Just got off the Oosterdam in Venice and my wife had Covid on the cruise, it has become a nightmare

[terrydtx]

Last Wednesday the 31st of October my wife was tested positive for Covid and put into an isolation cabin for the balance of the cruise. Yesterday Sept 4th we disembarked in Venice and she and I were taken to a local Sheraton for her to finish the required 7 days of quarantine. We were given a letter by HAL when we got off the ship that the hotel would arrange for testing because she cannot be allowed to leave the hotel by Italian Health until she tests negative. The Hotel knows nothing about setting up any testing and we were not given any local numbers to contact. There are at least 20 people in the hotel from the cruise in the same situation as us. I am in a separate room from my wife as I have been lucky enough not to get covid. I spent 2 hours on the phone yesterday with Holland in Seattle and they were no help and promised we would get a call back. Got one call back last night and we were told someone local would contact us, so far as of 10am this morning nothing. I feel Holland just wanted to dump all of us just to be done with us. My wife has not had any symptoms more than a head cold and is doing well, but we just want to get home. Fortunately, we bought our flights on business class with HAL Flight Ease and they will fly us home on BC once my wife is negative or so they say.

 

Judging from all the passengers walking around the ship coughing and hacking and wearing no masks, I believe that the Oosterdam had hundreds of Covid cases with many not reporting it too medical, which in retrospect we should have done. We followed the rules and now we are being screwed by HAL for doing it. My advice if you are on a cruise and get Covid make sure when you get off for any additional quarantine that you get local numbers to contact or if not real sick make your decision whether to report it to medical on the ship.  I pretty much isolated myself in my cabin and had room service, just to eliminate the possibility I that would get Covid because Italy requires 7 days of quarantine and a negative test to be able to leave the hotel to go home.

 

This was our 6th HAL cruise and I guarantee our last, the way they dumped us and handled Covid, we will NEVER spend one more dollar with them.  We were told that we have to pay all our hotel and expenses and that HAL would reimburse us, I bet that will be a fight too. I have good travel insurance that will cover anything HAL will not.

Edited September 5, 2022 by terrydtx

[terrydtx]

Just to follow up, my wife just got a call from someone who said she will be tested here tomorrow, this was only because my TA got all over HAL for not setting anything up for us. One more reason to use an independent TA as I got nowhere yesterday with HAL directly.

 

One thing to add, with all the suspected Covid cases on the ship the Lido was a joke, too many self-serve stations with zero sanitation of the serving utensils. I saw one guy who was coughing all over the place get bread with the tong and I know he coughed all over the bread. That was the last time I dined in the Lido. The so called Covid precautions done by HAL was a total joke. There was no one at the entrance to the Lido making passengers use the hand sanitizers as well. I saw way too many bypass the hand sanitizers.

[ski ww]

It sure sounds like the cruise from hell for you. Hope you get home OK and you get everything sorted out with HAL. Not any good memories of this cruise.

[Roz]

@terrydtx, I hope you get this all sorted out and can get out of there and back home.  Ugh!  What a disaster.  Not how you wanted to end your cruise.  Thank you for taking the time to report your experience.

[MISTER 67]

IMHO the cruise lines have jumped the gun on not requiring testing or masking, they also should have not started selve serve in the buffet, in fact with the threat of Norovirus always a possibility, the buffet should never be self serve anymore.

We have been on 5 cruises since Thanksgiving but have been double boosted and when on the ship we mask up while up indoors, we have yet to have Covid. We are sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam in early December and will continue to take precautions with masking and social distancing. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by MISTER 67

[MISTER 67]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Just to follow up, my wife just got a call from someone who said she will be tested here tomorrow, this was only because my TA got all over HAL for not setting anything up for us. One more reason to use an independent TA as I got nowhere yesterday with HAL directly.

 

One thing to add, with all the suspected Covid cases on the ship the Lido was a joke, too many self-serve stations with zero sanitation of the serving utensils. I saw one guy who was coughing all over the place get bread with the tong and I know he coughed all over the bread. That was the last time I dined in the Lido. The so called Covid precautions done by HAL was a total joke. There was no one at the entrance to the Lido making passengers use the hand sanitizers as well. I saw way too many bypass the hand sanitizers.

We were on the Equinox 3 weeks ago and there were crew members at the entrance of the Lido with sanitizers plus the free standing machines. I was not happy that they went to self serve but we are early risers and are usually the first to make it to breakfast and lunch in the Buffet.

[terrydtx]

18 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

We were on the Equinox 3 weeks ago and there were crew members at the entrance of the Lido with sanitizers plus the free standing machines. I was not happy that they went to self serve but we are early risers and are usually the first to make it to breakfast and lunch in the Buffet.

We were on the Reflection from Rome prior to getting on the Oosterdam and saw what you saw on the Equinox. Even when we got back on the ship from shore, they had people with sanitizers for every boarding passenger. This was our 3rd post covid cruise, 2 on Celebrity and 1 on the Oosterdam from hell, we both have been double boosted and wore masks when in the public areas. When serving utensils and people do not use sanitizing masking gives no protection. HAL just did a terrible job and tried to deny that they had covid issues. on day 11 on our 14 day cruise the Captain of the Oosterdam final made an announcement about the "up tick" in positive covid cases and that they were making more precautions to sanitize, which I never saw.

[terrydtx]

29 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

IMHO the cruise lines have jumped the gun on not requiring testing or masking, they also should have not started selve serve in the buffet, in fact with the threat of Norovirus always a possibility, the buffet should never be self serve anymore.

We have been on 5 cruises since Thanksgiving but have been double boosted and when on the ship we mask up while up indoors, we have yet to have Covid. We are sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam in early December and will continue to take precautions with masking and social distancing. 

Funny you should mention Norovirus, the people in the cabin next to us on deck 6 both got norovirus and were quarantined for 2 days. They thought they had Covid but tested negative.

[terrydtx]

One other insult from HAL, they will only cover the costs for my wife's room and food. She is in a separate confined covid room in the hotel.  Guest services told me that I could fly home without her so they would not cover my expenses. HAL actually thought that I should leave my seventy something wife alone in Venice.  I did check with HAL flight ease and they will get both of us home on changed flights. My trip insurance will cover any expenses not covered by HAL.

[puppycanducruise]

What a terrible experience.  I hope your wife tests negative and you can fly home as soon as possible.

[HAL4NOW]

Your debarkation may be bad timing: yesterday being Sunday and today being a holiday. HAL offices are probably pretty limited until Tuesday. Also, the time difference may make you feel like they are ignoring you longer; Italy is nine hours ahead of Seattle. I even see East Coast people on these boards complain about not being able to get ahold of HAL when it is before five in the morning at the home office.

Hope your wife is able to be released soon and you both have a pleasant flight home.

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, HAL4NOW said:

Your debarkation may be bad timing: yesterday being Sunday and today being a holiday. HAL offices are probably pretty limited until Tuesday. Also, the time difference may make you feel like they are ignoring you longer; Italy is nine hours ahead of Seattle. I even see East Coast people on these boards complain about not being able to get ahold of HAL when it is before five in the morning at the home office.

Hope your wife is able to be released soon and you both have a pleasant flight home.

When I did get a live person in Seatle they had no clue about our predicament and no clue about Italian quarantine protocols. HAL dumped 15 of us in a hotel so they could be rid of us. HAL lied to us all about what would happen when we got off the ship and being Sunday had nothing to do with that.

[CGinMTL]

Venice is an expensive place to quarantine. Keep us posted of the developments.

[HAL4NOW]

8 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

When I did get a live person in Seatle they had no clue about our predicament and no clue about Italian quarantine protocols. HAL dumped 15 of us in a hotel so they could be rid of us. HAL lied to us all about what would happen when we got off the ship and being Sunday had nothing to do with that.

It does seem that the communication between the ships and the home office is often lacking. Hopefully everything works out soon.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, CGinMTL said:

Venice is an expensive place to quarantine. Keep us posted of the developments.

We are in a Sheraton 4 Points way out in Mestre and the room is about $130 a night.  We are 20 miles from the airport too.

[Caribbean Chris]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

 

…My advice if you are on a cruise and get Covid make sure when you get off for any additional quarantine that you get local numbers to contact or if not real sick make your decision whether to report it to medical on the ship.  

I am so sorry your vacation was wrecked by Covid. Two couples, our closest friends, had similar experiences on two different non-HAL cruise lines. I had symptoms the morning we disembarked Celebrity in April (in TPA, luckily for us a short drive from our home), and subsequently tested positive. It seems to be the times we live in as travelers.

 

I wish you and your wife well as you hopefully get home without too much more stress. 
 

But I do fear that if passengers take your advice to make their own decision whether to report suspected Covid, cases surely will continue to grow on board.

[albingirl]

I am so sorry you are going through this nightmare.  I too, fear that other passengers will decline to report covid if they contact it onboard.  Especially after reading about it here.

[Heartgrove]

I am sorry that your contracted COVID. But you already stated you were done with HAL when the embarkation was changed to Trieste. In hindsight, I bet that you wish you would have followed the advice given and cancelled the Oosterdam cruise. I hope the rest of your time in Italy goes fast and your wife recovers so that you can get home.

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

I am sorry that your contracted COVID. But you already stated you were done with HAL when the embarkation was changed to Trieste. In hindsight, I bet that you wish you would have followed the advice given and cancelled the Oosterdam cruise. I hope the rest of your time in Italy goes fast and your wife recovers so that you can get home.

You are right I said that, but up to the point where my wife got Covid, it was a fantastic cruise, and the food and service was excellent beyond our expectations. We both thought we would still sail with HAL if the itinerary was right. We even thought about booking an Alaska cruise for 2024 with us and our youngest grandson on one of HAL's newer ships. After this Covid experience and seeing how HAL failed to do any correct anti-covid measures and then dumping us in Venice we are done with HAL.  We will get a FCC for the missed 5 days by my wife, but it has to be used in one year from date of issue. It will go unused as there is no way we book with them for the next year. 

 

If these quarantine rules and protocols are not changed by next summer, we will cancel our 2 Celebrity and Viking River cruises, no way we will risk this nightmare again. When Covid is no worse than a head cold or mild case of flu, why have forced isolation and quarantine when it is not done for colds, the flu or other illnesses?  We need to all learn to live with covid like we do with the seasonal flu and colds.

[deck chair]

Hi!  Unless you have serious symptoms beyond what you experience with a bad cold

 you should just stay in your cabin for the protection of others and order from room service.   If you report it you will be in for the hassle of your life.   Given what has been going on with covid outbreaks on different ships I can see why more and more people are concluding these vaccines and masks are not effective and its of little use to mandate them.  Of course, others have different views on this issue.  

Deck Chair

Edited September 5, 2022 by deck chair

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, deck chair said:

Hi!  Unless you have serious symptoms beyond what you experience with a bad cold

 you should just stay in your cabin for the protection of others and order from room service.   If you report it you will be in for the hassle of your life. Of course, others have different views on this issue.  

Deck Chair

I agree 100% and there are 6 others here is the hotel that I have talked to, and they all had nothing worse than a mild cold but reported being sick to the ships medical. We were all vaccinated and boosted at least once which may be why they and my wife never got very sick. I fully believe that the cruise industry should never drop any vaccination and booster requirements to get on a cruise ship, our experience has shown that to still be needed.

[BetsyS.]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

You are right I said that, but up to the point where my wife got Covid, it was a fantastic cruise, and the food and service was excellent beyond our expectations. We both thought we would still sail with HAL if the itinerary was right. We even thought about booking an Alaska cruise for 2024 with us and our youngest grandson on one of HAL's newer ships. After this Covid experience and seeing how HAL failed to do any correct anti-covid measures and then dumping us in Venice we are done with HAL.  We will get a FCC for the missed 5 days by my wife, but it has to be used in one year from date of issue. It will go unused as there is no way we book with them for the next year. 

 

If these quarantine rules and protocols are not changed by next summer, we will cancel our 2 Celebrity and Viking River cruises, no way we will risk this nightmare again. When Covid is no worse than a head cold or mild case of flu, why have forced isolation and quarantine when it is not done for colds, the flu or other illnesses?  We need to all learn to live with covid like we do with the seasonal flu and colds.

I am so sorry you had to go through this. I hope your wife will be better soon 

and you will get home uneventfully.  Thank you for sharing your horrendous

experience. It is good info for the rest of us. I wish you and your wife safe

travels home.

[BetsyS.]

3 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I agree 100% and there are 6 others here is the hotel that I have talked to, and they all had nothing worse than a mild cold but reported being sick to the ships medical. We were all vaccinated and boosted at least once which may be why they and my wife never got very sick. I fully believe that the cruise industry should never drop any vaccination and booster requirements to get on a cruise ship, our experience has shown that to still be needed.

The HAL person who told you to leave your wife ALONE in Italy should be

fired!!!!!

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

I am so sorry you had to go through this. I hope your wife will be better soon 

and you will get home uneventfully.  Thank you for sharing your horrendous

experience. It is good info for the rest of us. I wish you and your wife safe

travels home.

All of us here in the hotel think HAL should have escorted us with a HAL representative to make sure everything was going to happen as they told us it would.  When we got to the hotel, they had no clue about setting up the testing for us. As I said earlier, we had no contact information for HAL other than the number to call to rebook our flights.

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

The HAL person who told you to leave your wife ALONE in Italy should be

fired!!!!!

I have her card and name, when we get home, I will be letting HAL know about our experience and the person from guest services who made that suggestion. When I asked for her card she was reluctant at first but I insisted. But since HAL will not cover my expenses, this seems to be their policy of only covering the covid person band not their traveling companions. My wife gets up to $100 per day room service compensation, but again I get nothing. Food in this hotel is not cheap and there are not any restaurants close to walking distance.

Edited September 5, 2022 by terrydtx