something you may not know

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

Last week I went on a cruise to the Western Caribbean. Today I went to the blood bank to donate blood. I checked that I had been to another country. They asked me where and I told them a Caribbean cruise. They asked where we docked and when I said Roatan, they looked it up and since malaria is endemic to Roatan, I cannot donate blood for 1 yr after being there.

I would hope that anyone donating blood would be honest about this. I just thought someone might want to know this to save them the time at the blood bank.

[brother coony Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close brother coony]

Sorry If you dont mine me asking but where in the caribbean is Roatan

[Gracey Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gracey]

We are leaving on a western caribbean cruise on Easter Sunday. We will be stopping in Roatan. My husband gives blood regularly. I will let him know this. Thanks for posting.

Roatan is by Honduras I believe

This is our first cruise, DD's senior trip. Now I am wondering do we need any special vaccinations??

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

There is a similar restriction for some or all of Mexico.

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

No special vaccines necessary. It is correct that Roatan is off of Honduras (Central America). Not much there, by the way. I only walked in the shops at the pier for probably less than an hour then got back on the ship.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I was quizzed heavily and had to wait a bit after going to the Canary Islands. They are quite close to Africa. Not IN Africa, so they took my donation. While we were in Tenerife, African refugees floated over to the port of Santa Cruz and were detained.

Timesharing is improving my geography as that's a subject I never had in school. I knew where Roatan was, only because I have looked at a W Car cruise from Galveston.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

There is a similar restriction for some or all of Mexico.

I'm guessing they'll have a big upfront fee.