Hawaii - Pride of America

[ddakrt]

 

Medical care and Medical Facilities are two different things. Almost sounds like they asked about medical care implying what would it cost, not where can I get care at.

We do not know what they asked or what they were told and does it really matter, after all this is just another one post wonder.

 

While what?

 

Of the things that people are scrutinizing the OP for, I don't think him going to guest services is really wrong. For the sake of argument, lets assume he went seeking a doctor for his fiancee.

 

Sure he probably should have went to the doc's right away, but it's not exactly wrong to go to guest services as they are supposed to help passengers with general information.

 

I don't understand why they didn't go see the ship's doctor after people at guest services at least mentioned that there was a doc on board though.:confused:

[CanadianTwosome]

Okay, admitting I just skimmed over the replies, I may have missed it if someone else mentioned this...

 

Does NCLA not have the same policy as NCL when boarding - as in EVERY passenger must fill out and sign a document stating that they have no symptoms that might be associated with Noro? On our last four sailings, I also distinctly remember reading something that instructed me that if I had any such symptoms I should call the medical centre immediately - it could have been on the same form or on a separate sheet in my cabin.

 

Because of these two things, I believe it is possible that the staff member at the desk may have misinterpreted the situation - since the OP wasn't following the directions already given to every passenger... Barring a misunderstanding, though, I believe that EVERY staff member on a cruise ship should know relevant information about the ship's medical facilities, as well as being taught that the first response should be to show concern for the ill passenger and the second should be to ask specifically if the symptoms are similar to Noro.

 

As for the meal package, that's the risk you take when you buy such things. I'll bet there were plenty of people on board who chose not to get the package in case they didn't want to dine in specialties the number of times specified in the package. It's a quantity discount deal, and that's how they work. You don't get to take advantage of it and then return one of the items. Based on what I saw in a prior thread about the pricing, I think that third meal is worth about $5. If she could haul her cookies off the ship and sit through a luau, though, I'm surprised she couldn't make it to a dining room on the ship...

[newmexicoNita]

We just returned from a rather disappointing cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America. I know that cruise lines focus on reaping profits from guests whenever possible, but NCL takes the cake. My fiancee became violently ill on the 4th day of the cruise. We immediately went to the front desk to ask about medical care. The very first words out of the "Customer Service" person's mouth was to let us know that there are two different ways to pay for medical costs on the ship. Nothing about how she was feeling, etc. With violent vomiting, we thought that it might be food poisoning. Two days later, after visiting the lu'au on K'awaii, I met the Food and Beverage officer for the ship. I asked him about medical care and he insisted that my fiancee go to the clinic immediately. We did so and met with the ship's doctor. He seemed to be chiding us for not reporting it earlier and then went on to diagnose it as Norwalk virus. His recommendation would have been for her to have been quarantined for the day that we went to the lu'au. We told him that we did report it, and that the "customer service" personnel never mentioned that it was a mandatory report. He went on to describe Norwalk as highly contagious. We met with the person in charge of the front desk who defended his people. They were just making sure that there was no misunderstanding about medical costs. I don't think that he had a clue that it was a mandatory report and that without proper diagnoses and quarantining, many other guests were unnecessarily exposed to the virus. While in the clinic, we had to fill out forms from the Center for Disease Control yet the front desk staff was clueless.

 

We also signed up for the wine package which included visiting 3 restaurants. In spite of my fiancee's illness, we were charged for all three restaurants even though we only visited 2.

 

Bottom line, in my opinion NCL is more interested in scalping people than providing an experience that is also balanced with value.

 

and guess what, if you expect any sympathy from most of us, you are sadly mistaken. It was you who was at fault, do you have any idea how miserable the rest of the ship could have been because you did not report this at the first sign? The only thing I can say for you, yes, the desk should have told you. The rest, your fault and NCL did not react any diffferently than any cruise line would have. Nora virus can ruin cruises for thousands and can be hard to control.

 

Nita

[bluesea777]

Hi, I don't know if you have heard of me - I recently posted a review of our wonderful South American cruise on NCL SUN that took place over the double holidays.

 

Now here is the surprise ... although I made no mention of this in my review, we all DID fall ill with gastro!!

 

First, it was our son .... at about 6-7pm on the day we were in Montevideo (next to last day of cruise) and since it was 3 hours after the lunch at the winery on land and he has had nothing to eat on the ship since the previous evening dinner, it had to be some kind of food poisoning from the winery. It was a hot day - mid 80's and the luncheon was outdoors.

 

On the onset of the vomiting, we waited an hour but when he did not pick up after himself we called the ship's doctor. Why would we take him outside to walk him sick thru the corridors, elevators, etc to the clinic? I had read enough on CC and have been ill ourselves (both noro and gastro) in past travels (mostly land - it included Las Vegas and Orlando)) and KNEW what to do.

 

A few mins later a nurse came with her back pack. She took temp and administered a shot and left some medicine and packets Gadorade powder (to put into water bottle). Son went into the bathroom once while the nurse was in our room and by sound of it and our answers to her questions she said it's gastro.

 

I asked her what's the difference between gastro and norovirus ...

 

Gastro - you vomit a couple or so times to empty stomach (in some cases, none like me) and then you have the runs until the system is cleaned out - and you are able to drink water without vomiting again. You have stomach cramps to begin with but they eased out. Once your system is cleaned out you are able to drink again and eat a little without being sick. 24 hour bug.

 

Norovirus - you have the shakes, fever, vomit a lot (more than gastro), cannot keep liquids down, little runs, you feel weak (fever) and rundown, don't want to do anything. Takes more days to recover.

 

And guess what again - while DS recovered on the 2nd day after he caught it DH and myself caught it ourselves a few hours after eating lunch in Buenos Aires!! And it started around the time we departed for the airport for the long flight home!! Of course it was gastro - something to do with food - we did agree something was wrong with the taste.

 

Luckily both DH and I had aisle seats - added a couple of miles to our pedometers - but we were very careful to leave the toilets clean - washed our hands to death and flushed at least twice each time and cleaned up the place after ourselves. By the time we boarded the short flight home some 20 hours later we'd pretty much recovered - those cups of tea with sugar (and no milk) in Admiral Club sure helped.

 

Both times it was nothing to do with the ship. Guess we did the right thing by CALLING THE DOCTOR, instead of dragging the poor sick son to the reception area demanding to see the doctor!!