POH 11/6 thru 11/13 Cruise Review (including norovirus)

[dancintomusic]

We were on the Pride of Hawaii for the November 6 through November 13 cruise. We were not allowed to board the ship until over an hour later than expected because (as we found out later) the norovirus was on the ship from the previous cruise.

When they finally allowed us to board the ship, my husband told me to go ahead and get on the ship while he returned the car. I got almost to the ship when I realized that he had my ship card in his pocket. I got out of line and told a passing officer (white uniform with black and gold on his shoulder and who seemed to be directing staff) that my husband had my card. He said that was no problem

and told me to come with him and he would get me a new card. As I followed him down the escalator, I asked what was wrong with the ship and how come boarding had been held up. He said what the other staff had told us, “Oh, just extra cleaning. And it’s flu season, you know.” I asked him if he meant the regular seasonal flu, or if he meant the norovirus. He said, "Oh, just the flu." I asked specifically, “So there is no norovirus on the ship?” and he said, “Oh, no, nothing like that. At least if there is, they haven’t told any of us.”

 

When boarding the ship, the line of passengers had to pass by crew members with spray bottles of disinfectant who insisted that everyone hold out their hands to be sprayed. Once on the ship, we saw balls containing disinfectant at all the restaurants, and crew members were stationed at them who insisted that passengers take some disinfectant before entering or leaving, especially in the café for the duration of the cruise.

 

The cafe itself was a nightmare because all of the buffet bars where passengers normally can reach in to serve themselves food were sealed off with plastic cling wrap. Passengers had to wait in line and have crew members fill their plates for them. Then they had to wait at the beverage station

for crew members to get their hot or cold drinks for them. By the time passengers returned to their tables, their food and hot beverages had cooled. Many times, passengers ate alone because the people they were with were not back with their food yet. To make matters worse, if you wanted waffles, pancakes or an omelette, you had to wait in that line, then go to another bar and get in one of the lines for your bacon/sausage/ham/potatoes. So passengers never were able to sit down with a plateful of hot food; passengers had to decide if they wanted hot sausages or hot waffles/pancakes, and then go that line last.

By the end of the cruise, I was getting the pancakes/eggs/waffles for all of us, my husband was at the meat station get a plate of bacon, sausage, etc. for all of us, and my daughter was at the cold bar getting fruit and yogurt for us. That helped us get all our food at the table sooner and closer to the right temperature. One of us stood in line for drinks for all of us. We ate in the dining room once for breakfast, but the service was so slow that eating in the cafe was faster, even with those long, long lines.

 

Whenever we asked when the plastic cling wrap was coming down, we were told something like, “We hope by tomorrow.” It never came down. Every day I was on the ship, I asked at least two crew members if passengers were sick and if crew members were sick. I was never given the same information twice.

I was told that the previous sailing had two, three, five, seven and twenty passengers who were sick, plus different numbers of crew members. For my sailing, I was told that no crew members were sick, some crew members were sick, one crew member was sick, several crew members were sick, and that one of my steward’s coworkers was sick. I was told that some passengers were sick,

no passengers were sick, several passengers were sick. I sat next to a table in the Italian restaurant and heard the passenger sitting at that table telling the server that he had to be careful because he just got out of ‘sick bay’ and was still having a hard time with food, so I know he had been sick. Two nights before we left the ship, our server in the Jasmine restaurant told us that over 20 passengers were sick, several crew members were sick, and that the plastic cling wrap would be up for at least 2 or 3 more weeks.

 

More later.

[flag fan]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience with the food on your cruise. Norovirus is one of the big worries about cruising--paying all that money and being sick. I am surprised everyone didn't just give up on the buffet and use only the regular restaurants (which, as a result, would have been more crowded with worse service, of course). On the other hand, the methods they used seem to have been effective. 20 passengers sick on a ship that holds over 2,000 is a pretty small percentage. It sounds like they weren't being honest with you about the norovirus outbreak, but I am not sure what you could have done about it. If you decided at the last minute not to go on the trip, you would have forfeited your entire payment. Not much of an option.

[dancintomusic]

We were on deck 10, and our room was kept clean. Our beds were turned down nightly, and fresh towels were placed in the bathroom. There were 3 adults in our room, and we had plenty of storage space and hangers. When the sofa bed was turned down, we had to climb over it to get out to the balcony.

The sofa bed was quite firm, so we asked for an egg crate mattress. The steward could only find smooth foam rubber, but it was thick and made the sofa bed very comfortable. The bathroom was quite nice, especially the shower with the sliding door. There was plenty of water pressure. The hair dryer was in the room, not in the bathroom, and it was even more powerful than the one I have at home. There is a dial hung outside the room. You spin the dial to let the steward know when you want your room cleaned, the beds turned down, or not to be disturbed. It worked great for us.

 

We did not eat in either of the main dining rooms, except once for breakfast in Alizar, a very plain and large room. It reminded us of church halls, like a Knights of Columbus hall—very little decorating was done in here. The staff was friendly,

but the lines of people that we passed every night were very long, and people complained about having to wait so long to be seated. Those without reservations in the main dining room had to wait until very late in the evening for a table, and they were upset, complaining that they had believed the hype—eat where you want WHEN you want. Not true, unless you make your reservations

for all evening meals as soon as you board the ship. We saw people try to make reservations later in the week, but they were not able to as the restaurants were all booked.

 

We did book when we boarded, and we made our reservations for 6 or 6:30, so our meals were all half price. But make sure when you get your bill that you are billed half price because once we were not (in LeBistro) because the server thought since he didn’t take our order until 20 to 7, that it didn’t apply. He was wrong. By the way, service was very slow in LeBistro. Our reservations

were for 6 pm, and we weren’t even greeted for 15 minutes. We waited over 50 minutes for our entrees AFTER we finished our appetizers. The food was very good. We left there after 9 that night. We had reservations for another night at LeBistro, but cancelled them because of the slow service.

 

Service was speedier at the other restaurants. We did not have much luck with the surf and turf or the whole lobster at Cagneys. The lobster was not cooked through. It was not white, but still pink inside. They took it back and brought out more, but it was not cooked through, either, and this time, the whole lobster smelled.

The turf, a 6 oz beef filet, was ordered medium, but it was grey on the outside with no charring at all, and mostly grey all the way through. It had little flavor. My daughter had fish here, though, and loved it. Their bananas foster was excellent, but both times we had it, we waited over 20 minutes for it.

 

My husband and I both had chicken parmesan at Papa’s, the Italian restaurant. It was very good, but the sauce on the pasta was very much like Chef Boy R Dee (not sure how to spell it), so we didn’t eat it. My daughter (32 years old) had the lasagna. She said it was hot in some spots and very

cold in some spots, like they microwaved it, but it just didn’t heat all over all the way through. She said the sauce on it also tasted like the canned stuff. BUT their antipasto was excellent, especially the artichokes and bruschetta. The Caesar salad was very good, too. We had pizza there another night, and it

had plenty of toppings and lots of cheese. It was good. (The pizza in the café was excellent, though!) A strange thing happened in Papa’s. This cruise was in celebration of our 40th anniversary. The ship gave us a card to give to the server in the restaurant of our choice letting him know that this was a celebratory dinner. We gave it to our server in Papa’s, and he brought us an

anniversary cake. He squatted down then and quietly told us that they don’t sing or do anything else in the specialty restaurants because they found that it disturbs other diners, but he wished us a happy anniversary and then left the table. Not five minutes later, several crew members gathered at the long table next to ours and sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” to two of the people at that table who were celebrating their 3rd anniversary. So it’s the luck of the draw, I guess, whether or not you will be given a song for your special occasion.

 

Jasmine was our favorite restaurant. We ate there two nights, and wished we had eaten there more nights. The wonton soup was watery and without flavor, but the spring rolls! Oh, they were sooooo good. The crab wontons were also

very, very good. The kung pao chicken, the orange chicken, the sea bass, and pepper beef tenderloin were all excellent, and we wish we could order these at a restaurant near where we live so we could have them again. The Mongolian beef was tender and flavorful, but did not come with anything else on the

plate but beef, so if you order this, make sure you get fried rice or another entrée with it (I recommend the sea bass. It is only 3 ounces, but they know how to cook it, and the sauce with it is outstanding.) We all enjoyed the refried rice. The banana wontons dessert and the pineapple ice cream did not have much flavor.

 

More later.

[dancintomusic]

Flag Fan, once we got the routine down, we were fine with eating breakfast at the cafe. It was just frustrating. They often forgot to give people silverware, so you had to get back in line again just to get the silverware, so for sure, your food was cold by the time you sat down to eat. They would forget to give you mustard or onions, syrup, etc., so back in line. You would get two coffees, 2 juices, a glass of water, then get almost back to you table and realize that they did not give you the coffee cream you asked for, so back you to go to the rear of the line, with 12 people ahead of you. By the time you get the cream, the coffee is cold, your food is cold, and the rest of your party are through with their meals and ready to leave.

 

You always take the chance that norovirus will be on the ship, that's true, but when it is, I think it would be better, more honest and less frustrating to come right out and tell people that is what the problem is. The more you know, the better you can protect yourself. When you have some people saying that nothing is wrong, and then others saying that oh, yes, people are getting sick right and left, you don't know what the heck is going on. I just don't understand the need for secrecy, and it seems to me that we have the right to know. And those 20 people--I still don't know if the server knew the truth or not.

[dancintomusic]

The ports were fantastic. We had great weather throughout the cruise. In Honolulu, we saw their terrific zoo and also spent a couple of hours at the Bishop Museum, which was fascinating. We had Thrifty cars at all ports, and it took little time to take the shuttles, get our cars and be off for the day.

 

On board, I bought a beverage card for $35 and had as many Cokes as I wanted throughout the trip. The gun seemed to produce Coke with a strange flavor, and one bartender told me that they were having a problem with that. She told me to insist that they pour my Cokes out of a can. The bartenders were fine with that, and from then on, the Cokes tasted like I expected them to. Sometimes a bar would tell me the ship was out of limes, but then other bars had limes. Go figure.

 

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them for you.

 

One caution--make sure you check that you have your camera with you when you get out of the car and when you leave a restaurant. We didn't, and we lost our camera.

[dancintomusic]

Tonya Lowe at the Reception desk was a great help to us. For 3 days, every time my husband used his card to get into the room, the red light came on and the door wouldn't open. So off he would go to the reception desk for a new card. Finally, Tonya was on duty and asked him if he was keeping his card by his cellphone, which he was. She explained that was what was stripping the information from his card. The other staff members never told us. Tonya was helpful in other ways, and she was very supportive when we lost our camera. She has an amazing personality and a smile that is almost as wide as the ship. If she is on duty and you can get in the line waiting for her, do! Tonya is a real asset to NCLA. I would hire her in a minute!

 

In Jasmine one evening, we had two terrific servers, who worked together. They got our food to us quickly, and their personalities were a big factor in our enjoyment of our visits. Try to get a table in their area. They were Ryan Bucasas and Bobby Cheun. They had great attitudes, moved quickly, knew the menu inside and out and made eating at Jasmine a lot of fun.

[Zeno]

When boarding the ship, the line of passengers had to pass by crew members with spray bottles of disinfectant who insisted that everyone hold out their hands to be sprayed. Once on the ship, we saw balls containing disinfectant at all the restaurants, and crew members were stationed at them who insisted that passengers take some disinfectant before entering or leaving, especially in the café for the duration of the cruise.

 

 

 

This is actually regular procedure on all NCL/NCLA ships.

 

Not sure what exactly you wanted them to tell you - until cutures are taken they would not know if the illness were Norwalk, E-Coli or something else or a combination of illnesses.

 

The extra precautions would be the same - extra cleaning and no self-serve at the buffet. Self protection is always the same - wash your hands thoroughly and often.

 

Personally I would be relieved to see them taking the extra precautions - inconvenience is better than illness.

It's good that you did not get the illness and I hope it did not impact on your cruise much.. If it was Norwalk - it certainly does not sound like a major outbreak - like on the Carnival Liberty.

[dancintomusic]

Zeno, I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear. We were grateful for the extra precautions. We sure did not want to get sick. My complaint is that the staff was not honest with us. I am positive that they all knew they were taking these precautions because of illness on the previous cruise, yet so many denied that anyone got sick. I, too, heard that entire floors were quarantined on the previous cruise, but I don't think that was accurate, even though

it was a staff member who told me. Many crew members, including some who dressed like officers in white uniforms with black and gold on their shoulders and who wore hats told us and others that there had been no illness that they were aware of, but they were taking extra precautions just in case.

I have been on 23 or 24 cruises, and I have never, ever seen such precautions. The spraying of the hands of passengers before they board the ship is new to me. I have seen the hand sanitizers on board before, though, but not nearly so many, and never with a crew member at each one insisting that all passengers use it when entering and leaving the cafe and the restaurants. I am not saying they weren't necessary--I'm sure that they were.

But it was wrong to out and out lie to the passengers about what was happening on the ship. Since this ship was based in the U.S., I really don't think it could have been an outbreak of e coli without the health department notifying the current passengers. I mean, look how they reacted with the recent spinach scare. AND since the crew of the POH was not open and honest with us, I really cannot report to you if it was only one person who got sick, or none, or if half the crew and half the passengers were sick.

[Shawnee Indian]

Seems like NCL-A is still having Major Problems........

 

Any resolutions in Sight?

 

Basic Management...

Plan

Organize

Direct

Control

The Quality

The Service

The Cleanliness

Of Your Basic Product................

 

Pretty Simple.......Hanna..........???

[ferris wheeler]

We had 4 of us on this cruise (Myself, my wife and my parents, all veteran cruisers with 7-10 trips) Islands were awesome, weather was superb, NCL staff was disorganized and chaotic. Several dirty spoons were given to us in "Al-jazeera" (at least that was our nickname for "Alizar") in one meal. We kept sending them back until we got clean ones. Room service for breakfast (cold items only for us poor folks :-( was good as long as you didn't mind it being late enough to miss your excursion, or being so early as to have it as your wake-up call. My parents were awakend by RS 30 mins early with the staff acknowledging it was 30 mins early with no hint of apology. Also, you were lucky to get all requested items delivered, or have clean dishes. We accidentally ordered RS for breakfast twice one morning. Turned out to be needed because the first tray didn't have our toast (why else would we have needed butter and jelly?) and the carafe of hot water for hot chocolate had "items" floating in the water. The second tray had toast and clean water.

 

The only smiles we saw in any of the dining rooms was in Jasmine. This was our last evening and was a welcome departure from the "norm". Very seldem did we see any of the Waiters/Jr Waiters act as a team. Many times, they were both asking us the same questions (what to drink?, etc). We got duplicate juices for breakfast several times. I guess it's better than not getting anything.

 

I used the term "sourpuss attitudes" when it came to waitstaff on my comment card.

 

The lines for the buffet in "celophane city" were outrageous. We were lucky to have 2 of the 4 of us eating at the same time. And we are not used to ice-tea glasses that held about 4oz of liquid. Made standing in line a common thing. However, we did find out you can get an entire plate full of tea glasses at one time :-)

 

Our room stewardess was awesome except for the one day she was 'sick' and not released to work. The alternate help left dirty dishes and didn't provide towels.

 

Oh, did anyone like the colors of their stateroom. We were fortunate enough to have a Mini-suite on 11 and the first thing I thought when I stepped into the room is that I had stepped back into the 70's. The couch was a bright, burnt-orange colored, velour-type fabric. When the room stewardess asked if there was anything she could do for us, I quickly suggested that she redecorate and "modernize" our room that has only been in use sense July. She answered, "that is a common request, but sorry". The couch was so uncomfortable as a couch that it became our suitcase stand.

 

The islands were great. I would suggest Helicopter, Zipline, road to Hana, Oahu North Shore, and a very cold Sunrise over Haleakela (48 deg and 40mph wind with a 4am departure, but worth every bit of it. Just make sure the batteries in the camera are charged :-(

 

Will do Hawaii again, but, not with NCL. I much prefer an international crew over the all american crew. (never thought I would say that, but now I am 7 NCL days wiser).

 

That's all for now.

[electricron]

Whenever we asked when the plastic cling wrap was coming down, we were told something like, “We hope by tomorrow.” It never came down. Every day I was on the ship, I asked at least two crew members if passengers were sick and if crew members were sick. I was never given the same information twice.

I was told that the previous sailing had two, three, five, seven and twenty passengers who were sick, plus different numbers of crew members. For my sailing, I was told that no crew members were sick, some crew members were sick, one crew member was sick, several crew members were sick, and that one of my steward’s coworkers was sick. I was told that some passengers were sick,

no passengers were sick, several passengers were sick. I sat next to a table in the Italian restaurant and heard the passenger sitting at that table telling the server that he had to be careful because he just got out of ‘sick bay’ and was still having a hard time with food, so I know he had been sick. Two nights before we left the ship, our server in the Jasmine restaurant told us that over 20 passengers were sick, several crew members were sick, and that the plastic cling wrap would be up for at least 2 or 3 more weeks. More later.

 

You're on a week long cruise, and I would expect a different answer every day, as more passengers and crew get sick, and as they get well. It's got to vary. If you really wanted to know how many were sick, and of what, why not walk by the sick bay and ask the doctors and nurses? Why some think every member of the crew knows exactly how many are sick aboard is beyond my understanding? Do you really expect the bartender to know, or your steward? They're too busy concentrating on and doing their jobs.

 

Whatever they were doing in the buffet/cafeteria must have been slowing down speed of service to a crawl, but the alternative of everyone getting sick, and not being able to enjoy the Islands ashore, is far worse. If the staff considered your health more than pleasing you, sorry. But the safety of all the passengers should come before quicker service.

[snorkelsue]

I had read several reviews of this ship and the bad service, and all of the other problems it was having prior to my cruise. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. And believe me, I went into it expecting problems. Room service was always there on time, and was always good. Sorry you had problems. Having my coffee brought to my room was a godsend, and the staff was always friendly.

 

The outbreak of whatever was going around actually started about Wednesday of the trip. I noticed the saran wrap on everything about that time, because I never actually ate there...just got the cookies!!! They did not start spraying our hands until about Weds also, contrary to the remark that they always do this. No one ever said what was going on, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out, especially when our newsletters contained a full page on what to do to avoid the Norwalk virus. Really, what difference does it make how many got sick? It's surprising to me that more people do not get sick. Use the hand balls and do what you can to prevent it....:rolleyes:

[snorkelsue]

I had read several reviews of this ship and the bad service, and all of the other problems it was having prior to my cruise. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. And believe me, I went into it expecting problems. Room service was always there on time, and was always good. Sorry you had problems. Having my coffee brought to my room was a godsend, and the staff was always friendly.

 

The outbreak of whatever was going around actually started about Wednesday of the trip. I noticed the saran wrap on everything about that time, because I never actually ate there...just got the cookies!!! They did not start spraying our hands until about Weds also, contrary to the remark that they always do this. No one ever said what was going on, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out, especially when our newsletters contained a full page on what to do to avoid the Norwalk virus. Really, what difference does it make how many got sick? It's surprising to me that more people do not get sick. Use the hand balls and do what you can to prevent it....:rolleyes:

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Sorry about your bad cruise. I hope I can help explain a few things,

first im a crew member on the Pride of America, so things are different then here but some are the same.

 

 

First about the things that went into place when the virus happened:

 

Yes they are a pain but every cruise line has to do these things. believe it or not having us serve food in the cafe kept several from being sick. Its a pain for you and for us. Please dont think im saying that your wrong, im just saying its just a bad overall situation for everyone when this happens. As of right now the POH is the lowest rated NCLA ship.

 

Mahalo for cruising with us and hope your next trip is better! sorry :(

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Oh also forgot to say that about 75% of the people actually had GI but its all the same. About 50 sick people total. Crew and pax. At NCL and NCLA when 1% on the Hawaii and 1.5% of the crew and passengers has become sick we go into a deep cleaning. Everything and i mean EVERYTHING is washed with 1000 parts per million bleach vs the standard 100 ppm.

[uneamie]

The cafe itself was a nightmare because all of the buffet bars where passengers normally can reach in to serve themselves food were sealed off with plastic cling wrap. Passengers had to wait in line and have crew members fill their plates for them. Then they had to wait at the beverage station

for crew members to get their hot or cold drinks for them. By the time passengers returned to their tables, their food and hot beverages had cooled. Many times, passengers ate alone because the people they were with were not back with their food yet. To make matters worse, if you wanted waffles, pancakes or an omelette, you had to wait in that line, then go to another bar and get in one of the lines for your bacon/sausage/ham/potatoes. So passengers never were able to sit down with a plateful of hot food; passengers had to decide if they wanted hot sausages or hot waffles/pancakes, and then go that line last.

By the end of the cruise, I was getting the pancakes/eggs/waffles for all of us, my husband was at the meat station get a plate of bacon, sausage, etc. for all of us, and my daughter was at the cold bar getting fruit and yogurt for us. That helped us get all our food at the table sooner and closer to the right temperature. One of us stood in line for drinks for all of us. We ate in the dining room once for breakfast, but the service was so slow that eating in the cafe was faster, even with those long, long lines.

 

 

I think the buffet area has this problem regardless of any "virus situation". The layout of some of these buffets is beyond logical. Whoever designed them should have to eat in them for a full month to see the error of their ways. :rolleyes:

Also, I dont' get why staff dishing out my food is any safer than me taking it myself. I can see them having a few staff members in the area to keep an eye on things but when I am at a buffet I like to decide how much of a particular item I want....that's the whole concept of a buffet.

My last cruise I ask for a small portion but they dumped a huge pile of mash potatos on my plate when I only wanted a "smiggin" leaving little room for all the other things I wanted. I also remember searching and searching for "butter pats". One would think they would place them by the dinner rolls...that would be logical. Not even a staff member could point them out to me....looking at me like I just ask the stupidest question, I set out to look for them myself. Guess where they were? In a tiny bowel on the beverage island....was that a good way to save on butter or did it just not occur to them that people do not normally have a pat of butter with their coffee? Hmmm! :rolleyes:

And yes it is very unpleasant to finally discover your food ice cold after your long journey back to your table...again, this is a problem most large buffets have. Smaller buffets allow you less browsing time thereby you are back to your table sooner. Perhaps a few micowaves for heating up would help. All in all....I love the idea of having many things to choose from but more times than not, our buffet experiences in any restaurant, not just on a cruise ship, usually leaves a lot to be desired. On ships we only go there now if we are pressed for time. :rolleyes:

[Retired not Expired]

Here's what happens when the norovirus get out of control. The Carnival Liberty will pull into Ft Lauderdale Sunday after a Trans-Atlantic cruise. More than 700 have been infected.

 

Imagine being out at sea and not being able to get off with an outbreak like this. That's why it is so important to have the control measures in place as soon as a small outbreak occurs.

 

I agree people should be told so they can take measures as soon as it is confirmed to be norovirus.

 

BTW, if norovirus is confirmed, this will be the largest outbreak in recent years on a cruise ship.

[smeyer418]

Also, I dont' get why staff dishing out my food is any safer than me taking it myself.

 

 

actually there is a health reason for this. When someone touches the utensils used to serve they put new germs on the handle so that by having the passengers serve them selves, they still pass along what ever they have touched. The crew should wash there hands and be gloved when serving. It has nothing to do with portion control. This having the crew serve at buffets when there is an outbreak is SOP.

Actually I rarely eat at buffets any way. The dinning room is both safer and I am prefer to be served. Also the portions in the dinning room are deliberately small but you can get seconds/thirds etc if you ask...nicely.

[dancintomusic]

Actually, the three of us had a great cruise. The staff was friendly, and most of the food was very good. The ship was obviously new, and some of the decor was really fun, such as some of the seating in the Spinnaker Lounge. We were happy with our stateroom and balcony. I would go on this cruise again.

 

This is the first time I have been on a ship where precautions were taken because the norovirus was present, however, and I could not write a review of our cruise without mentioning the precautions taken and the effect of these on service. I am not complaining at all about these precautions. My family was with me, and I very much did not want them to get sick.

 

The staff was wrong to not tell the passengers the reason for the precautions. As I mentioned previously, staff members even lied about it to me, including an officer. I never expected any of the housekeeping or waitstaff to know exactly how many people were ill at any given time. I asked daily in an effort to gauge the scope of the threat, since no information was given to us otherwise. Either the crew members were told not to tell the passengers what was going on, or they were not told any more than the passengers were (which was nothing), so they had to rely on gossip. The problem with this is that none of us knew even for sure what kind of illness was on board.

As a result, passengers were not being careful. They used the stair handrails, they used their fingers to operate the elevator buttons, they basically touched everything, and they ate in different places after touching things without first using the hand sanitizers, like on the pool deck.

 

Common sense would tell you that after seeing all the precautions with the plastic cling wrap and the balls of hand sanitizers that people would be very careful, but no one came right out in the open and warned people that people were sick and that this was highly contagious. Since no one vocally warned us

and some staff actually denied that there was any illness on board, it sure was easy to forget to be especially careful. My daughter and I each had small bottles of hand sanitizers that we carried with us (as we always do on trips), so we could pull out our chairs, handle menus, salt and pepper shakers, etc., and then use the sanitizer before we actually ate. But other people did not have these, and they touched those items and then picked up their bread/rolls with their hands and ate them.

 

I believe that when norovirus is on a ship, passengers should be told that it is present, the way it is spread should be explained, and hand sanitizers should be in other places besides the entrances to the restaurants, such as outside of elevators and near the stairs. Little boxes of hand wipes could be set on the tables.

 

Why the secrecy? I just don't get it.

[uneamie]

actually there is a health reason for this. When someone touches the utensils used to serve they put new germs on the handle so that by having the passengers serve them selves, they still pass along what ever they have touched. The crew should wash there hands and be gloved when serving. It has nothing to do with portion control. This having the crew serve at buffets when there is an outbreak is SOP.

 

Ordinarily I would agree. However, on our last cruise it was mandatory, and there was someone there monitoring very passenger, to use the disinfectant spray on your hands before you could enter the buffet. I think that in and of itself should be sufficient...otherwise what is the point of doing it? :confused:

It all just seems like over kill to me. I mean in the dining rooms the waiters do not carry out your food with plastic gloves on. They are handling lots of lots of germ infested objects in the course of serving all those meals to everyone, yet there is mush less concern there as opposed to the buffet. Why just removing coffee cups and drinking glasses and other eating utencils from tables exposes them to lots of other peoples germs....then they go into the kitchen and bring out your food. I doubt they are required to wash their hands everytime they go in and out of the kitchen.

I am happy that precautions are taken and I do think most are necessary...it just seems to be over kill at the buffet. Good thing we don't eat in there all that much and on our next cruise we will have butler for the first time so it will be breakfast in our room....yahoo! :D

[tomluvsaida]

Zeno, I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear. We were grateful for the extra precautions. We sure did not want to get sick. My complaint is that the staff was not honest with us. I am positive that they all knew they were taking these precautions because of illness on the previous cruise, yet so many denied that anyone got sick. I, too, heard that entire floors were quarantined on the previous cruise, but I don't think that was accurate, even though

it was a staff member who told me. Many crew members, including some who dressed like officers in white uniforms with black and gold on their shoulders and who wore hats told us and others that there had been no illness that they were aware of, but they were taking extra precautions just in case.

I have been on 23 or 24 cruises, and I have never, ever seen such precautions. The spraying of the hands of passengers before they board the ship is new to me. I have seen the hand sanitizers on board before, though, but not nearly so many, and never with a crew member at each one insisting that all passengers use it when entering and leaving the cafe and the restaurants. I am not saying they weren't necessary--I'm sure that they were.

But it was wrong to out and out lie to the passengers about what was happening on the ship. Since this ship was based in the U.S., I really don't think it could have been an outbreak of e coli without the health department notifying the current passengers. I mean, look how they reacted with the recent spinach scare. AND since the crew of the POH was not open and honest with us, I really cannot report to you if it was only one person who got sick, or none, or if half the crew and half the passengers were sick.

I was on the previous cruise. One passenger told me his wife was very sick. He said this in front of a server in the buffet. the server asked him if she saw the ships doctor and the guy said no she hadn't. The server strongly recomended that she see the doctor right away not only for her sake but for everybodies. The guy's hesitation seemed to tell me he was afraid of them being put off the ship. This was the only incident I came into contact with of the illness affecting anybody. Except for the celophane drapping in the buffet everything else was normal and smooth.

I certainly didn't have any problems getting enough to eat or my food being cold. The inconvienience in the buffet delayed things in line for at most 10 minutes per line I was in.

I

[tomluvsaida]

I had read several reviews of this ship and the bad service, and all of the other problems it was having prior to my cruise. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. And believe me, I went into it expecting problems. Room service was always there on time, and was always good. Sorry you had problems. Having my coffee brought to my room was a godsend, and the staff was always friendly.

 

The outbreak of whatever was going around actually started about Wednesday of the trip. I noticed the saran wrap on everything about that time, because I never actually ate there...just got the cookies!!! They did not start spraying our hands until about Weds also, contrary to the remark that they always do this. No one ever said what was going on, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out, especially when our newsletters contained a full page on what to do to avoid the Norwalk virus. Really, what difference does it make how many got sick? It's surprising to me that more people do not get sick. Use the hand balls and do what you can to prevent it....:rolleyes:

Thanks for saying that! You double posted but that's ok. Some people need to hear the voice of reason more than once to get through those that are making a mountain out of a mole hill.:rolleyes:

I think the remark that they always do this was refering to the sanitation balls that are always available on a volunteer basis.

[tomluvsaida]

Actually, the three of us had a great cruise. The staff was friendly, and most of the food was very good. The ship was obviously new, and some of the decor was really fun, such as some of the seating in the Spinnaker Lounge. We were happy with our stateroom and balcony. I would go on this cruise again.

 

This is the first time I have been on a ship where precautions were taken because the norovirus was present, however, and I could not write a review of our cruise without mentioning the precautions taken and the effect of these on service. I am not complaining at all about these precautions. My family was with me, and I very much did not want them to get sick.

 

The staff was wrong to not tell the passengers the reason for the precautions. As I mentioned previously, staff members even lied about it to me, including an officer. I never expected any of the housekeeping or waitstaff to know exactly how many people were ill at any given time. I asked daily in an effort to gauge the scope of the threat, since no information was given to us otherwise. Either the crew members were told not to tell the passengers what was going on, or they were not told any more than the passengers were (which was nothing), so they had to rely on gossip. The problem with this is that none of us knew even for sure what kind of illness was on board.

As a result, passengers were not being careful. They used the stair handrails, they used their fingers to operate the elevator buttons, they basically touched everything, and they ate in different places after touching things without first using the hand sanitizers, like on the pool deck.

 

Common sense would tell you that after seeing all the precautions with the plastic cling wrap and the balls of hand sanitizers that people would be very careful, but no one came right out in the open and warned people that people were sick and that this was highly contagious. Since no one vocally warned us

and some staff actually denied that there was any illness on board, it sure was easy to forget to be especially careful. My daughter and I each had small bottles of hand sanitizers that we carried with us (as we always do on trips), so we could pull out our chairs, handle menus, salt and pepper shakers, etc., and then use the sanitizer before we actually ate. But other people did not have these, and they touched those items and then picked up their bread/rolls with their hands and ate them.

 

I believe that when norovirus is on a ship, passengers should be told that it is present, the way it is spread should be explained, and hand sanitizers should be in other places besides the entrances to the restaurants, such as outside of elevators and near the stairs. Little boxes of hand wipes could be set on the tables.

 

Why the secrecy? I just don't get it.

I pretty much agree with your experience of the cruise. We had a great time and the precautions we found to be a minor inconvenience. I don't think the crew was trying to be deceptive; they just didn't want people to worry needlessly. Overall I felt the situation was handled well. They didn't ignore the problem but didn't send people into a panic either. (Well most people anyway:rolleyes: ).

[tomluvsaida]

actually there is a health reason for this. When someone touches the utensils used to serve they put new germs on the handle so that by having the passengers serve them selves, they still pass along what ever they have touched. The crew should wash there hands and be gloved when serving. It has nothing to do with portion control. This having the crew serve at buffets when there is an outbreak is SOP.

Actually I rarely eat at buffets any way. The dinning room is both safer and I am prefer to be served. Also the portions in the dinning room are deliberately small but you can get seconds/thirds etc if you ask...nicely.

Thanks for that bit of common sense. Our cruise experienced the buffet with and with out the celophane. It did slow things down a little bit with it. It took maybe 5-10 minutes longer in line at each station. Without the wrap it was much like any buffet like you would find in Las Vegas, no better and no worse.

[tomluvsaida]

For those that are getting the idea that this virus is an NCLA problem should read this thread about Celebrity: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=438935

In comparison I'd say NCLA handled things way better.:D