Neptune GI Outbreak

[uktog]

5 hours ago, MELSMOM47 said:

I found it interesting that Viking had signs in the public bathrooms advising passengers to use a paper towel when exiting the restroom. 👍🏻

Several cruise lines do that. I’d find it strange if they didn’t 

[sugarside]

Those signs have been there at least since my first ocean cruise with them in 2019.

[MELSMOM47]

5 hours ago, uktog said:

Several cruise lines do that. I’d find it strange if they didn’t 

I’ve been on many different cruise lines. 1st time I’ve see it. 

[TravelingT]

I was on this cruise.  It WAS crazy on steroids on several levels!!  We had to chase down the staff for silverware, coffee, creamer, sugar, salt packets, pepper packets, water, etc. for every meal in the world cafe.  The poor buffet line staff had to cook and replace the food and serve it too!!  They did not have enough staff, of course, and so long lines at each station in the world cafe were very common, (depending on when you went),  as well as empty trays of food they could not keep full.  Don't get me wrong; this was not their fault.   They did the best they could with a smile on their face.  I applaud the staff for all the effort they put in.  The pools were closed, the thermal spa was closed, and the laundry was closed.  And we missed both the Greenland ports and the Newfoundland port due to icebergs.  Again, not their fault.  Then when we disembarked, the lines in NYC were so long that our arranged car waited from 9:30 to 11:00 AM to pick us up and then had to leave due to another commitment.  Of course, we had already paid and lost that money.  According to the NYC representative at the port, Viking is the only cruise they deal with that doesn't use face recognition which would have increased the time to disembark extraordinarily. However, NYC port only sent four agents to process the whole ship.  So, a series of unfortunate events.  

 

All of this being said, we had several days at sea, and because I usually like to spend time in the thermal suite on sea days, which was closed, I was a little bored.  I am not a big reader, so we spent a good bit of time watching movies on TV.  They had a great selection.  However, it did convince me that the future world cruise that I thought I would take on Viking may be on another cruise line.  I am currently researching Oceania and Azamara.

 

LUCKILY,  neither my partner nor I got sick.  We are thankful for that.  Viking is issuing a 50% future cruise voucher, which we are very thankful for!

[Avery's Gram]

Hospitals have taught employees to use the tissue before touching the door handle for a long time.  I retired in 2005, and that was part of our infection control process.  We also taught employees to wash for 20 seconds, scrub between fingers, and to take the paper towel before starting to wash and put it under their arm to keep hands uncontaminated.  Now of course, there are hands free dispensers so this was definitely in the old days.

 

A funny story…I was washing my hands as described in a restroom on the Jersey Turnpike when the woman washing hers at the next basin turned to me and said “ You work in a hospital.  I can tell by your hand washing technique.”  
 

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, TravelingT said:

  However, it did convince me that the future world cruise that I thought I would take on Viking may be on another cruise line.  I am currently researching Oceania and Azamara.

 

 

 

Can I ask why you have come to this decision?  This Norovirus could happen on Azamara or Oceania as well?

 

You said several times it was not Viking's fault or that of the crew, so why would you move cruise lines?

 

Were you dissatisfied with Viking in other ways?

[uktog]

Interesting, when norovirus hits on Azamara, they put extra staff on to serve in the buffet requiring entertainers, guest relations, spa staff etc to do extra shifts to achieve this.  The catering staff very much focus on their no one priority - getting the food out to the servers.  Sounds like Viking does not do this

[TravelingT]

50 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Can I ask why you have come to this decision?  This Norovirus could happen on Azamara or Oceania as well?

 

You said several times it was not Viking's fault or that of the crew, so why would you move cruise lines?

 

Were you dissatisfied with Viking in other ways?

 Oh, it has nothing to do with the norovirus.  I felt there wasn't enough to do during the days at sea.  A world cruise would involve several days at sea.  They had lectures on history; some were pretty good.  But, as a college professor, I am steeped in lectures every day.  There was trivia once a day, which was fun for me as I like social activities.  I think a different cruise line might have more social activities that I enjoy.  I might be wrong but I want to shop around.

 

[TravelingT]

14 minutes ago, uktog said:

Interesting, when norovirus hits on Azamara, they put extra staff on to serve in the buffet requiring entertainers, guest relations, spa staff etc to do extra shifts to achieve this.  The catering staff very much focus on their no one priority - getting the food out to the servers.  Sounds like Viking does not do this

Oh, I think they did this too.  I saw entertainers from the nightly shows at the buffet, shore excursions staff, and others helping.  But it was just too much even with all of them.  As I said, they tried their very best, all with a smile on their face.  It wasn't slammed every minute that the world cafe was open.  But enough.  Once again, they did the best they could it was just a poor situation for both the staff and guests.

 

[CDNPolar]

21 minutes ago, TravelingT said:

 Oh, it has nothing to do with the norovirus.  I felt there wasn't enough to do during the days at sea.  A world cruise would involve several days at sea.  They had lectures on history; some were pretty good.  But, as a college professor, I am steeped in lectures every day.  There was trivia once a day, which was fun for me as I like social activities.  I think a different cruise line might have more social activities that I enjoy.  I might be wrong but I want to shop around.

 

Ok.  Fair enough.  Thanks for the explanation.  

[Mich3554]

4 hours ago, TravelingT said:

I was on this cruise.  It WAS crazy on steroids on several levels!!  We had to chase down the staff for silverware, coffee, creamer, sugar, salt packets, pepper packets, water, etc. for every meal in the world cafe.  The poor buffet line staff had to cook and replace the food and serve it too!!  They did not have enough staff, of course, and so long lines at each station in the world cafe were very common, (depending on when you went),  as well as empty trays of food they could not keep full.  Don't get me wrong; this was not their fault.   They did the best they could with a smile on their face.  I applaud the staff for all the effort they put in.  The pools were closed, the thermal spa was closed, and the laundry was closed.  And we missed both the Greenland ports and the Newfoundland port due to icebergs.  Again, not their fault.  Then when we disembarked, the lines in NYC were so long that our arranged car waited from 9:30 to 11:00 AM to pick us up and then had to leave due to another commitment.  Of course, we had already paid and lost that money.  According to the NYC representative at the port, Viking is the only cruise they deal with that doesn't use face recognition which would have increased the time to disembark extraordinarily. However, NYC port only sent four agents to process the whole ship.  So, a series of unfortunate events.  

 

All of this being said, we had several days at sea, and because I usually like to spend time in the thermal suite on sea days, which was closed, I was a little bored.  I am not a big reader, so we spent a good bit of time watching movies on TV.  They had a great selection.  However, it did convince me that the future world cruise that I thought I would take on Viking may be on another cruise line.  I am currently researching Oceania and Azamara.

 

LUCKILY,  neither my partner nor I got sick.  We are thankful for that.  Viking is issuing a 50% future cruise voucher, which we are very thankful for!

This being said, NY officials did not release the ship to disembark for nearly 75 minutes after we were scheduled to disembark, and once the ship was released, there were only 3 agents to process people in NYC, and 4 other agents just hanging around not processing passengers.  This also happened at the beginning of the WC, when the port agents in FL would not allow boarding to start until long after boarding.  I think that the ship was not released until 2 pm, when boarding was supposed to start at 11 am.  
Not only that, when we landed in LA to pick up passengers, EVERYONE had to disembark and we got to wait to talk to immigrations.  

 

Facial recognition software is minor when it takes US officials much longer than normal to release the ship.  
 

So this wasn’t Viking, but US immigration who mucked up your schedule.  The 178 days we were on the Neptune for the World Cruise, going through face to face immigration in the US was the worst….even worse than Saudi. 

[Mich3554]

1 hour ago, TravelingT said:

 Oh, it has nothing to do with the norovirus.  I felt there wasn't enough to do during the days at sea.  A world cruise would involve several days at sea.  They had lectures on history; some were pretty good.  But, as a college professor, I am steeped in lectures every day.  There was trivia once a day, which was fun for me as I like social activities.  I think a different cruise line might have more social activities that I enjoy.  I might be wrong but I want to shop around.

 

There are far more social activities on a world cruise, but TBH it doesn’t sound like you like sea days.  There are a lot of sea days, I think the longest chunk of sea days we had was 6 sea days.  
Viking doesn’t have many social activities set up for the cruise we were on the last 2 weeks because I believe that there was only one scheduled sea day in that cruise.  So it makes no sense to bring on a bridge instructor and the ilk for one sea day.  

Edited June 29, 2023 by Mich3554

[Meander Ingwa]

3 hours ago, Avery's Gram said:

when the woman washing hers at the next basin turned to me and said “ You work in a hospital.  I can tell by your hand washing technique.”

I worked in a research lab.  There is no one who washes like a chemist. Before AND after using the bathroom

[longterm]

On 6/21/2023 at 3:28 AM, CDNPolar said:

I have been told that there is an Egyptian cure for this but no one named it.

It's called "Stay out of Egypt."

 

Combined with the crushing crowds, we've decided a Nile cruise is off our bucket list.

Edited June 29, 2023 by longterm

[TravelingT]

3 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

This being said, NY officials did not release the ship to disembark for nearly 75 minutes after we were scheduled to disembark, and once the ship was released, there were only 3 agents to process people in NYC, and 4 other agents just hanging around not processing passengers.  This also happened at the beginning of the WC, when the port agents in FL would not allow boarding to start until long after boarding.  I think that the ship was not released until 2 pm, when boarding was supposed to start at 11 am.  
Not only that, when we landed in LA to pick up passengers, EVERYONE had to disembark and we got to wait to talk to immigrations.  

 

Facial recognition software is minor when it takes US officials much longer than normal to release the ship.  
 

So this wasn’t Viking, but US immigration who mucked up your schedule.  The 178 days we were on the Neptune for the World Cruise, going through face to face immigration in the US was the worst….even worse than Saudi. 

The lady in the port terminal said it was Viking's fault.  But your explanation makes perfect sense.

[TravelingT]

3 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

There are far more social activities on a world cruise, but TBH it doesn’t sound like you like sea days.  There are a lot of sea days, I think the longest chunk of sea days we had was 6 sea days.  
Viking doesn’t have many social activities set up for the cruise we were on the last 2 weeks because I believe that there was only one scheduled sea day in that cruise.  So it makes no sense to bring on a bridge instructor and the ilk for one sea day.  

I get that.  They were not prepared for that many sea days.  However, I have done four Transatlantic cruises on other cruise lines, and I was much more entertained by the activities onboard.  Different strokes for different folks.  That being said, Viking is a fantastic cruise line.

 

[Jim Avery]

4 hours ago, longterm said:

It's called "Stay out of Egypt."

 

Combined with the crushing crowds, we've decided a Nile cruise is off our bucket list.

Haha, good one.  We ate at a locals rooftop small cafe overlooking the Nile and also a locals restaurant overlooking the Sphinx and didn't have an issue.  Go to Egypt while you can...🍹

[Jim Avery]

And as to sea days, you have to love sea days to enjoy a World Cruise.  No matter which line you choose.

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

This being said, NY officials did not release the ship to disembark for nearly 75 minutes after we were scheduled to disembark, and once the ship was released, there were only 3 agents to process people in NYC, and 4 other agents just hanging around not processing passengers.  This also happened at the beginning of the WC, when the port agents in FL would not allow boarding to start until long after boarding.  I think that the ship was not released until 2 pm, when boarding was supposed to start at 11 am.  
Not only that, when we landed in LA to pick up passengers, EVERYONE had to disembark and we got to wait to talk to immigrations.  

 

Facial recognition software is minor when it takes US officials much longer than normal to release the ship.  
 

So this wasn’t Viking, but US immigration who mucked up your schedule.  The 178 days we were on the Neptune for the World Cruise, going through face to face immigration in the US was the worst….even worse than Saudi. 

 

We had a similar experience on our 1st World Cruise in NYC. It took them over 5 hrs to process everyone and clear the ship for pax to reboard. Worst experience ever in over 40 years.

 

This wasn't even a TAR port, as we were in transit.

[longterm]

17 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Haha, good one.  We ate at a locals rooftop small cafe overlooking the Nile and also a locals restaurant overlooking the Sphinx and didn't have an issue.  Go to Egypt while you can...🍹

I'm glad to hear you say that; after watching a couple of videos about Nile river cruising, we definitely were left with the opinion that, between the crowds and risk of illness, we were better off not doing one of those river cruises. Your post makes me rethink it--I'd love to see the Egyptian sites. 

[Meander Ingwa]

On 6/29/2023 at 8:45 AM, uktog said:

entertainers, guest relations, spa staff etc to do extra shifts to achieve this

the last thing I want is people who have not had specific health care and safety training for food service.  If the ship line cross trains staff for these positions that is great but if not, I'll wait in line

[uktog]

2 minutes ago, Meander Ingwa said:

the last thing I want is people who have not had specific health care and safety training for food service.  If the ship line cross trains staff for these positions that is great but if not, I'll wait in line

They are serving only so no need for additional specific training - they are taught portion control, they are taught to use a single spoon and they are also subject to the general hygiene training all crew gets which seems more than sufficient to me.  Unfortunately you would be going hungry on Azamara if you do not want them to serve you at lunchtime as they closed the dining room to alleviate the staffing position

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, longterm said:

I'm glad to hear you say that; after watching a couple of videos about Nile river cruising, we definitely were left with the opinion that, between the crowds and risk of illness, we were better off not doing one of those river cruises. Your post makes me rethink it--I'd love to see the Egyptian sites. 

The only place we had crowds was at Giza.  The crowds in the new museum are insane.  Sakara, Valley of the Kings;Queens, Luxor all had little to no crowding.  The highlight of our world cruise.🥃

[wine-wine-wine]

On 6/30/2023 at 8:32 AM, longterm said:

I'm glad to hear you say that; after watching a couple of videos about Nile river cruising, we definitely were left with the opinion that, between the crowds and risk of illness, we were better off not doing one of those river cruises. Your post makes me rethink it--I'd love to see the Egyptian sites. 

DW has visited Egypt twice, I have only been once. Very intense, very amazing. Needed a vacation afterwards. 
 

if you really want to avoid crowds you might consider Archaeological Paths. A colleague took one of their tours last year and reports that they indeed do visit most sites with no or few other visitors present. They said it was expensive but worth it. 

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, wine-wine-wine said:

DW has visited Egypt twice, I have only been once. Very intense, very amazing. Needed a vacation afterwards. 

This is exactly how we felt about our recent land tour to Israel/Palestine/Jordan. Like trying to drink from a fire hose.