***live from emerald---norovirus on board!!!*****

[remydiva]

[quote name='SJ27']another one slightly off topic, how long did it take you to the airport? we are also on a flight around 2pm the day we dock there (doing emerald baltic next month)[/quote]

as Newyorkjamieson said, yes it took about 30 mins to drive through Copenhagen to the airport.

Copenhagen is all selfserve kiosks so no need to print up boarding passes on the ship before hand.

There are lots of kiosks and while most people (including me) bunch up in a pile at the first group of them, there are many other terminals deeper within the airport with no line ups.

ALL airlines are on the touch screen so you just push your airline and follow the prompts. If you have your 5 digit confirmation code of your reservation that is quick too (or passport works as well).

Your boarding passes are printed (including those for connnecting flights) and then you go to the line up for your airline to check in your luggage.

Works quite well altho it did look daunting at first glance.

Interestng point...there are 3 Starbucks in CPH and one opened on the day of our departure May 13 so lots of free goodies and press around. No other Starbucks in Copenhagen so this was a big deal. After 16 days of Princess coffee, we sure enjoyed our Starbucks!

as for full tours...there were lots of sick people but also lots on wait lists for the tours...us included. We were on 3 waitlists and were called one nite at 8pm to see if we were interested in one tour. On every tour, at every dining table and at the airport we heard many stories of people who were sick, We're thankful we escaped...luck plus vigilent hand washing and cabin cleaning with my Clorox wipes!

[SiBreeze]

[quote name='remydiva']as Newyorkjamieson said, yes it took about 30 mins to drive through Copenhagen to the airport.

Copenhagen is all selfserve kiosks so no need to print up boarding passes on the ship before hand.

There are lots of kiosks and while most people (including me) bunch up in a pile at the first group of them, there are many other terminals deeper within the airport with no line ups.

ALL airlines are on the touch screen so you just push your airline and follow the prompts. If you have your 5 digit confirmation code of your reservation that is quick too (or passport works as well).

Your boarding passes are printed (including those for connnecting flights) and then you go to the line up for your airline to check in your luggage.

Works quite well altho it did look daunting at first glance.

Interestng point...there are 3 Starbucks in CPH and one opened on the day of our departure May 13 so lots of free goodies and press around. No other Starbucks in Copenhagen so this was a big deal. After 16 days of Princess coffee, we sure enjoyed our Starbucks!

as for full tours...there were lots of sick people but also lots on wait lists for the tours...us included. We were on 3 waitlists and were called one nite at 8pm to see if we were interested in one tour. One every tour, at every dining table and at the airport we heard many stories of people who were sick, We're thankful we escaped...luck plus vigilent hand washing and cabin cleaning with my Clorox wipes![/quote]

Do you happen to know what was the earliest they were letting folks disembark? We have a chance to get a non-stop flight home but it is at 9am and I am afraid that is too early. Now we are leaving later and have a stop over.

[remydiva]

[quote name='SiBreeze']Do you happen to know what was the earliest they were letting folks disembark? We have a chance to get a non-stop flight home but it is at 9am and I am afraid that is too early. Now we are leaving later and have a stop over.[/quote]

first people off the ship at 5:15 am providing you take your own luggage and walk off on your own...

hope this helps

[SiBreeze]

[quote name='remydiva']first people off the ship at 5:15 am providing you take your own luggage and walk off on your own...

hope this helps[/quote]

thanks. We are traveling with others and we all have Princess transfers. Better not risk it, I think I will keep status quo just to eleviate any post cruise stress. :eek:

How was Billy London as CD? I heard somewhere (probably here :D) that he was going home after the 1st Baltics cruise.

[Loonbeam]

That's direct from the CMO on a Princess ship who had previously served on one of HALs.

And to the person who asked about Code Red, that means significant outbreak and the most intensive cleaning and control measures are used (massive amounts of wiping down, no touching of food at all, removal of salt shakers, etc).

There is also a code black, but one has never been called to my knowledge. That's a ship-wide passenger quarantine to cabins.

[quote name='Carolyn R']:eek::eek::eek:[/quote]

[grandmaa]

My wish is for there never to be a "Code Red" or "Code Black" on any of my cruises. How alarming that would be! Sorry to hear that there was so much noro virus on the Emerald.
Hope all the future cruises are noro free!

[RMM34667]

Late to this thread but.. WOW wicked cool of the OP to get another poster in touch with their parents. Well done.

[remydiva]

[quote name='SiBreeze']thanks. We are traveling with others and we all have Princess transfers. Better not risk it, I think I will keep status quo just to eleviate any post cruise stress. :eek:

How was Billy London as CD? I heard somewhere (probably here :D) that he was going home after the 1st Baltics cruise.[/quote]

Billy London is a very talented entertainer/singer in his own right and in his 'past life' pre CD.
.. however, truth of the matter is that you don't see that much of the CD (unless you count the early morning show on TV).

Other than introducing the shows in the Princess Theatre and impromptu singing at the piano with Arny in Crooners Bar, we never saw him...again, not that I can recall seeing any CD all that much.

[pablo222]

[quote name='grandmaa']My wish is for there never to be a "Code Red" or "Code Black" on any of my cruises. How alarming that would be! Sorry to hear that there was so much noro virus on the Emerald.
Hope all the future cruises are noro free![/quote]

Well, they don't really announce it as "Code Red"

You typically get a letter in your cabin from the captain, or
some fleet medical officer that says 'special measures' are
being taken, and encouraging everyone to wash their hands,
and avoid the public restrooms.

It's most obvious in the horizon court, where dining staff serves
EVERYTHING -- including self-serve drinks. This often leads
to huge backups on the line.

It also makes everyone on the ship cranky -- as staff / crew
who usually have deck privledges don't during 'code red',
and dining staff loses much of their time off and have to
work longer hours.

I've been or maybe a half-dozen cruises that had code-red
for part, or all of them. The only real effect on me was that
I took more meals in the dining room, to avoid the backup
in the lido.

One of the funny things about deck privileges -- princess always
makes a point of telling passengers how they have 50+ nationalties
working on board, and people who cook what they're used to eating
at home for them, and how wonderful it is.

There are many cranky staff/crew who prefer to eat pax food,
and hate being limited to the officer / crew mess.

I guess there's marketing, and there's reality.

[5326jan]

[quote name='kerrytens']I think it is a Bouvier actually - my family had one way back when I was a kid. Great dogs:D[/QUOTE]

It (dog in Avatar) looks like an Australian Blue Heeler to me.:)

[agreene]

Would be interested in hearing from anyone on the Emerald this week to see how things are with the virus. I set sail on Tuesday and hoping things are back to normal.

[remydiva]

[quote name='5326jan']It (dog in Avatar) looks like an Australian Blue Heeler to me.:)[/quote]

GASP! :eek: You take that back!

Totally different dog...only similarities is that both are herding dogs.

Bouvs are much taller (males 27 inches at shoulders, females 25 inches at shoulders) and have wool coats to just mention a couple of things.

[5326jan]

[quote name='remydiva']GASP! :eek: You take that back!

Totally different dog...only similarities is that both are herding dogs.

Bouvs are much taller (males 27 inches at shoulders, females 25 inches at shoulders) and have wool coats to just mention a couple of things.[/QUOTE]

NOOOOO!!!!! :eek: I was talking about the one drinking out of the martini glass!!!!

[hbcruiser]

My husband and I will be on the Emerald this August. Have been on the Ruby twice. Can you tell me something about her....condition, food, service. We were spoiled by Generoso and Godwin on the Ruby. Hope we find just as good on the Emerald. Two summers in the Mediterranean and now this different itinerary...any comments on it?

Thanks.

[piper28]

[quote name='agreene']Would be interested in hearing from anyone on the Emerald this week to see how things are with the virus. I set sail on Tuesday and hoping things are back to normal.[/QUOTE]

My parents are on now, and from what they've told me there were supposedly only about 50 cases on the previous cruise, and they haven't told me about any problems this cruise. They did start with serving everything in the buffet.

Course, the ship apparently also got hit by a fuel barge in St Petersburg, damaging some of the life boats. (And no, I haven't figured out how a fuel barge damages lifeboats yet either.)

[remydiva]

[quote name='5326jan']NOOOOO!!!!! :eek: I was talking about the one drinking out of the martini glass!!!![/quote]

oh THAT dog! yes of course ..'blue cow dog'...makes perfect sense...guess then my name should be 'black cow dog' :). Sorry just someone else asked if it was a schnuzer..

[remydiva]

[quote name='piper28']My parents are on now, and from what they've told me there were supposedly only about 50 cases on the previous cruise, and they haven't told me about any problems this cruise. They did start with serving everything in the buffet.

Course, the ship apparently also got hit by a fuel barge in St Petersburg, damaging some of the life boats. (And no, I haven't figured out how a fuel barge damages lifeboats yet either.)[/quote]

Agreed, don't know how that could happen while refueling.

Here is a picture I took of the refueling barge that was alongside us on the Emerald in the fog off of Falmouth, England (Cornwall). We were warned not to go out on the balcony while refueling and to definitely NOT smoke! Picture is taken from our balcony on Riviera Deck 14 and lifeboats are off Deck 7.

(Sorry, but I can't get the picture bigger...it seems to be automatically resized to much smaller than I am uploading).

[SRQfireman]

You can hit "Ctrl" and the "+" sign and blow it up ;)

p.s....this works a lot better if you can get that pic. on it's own page (nothing but that pic)

[piper28]

[quote name='remydiva']Agreed, don't know how that could happen while refueling.

Here is a picture I took of the refueling barge that was alongside us on the Emerald in the fog off of Falmouth, England (Cornwall). We were warned not to go out on the balcony while refueling and to definitely NOT smoke! Picture is taken from our balcony on Riviera Deck 14 and lifeboats are off Deck 7.

(Sorry, but I can't get the picture bigger...it seems to be automatically resized to much smaller than I am uploading).[/quote]

Heard a little more (my parents do brief emails while they're on the cruise), but apparently this particular one had a couple of taller masts of some sort, and they basically scraped along the ship, and supposedly actually completely knocking one of the lifeboats off. They're supposedly down at least one, and a couple are damaged, supposedly should be able to get at least one new one in Warnermunde.

They've also apparently had a passenger evacuated by helicopter in the last day or so. So apparently it's been an eventful cruise.

[SJ27]

She's left Warnemunde already. Presume the seasoned CCers know about these links but I recently discovered it - keeping an eye on it ahead of our Baltic cruise next month ;)

Edit: why does CC change the URL for the ship position to an unlinkable one??!!
www dot ********** dotcom schiffsposition.php?schiff=Emerald+Princess

2nd edit: ok even that didn't work. Clearly CC doesn't like the name of the website, is there any particular reason - I don't want it to seem like I am trying to do something I shouldn't here, but I thought the link to a site that shows current position on a satellite map as well as the view from the ship's webcam was really cool.

[remydiva]

[quote name='hbcruiser']My husband and I will be on the Emerald this August. Have been on the Ruby twice. Can you tell me something about her....condition, food, service. We were spoiled by Generoso and Godwin on the Ruby. Hope we find just as good on the Emerald. Two summers in the Mediterranean and now this different itinerary...any comments on it?

Thanks.[/quote]
Havent been on the Ruby so cant compare the two. But I thought the Emerald was lovely.

I liked having Sabbatini's up on the 16th floor overlooking the back of the ship. But my favourite hang out was next door to Sabbatini's...a little piano lounge called Adagio. Wonder piano guy 7-11pm every nite, tiny dance floor and one nite they had a 5 piece jazz ensemble. Theme is Italian drinks and desserts (desserts are $4) but they serve all bar drinks. Windows all overlooking water and comfy chairs.

Outside of Sabbatinis and Adagio is a little oasis of peace and quiet. Glass tables and cushioned wrought iron chairs with green astro turk so it feels lush. Overlooking the back Terrace pool with the ocean beyond. Not many people seemed to know about it. Access it from the Terrace deck up a flight of stairs.

Crooners bar is quite large on the Emerald which is nice too. Also liked the layout and comfy leather chairs in the Wheelhouse.

Gym is huge but still only about 4 recombinant bikes and 2 standup types but lots of treadmills.

She's in good shape and the art is quite nice. You'll love her.

[Cruise Junky]

I can confirm Coral was code red for at least 4 or 5 days on the Panama cruise that just ended. No idea on numbers though.

[bxny]

You can check on the outbreaks here

[url]http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm#years[/url]

[TravlinMaChere]

How likely is the Coral to be free of this problem when we board on June 11th? :(

[Cruise Junky]

[quote name='TravlinMaChere']How likely is the Coral to be free of this problem when we board on June 11th? :([/quote]

We were free of it with about 5 days left in our cruise. I believe the virus only lasts 72 hours so you have nothing to worry about. Now of course, it could pop up again, but it would be a new case.