I'd chosen this cruise for our 41st wedding anniversary and planned it 10 months in advance. Everything was paid for, but I was still worried about hubby's mobility issues. Fortunately, RC gave me information on the vendor they use to rent electric scooter or wheelchairs. Hubby, however, refused. RC put us in a spacious, handicapped-accessible inside cabin near the elevator. Everyone from the boarding person and room housekeeper were very helpful and efficient. Dinner that first night on-board was great, as were the four other people we dined with. The food, and I'm a very picky eater, was very good - especially the creme broullie for dessert.

But the first morning of the actual cruise, hubby's hand swelled up like a claw. The ship's clinic took basic blood tests and xray, put him on an antiobiotic drip, gave him pain meds, and then released him. The RC nurse phoned us to make sure he was feeling better. The pain killers weren't working.

When we docked in Bar Harbor, Maine, RC's ship clinic doctor made arrangements for us to disembark and get driven to the Mt. Desert Island Hospital -- quite a scary name, right? But it turned out to be a real life saver. After doing an ultrasound, though, the hospital's orthopedic doc told us we could not return to the ship because we still lacked a diagnosis. Read more