Compensation for Riviera Nurovirus Cruise

[kazu]

Me too...finished with Oceania and disappointed because I had heard such raving reviews from friends. All I needed was facts and truth.

 

On the laundry being closed, while I agree the 20 for $24 was a good deal under normal circumstances, it occurred to me that Oceania could have extended that gratis since they closed all wash facilities. Then again, I did have second thoughts about using their service given the outbreak.

 

I have to admit that my suitcase is still in the garage and every single piece of clothing has been laundered...shoes cleaned and placed outside for a few days...call me paranoid.

 

The Norovirus wasn't the issue but rather the horrible way it was handled.

 

 

I agree on the laundry - not necessarily free but at least at a reduced cost of 25-50%. That has been my experience in the past where there were self serve laundries that had to be closed.

 

I have never done so much laundry in my life after a cruise. Like you, I am being cautious I guess.

[LHT28]

I saw the invoices for the two women (who traveled separately and did not know each other). They were in terrible shape, went to the Medical Center as a last resort, then immediately had extensive treatment. They were hooked up to a saline drip along with other medications, constant monitoring and stayed in the MC for a number of days. I met the woman from the LA area on her first night after leaving the Center and to be out on the ship - day 6!

 

Of course, she was relieved to feel better and return to sleep in her cabin. But her bill was nearly $4,000. The other elderly woman had a bill of roughly $3,500 for similar treatment and an extended stay in the MC on deck 4.

 

My point: theirs was no "normal" consult with the doctor. Their condition from the virus demanded a multiple night stay in the Center with constant medical attention. So the cost rose accordingly.

 

 

The condition was severe at that stage then if they required I.V. treatment

I now understand why their bill was high

 

I agree though if they charge for going to see if you have the NORO or the cruise cough then people will just not go & it will spread through the ship

[ORV]

 

Which raises an interesting question: should not housekeeping report to the doctor that a pax is ill and confined to their cabin? There should be a feedback loop on a virus outbreak so that the authorities on board have up to date, accurate information versus those whose condition deteriorates so badly that they have no choice but to seek medical attention.

 

I'm pretty sure the room stewards are advised what to watch for and report it to their supervisors. One sea day, probably #4 or 5 my wife and I went to breakfast early, then went back to the room and watched a movie and just hung out in the room until after 1pm or so. We had the privacy please sign up, all this was non consistent behavior from all our previous days. Around 1:30 we got a call from our steward, (no door knock, a call on the phone) and he wanted to know if we wanted our room cleaned as ours was the last one. I've never received a call like this before in over 25 cruises. I'm pretty sure he was checking on our well being. I told him we were getting ready to go to lunch and I'd put the sign up(we actually put the sign up earlier when we went to breakfast, I guess he missed it then) Oddly enough our steward and the assistant had both been missing for a couple of days around the time we left Funchal. Hmm?

 

It would have been nice to have ship authorities be forthright and more proactive - and earlier on - with crew and passengers.

 

The clown car on parade after Funchal was the best advertisement that Oceania has lost its way. The ship was understaffed, service was erratic at times non-existent, and the noro outbreak was handled poorly.

 

I'm not disagreeing, but one thing to remember is that around 1/2 of the crew had come on in Barcelona, many of them were new and just didn't know what to do, so they were thrown into a rough situation. Others had been off a few months and were rusty.

 

You know it's pretty serious when they've got the singers and dancers running around the ship with the disinfectant buckets and plastic gloves sanitizing things.

Edited December 5, 2015 by ORV

[wristband]

I am sympathetic with about staff being worn out the last four days. They were assigned to thoroughly sanitize in addition to regular responsibilities. That is one - but not the only reason - service suffered so much.

 

I have been on 10 O cruises but have never encountered the surly, sullen and unhappy group encountered the past two weeks. Tired and overworked - understandable for the last four days. But the lack of management oversight in many areas of the ship was glaring from Funchal onwards well before the outbreak was announced.

 

Our room was not made up two nights. We have dinner every night at 6:30, avoid attending the shows so our pattern from Day 1 was to be back in the cabin by 8. Our cabin attendant had 21 rooms to clean but was not placed on duty until 7:30 pm - thats nuts.

 

We walked out of Terrace multiple times in the morning after sitting for 15+ minutes without being offered water or coffee. Managers and wait staff walked on by without asking if we wanted liquids. We registered our complaint on the way out. Did things improve? Nope. In the GDR, at lunch, we waved repeatedly to catch attention in hopes of getting our water glasses refilled. Simple orders were messed up and there were long waits for the entrees. All of this was before the outbreak was announced. Got much worse the last week.

 

I conclude post-sale Oceania has reduced its onboard headcount and hired (as was noted by a poster above) inexperienced staff. All of which resulted in a cruise experience that was far far below our expectations and not worthy of premium price we paid based on O's claims for a "6 Star" cruise.

[RJB]

You are joking, aren't you??

No joke. As a customer I expect them to do the right thing. Looks like they fell down on the job very badly as you can see from all the later posts. They need to step up and offer something real to all the passengers. Why do you think this is a joke ????

[LHT28]

I'm pretty sure the room stewards are advised what to watch for and report it to their supervisors. One sea day, probably #4 or 5 my wife and I went to breakfast early, then went back to the room and watched a movie and just hung out in the room until after 1pm or so. We had the privacy please sign up, all this was non consistent behavior from all our previous days. Around 1:30 we got a call from our steward, (no door knock, a call on the phone) and he wanted to know if we wanted our room cleaned as ours was the last one. I've never received a call like this before in over 25 cruises. I'm pretty sure he was checking on our well being. I told him we were getting ready to go to lunch and I'd put the sign up(we actually put the sign up earlier when we went to breakfast, I guess he missed it then) Oddly enough our steward and the assistant had both been missing for a couple of days around the time we left Funchal. Hmm?

 

We have had a phone call on a couple of cruises

we slept in one morning DH is usually up before 8 & let's me sleep until 9am & we are off to breakfast

That day it was after 9:30 before we left

One time I was sick ..DH went ashore but did not see the room steward to tell him not to do the room

He called about noon to see if he could make up the room ...I told him to leave it as I was not well

I think they try to be done by noon or 1pm then have a break until the night time turn down ...they may have other chores to do during the late afternoon I am not sure

But I do think they have more cabins than in the past

 

Not as bad as our recent HAL cruise where the rooms were not done until 2-3 pm :eek:

[kazu]

We have had a phone call on a couple of cruises

we slept in one morning DH is usually up before 8 & let's me sleep until 9am & we are off to breakfast

That day it was after 9:30 before we left

One time I was sick ..DH went ashore but did not see the room steward to tell him not to do the room

He called about noon to see if he could make up the room ...I told him to leave it as I was not well

I think they try to be done by noon or 1pm then have a break until the night time turn down ...they may have other chores to do during the late afternoon I am not sure

But I do think they have more cabins than in the past

 

Not as bad as our recent HAL cruise where the rooms were not done until 2-3 pm :eek:

 

hmm - aren't you comparing apples to oranges though?

 

After all, HAL is a mere mass market line and O is a premier line. I would like to think that O would deliver premier experience over HAL;):p

[Mura]

I can't be super specific here but we once did ask our cabin steward what their hours were. (I'm talking Oceania!) My recollection is that once they finish the morning chores they are off for several hours, perhaps until late afternoon. The butlers have similar hours, but you an always call to get service NOW if you need it.

 

Obviously, if Noro is on the ship this is going to affect the crew's schedules -- and may mean the healthy ones have to deal with more rooms than they normally would.

 

Mura

[kazu]

I can't be super specific here but we once did ask our cabin steward what their hours were. (I'm talking Oceania!) My recollection is that once they finish the morning chores they are off for several hours, perhaps until late afternoon. The butlers have similar hours, but you an always call to get service NOW if you need it.

 

 

 

Obviously, if Noro is on the ship this is going to affect the crew's schedules -- and may mean the healthy ones have to deal with more rooms than they normally would.

 

 

 

Mura

 

 

that matches what I understood on our cruise too Mura.

 

Our butler had a "back up" butler who relieved him when he was off if you needed his services. He explained it all on day one with his hours and the coverage (very nice)

[sail7seas]

When we had the Noro outbreak on Marina in April 2015 we were told that medical treatment would be free. My husband did go in and had no bill. That was then, maybe Riviera just now was different. But what was advertised on Marina is what happened.

 

On that cruise, I never heard that people went into the medical center were then whalopped with big bills. (Doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that I didn't hear about it.)

 

I was feeling ill one day (before any announcements happened), confined myself to the cabin, took some OTC meds and was fine the next morning which was when DH took ill (!). He was in quarantine for one day but I'd already left the ship (I was leading a private tour that day) and he was released the next day. Once I got back from the tour we both stayed in the room -- we were in a PH so it was easy enough to order dinner in to the room.

 

Next morning he was fine.

 

Perhaps different ships are handling this differently?

 

Mura

 

 

I certainly mean no offense to you but that is part of the problem about Noro.

 

Despite your feeling better next day, you were still contagious for something like three days after you felt better. Unknowingly, people pass it along because they believe they are again well.

 

[LHT28]

hmm - aren't you comparing apples to oranges though?

 

After all, HAL is a mere mass market line and O is a premier line. I would like to think that O would deliver premier experience over HAL;):p

 

Actually last year on the same ship Eurodam our cabins were always made up by the time we returned from breakfast

so I am comparing apples to apples

I expected the same service this year on the Eurodam but it did not happen

 

[Mura]

I certainly mean no offense to you but that is part of the problem about Noro.

 

Despite your feeling better next day, you were still contagious for something like three days after you felt better. Unknowingly, people pass it along because they believe they are again well.

 

 

No offense taken. That is a good point ...

 

But I DO know that people with whom I was in contact did not come down with anything untoward. And I do think that if I'd had Noro one dose of an antidiarrheal wouldn't have done the trick.

 

OTOH, I will bear your comments in mind and be more careful the next time around.

 

My husband was "released" from quarantine the next day, so we did assume we were safe to be around!

 

In fact, on the one tour I took without DH another wife was doing the same. Her husband was also quarantined for a day. None of us in the group had problems thereafter.

 

Having said all of this, I do appreciate your comments. It's good information to have for the future.

 

Mura

[roger b]

No offense taken. That is a good point ...

 

But I DO know that people with whom I was in contact did not come down with anything untoward. And I do think that if I'd had Noro one dose of an antidiarrheal wouldn't have done the trick.

 

OTOH, I will bear your comments in mind and be more careful the next time around.

 

My husband was "released" from quarantine the next day, so we did assume we were safe to be around!

 

In fact, on the one tour I took without DH another wife was doing the same. Her husband was also quarantined for a day. None of us in the group had problems thereafter.

 

Having said all of this, I do appreciate your comments. It's good information to have for the future.

 

Mura

 

 

We still have Norovirus on board !! and have 2 new reported cases the ship is still in lock down with sanitation still going on .

This is not my idea of a 5 star holiday as I have been on the ship since Barcelona, 14 days under restrictive conditions as we have been informed by the Captain that we will not go back to normal until after St Marten. .

We had a hellish day in Miami having to leave the ship for a bus ride around Miami !! then having been told we could re-board the ship at 1.30 pm .we were held in the terminal until 2.45 with 1200 other passengers (no Lunch or food provided ).

No perks have been offered to the passengers not even a free drink !!

I feel unless OC can come up with a substantive offer they will have lost a loyal customer of 13 years standing

[kazu]

We still have Norovirus on board !! and have 2 new reported cases the ship is still in lock down with sanitation still going on .

This is not my idea of a 5 star holiday as I have been on the ship since Barcelona, 14 days under restrictive conditions as we have been informed by the Captain that we will not go back to normal until after St Marten. .

We had a hellish day in Miami having to leave the ship for a bus ride around Miami !! then having been told we could re-board the ship at 1.30 pm .we were held in the terminal until 2.45 with 1200 other passengers (no Lunch or food provided ).

No perks have been offered to the passengers not even a free drink !!

I feel unless OC can come up with a substantive offer they will have lost a loyal customer of 13 years standing

 

Oh Roger, I am SO sorry to hear that there are still issues on the ship.

 

Deep cleaning always takes time sadly. I am surprised that O did nothing in the way of food or beverages. My last time when we had to wait for deep cleaning to board the Prinsendam, we were at least provided with food and drinks to hold us over until we got on board.

 

What a shame that they have done nothing for the B2B passengers.

 

I really feel for you.

[RJB]

We still have Norovirus on board !! and have 2 new reported cases the ship is still in lock down with sanitation still going on .

This is not my idea of a 5 star holiday as I have been on the ship since Barcelona, 14 days under restrictive conditions as we have been informed by the Captain that we will not go back to normal until after St Marten. .

We had a hellish day in Miami having to leave the ship for a bus ride around Miami !! then having been told we could re-board the ship at 1.30 pm .we were held in the terminal until 2.45 with 1200 other passengers (no Lunch or food provided ).

No perks have been offered to the passengers not even a free drink !!

I feel unless OC can come up with a substantive offer they will have lost a loyal customer of 13 years standing

Very sad to hear that the ship is still having problems. But the issue here is what Oceanis is doing for their customers. Some things they can control(like compensation) and some they can not like (people getting sick.) This goes back to the start of this thread and what it asks for.

[Benita]

Unfortunately, Norovirus is all over the cruise lines, but the handling of compensation is handled differently. We were on a Lindblad cruise to Antarctica 10 years ago and there was an outbreak, which coincided with rough seas, so most got sick from one or both. We received a letter from the company saying that while neither was their fault, they realize everybody's experience was dampened by the outbreak and sent a five hundred dollar per person voucher to be used on a future cruise. We were shocked , and immediately used it to book another cruise.

Last year, my husband caught NORO while on a Celebrity cruise. We cancelled an excusion that day and he stayed in the cabin. The next day he felt worse and went to the medical center where they said it was NORO and gave him a shot for nausea and confined him to the cabin, with instructions to stay there for 24 hours after his last bathroom episode (trying to be delicate) There was no charge for the medical treatment and Customer service called and offered movies on DVD with no rental charge

I asked, at the shore excursion desk for a refund of the money for the shore excursion and they said if it was NORO, they would do so after checking with the medical center. When the final bill arrived, the $300 charge for the excursion had not been refunded.

I emailed Celebrity customer service and got a phone call a few days later. The woman said she looked into it and apologized for the shore excursion people and refunded the money to our credit card. She asked me how my cruise was impacted and I told her I spent the day with my husband in the cabin and she sent us each a voucher for $200 towards a future cruise (combinable with any promotion) which was about the cost of a day on the cruise we had taken. I booked another one the next day.

While NORO is not the fault of the cruise line, it is not the passenger's fault either. Careful hand washing, lots of Purell, and avoidance of buffets did not prevent it for my husband and I was impressed how both cruise lines tried to make some restitution. Unexpected from both companies, but a smart way to reinforce loyalty.

[RJB]

Unfortunately, Norovirus is all over the cruise lines, but the handling of compensation is handled differently. We were on a Lindblad cruise to Antarctica 10 years ago and there was an outbreak, which coincided with rough seas, so most got sick from one or both. We received a letter from the company saying that while neither was their fault, they realize everybody's experience was dampened by the outbreak and sent a five hundred dollar per person voucher to be used on a future cruise. We were shocked , and immediately used it to book another cruise.

Last year, my husband caught NORO while on a Celebrity cruise. We cancelled an excusion that day and he stayed in the cabin. The next day he felt worse and went to the medical center where they said it was NORO and gave him a shot for nausea and confined him to the cabin, with instructions to stay there for 24 hours after his last bathroom episode (trying to be delicate) There was no charge for the medical treatment and Customer service called and offered movies on DVD with no rental charge

I asked, at the shore excursion desk for a refund of the money for the shore excursion and they said if it was NORO, they would do so after checking with the medical center. When the final bill arrived, the $300 charge for the excursion had not been refunded.

I emailed Celebrity customer service and got a phone call a few days later. The woman said she looked into it and apologized for the shore excursion people and refunded the money to our credit card. She asked me how my cruise was impacted and I told her I spent the day with my husband in the cabin and she sent us each a voucher for $200 towards a future cruise (combinable with any promotion) which was about the cost of a day on the cruise we had taken. I booked another one the next day.

While NORO is not the fault of the cruise line, it is not the passenger's fault either. Careful hand washing, lots of Purell, and avoidance of buffets did not prevent it for my husband and I was impressed how both cruise lines tried to make some restitution. Unexpected from both companies, but a smart way to reinforce loyalty.

Just what I have saying all along but maybe just not quite as well.

[Toranut97]

hmm - aren't you comparing apples to oranges though?

 

 

 

After all, HAL is a mere mass market line and O is a premier line. I would like to think that O would deliver premier experience over HAL;):p

 

 

There's that positive thinking I have so grown to appreciate!!!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LHT28]

sorry to hear the Noro is still there

I am not surprised though

It took several sailings on Marina before it was cleared

 

It is too bad they are not offering anything to the passengers

[hypercafe]

I think a lot of how the onboard staff reacts is based on the Captain and general manager. Most of the money issues come from Miami. As I said before, if you expect money from NCLH, good luck.

 

Oceania is really getting hit hard here. I am sure most people on this trip had fun. Every line has a one of trip. There is a lot of comparison to HAL here. On my last trip on HAL on the Zuiderdam through the canal six years or so ago 80% of the toilets stopped working for a few days due to some pumps out of action. I would never set foot on a HAL ship again. They all have these on of trips.

[kazu]

I think a lot of how the onboard staff reacts is based on the Captain and general manager. Most of the money issues come from Miami. As I said before, if you expect money from NCLH, good luck.

 

Oceania is really getting hit hard here. I am sure most people on this trip had fun. Every line has a one of trip. There is a lot of comparison to HAL here. On my last trip on HAL on the Zuiderdam through the canal six years or so ago 80% of the toilets stopped working for a few days due to some pumps out of action. I would never set foot on a HAL ship again. They all have these on of trips.

 

 

I think most of the people on the trip made the best of it. Did they have fun? I think most tried to for sure.

 

Did they get the trip they expected or paid for? I don't think so.

 

This one off trip has turned into a two off as RogerB has reported that Noro is still on the ship sadly and they are stuck with the restrictions until at least St. Marten. I truly hope things are back to normal for them. It would be nice if O had done something for at least the B2B people, whether it be an open bar for a few hours, a reception, a glass of champagne. Whatever. But that's just my opinion.

 

edited to say - just like these boards, I discovered on the cruise that a number of O passengers sail other cruise lines as well. HAL seemed to stand out along with Celebrity as the alternative cruise lines.

Edited December 6, 2015 by kazu

[hypercafe]

People who cruise a lot have a favorite line, some love it such they allow no criticism of it and overlook all faults. Some have lines they would not return to, like me with HAL or your husband with Oceania. Many just bounce around. At the end of the day we are all lucky to have the money, time and health to enjoy all the choices we have.

[kazu]

People who cruise a lot have a favorite line, some love it such they allow no criticism of it and overlook all faults. Some have lines they would not return to, like me with HAL or your husband with Oceania. Many just bounce around. At the end of the day we are all lucky to have the money, time and health to enjoy all the choices we have.

 

 

You are so right. We are all so very lucky to cruise. DH and I said the exact same thing yesterday as we were discussing things ;)

[sail7seas]

We still have Norovirus on board !! and have 2 new reported cases the ship is still in lock down with sanitation still going on .

This is not my idea of a 5 star holiday as I have been on the ship since Barcelona, 14 days under restrictive conditions as we have been informed by the Captain that we will not go back to normal until after St Marten. .

We had a hellish day in Miami having to leave the ship for a bus ride around Miami !! then having been told we could re-board the ship at 1.30 pm .we were held in the terminal until 2.45 with 1200 other passengers (no Lunch or food provided ).

No perks have been offered to the passengers not even a free drink !!

I feel unless OC can come up with a substantive offer they will have lost a loyal customer of 13 years standing

 

I'm very sorry to hear this update and hope things get better fast.

 

This is a question rather than a statement and I wonder if perhaps the Officials in Miami denied "O" permission to bring food and drink ashore given the illness aboard? Is it possible they said no food or drink off the ship into the terminal?

 

HOWEVER, that would not preclude them from ordering food from a local Miami source and having it delivered.

I would think that is what a premier hospitality facility/ship would do. They could have had sandwiches/snacks prepared ashore and delivered.

Edited December 6, 2015 by sail7seas

[kazu]

Well, there was some discussion on Orv's live thread (I think) and maybe here as to if the Riviera was refused Bermuda or not since a newspaper said that she opted to bypass the port. I thought it was a diplomatic way to avoid the discussion on the Noro.

 

thanks to sitraveler on another thread, we now know that for sure the Riviera was refused entry to Bermuca

 

http://bernews.com/2015/11/cruise-ship-visit-cancelled-due-to-outbreak/