Do not get sick on the Legend of the Seas

Or, if you do, do not go to the doctor!

I was on the August 16th sailing of the Legend of the Seas and I was generally enjoying the cruise (other than the horrific embarkation.) Then I came down with what I thought was a bad cold and sore throat.

At my daughter's insistence I went to the doctor. He told me that I had Influenza B, gave me a mask, the room service number, an envelope full of Acetaminophen packets and confined me to my cabin for 24 to 48 hours. He also told me that there would most likely be a special procedure when we landed in Singapore. He did not address my cough or sore throat.

After returning to the cabin, I sent my daughter back for cough syrup. They gave her a multi-relief syrup with no instructions.

Luckily I read labels. If had taken the syrup with the Acetaminophen tablets as prescribed, I would have been taking 2 1/2 times the maximum dose. The next day my daughter bought me cough syrup on shore.

Over the next 2 1/2 days (so much for the 24 to 48 hours,) I was dependent solely on my daughter and cabin steward for anything I needed. Not once did I receive a call from the Customer Relations desk or anyone else from RCCL. The room service menu was definitely not designed for a sick person so my daughter brought me all my meals with the exception of lunch the day we were in port. Even then, given my sore throat, I primarily ate oatmeal for breakfast and mashed potatoes for lunch and dinner.

By the last day I was getting upset about the possible special procedures in Singapore so my daughter went to the Guest Relations desk and, after not getting an answer, demanded to speak to the manager. She did speak to Jorge who immediately called me and apologized. He said that it was RCCL's policy that I should have been called at least twice a day to see if I needed any special food or anything else to make me comfortable. He also said that there was no special procedure and we could disembark normally.

That night after we went to bed early, the nurse came in to take my temperature. Right after she left, our bags were thrust back into our cabin. Upset, I called Guest Relations and was turned over to the person in charge of disembarkation. She told that there was a special procedure to "help us" and we would be last, but gave me no explanation why. I spoke to her and she finally agreed we could disembark as scheduled at 9 AM so we went back to sleep. Over the next 2 hours we received 2 more calls saying we would be last. Each time, my daughter went to .the Guest Relations desk and was assured that someone would be there at 9 AM.

Disembarkation morning. knowing there was no room service, my daughter brought me breakfast, Then we received another call saying we would be last. I called Guest Relations, asked for Gorge and was told he was on the gangway. When I again insisted on speaking to a manager, the person I was speaking to hung up. Angry, I then went up to Guest Relations and spoke to a manager who said he would send someone to help with our bags. This did not happen. However at 8:15 I did receive my first call from RCCL asking if I wanted breakfast.

At 9:15 my daughter went to the gangway and said she needed to speak to Jorge. He was surprised to find out that our bags had been returned to the room and sent the Diamond Concierge and another officer to help with our bags. However since there were 3 of us, my daughter still had to take her big bag off and I was left with the 2 carry-ons.

I was never happier to get off a ship!

In retrospect, I should have been more demanding. But I was not feeling well and did not know I could request special food (like a boiled egg for lunch) so I made do with what my daughter could find in the buffet. Regardless, RCCL made a bad situation worse not only by not following its own policy, but more importantly be not providing explanations when requested.

This was my 14th RCCL cruise and until last week, RCCL was my preferred cruise line. I assume that I will eventually cruise RCCL again, but doubt it will be anytime soon.

We have also noticed a steep decline in guest services. No one wants to help.

I am truly sorry that all of this happened to you. Thank you for sharing your story.

We have also noticed a steep decline in guest services. No one wants to help.

I thought the same thing on my last few cruises. Such a shame about what the OP went thru!

I hope that you recovered quickly and got home without incident.

Make sure you investigate your insurance policy.

My current policy will reimburse me for lost cruise days for quarantine purposes.

Moral of the story: don't go see the ship's doctor unless it's something really serious.

Since they quarantined you, they should have given you a letter with cruise credit for those days. I was quarantined on legend last year and did get cruise credit which went to another cruise.

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What a disaster. Thanks for posting. Hope you made a full recovery.

Make sure you investigate your insurance policy.

My current policy will reimburse me for lost cruise days for quarantine purposes.

Without a letter from the physician showing that you were actually quarantined, there would be no evidence to supply to the insurance company for lost days.

And if the cruise line compensates you with a credit, there is no claim to be made to the insurance company.

Hopefully the OP received some sort of documentation.

Since they quarantined you, they should have given you a letter with cruise credit for those days. I was quarantined on legend last year and did get cruise credit which went to another cruise.

 

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Is that actually policy or just an above and beyond? That is nice, but it really isn't their fault you got sick.

My best advice is to not get sick on any ship, and if you do, it would be wise to stay away from the infirmary unless you are extremely ill. You are better off to bring some emergency medicines with you from home and quarantine yourself if ill.

I have heard way too many stories of poor medical care, very expensive care, people being misdiagnosed, people being confined to cabins who don't have a communicable illness, and more. No, thank you.

My best advice is to not get sick on any ship, and if you do, it would be wise to stay away from the infirmary unless you are extremely ill. You are better off to bring some emergency medicines with you from home and quarantine yourself if ill.

 

I have heard way too many stories of poor medical care, very expensive care, people being misdiagnosed, people being confined to cabins who don't have a communicable illness, and more. No, thank you.

This. We do the same thing. Yes, it is a pain to carry medications that you probably will not need, but it happened to my DH and soooo glad we had them. He quarantined himself for two days and I brought him all of his meals. :)

Last week I was quarantined for a day on the Grand Princess with what was diagnosed as Type A Influenza. My treatment was much the same. When I requested special foods, I was told I could only have what was on the room service menu--hot dog, hamburger, chili, lasagna. Or I was told that (both by room service and guest relations) until I told them that I would leave my room and get what I needed if they didn't deliver it to me.

But my experience was much better than that of our friend who was on the same cruise. His eye was injured while he was having his security picture taken. It was treated at the medical facility, and when he retuned home, his ophthalmologist told him the antibiotic he had been given was probably out of date and that he had a raging infection because the eye should have been patched and had not been.

I would have to be at death's door before I'd ever use a ship's medical facility.

Even though it takes valuable luggage space, I always pack a supply of all types of medicine. Do not want to deal with ship doctors unless I am in danger of dying. Have only had to use medicine bag on one cruise.

My wife got ill on our last cruise, and based on our experience, I would recommend the opposite of what some in this thread have said. If you are ill, go to the infirmary and get it checked out. Maybe, if I just had what I thought was a simply cold, I might not bother, my wife had some sort of gastrointestinal illness, and they gave her some medication for the nausea, some sports drink for hydration, gave her access to special room service menus, complimentary access to in-room movies and mini-bar items during her quarantine, and Guest Relations did call and check on her a couple times.

She was only quarantined for 24hr, but they seemed to be going out of their way to make it as pleasant as possible for her. Once the quarantine was lifted, they did a special cleaning of the room as a precaution. All this is intended to help prevent illness from spreading around the ship, so I think it's generally better to report such illnesses, rather than trying to deal with it yourself.

Just my opinion, but obviously the OP of this thread did not have the same experience on that ship. If it had gone like that, I might say skip the infirmary, too.

I am sorry you had such a tough time. I only want to say that medical services are really there for emergency. I think they can do whatever necessary to keep a person alive long enough to be medically evacuated. But not so sure they have the medicines to treat many illnesses. My wife fell and dislocated her collarbone. She lay on the deck a significant time because a young man was having serious heart issues and the medical staff was working to save him (successfully). But about all they could do for my wife was to immobilize her collarbone with a splint. It was 2 days before getting back, so she was able to enjoy the rest of the cruise, albeit in some pain. But they really only had ibuprofen for pain (it worked ok). They did call to check on her. They offered to send her to a doctor in Miami if she wanted but we opted to go to our own doctor when home. However Royal Caribbean never followed up. No offers, etc. I chalk it up to trying to avoid admitting liability by making some monetary offer. I may be a bit naive. She contacted them and they were definitely on board for reimbursing out of pocket expenses, but we haven't really had any so no claim filed.

On the other hand my wife slipped on some stairs on Carnival many years ago and bruised her legs. No big deal, but Carnival sent us a 15% discount on another cruise. She wasn't even really injured.

I have to say, I love Royal Caribbean, but they should make an effort to follow up on medical issues. I do think RCCL seems to be doing what many companies did in the last decade or so, join the "race to the bottom." What was, in my opinion, a cruise line that was a "cut above," has now just become a "cruise line." Too bad.

Is that actually policy or just an above and beyond? That is nice, but it really isn't their fault you got sick.

No but their employee decided to restrict your movements while you were paying for the facilities of the cruise ship and they do it to protect their interests in not making other passengers sick.

ie: if i was sick i might like the idea of sitting in the hot tub all day. Royal might disagree and prevent me from using the facilities that i choose.

We had to use the medical facility nearly 7 years ago on our honeymoon cruise, I am sure things have changed but there was no way we could avoid going. My husband nearly passed out at the muster station. While we both just through he was recovering from 2 days of wedding drinking he had a bad stomach bug. We BOTH were stuck in our room for 48 hours on our 5 day honeymoon cruise. There was no compensation as far as cruise credit, and honestly I wouldn't expect one, it wasn't the cruise lines fault my husband fell ill.

The nurse and dr on board a the time were very nice to both of us, they supplied him with ample meds to get this thing to end quickly, which we were not charged for. My fear was we wouldn't be able to cruise! But all was well. He was feeling much better probably about 30 hours into our cruise. I stayed as far away from him as possibly, HAHA.

The room service menu had some soups on there he chose and then tried some sandwiches later on when all was starting to get better. And they brought us plenty of bottle of water free of charge and ginger ale (but we had the soda package at the time).

Our room attendant made sure to check in what seemed like often, and he even made jokes about the "Ship A Rockin" cause we were on our honeymoon, but I wouldn't go near hubby at all....but it was a good laugh!

All in all we laugh about it now and I tell my husband he owes me another honeymoon cruise.....

and just an FYI, the ships medical team are not on the ship often, typically its just a few weeks and then they switch out...they are contracted out through the cruise line.

I feel we all need to take responsibility for our own care, and at the very least when traveling, carry with us the OTC meds for common illnesses such as cold, allergy, cough, stomach and digestive upsets and headache/fever medication.

These OTC meds are all available at any drug store, Target, Walmart etc.

It is not the ship personnel's fault if I do not think ahead and bring OTC meds I might need. To me this is just common sense.

While we both just through he was recovering from 2 days of wedding drinking he had a bad stomach bug. We BOTH were stuck in our room for 48 hours on our 5 day honeymoon cruise. There was no compensation as far as cruise credit, and honestly I wouldn't expect one, it wasn't the cruise lines fault my husband fell ill.

You're right it's not the cruise lines fault, but they bear some culpability in the matter since their cancellation policies cause some people to knowingly board with an illness.

It's not just cruise lines either. Airlines are the same way. If you could document a communicable illness and be able to alter your reservations with no (or a very small) penalty, I think most reasonable people would do so.

It's in the cruise lines best interest to give you some sort of credit to help encourage you to maintain the quarantine.

His eye was injured while he was having his security picture taken.

How? Sounds like a story I'd like to hear!

How? Sounds like a story I'd like to hear!

I was wondering the same thing.

We have also noticed a steep decline in guest services. No one wants to help.

All Cruise line departments seem to be using MBO method of management, and know little of who, what,or when another department can or should help.

We have experience this too often in recent cruises. Many employees seem willing to help, but many simply cannot, or do not know what or how to help.

I feel we all need to take responsibility for our own care, and at the very least when traveling, carry with us the OTC meds for common illnesses such as cold, allergy, cough, stomach and digestive upsets and headache/fever medication.

 

 

 

These OTC meds are all available at any drug store, Target, Walmart etc.

 

 

 

It is not the ship personnel's fault if I do not think ahead and bring OTC meds I might need. To me this is just common sense.

Could not agree more! Personal responsibility is usually the last thing on the priority list anymore. I'd rather pack it and not need it than waste time and money for non-emergency illnesses.