought maybe I could get into a hot tub before everyone else did.

I put on my suit and my bathrobe and headed to Deck 17, where there are four hot tubs. I wasn’t the first person to think of it. They were all filled. I looked down below at the pool deck and saw that some people were swimming in the pools. Determined to get in some water, I headed down the spiral staircase.

A few steps from the bottom, my foot slipped out from under me and I landed on the stairs. There weren’t many people around, but immediately, a fellow passenger came to me and asked if I was ok. She said “You were even holding onto the rail!”

My ankle hurt, so I thought I’d give it a couple minutes before trying to get up. I made eye contact with a bartender, who was getting ready for the day. After looking at me, he turned around and walked the other direction. I assumed he was exiting the bar to come check on me, but I never saw him again.

A bus boy asked if I needed ice, which I accepted, and he ran to get me some. I took some photos of the stairs and my foot.

I decided to try to get up. As soon as I tried to put weight on my left foot, I realized I wasn’t walking anywhere. The woman who came to my aid, Eileen, suggested I get to a chair and put my foot up on a small table. With her help, I managed to hop over. A gentleman, who later introduced himself as Ken, came over and sat next to me, asking if he could do anything.

While I was tending to myself, I saw/overheard a passenger I never met talk to another crew member. He was pointing at the stairs and sounded like he had also slipped or witnessed someone slipping. He talked about a different cruise line and some sort of better non-slip solution they had. He never talked to me and I was too preoccupied to get any additional details.

After a few minutes, a crew member asked if I wanted to go to Medical. I was hesitant. I hadn’t taken the cruise-issued insurance, but I did have outside travel insurance. My regular insurance was in-between stages. My gig had ended and so had my insurance. I had still been waiting for paperwork to sign up for Cobra before I left for my trip. I’d heard some stories about people getting huge bills when using the services on a ship.

But I couldn’t walk. I accepted help.

Ken gave me his cabin number and told me to feel free to call if I needed anything. I was so appreciative of that!

A wheelchair came for me, brought me to Medical, and I was handed about a 20-page form to fill out. I asked if there was something to file an incident report. The receptionist dug one out.

I wasn’t the only passenger there. In fact, the waiting room was full. I was the only person with an injury, though - everyone else was ill from one thing or another.

A couple days later, I asked for copies of all of the forms I filled out and they told me they couldn’t give them to me - that I’d have to contact corporate and fill out a form to request them. SO! Always take photos of everything you have to fill out. That’s not an easy thing to think of when you are in a lot of pain and by yourself.

The incident report had one section that had three things to choose from. My fault. No one’s fault. Someone else’s fault. I filled in the third option and said the stairs/the ship. It’s not like I’m someone looking to sue. But I also assumed this kind of thing happened on cruises a lot. And I didn’t want a bill.

It also asked me about witnesses. I named Ken and Elaine and also mentioned the bartender.

I’m not sure if it was that decision on the paperwork or if it would have been like this anyway, but many things I experienced after that made me feel like I was dealing with people who were protecting themselves over caring for me.

It took over an hour to get in to see anyone. While sitting there, Ken appeared. He was checking on me, which was so unexpected and nice. When he left, I said to the receptionist and other patients I’d been chatting with “We don’t even know each other. He just saw me fall when it happened and was making sure I was ok.” Witness.

A nurse took my vitals, which were good. She asked me if I’d been drinking. I hadn’t. In fact, the only alcohol I’d had on the whole trip was half a beer at Choir of Man. And it’s possible it was nonalcoholic beer, as that is what the cast has during the show. I was asked if I would be willing to take a breathalyzer test and I said yes. But it didn’t happen.

I was brought to an exam room. Someone came in, looking at papers.

“Holly?”

“Hilary.”

“Oh.”

She left and came back with different papers.

A doctor came in and examined my leg, ankle and foot and noted what caused pain. He told me that he thought it was fractured and that they would take some x-rays. He was correct. I really had not expected that. I broke my arm when I was a kid and I’ve broken a bunch of toes over the years, but never anything else.

“Now that you know it’s broken, do you want painkillers?”

“No.”

“Nothing?”

“Is it going to cost me $500?”

“Tell you what, this is all for free.”

I accepted Tylenol and Ibuprofen, but did not give in to pressure he put on me to get something stronger with a narcotic. If I didn’t need oxy when I had a full hysterectomy (with complications), why would I need it for this?

They made a splint for me.

“Is red ok?”

“Are there choices?”

“Blue or pink.”

I didn’t answer, but the nurse swapped the red for pink and said “This is better.” She was a mindreader, I guess!

I was given Tylenol and Ibuprofen and told how to take it. I was told I could not put any weight on my left foot/leg.

I was given crutches (“extra luggage”, they said), which the staff clumsily tried to adjust based on their guesses, but didn’t fit specifically to me or explain how they should fit or how to use them. I was told I was only allowed to use them in my cabin and that any time I left the cabin, I should call reception and request a wheelchair.

When they wheeled me out to the waiting room to have me sign out, I was surrounded by about five people.

I said I wasn’t used to getting so much attention. A woman’s voice behind me said “I’m here for you too.” I turned and saw a woman who was bell staff. She was a friendly face and would be getting me back to my cabin in the wheelchair.

The main interaction was with the head of security, who asked me about what shoes I’d been wearing. I’d been wearing flip flops. He looked at them and saw that the tread was on them. He admitted that they looked ok. He said not to wear them from now on. I replied “No problem.”

An aside… I will never wear flip flops again. I suggest you don’t either. I only had them because they took up less space in my suitcase than the Tevas I usually wear in situations when people might wear flip flops.

He asked me about the stairs and said there was nothing wrong with them. He asked me who was with me to help (no one). He said I would need help at the airport, etc. That made me believe they would be working to help me with that. That assumption, I later learned, was incorrect. He also said that someone would be checking in on me regularly. That was also incorrect.

The receptionist had something in front of me to sign. She said “This is about the breathalyzer. There’s no difference if you take one or not. You just need to sign saying that you refused one.” I told her I was willing to take one. She responded that I’d have to stay a lot longer to wait for that. It felt like they were clearly not wanting me to take one. It was all so confusing and frustrating, with all these people and questions coming at me. I told her fine, I wouldn’t take one, and signed the thing. She nodded at someone in the distance behind me, which gave me a weird feeling.

They handed me a bunch of papers, none of which detailed my specific situation - just general info on ankle injuries - and sent me back to my cabin with Sharon.

When we got into the hallway, my waterslide friend, Hamdy, happened to be walking past. “What happened?!” he asked. I gave him a brief summary and he told me to feel better. He started to walk away, but then turned and gave me his cabin number. He told me to call him if I needed anything.

Sharon wheeled me to the door, put my things in my cabin. I hopped in with the crutches and one good foot. She told me I just needed to call reception if I needed anything.

The door closed behind me and I was on my own.

I made it to the bed, propped my foot up on a couple pillows and thought about what all this might mean. Rod and I had a full month of travel planned in January - to Turkey and Africa. I started imagining my injury healing in record time and not having to change any of my travel.

It was afternoon by this point and I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I remembered my onboard credit and decided this was an excellent time to use it for room service.

The ship has room service 24/7. There’s a menu in the room. One of the English pages was missing, but I was able to figure out what was available in Spanish. You can order as much as you want for one $9.95 (plus 20% gratuities) fee. I decided to get enough that I’d be ok if I didn’t make it out of my cabin for the rest of the day.

I ordered a cheese pizza, a Cobb salad, a slice of 7 layer chocolate cake, and some iced tea. In about half an hour, it all arrived. Turns out the room service Cobb salad is the best one I’d discovered on the ship. It had bacon and nice strips of chicken and slices of avocado. And the cake was the same you would get in Cagney’s, the specialty restaurant. The pizza was mediocre at best, but easy and filling.

After eating some of it, I took a much needed nap.

Late afternoon, I woke up and called both Ken and Hamdy. Neither answered, but I left them messages to thank them, telling them how much it meant that they had shown concern.

I used some wifi time to call Rod and give him an update on what had happened.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent taking it easy, with only short, awkward trips to the bathroom and some balcony time using my crutches. The bathroom was difficult to get into. There are three levels - the floor of the cabin, a ridge between the cabin and bathroom, which is the highest, and then the bathroom floor, which is lower than the ridge, but higher than the cabin. I had to lean my back against the doorway, get one crutch inside and balance to hop up into it using my one foot (while not hitting my injured one on anything).

Considering the situation, I was in good spirits. I tried to get comfortable, went to bed early and vowed to use the wheelchair service to get around the ship the next day.