Virus on Jade Jan-Feb '10+

[AuntieBarb]

We were staying in a suite, which allowed us to avoid the buffet, and I am guessing that helped, but I doubt you need to drink only bottled water. However, if that makes you feel more comfortable, by all means do so.

 

I hope you have a great trip. We did; it's an amazing itinerary.

 

Believe me, I'd rather avoid $3/bottle! LOL We normally DO drink the ship's water; never had issues with it.

 

I wasn't implying the outbreak was something other than a passenger bringing the norovirus aboard either. There just appears, from my Googling, that there are other concerns in the Mediterranean; food wise especially in mussels. This will be our 1st itinerary in the region, so with all this hoopla I can't help but be a bit apprehensive.

 

Hoping to come back with a great report! :)

[Turtles06]

We also took just ordinary precautions, drank water from the tap, ate from the buffet - they served you, you did not help yourself and we did not get sick. If you read previous reviews, this ship has had problems for awhile. Maybe the Mediterranean in winter is not a good idea.

 

We were told that the Egyptian doctors took blood from the ill, and swabs, and we had to wait till the results came back - that was what the holdup was all about.

 

I'm sure in large ships it is harder to contain a virus as there are so many passengers as well.

 

The crew worked very hard, my hat is off to them - they must have been exhausted. A great trip even with all the sidestepping of the officials. I doubt we will take another NCL cruise due to the attitude of the officials on the ship. They have got to be up front with passengers.

 

We heard similar stuff, that the Egyptians sent out food and water samples to test for typhoid and cholera.

 

I found it terribly ironic that we were held up for five hours in Egypt for a "health inspection" as I stood on the deck contemplating the garbage floating in the harbor in Alexandria and later as I saw the utter filth in Cairo and Giza, and also learned from our guide that the locals dump dead animals and garbage into the Nile.

 

I agree with you about how hard the crew was working on the Jade. Everywhere you looked, someone was spraying a carpet or wiping down a handrail... Just not sure, with turnaround cruises, that this will eradicate the virus....

[bar_20]

BTW, in Athens, the authorities delayed the ship's clearance for an hour (we were never told why), causing everyone to miss entering the Acropolis, which closes early in the winter. In Alexandria, the Egyptian authorities held the ship for FIVE hours while they sent food and water samples for testing to a hospital in Cairo (according to what someone told us). So we all lost a very precious half a day in Egypt. (The notion, though, of folks in Egypt being concerned about health problems from a western ship was pretty ironic when you saw the garbage floating in the harbor in Alexandria and the utter filth in Cairo and dead animals and garbage thrown into the Nile tributary in Giza. Perhaps the real reason for the delay was insufficient baksheesh.)

 

That's the reason I could care less about seeing this part of the world. My sister took this cruise two years ago and said never again after the cruise.

On many virus' the incubation period is well before you come down with any ill feelings and you can spread it without knowing you have it. Perhaps wearing gloves and a face mask 24-7 is the answer but then that's no fun. Like others have said, it can happen on any ship, any cruise line!

[hamrag]

We are sailing on Jade on March 7 and I am now really worried by this outbreak. Does anyone think that the ship should be getting healthier by then? What percentage of passengers have been getting sick? I am not going to cancel this cruise, and other than being extremely clean and hygenic is there anything we can do to prevent us from getting sick?

 

We were on the 5 Feb sailing, immediately following the 24 January cruise. At embarkation everyone received a letter stating that "approximately 12% of passengers and crew on the previous sailing contracted norovirus". Boarding did not commence until 2.15pm, rather than the usual 11.30am, in efforts to cleanse the ship. The letter stated that if you preferred not to sail then a credit to the value of the cruise would be given for a future cruise! Not much use when all travel expenses have been incurred to get there! My own guess would be that if 12% had owned up to having the virus, then probably the real number would have been more like 20% i.e. one in every five on board.

 

Fortunately we enjoyed a trouble free cruise and did not hear first hand of anyone who contracted norovirus. We heard second hand of a small number who had health problems because of the virus. Cleaning was going on continually throughout the ship, and in 2 of our ports we received a letter to say that extra cleansing would be taking place that day (whilst most people were ashore).

 

Some people really moaned on about the handgel being sprayed especially at the dining areas but, to their great credit, the clearly exhausted staff dispensing the stuff avoided the great temptation to give these people an extra special cleansing!

 

No delays in arrival or departure were experienced in any of our ports, so maybe they are finally getting the problem under control. Will be interesting to hear what those on the sailing following ours (14 Feb) report on their return.

[hamrag]

The sailing of the 24th on the Jade was totally hands off - everything was served to us in the buffet - right down to salt and pepper. They were also sanitizing the tables after someone left. This wouldn't get chairs, etc, however it was probably the best they could do.

 

The crew worked very hard through this, I'm sure many were exhausted from working extra hours.

 

This was our experience on the sailing immediately following yours. We did notice in the MDR, at times, that the chairs were partly sanitised during the few minutes between one party leaving and the next ones dining. This amounted to the seating part and the arms of the chair.

 

Many of the staff were clearly exhausted.

[hamrag]

We were staying in a suite, which allowed us to avoid the buffet, and I am guessing that helped...

 

You can avoid the buffet no matter the cabin grade, the dining rooms are available to all passengers!

[Turtles06]

We were on the 5 Feb sailing, immediately following the 24 January cruise. At embarkation everyone received a letter stating that "approximately 12% of passengers and crew on the previous sailing contracted norovirus". Boarding did not commence until 2.15pm, rather than the usual 11.30am, in efforts to cleanse the ship. The letter stated that if you preferred not to sail then a credit to the value of the cruise would be given for a future cruise! Not much use when all travel expenses have been incurred to get there! My own guess would be that if 12% had owned up to having the virus, then probably the real number would have been more like 20% i.e. one in every five on board.

 

Fortunately we enjoyed a trouble free cruise and did not hear first hand of anyone who contracted norovirus. We heard second hand of a small number who had health problems because of the virus. Cleaning was going on continually throughout the ship, and in 2 of our ports we received a letter to say that extra cleansing would be taking place that day (whilst most people were ashore).

 

Some people really moaned on about the handgel being sprayed especially at the dining areas but, to their great credit, the clearly exhausted staff dispensing the stuff avoided the great temptation to give these people an extra special cleansing!

 

No delays in arrival or departure were experienced in any of our ports, so maybe they are finally getting the problem under control. Will be interesting to hear what those on the sailing following ours (14 Feb) report on their return.

 

I was on the Jan. 24 cruise, and very glad to read from your post that things seem to be improving (and that you did not fall ill). My partner and I did not get sick on the cruise, but of the 6 people (three separate couples, unknown to each other before this cruise) we'd arranged shore excursions and transportation with, 5 did. So my own little admittedly unscientific sample comes up with a total way higher than the 12% NCL will own up do.

 

In any event, giving pax at the terminal in Barcelona on the day of sailing the option of a future cruise credit in lieu of taking the cruise is probably of very little or no value to most pax (and NCL knows it). How many people, having flown to BCN from another continent, arranged their life and work schedules to take a vacation, are really in a position to turn around and fly home (not to mention paying the airlines to change their flights).

 

Bottom line: really glad to hear things have improved.

[Turtles06]

You can avoid the buffet no matter the cabin grade, the dining rooms are available to all passengers!

 

I know that, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I meant that having Cagneys available gave us more dining options, and we didn't need to deal with the MDRs for breakfast or lunch. Sorry for any confusion.

[Cruisingboyo]

We were on the 5 Feb sailing, immediately following the 24 January cruise. At embarkation everyone received a letter stating that "approximately 12% of passengers and crew on the previous sailing contracted norovirus". Boarding did not commence until 2.15pm, rather than the usual 11.30am, in efforts to cleanse the ship. The letter stated that if you preferred not to sail then a credit to the value of the cruise would be given for a future cruise! Not much use when all travel expenses have been incurred to get there! My own guess would be that if 12% had owned up to having the virus, then probably the real number would have been more like 20% i.e. one in every five on board.

 

Fortunately we enjoyed a trouble free cruise and did not hear first hand of anyone who contracted norovirus. We heard second hand of a small number who had health problems because of the virus. Cleaning was going on continually throughout the ship, and in 2 of our ports we received a letter to say that extra cleansing would be taking place that day (whilst most people were ashore).

 

Some people really moaned on about the handgel being sprayed especially at the dining areas but, to their great credit, the clearly exhausted staff dispensing the stuff avoided the great temptation to give these people an extra special cleansing!

 

No delays in arrival or departure were experienced in any of our ports, so maybe they are finally getting the problem under control. Will be interesting to hear what those on the sailing following ours (14 Feb) report on their return.

The staff were amazing, I really do feel for them! So much more work load. I can imagine they are told off for stuff when people disobay the rules etc. I liked how they sanitised so much in the dining areas and especially them serving us food in the buffet.. Im always weird handed and I drop alot of stuff! Was on the same cruise as you and very sad to be home. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. :)

[Dorset Cruiser]

Just returned from the 5th February Jade cruise. It was not a cruise experience I ever want to repeat and it is the only cruise we have taken out of 20 in total that suffered from this degree of noro infection. If they deep cleaned the ship before they allowed us on, why all the code red actions? Was the ship clean or not? If it was clean then we did not need all those restrictions. If it was not clean, then the cruise should have been cancelled. They obviously had plenty of time to let people know as the cruise before ours was severely infected with 12% of the passengers going down with the infection.

 

It certainly sprung to our minds that operating a cruise this way must save the cruise line thousands of pounds in food costs. The bread bill alone must be one third of what it usually is as they were not very keen to let you have more than one piece of bread at dinner.

[sjbdtz]

It certainly sprung to our minds that operating a cruise this way must save the cruise line thousands of pounds in food costs. The bread bill alone must be one third of what it usually is as they were not very keen to let you have more than one piece of bread at dinner.

 

 

LOL. NOW, I've heard it all.

 

Yes, we happily incur thousands of dollars in expenses, force thousands of customers to wait in line an extra 3 hours, at the risk of them being unhappy with us, offer any of them a full refund if they choose not to sail (another potential risk if they take up the offer), all to save money on BREAD???????

 

LOL

[PangeanSir]

Just returned from the 5th February Jade cruise. It was not a cruise experience I ever want to repeat and it is the only cruise we have taken out of 20 in total that suffered from this degree of noro infection. If they deep cleaned the ship before they allowed us on, why all the code red actions? Was the ship clean or not? If it was clean then we did not need all those restrictions. If it was not clean, then the cruise should have been cancelled. They obviously had plenty of time to let people know as the cruise before ours was severely infected with 12% of the passengers going down with the infection.

 

It certainly sprung to our minds that operating a cruise this way must save the cruise line thousands of pounds in food costs. The bread bill alone must be one third of what it usually is as they were not very keen to let you have more than one piece of bread at dinner.

 

Hello Dorset;

 

I've been following this closely since we'll be boarding in about 10 days time. However, I don't think you can tell one way or not whether it was a case of the ship not being cleaned. Unfortunately, there were so many passengers doing back to back cruises there would be no chance at all for the ship to sail with a 'clean slate'.

 

From those returning on February 14th, it sounds as if the infection rate has dropped from your cruise to the one that followed you.

 

And I doubt that NCL would realize any cost savings. Unfortunately, for them whatever they may have saved on food costs wouldn't offset the loss in other revenue (booze, excursions, bingo, specialty restaurant fees, martini clinics, etc.). They have a vested interest in having healthy, happy, martini swilling, bingo playing passengers ...

 

P.

[Dorset Cruiser]

LOL. NOW, I've heard it all.

 

Yes, we happily incur thousands of dollars in expenses, force thousands of customers to wait in line an extra 3 hours, at the risk of them being unhappy with us, offer any of them a full refund if they choose not to sail (another potential risk if they take up the offer), all to save money on BREAD???????

 

LOL

 

 

Oh lighten up. That was supposed to be a bit tongue in cheek. It stands to reason though that the food bill must have been significantly lower. I for one did not see the usual piled up plates being carted around the buffet, a lot of which on normal cruises would be left. Being served by members of staff does, to an extent, ration what would normally be taken from a buffet. What are the thousands of dollars in expenses for?? If the staff are serving in the buffets, they are not doing anything else, so are not incurring the company in any extra expense. I suppose the bottles of disinfectant are an additional cost:rolleyes:.

 

We were not offered a full refund on the cruise:confused: We were offered the option of transferring to another cruise at a later date. I presume had we taken up the offer of a cruise on another date, then it would have been up to us to get ourselves home from Barcelona at our own expense. Were you on this cruise? Did you get the offer of a full refund?

 

As to the deep cleaning taking place on the ship which delayed embarcation, I have to say that although our cabin was a very nice size with good facilities, it was certainly not very clean. If it had been deep cleaned before arrived, it did not show as there was thick dust on the table pedestal, dirty balcony doors and mirrors. The bathroom was immaculate though, so I suppose they must have concentrated on that. We did get letters left on our beds at several ports of call saying that more deep sanitising was taking place but we personally did not see anyone doing it.

 

Cruising is a very subjective matter. We are experienced cruisers with 20 under our belt now and we thought that, leaving the noro infection out of the experience, NCL is not for us. We found a lot of the staff to be very disinterested in what they were doing (and I know someone will come back and say that they were all working very hard and were probably tired). We just did not like the cruise experience we had on this one cruise. We chose to go on this cruise and not take the option of another cruise at a later date and I am glad we did as we did find what we were looking for - some nice winter sunshine and some good ports of call. However, if we had been taking our first cruise on this NCL Jade cruise, I think it would certainly have put us off cruising.

 

As to NCL losing revenue from people not drinking at the bars and using the speciality restaurants, that did not appear to be the case to us. Although we only used the Italian restaurant (which was very popular and extremely good), The MDR and Blue Moon, the other restaurants were being used. Tepanyaki was full every evening.

 

The entertainment was excellent however and we really enjoyed the shows in the evening which were varied and consistently good.

 

If anyone is travelling on NCL Jade in the near future, I hope they have a good cruise and that NCL will finally get rid of this noro infection. Take a good pair of sunglasses though as the decoration of the ship is a bit vivid;)

[insidecabin]

It certainly sprung to our minds that operating a cruise this way must save the cruise line thousands of pounds in food costs. The bread bill alone must be one third of what it usually is as they were not very keen to let you have more than one piece of bread at dinner.

 

2nd Q 2009

food bill $30,412,000

Pax days 2,307,675

 

Average food cost pppd $13.18 :)

[JuPe]

2nd Q 2009

food bill $30,412,000

Pax days 2,307,675

 

Average food cost pppd $13.18

Is the food bill also including crew food?

[insidecabin]

Is the food bill also including crew food?

 

Not sure, it is not detailed in the accounting notes.

[hamrag]

The staff were amazing, I really do feel for them! So much more work load. I can imagine they are told off for stuff when people disobay the rules etc. I liked how they sanitised so much in the dining areas and especially them serving us food in the buffet.. Im always weird handed and I drop alot of stuff! Was on the same cruise as you and very sad to be home. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. :)

 

Yes, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. What many do not recognise is that the hand sanitation efforts are standard with NCL, whether Norovirus or not. Cannot see what the big deal is for some who have a problem with this! We sailed on Jade June 2008 and Sep/October 2009 and the hand sanitation efforts were the same on last 2 cruises, with one difference that sanitation dispensers were in all elevators both last and recent cruises and this is now standard across the fleet.

 

The staff were truly amazing, we really felt for them, but we heard on final sea day that many, many people were lining up to remove the gratuities. Unbelievable but, sadly, true as we spoke to some folks who had done just that....and no sjbdtz they were not all Brits, so no more lectures from you please!

[hamrag]

Is the food bill also including crew food?

The accounting notes will not differentiate passenger costs from crew costs, so the food bill must include crew bringing the cost pppd below the $10 mark!

 

Incidentally, for us at least, it was heartening not to see the hugely piled up plates of food, and therefore much less food waste. There were few of us looking like we were fading away due to a lack of food!

[hamrag]

Just returned from the 5th February Jade cruise. It was not a cruise experience I ever want to repeat and it is the only cruise we have taken out of 20 in total that suffered from this degree of noro infection. If they deep cleaned the ship before they allowed us on, why all the code red actions? Was the ship clean or not? If it was clean then we did not need all those restrictions. If it was not clean, then the cruise should have been cancelled. They obviously had plenty of time to let people know as the cruise before ours was severely infected with 12% of the passengers going down with the infection.

 

 

The so called "red actions" were in place to supplement the deep cleansing carried out on boarding day. They must be doing something right as someone currently on board is reporting that at the M&G the Captain advised that norovirus numbers on the previous cruise (yours and ours) were much lower....credit to NCL for that.

 

We were grateful that food was being served to us at the Garden Cafe buffet, and would much rather have that degree of "inconvenience" than catch the bug! You just need to look around, and watch what some people do with their hands, to see how easily such a bug could spread.

 

Before our cruise we had read much about all the little touches that NCL have removed e.g. boarding champagne, coffee machines in the cabin, free cappuchino in dining areas etc. etc. and wondered if we would cruise NCL again. We have a cruise booked September on the Gem, and will not be cancelling and also bought a further cruise reward which we will most probably use 2011.

[sjbdtz]

Oh lighten up.

 

Do you KNOW what LOL means? :rolleyes:

 

 

We found a lot of the staff to be very disinterested in what they were doing (and I know someone will come back and say that they were all working very hard and were probably tired).

 

Duh!

 

 

As to NCL losing revenue from people not drinking at the bars and using the speciality restaurants, that did not appear to be the case to us.

 

So nobody was eating. They must have saved thousands on food. The bars were all full, and so were all of the restaurants?? :rolleyes:

 

 

If 12% were sick, for 2 days each, that means for the most part, the vast majority at any one time.....were not.

 

 

If anyone is travelling on NCL Jade in the near future, I hope they have a good cruise and that NCL will finally get rid of this noro infection. Take a good pair of sunglasses though as the decoration of the ship is a bit vivid;)

 

The decoration doesn't need sunglasses :cool:. The Jade is a beautiful ship, and I'm glad I got to sail her 4 months ago.

[hamrag]

Take a good pair of sunglasses though as the decoration of the ship is a bit vivid;)

 

Yes, we heard many people commenting on that fact, it is somewhat OTT in places. We noticed this the first time we sailed her, but after a few days it just becomes normal.

[Dorset Cruiser]

The decoration doesn't need sunglasses :cool:. The Jade is a beautiful ship, and I'm glad I got to sail her 4 months ago.

 

 

Can you really call the Jade a beautiful ship? I much prefer the more classy decoration on any of the Princess ships. I am sure Jade was ideal for the market she was built for, ie Hawaii, but the decoration is much too garish for me.

[burlingtoncruiser]

Holland America's decor is quite lovely - very elegant.

 

I didn't mind the Jade's decor, I can't imagine how much it would cost to change from the Hawaiian theme, although it was carried a bit far, even for Hawaii.

 

We will continue to cruise, but not on NCL. I know that the NCL 'cheerleaders' will be annoyed at this comment, but after 10 cruises, we do know how we like to be treated, virus notwithstanding, we found it to be too secretive, not completely honest in what we were told - THAT is the main reason we will not cruise on NCL again.

[newmexicoNita]

Can you really call the Jade a beautiful ship? I much prefer the more classy decoration on any of the Princess ships. I am sure Jade was ideal for the market she was built for, ie Hawaii, but the decoration is much too garish for me.

 

Reading your profile it is pretty obvious you are a Princess loyalist..

 

Nita

[Dorset Cruiser]

Reading your profile it is pretty obvious you are a Princess loyalist..

 

Nita

 

 

Not so, if you read my profile properly you will see that we have cruised on many cruiselines. I have to say that we do prefer Princess in so far as they give us our preferred cruise experience and no-one can doubt that their ships are great, but we have many cruiselines still to try. This Jade cruise was taken mainly for the itinerary and the fact that it was a short haul for us, but also to try out NCL. We don't think we will sail NCL again as it is not the type of cruise experience that we prefer, but I would never say never - if the right itinerary came along at the right price, we might well travel with them again - at least we would know what to expect. We also look forward to trying out Celebrity and Holland America on some future cruises. As we prefer American style cruising, we probably would not try Costa or another European style cruiseline. We are less likely to try out Cunard as that again does not offer the cruise experience we prefer.

 

The one thing that did disturb us a little on NCL was that we went to a talk on the new Epic ship and it appears to us that NCL are really pushing a two class cruising system, as on the old cruise ships. That does not really do it for us and we much prefer a ship where all the dining rooms and bars are open to us, even if a couple of the restaurants are restaurants with a surcharge. We did not like the fact that on Jade during the crew show on the last night, people were having to stand as all the 'ordinary' seats were taken, but in the section reserved for the passengers in the villas and owners suites, there were plenty of empty seats. Even so people were denied entrance.