One More Thread About The Sick Ship

[bububr]

Yea, It was an adventure.

 

I've documented it here if you haven't read yet.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=322109

 

Dave:eek:

[rubrrick]

I think I named it Dave's "Master Card" moment.........or someone did. He needs sympathy.

 

Tuggers is a 30 plus X cruiser.............who would know any better than Gail, of what is expected on an X cruise. I am looking forward to my 5th!! So far, everything has been eXcellent.

 

An associate just returned two nights ago from the Mercury Mexican Riviera. She has Noro.......along with the 3 cabins next to them. She got it on the last night of the cruise. She is still sick. So, something is still going on.........after all of the spraying and washing.

 

Not being aboard, I'm not going to second guess, but the lady followed all of the protocal. Why did the 4 rooms on deck 9 get Norovirus on the last night of the cruise?

 

Rick

[tangerinebunny]

Miss Marple might inquire how the cabin steward is feeling.

[FinelyCruising]

Rick...and he gets sympathy from me!

 

Dave...Thanks for the link...the reading was exceptional...not to minimize by my imagination of your wincing in pain for most of the duration, I am impressed by your wearing of a smile throughout, no matter what.

 

The Best to you Always....You are truly a Gem!

[bonbon663]

Very interesting thread. I will be going on my first cruise in July, and just want to say....ARRGGGGGG!! I'm terrifed of getting Norwalk. I'm worried enough about every aspect that can go wrong reading these boards. I just hope that's no one of them.:(

[tuggers]

bonbon,

Wash your hands at every opportunity and make the hand sanitizers your new best friends and you shouldn't have any problems.

I'm sure your first cruise will be fabulous! Don't let the 'what if's' and 'could be's' discourage you! I LOVE to cruise or I wouldn't do it so much. Remember, a bad day on the sea is still better than a good day most any where else!:D

[bonbon663]

Should I be bringing some of those lysol wipes to wipe down the cabin? :confused:

[Vernoncruise]

We were on the 3/17 cruise. We received a form letter back from Celebrity stating that since none of us were quarantined, we would not be getting any compensation. The letter did not address the question as to why compensation was offered to those cruising on 3/27, but not on 3/17, when the situation appears to have been very similar (except on 3/17 we were not offered the choice to cancel).

[bububr]

If they got it the last night of the cruise with the incubation period being what it is...they may have gotten it in PV the last port of call... This could be interesting because it might shed some light into where these folks are getting sick, and where they are getting it from. I remember folks getting sick that I saw at the shrimp factory in Cabo San Lucas the day before. They were quarantined.. But It just could have been reaction to the food, I don't know if they were sick or not.

 

While the ship sets high standards and expectations, some places in MEXICO may not. The ships aren't going to stop coming if a few people get sick, Right?

 

This is just speculation on my part. A ship with 1800 people that is contained goes into a tourist port that may have different hygenic policies than our own. The place is loaded with tourist, some of which may be sick, or the vendors restauranteurs may be ill....the chance of one of us catching a virus is fairly good.

 

I however, as you know, are always involved in an adventure. So While there I ate stuff off the street from vendors, drank local water, AND BEER:D . Shopped in the stores, touched everything. Used the public facilities....But I did bring hand sanitizer with me, and I did wash my hands as much as I could...and have a shot of tequilla or two ( alcohol steralizes:) )....

 

I think my point is most people keep blaming Celebrity and the ship for the problems we had....but they forget we stopped at many ports and were exposed to different foods and people and habits outside the ship. X has alway had hand sanitizer and cold towels when you board from a destination, these help a great deal....but what did the average cruiser do off on their own, or during an excursion? I didn't see anyone wash their hands on stone island before lunch...I did, the bathroom was kinda gross but you could wash and not touch anything else ( no door to mens room, thus no door handle)...

 

My two gripes are based on :

 

1: X was NOT forthright in letting us know our cruise experience may be diminished.

 

2: they did not stress enough the fact that you must wash your hands or use hand sanitizer when you are off the ship as much as possible.

 

As for the bleach......well this is the first vacation I've ever taken where I 've come back looking like Michael Jackson:D

 

Dave:eek:

[bububr]

I just found this link and thought it would be interesting for most of us posters. RE : Outbreaks of Noro/norwalk

 

Dave:eek:

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/outbreaks2006.html

[Sky Sweet]

I just found this link and thought it would be interesting for most of us posters. RE : Outbreaks of Noro/norwalk

 

Dave:eek:

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/outbreaks2006.html

 

Thanks, Dave, for posting the link to that information :)

[bububr]

That was faster than I anticipated.

 

Cna you share your letter with us here at CC? It would be interesting to know exactly how things were stated. Also do you have a copy of your org. letter to X so we might figure what went wrong?

 

Thanks

 

Dave:eek:

[NanD]

Thanks for letting us know about your feedback from Celebrity. I'm on the same page as Dave in wondering what issues you addressed and the specifics of their reply. Also, who specifically was the reply from? There are several possible directions to go in making our case. Maybe another tact would yield better results, and by knowing what's failed we'll approach from another angle.

Nan

[Vernoncruise]

I am somewhat afraid to post this, for fear someone will jump all over my comments, but here is what we sent to Celebrity....The response was from Angela on behalf of Messrs Fain and Hanrahan. Basically an "I'm sorry but it wasn't our fault and we don't plan on doing anything" response....

 

We are writing to ask for your help concerning the unfortunate experience we had sailing on the Mercury 3/17 – 3/27. As I am sure you are well aware, the ship was infected with the NoroVirus during the entire cruise. Although we understand that part of this was not in Celebrity’s control, we do think there are things that your company could have done to make this a better experience for the passengers. This is our tenth cruise – the third on Celebrity, and we are shocked at how this was handled from a company that we not only trusted, but also recommended highly to others.

We could sense that something was wrong when we entered the pier. There was chaos – no one to tell us where to go, where to stand, etc. Once checked in, they informed us that we would be boarding late because they were “cleaning the ship”. This seemed very unusual. When we finally were on board, we saw the employees cleaning furiously (even though the carpets seemed very dirty). I asked an employee if there was sickness on the ship. The reply was, “no, this is only precautionary”. It turns out, of course, that this was not true, and we were not told up front about the sickness (and we received very limited info about what was going on during the cruise).

As the cruise progressed, here is a partial list of what was not up to standard…..

- Late embarkation

- Rooms ready even later - once on board we were not allowed to go to our rooms - even to drop off out carry ons

- Luggage delivered late.

- No sushi after the first or second night for the whole cruise

- No pastries at the Cova Cafe

- Dining Room closed for breakfast and lunch during some sea days, causing huge lines at the buffet

- You could not serve yourself at the buffet, also caused very long lines

- Shorter hours and no meals with kids club

- No tea service halfway through the cruise for the suites

- They would not let you carry any food out of the buffet area to your room, but there was no place to sit in the buffet area because of the crowds

- No Gala buffet

- No gourmet bites (maybe a couple of nights early on?)

- No galley tours

- No cooking demos

- No bar snacks

-No backstage tour

-No bridge tour

- Bleach everywhere

- Extremely slow service a couple of nights in the dining room. The waiter explained that this was due to the CDC officials in the galley.

- No salt and pepper shakers on the tables

- Very limited butler service – no help with packing and unpacking, as the website lists

_ Very slow room service, this everyone was ordering due to the lack of other options

- Early disembarkation

- Due to all of the above, there was general paranoia about getting sick, getting bleach on your clothes, coming in to contact with any one or anything….

Please understand, we are not the type to complain. We have cruised many times, and have never had an experience close to this. We are confused because we have read that sailing after ours (3/27) were offered the choice to cancel, and also were offered cruise credits, refunds, and shipboard credits. We are completely miffed as to why this was not offered for our sailing, nor even an apology. This is truly shocking to us. We spoke in a positive and constructive way to guest services while on board, as well as customer relations after our cruise. The response was that Celebrity is not offering anything to the passengers who were not quarantined on the 3/17. But we never could get a reason, when everyone agrees we missed out on so much.

Were we treated famously – a true departure? Definitely not. We cruise as often as possible in high end accommodations, but when you save your money and vacation time and have one chance to be pampered, it is a big let down when this is not delivered. We are also disappointed in the somewhat dishonest communications about the sickness on board – and the overall lack of communication.

Please, we do want to continue to be fans of Celebrity (and Royal Caribbean) and to try again. Help us restore our confidence by giving us some measure of good faith.

Sincerely,

The Vernon Family

[FinelyCruising]

Very nicely written. I can't fathom why there is this absense of gesture by the cruiseline between the 3/17 and the 3/27 sailings, and I am sorry this is the case for you, it certainly seems unreasonable.

 

On an aside, and completely separate note I will say this though....I don't think I will ever gripe about buffet lines and people being unable to decide again...jeez it took at least more than twice as long this way....OMG, it was torture...:eek:

[cml3]

Vernoncruise,

I Thought You Wrote A Great Letter!!!

You Were Very Reasonable And Non-threatening.

Do You Think This Is Why You Received The Response You Did?

We Have Not Heard Anything Yet.

What Did Their Letter Say?

[NanD]

Thanks for posting your letter. I was hoping there would be some important nugget(s) overlooked that could be used now, but your points were very thorough.

And, an aside to others...by chance did you see a separate post from tuggers earlier today where she passes along info regarding the proper subject line for emails? This info came from a response of some kind she received from Celebrity, in which they assure an answer to all correspondence. The subject line should contain Mercury Passenter, sailing date, and booking number.

Nan

[FinelyCruising]

Outlook Bar Subject and Lines one and two with the general opening statement has now been moved upon receipt to a Personal Folder on someone's desk top since it contained the requisite details that Microsoft Outlook needs when following a "rule" to move a message from the Inbox to a Personal Folder.

 

Just kidding....I think....I hope...I think....:o

[Yoopergirl]

I (March 17 passenger) am planning to post a letter today to Celebrity, although I guess it will probably be useless since they've already decided not to compensate us. However, I will send it. Maybe if the response from March 17 passengers reaches a critical mass, they will change their tune.

 

Gail (Tuggers) indicated that she has more information. I'm curious what she will tell us.

 

Kay (and Ted)

 

I think the Vernon's letter was fine (nicer tone than mine) -- covers all the points of my letter and then some.

[NanD]

If you haven't already seen it, take a gander at the letter from Celebrity Laura has posted in the "sticky" section at the beginning of page one. It's an apology (of sorts) for the disruptions and displeasure caused by their (well intended) enhanced cleaning. Strange, tho, that this letter is in reference to the March 27th cruise ONLY. So, looks like 3/27 get a refund, a future credit, AND and apology.......and March 17th gets NADA!!! argh!! They talk about keeping plugged in to this site and value the feedback, etc. If I didn't feel our concerns were being ignored before, this takes the cake. Believe I'm about totally convinced now that Celebrity is completely tone deaf.

Nan

[FinelyCruising]

Found it Nan...thank you!

[NanD]

As you know, many of us have been attempting to draw Celebrity's attention to the circumstances of our cruise. The March 27th passengers received both a partial refund and credit toward a future cruise for the inconveniences caused by the results of noro-virus cleaning. We are also asking for compensation, feeling our circumstances were the same. In the hopes a group effort may be more effective, please check back in at our original Mercury Roll Call. Over the next week we can share thoughts and put together a coordinated game plan. Thanks.

Nan