Arcadia - gastro outbreak

[Hampshire Steve]

We are also currently on Arcadia. We would agree that there are many new crew members on board but they seem a happy smiley bunch and we have little to complain about. I don't like the noise of MDR so we tend to use Sindhu, Ocean Grill & Room service. All pretty fair so far, few minor mistakes but nothing worth a hissy fit over. 

 

We gave up with the ships buffet after the return from lock down, you could still see fairly obvious places where hygiene was not best, not necessarily things I would blame the ship for either.

 

Just a couple of days ago I saw a chap call for a lift with the bottom of his walking stick, oh yuck the rest of us people have to press that button next!

 

On our section of deck have only seen one blue tray (Isolation) left outside a cabin, no doubt more around but not a massive amount I think. CDC did get on in Boston, not New York, don't know the results yet but presume a pass otherwise we would not have continued to other ports in the US. You can see previous inspections here - https://wwwn.cdc.gov/inspectionquerytool/InspectionSearch.aspx

 

I have, in the past, had things to complain about with P&O and whilst Arcadia is a bit of an old rust bucket (we accept it's 19 years old and so will not be perfect) we have 5 more booked on it, next one is right after refit in November, be interesting to see if it's more than carpets this time. We have noticed more wifi extenders and are very happy with internet at sea (perhaps not the price), we have noticed new CAT5 connections behind the TV so assume there will be video on demand at last. We are told Sindhu is getting a make over, also told that the restaurant and so we presume bar staff will be able to take orders electronically and send direct to the kitchen/bar

 

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, Hampshire Steve said:

Just a couple of days ago I saw a chap call for a lift with the bottom of his walking stick, oh yuck the rest of us people have to press that button next!

I’ve seen a number of people do that. I always think that stick has been on toilet floors where there is often ‘overspill’ 🤮

[FangedRose]

11 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve seen a number of people do that. I always think that stick has been on toilet floors where there is often ‘overspill’ 🤮

I think the same when I see people put them on the tables in the buffet.

 

I have also have seen the button push too, that is why I always use my knuckles to push all buttons, even when not on a ship. Especially on pedestrian crossings.

Edited yesterday at 08:49 AM by FangedRose

[zap99]

13 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve seen a number of people do that. I always think that stick has been on toilet floors where there is often ‘overspill’ 🤮

I know you have views on lift etiquette.  How about the people who press the door closed button. I said to him. ' the old Lady on crutches missed it again'. Was somebody coming.....you'll never know will you.

[Son of Anarchy]

On 9/25/2024 at 2:46 AM, tring said:

Service incredibly bad as very short staffed.  Been told by a one strip senior in the restaurant that the reason is because certain nationalities of crew have great problems getting visas for USA, which of course were needed.  Will not help that two did a bunk in NY this year as is not unusual.......  

We did the equivalent cruise last year on Aurora.  A crewmember did a bunk in one of the Canadian ports prior to USA.  As a consequence shore leave was cancelled  for all crew while we were in USA apart from a very small number who were allowed ashore for work reasons.  That said we saw one of the theatre techies having a few beers at Harpoon Brewery the night we were in Boston.  Maybe he was doing some research....🍺

[Son of Anarchy]

20 hours ago, Sonyar said:

We're currently on Arcadia and are fine so far.

We tend to eat in the buffet, but not anything with our fingers.

First time on her and the service is fine in our opinion.

Passengers moaning to staff about hand washing, some still not complying, so it's not surprising some are ill.

We did Arcadia's worldie this year.  Staff were enforcing hand washing at the buffet entrances, apart from the entertainment team.  Saw them on several occasions going in avoiding washing their hands and ignoring the staff with the squirty bottles.

 

Towards the end of the cruise, gastro intestinal outbreak occured.  Captain had to make extra announcements warning pax that non-compliance of hand washing on entering the buffet or abusing staff doing their job could lead to dis-embarkation.

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

We were told that hand gel does not kill the norovirus bug, only washing hands with soap will do it. Having said that, catching norovirus is not the end of the world. 2 days confined to cabin (balcony hopefully)  with room Service and everything should then be okay.

[gsmt47471015]

On 9/26/2024 at 3:18 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

We did Arcadia's worldie this year.  Staff were enforcing hand washing at the buffet entrances, apart from the entertainment team.  Saw them on several occasions going in avoiding washing their hands and ignoring the staff with the squirty bottles.

 

Towards the end of the cruise, gastro intestinal outbreak occured.  Captain had to make extra announcements warning pax that non-compliance of hand washing on entering the buffet or abusing staff doing their job could lead to dis-embarkation.

I may have been misquoted by a passenger on that cruise but I was told that two passengers were actually taken off the ship for non compliance? That been said from what I frequently witnessed a lot more could have been thrown off for non compliance to the point of a arguing with staff as to why they shouldn’t have to clean their hands😟

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

17 minutes ago, gsmt47471015 said:

I may have been misquoted by a passenger on that cruise but I was told that two passengers were actually taken off the ship for non compliance? That been said from what I frequently witnessed a lot more could have been thrown off for non compliance to the point of an arguing with staff as to why they shouldn’t have to clean their .

Edited 3 hours ago by PRINCESSTHE BEST

[tring]

On 9/26/2024 at 3:10 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

We did the equivalent cruise last year on Aurora.  A crewmember did a bunk in one of the Canadian ports prior to USA.  As a consequence shore leave was cancelled  for all crew while we were in USA apart from a very small number who were allowed ashore for work reasons.  That said we saw one of the theatre techies having a few beers at Harpoon Brewery the night we were in Boston.  Maybe he was doing some research....🍺

 

We were on Aurora last year as well.  It was Boston when a crew member went missing, hence no more shore leave in the other US ports.  

 

We were told by crew last year that it is normally New York when one of more go AWOL.  Easier to get lost there, but also it seems that they will have had it all arranged before they jump ship.

 

Two went missing in NY this year - someone from the galley and a buffet attendant.