Warning - Mercury

[karen&kevin]

The OP reminds me of some of the reactions people had to the proceedures put in place when there was a Novovirus outbreak in our office building. At that time, they had a four man crew cleaning everything. Two would spray everything with a bleach solution in spray bottles and a few minutes (or sometimes hours) the next two guys would come along and wipe the surfaces down. It did mean that some areas had bleach dripping from every surface and puddling on the floor. Our elevators were also sticky and everything looked cloudy. The smell was quite awful but we all put up with it, knowing that they were doing everything possible to contain the virus.

 

Everyone who got sick was asked to stay home for a week, or more, until they were absolutely certain that they weren't bringing it back to the office. There are over 1000 people in this building and as you would expect, several people were too stubborn to stay home and came in sick. This just started the cycle over again and they infected more people. It ended up taking nearly two months to get rid of it once and for all.

 

Of course some people tried blaming the building owners and management but the rest of us placed our blame squarely on the people who were too full of themselves to stay home when sick. It's not hard to believe that if someone who is sick will insist on going in to the office, they will certainly not pass up a vacation for that same illness. Until the people who are sick get some common sense knocked into them and stay home, there is very little that any cruise line can do to prevent this.

 

There was a thread a while back in which the question was posed "Would you admit to being sick if asked by the cruise line?" or something like that. Several people admitted that they would not confess to being sick with a cold, stomach flu or any other illness, if it meant being turned away from their cruise at embarkation. I think that this is where the problem starts.

 

I for one, assume that there are risks in cruising and take all the precautions that I can. Aside from that, there's not much I can do and I'm certainly not going to blame the cruiseline. I am insulin dependant diabetic and getting sick is always a little scary for me, and in some cases, could be fatal. That said, I'm not going to stay home and miss out on my favorite vacation just because there's a risk that I could get novovirus onboard. I would however, stay home if I got sick prior to cruising!

Karen

[katiebeth]

Cruzndou,

 

You are right on target. I would totally agree that it far better to have a great 7 or 8 day cruise than an awful 10 day. (with bleach dripping from everywhere, an exhausted crew, closed dining room, etc.) It would be far better to pull the ship for a couple of days, secure hotels for the passengers, and call in some outside help to assist with a thorough and proper cleaning of the ship. The crew must be beyond exhausted. I, frankly, don't even know how they are functioning. They already work very very long hours and to add "double duty" and a ship full of very unhappy passengers is cruel. (not to mention, I'm sure some of the crew are sick as well).

 

In regards to the 3/27 sailing, I think that telling passengers at the pier that they have the option of sailing or not is "a little late in the game". That offer should have been made several days before the 27th of March. At that point, many had already traveled a great distance to get to the port.

 

I am hoping that for future Mercury passengers (and current) that this situation gets resolved quickly. (as well as for the crew).

 

Nancy

[cruznduo]

Well, whatever we would wish to happen in regards to the Mercury situation, it certainly isn't up to us and that's for sure. It just gets more confusing. I have been reading on the various posts that the "bleaching" will continue for the rest of this sailing and into the next 4 to 5 days of the next cruise. However, I spoke to my TA late Monday afternoon regarding our April 28th booking and was none too surprised to hear that he had just spoken to a rep at Celebrity (we had a cabin change), who told him that everything onboard the Mercury was "as usual, with problems resolved." My TA was shocked when I told him that bleaching was still taking place, as well activities being cancelled, and passengers' clothing being ruined.

 

Sad to say, there is either a lack of communication, serious denial, or he was purposely given totally erroneous information. I do not want to accuse the company of anything, but this is an actual event that happened to me on Monday. I don't want to lose faith, but this is just sad. Why would a company risk being honest, when in the long run it could cost them the good reputation they have built with so many customers? We have loved sailing with Celebrity since 1993, and know that illness can happen on ships, but by the 3rd or 4th sailing, we feel the company absolutely should get this situation resolved and get their ship back to the condition that customers have paid to enjoy. Yep...there's a learning curve (and it's been about a month now)...but when the going gets tough, the tough need to get their 'rear in gear' and get the job done! Flame me, baste me, bar-b-que me, but that's my opinion!

[katiebeth]

Cruznduo,

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if the way a recent concern of mine was handled by Celebrity "customer service" representatives is any indication, I am not sure I would put much weight in their recent response concerning the Mercury.

 

I had e-mailed Celebrity a week or so ago regarding a problem that has been repeatedly reported on these boards. It involves the Millennium and an awful sewage smell that seems to be a chronic problem on this particular ship. On a recent sailing, several passengers had to be moved as the smell "saturated" the entire forward section of the ship. Other passengers had to stay put as there was nowhere for them to go. Anyway, this problem has been reported for several months and nothing seems to be happening.

 

We are scheduled to sail the Millennium in June from Barcelona to Venice, so I e-mailed Celebrity and shared with them some of the comments I had been reading concerning this problem on the Millennium. I wanted to know if they were aware of this situation and what they are doing to find a solution. Several other posters e-mailed them as well.

 

Their response was that "There are currently no sewage odors on the Millennium". "We hope you have a great cruise." I e-mailed them again and indicated that was in direct contradication with a current thread that is running on these boards. Their response was that Celebrity has a team assembled to deal with all health related issues on their vessels. The response was very canned and not at all specific to my particular concern.

I then had my TA contact Celebrity and they indicated that they were not aware of any problems. They did do a little further research and discovered that there was one report of toliet being clogged on a sailing in early March that caused a problem. This is hardly what is being reported by passengers who have sailed the Millennium over the past several months. The problem is far more extensive that what they are indicating.

 

Either the customer service representatives are totally out of touch with what is happening on the ships, or they are not telling the whole truth. It is all rather discouraging. A response to the effect of "we are aware of the problem and doing everything we can to fix-it in a timely manner" would have gone along way. As it stands now, I guess it will just be the luck of the draw as to whether my stateroom will be affected. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect to have a stateroom that doesn't smell like a sewer.

 

Some of these issues go beyond making "lemonade out of lemons', particularly when they have to do with public health issues. I can make lemonade with the best of them , but some of what is happening is going beyond what is reasonable.

 

Over the past several years, Celebrity has been our cruise line of choise, but I must admit, I am starting to wonder what is going on with management.

 

I really do feel sorry for the crew and all those impacted by the problems on both the Millennium and Mercury.

 

Here's hoping that both of these situations will be resolved in the timely fashoin they deserve.

 

Nancy

[cruznduo]

Something tells me they may not. But, those of us who may have (and I am saying MAY) a bad experience, will probably not spend any more of our hard earned money with the company. So you see.. in the long run Celebrity will end up losing. We may have to drink a lot of lemonade (with something much stronger added) on our upcoming cruise, but if it's a bad experience, it will the last trip we will be taking with Celebrity (after 10 cruises with the company). And...it will be sad if we have been forced to experience a cruise that is less than what Celebrity advertises themselves to be in their advertising and brochures. IMHO when a company portrays itself a certain way, they should live up to it...isn't it called 'truth in advertising?' As I said in my earlier post, illness happens, but the company has now had ample time (about a month) to get their act together and get it under control...that's my opinion. Passengers should not have to continue to endure the situations that are still being written about daily on board the Mercury. But the most important thing is that the information that is being given to customers directly by Celebrity employees is not what is actually happening on the ship (according to those currently sailing and posting on these boards). Could that be called a 'lie by omission?' It's a shame...as my mom always told me...the most valuable thing you own is your good name...I hope Celebrity realizes that and values theirs. Linda

[poetic license]

And here it is April 8, with another complement of passengers on MERCURY. I am very interested to see what these pax have to say about the cruise they are receiving.

 

By now, the crew must be beyond exhaustion, and almost surely affected from handling so much bleach.

 

Hope there are folks on this cruise who will keep us informed. If Celebrity continues to watch the dropped ball roll, I will be totally disgusted.

 

Cheers~

[tuggers]

For those of you who did not know this, on the 3/27 cruise, in two ports, Acapulco and one other I don't remember, they actually did bring on 30 contract employees to spray and relieve the crew for a brief period of time.

[jed8703]

I have to disagree with you newmexicoNita. As the above quote from the ongoing CDC report shows, Celebrity knew it had a problem only FOUR DAYS into the March 17 sailing .... a full week before getting back to San Diego to disembark and then reembark. They clearly could have notified the March 27 embarking passengers, and given them a choice whether to sail or not. Those who would choose not to sail should have been given a refund. Those who chose to go anyway would have done so knowing what they were facing on that cruise.

 

Instead, they chose to hold the information, board passengers with the full knowledge there would be procedures occuring on board that could clearly be dangerous for more fragile passengers and those with compromised immune systems. These folks are not a vacation as they thought, but unwittingly on a ship waging aggressive warfare on germs, as well as receiving vastly reduced services and on-ship options for activities. Some may not have any option but to stay in their cabins, due to the high concentrations of bleach in the air and on surfaces. Bleach may kill germs, but it is also a hazard in its own right. Celebrity may not have any legal obligation to compensate passengers per the contract of carriage, but they should have a moral one of doing the right thing by guests.

 

Cheers~

 

 

We were on the 03/27/06 cruise. We had travelled from England and were met at San Diego airport by three little old ladies with letters offering us a refund if we wanted to go back home. The letter did state that there was a virus on board but in no way indicated the extent of the problem. We were then asked to pay eleven dollars each to be taken to a hotel while they sanitized the ship. We were given food but had to spend four hours in the hotel.

As for the other problems they have been well documented, if this was a normal travel company and not a cruise line then you would not have the uproar by some members about the complaints.

[poetic license]

We were on the 03/27/06 cruise. We had travelled from England and were met at San Diego airport by three little old ladies with letters offering us a refund if we wanted to go back home. The letter did state that there was a virus on board but in no way indicated the extent of the problem. We were then asked to pay eleven dollars each to be taken to a hotel while they sanitized the ship. We were given food but had to spend four hours in the hotel.

As for the other problems they have been well documented, if this was a normal travel company and not a cruise line then you would not have the uproar by some members about the complaints.

 

Jed, What you report here is truly appalling, especially since you could have been contacted at least five to six days before you got on your flight to the states to embark on a holiday. To be approached only AFTER making a long and expensive flight is not only outrageous, but also disingenuous, making the effort strictly a CYA operation. That passengers were not told the extent of chemical cleaning and how much it was impacting the cruise is outrageous as well. If they had only been timely and HONEST about it all, this whole mess could have been averted. I am sorry you had to go through all that, and to add insult to injury, PAY $11 for the privilege of waiting. The nerve of Celebrity!!!

 

Cheers~

Nicki

[JohnChiang]

I am sorry you had to go through all that, and to add insult to injury, PAY $11 for the privilege of waiting. The nerve of Celebrity!!!

 

Cheers~

Nicki

 

A bit of clarification is needed here. The $11 per person charge is the standard cost of transfers from San Diego airport to the pier where Mercury was docked.

 

If you had not pre-purchased the transfers, then your other choice would have been to pay for a cab from the airport to the pier, check your luggage in at the pier, tip the porter, then wait 4 hours at the pier with no food.

 

For $11, Celebrity took my luggage at the airport, bussed me to the nearby Raddison hotel, fed me a nice lunch with coffee, lemonade and desserts, had us wait in comfortable (although boring) room for 4 hours, then finally bussed us to Mercury for embarkation. I considered my $11 well spent.

[tuggers]

John,

We did have food in the terminal. It was provided by an outside caterer. One of the more interesting things we found out that day was from the caterer. She told us X called her the day before we sailed and said what can you pull together to feed 2000 people in the terminal tomorrow. We don't know how long they'll be there! Sort of let the cat out of the bag that they didn't know until they docked that they would be so delayed?

Glad you are feeling okay!

Gail

[LETS PARTY]

I was in port on 4/7 on the dawn princess( nice ship) had 9 Friends getting on mercury they tried to board at 11.30 but they were still cleaning the ship we all sat next door at the bar waiting, they couldn't board tell after 3:00 haven't heard from them so I don't know how there doing

Rob

[poetic license]

A bit of clarification is needed here. The $11 per person charge is the standard cost of transfers from San Diego airport to the pier where Mercury was docked.

 

If you had not pre-purchased the transfers, then your other choice would have been to pay for a cab from the airport to the pier, check your luggage in at the pier, tip the porter, then wait 4 hours at the pier with no food.

 

For $11, Celebrity took my luggage at the airport, bussed me to the nearby Raddison hotel, fed me a nice lunch with coffee, lemonade and desserts, had us wait in comfortable (although boring) room for 4 hours, then finally bussed us to Mercury for embarkation. I considered my $11 well spent.

 

John, thank you for your point of clarification. I stand corrected, and glad for this small bit of good news. Sorry the person who posted did not make this clear, but maybe they were not aware of the transfer program when they made their cruise reservations. I have to say that from what you describe, it was well worth $11.

 

Cheers~

Nicki

[Cptn. Heimlich]

Hopefully Celebrity has learned that you HAVE to educate passengers. You can't just say nothing and hope they all remain happy. Humans can be very perceptive and if this happened to me (especially them knowing it was a problem before I boarded), I would be ticked to say the least. The original poster seems to have gone Waaaay too far, but clearly she was frustrated. Celebrity could have fixed it by giving the quarantined passengers a free cruise and getting them off the ship immediately. Would that have been too hard?:confused:

 

Just my thoughts.

 

 

Cruise on folks!

[elsje]

It could very well be that crew illness is up due to bleach poisining. Overhandling and inhalation of bleach and chlorine fumes can cause illness as well. I would bet this is the case for crew members, and not norovirus. I am not speculating, but observing.

 

Nicki you observed very well ~ Last night I emailed the CDC with the concern of the excessive spraying of bleach. I was not on any of the Mercury sailings but I am scheduled for the Galaxy TX on May 6th. I visited yesterday with my family doctor about the bleaching reports and she was not too thrilled. I will have an inside room and with no ventilation this would be very dangerous for anyone, but especially me since I recently am using an oxygen concentrator at night.

She thought it would bve a good idea for me to contact "the" source who described the bleach spraying so I emailed CDC last night and I was stunned at the quick response from David Forney, Chief Vessel Sanitation Program CDC.

This is what he wrote:

Ms. Williams ~ We share your concern over the spraying of bleach on the Mercury. CDC did NOT recommend the spraying of the bleach. We recommended wetting rags, then wiping the surfaces. We were aware that the spraying was attributed to us, but this is not correct. We had several discussions with the cruise line and this spraying process has been stopped.

So there you have it. I hope this might shed some light to so many who have been reading these posts. So many people have been so frustrated and launched personal attack. One blaming the other who possibly could have spred the virus..what the cruise line should have done, but one thing is for sure now that the spraying was done incorrectly may be causing some adverse reactions to passengers and crew.

Happy Easter to all ~ Els

[elsje]

Nicki you observed very well ~ Last night I emailed the CDC with the concern of the excessive spraying of bleach. I was not on any of the Mercury sailings but I am scheduled for the Galaxy TX on May 6th. I visited yesterday with my family doctor about the bleaching reports and she was not too thrilled. I will have an inside room and with no ventilation this would be very dangerous for anyone, but especially me since I recently am using an oxygen concentrator at night.

 

She thought it would bve a good idea for me to contact "the" source who described the bleach spraying so I emailed CDC last night and I was stunned at the quick response from David Forney, Chief Vessel Sanitation Program CDC.

 

This is what he wrote:

Ms. Williams ~ We share your concern over the spraying of bleach on the Mercury. CDC did NOT recommend the spraying of the bleach. We recommended wetting rags, then wiping the surfaces. We were aware that the spraying was attributed to us, but this is not correct. We had several discussions with the cruise line and this spraying process has been stopped.

 

So there you have it. I hope this might shed some light to so many who have been reading these posts. So many people have been so frustrated and launched personal attack. One blaming the other who possibly could have spred the virus..what the cruise line should have done, but one thing is for sure now that the spraying was done incorrectly may be causing some adverse reactions to passengers and crew.

 

Happy Easter to all ~ Els

 

 

 

 

OOPs! forgot to put the email in cursive ~ Els

[tuggers]

els,

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this information. No wonder I am still coughing! They could have been subjecting us to bleach poisoning! My friend is still having nose bleeds, too!

This certainly puts a new light on things.

[elsje]

els,

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this information. No wonder I am still coughing! They could have been subjecting us to bleach poisoning! My friend is still having nose bleeds, too!

 

This certainly puts a new light on things.

 

You are most welcome, Tuggers. Hope your friend gets to feel better soon. ~ Els;)

[poetic license]

Nicki you observed very well ~ Last night I emailed the CDC with the concern of the excessive spraying of bleach. I was not on any of the Mercury sailings but I am scheduled for the Galaxy TX on May 6th. I visited yesterday with my family doctor about the bleaching reports and she was not too thrilled. I will have an inside room and with no ventilation this would be very dangerous for anyone, but especially me since I recently am using an oxygen concentrator at night.

 

She thought it would bve a good idea for me to contact "the" source who described the bleach spraying so I emailed CDC last night and I was stunned at the quick response from David Forney, Chief Vessel Sanitation Program CDC.

 

This is what he wrote:

Ms. Williams ~ We share your concern over the spraying of bleach on the Mercury. CDC did NOT recommend the spraying of the bleach. We recommended wetting rags, then wiping the surfaces. We were aware that the spraying was attributed to us, but this is not correct. We had several discussions with the cruise line and this spraying process has been stopped.

 

So there you have it. I hope this might shed some light to so many who have been reading these posts. So many people have been so frustrated and launched personal attack. One blaming the other who possibly could have spred the virus..what the cruise line should have done, but one thing is for sure now that the spraying was done incorrectly may be causing some adverse reactions to passengers and crew.

 

Happy Easter to all ~ Els

 

 

 

 

Els, reading that ran a chill through me! I just had a horrible feeling about that .... which is exactly why I was so concerned for everyone. Everyone on those last three cruises should get checked out by a doctor. EVERYONE.

Happy Easter and/or Happy Passover to everyone.

 

Cheers~

Nicki