cruised out?

[Cricket999]

My girlfriend and I have just returned from a northern Europe cruise on the Norwegian Jewel (May 16-29)during which we found ourselves rather irritable over some annoyances. Now we’re wondering whether we were being unreasonable because we were maxed out on cruising (it was our third in the past six months) or our gripes were legitimate. Please tell us what you think. Halfway into the 12-day trip, passengers returned from shore excursions to discover that we were no longer allowed to serve ourselves at the buffet. Turned out there was an outbreak of some sort of gastrointestinal illness on board. (No one knew exactly what it was because absolutely no info was given.) Now, we fully understand the ship had to take precautions to stop the spread, and that it was for our good. It’s no big deal that we couldn’t get our own food. In fact, being served is the norm on many ships and we were used to that. But NCL handled the problem badly. We were treated like lepers: even packages of salt and glasses of water had to be handed to us and we were snapped at if we tried to take them ourselves. We were ignored if we pointed at a particular piece of watermelon. They sometimes even insisted on sanitizing our hands on the way out of the dining area! Another annoyance was the fact the food was very often stone cold. We’ve never found it so bad, and we’ve been on over a dozen cruises over the past 15 years. Is it really that difficult to keep food warm? It got so ridiculous we actually found ourselves hanging around for batches of French fries to come out of the deep fryer. And we were trying to eat healthy! We literally for the first time, lost weight on a cruise which, as all cruisers know, is next to impossible to do. Also, on this trip we encountered some of the most exorbitant prices for shore excursions. One example: it cost $299 for an all-day excursion in St. Petersburg and we got to see only the Hermitage and Catherine’s Palace. Passengers had no choice to take the ship’s excursions at that stop because we weren’t allowed off the ship without a visa and we had to take an excursion to get it. It seemed like they were taking advantage of the situation. Yes, I understand passengers could have applied for a Russian visa prior to the cruise, but who wants to go through all that trouble? A tour of Berlin, which granted included a two-hour train ride from the port, cost $399. This trip has somewhat spoiled our love for cruising.

[cb at sea]

Yes--you sound "cruised out!" Take a break and do something different next time!

All shore excursions are expensive for what you get, IMO!

As far as the buffets go, I wish they'd do away with them altogether! They're totally gross! For us, it's the dining room all the way.

[Sundagger]

The practices you mentioned in the first part of your post are just standard precautions taken by any ship with an outbreak of Norovirus. Called "Code Red", they are recommended by the CDC for limiting the spread of the virus, which is quite communicable and very unpleasant.

 

The food quality is something entirely different. I've never been on an NCL ship and probably will never have the experience. Food quality and service is quite important to me.

[shark_bait]

Yep, you sound "Cruised Out". Been/Am there myself. Last two cruises we only booked because of Family and Friends wanting to go on a cruise. Cruising has some great benefits, but there are also some drawbacks with being in a relatively small area with thousands of people.

 

We've used cruises to find some of our favorite places for landbased vacations, St John, Cozumel, St Martin, Playa Del Carmen, and coming up Costa Rica. Probably wouldn't have found many of these places without cruising. We'll even mix up the landbased vacations, sometimes All Inclusives, sometimes boutique type hotels, sometimes renting a condo. Mix it up a little, maybe in time you'll be ready for another cruise.

[spongerob]

I think you just weren't sure what to expect. These boards contain all the good and the bad, and help put things into perspective. We've been on 15 cruises now and not all have been "perfect" - they can't be. It's no ones' fault that you had a norovirus outbreak. We've been on ships where that has happened. The best thing you could have done was go to the dining rooms to eat instead of the buffet, if not for better food and service, to minimize the risk of exposure.

 

Get involved with roll call groups and arrange your own tours. They might not be much cheaper, but they will be better because it's what you want to do, and geared to your schedule.

[isujim]

I don't think you are cruised out..........just uneducated on some cruise basics......and I don't mean that nasty........heck we all started out new to cruising. As Rob said Cruise Critic can give you valuable information on what to expect, excursions.....both private and cruiseline etc. I notice you only have 3 posts.........so welcome to Cruise Critic.......dive in and ask questions.......there is a lot we all can learn.......heck I'm switching next year to Princess and learn something new everyday about that cruiseline............

 

3 cruises in 6 months is never too many cruises:D

[krystalkruzer]

Me ? Never :) Regarding NCL's protocols concerning the outbreak it would have not bothered me.Just think,it most likely saved any more sick passengers - including you. Never been on a Europe area cruise but I would imagine things would be more expensive than the US. Do not a few annoyances on one trip spoil your love of cruising.

[98Charlie]

.......Halfway into the 12-day trip, passengers returned from shore excursions to discover that we were no longer allowed to serve ourselves at the buffet. Turned out there was an outbreak of some sort of gastrointestinal illness on board. (No one knew exactly what it was because absolutely no info was given.) Now, we fully understand the ship had to take precautions to stop the spread, and that it was for our good. It’s no big deal that we couldn’t get our own food. In fact, being served is the norm on many ships and we were used to that. But NCL handled the problem badly. We were treated like lepers: even packages of salt and glasses of water had to be handed to us and we were snapped at if we tried to take them ourselves. We were ignored if we pointed at a particular piece of watermelon. They sometimes even insisted on sanitizing our hands on the way out of the dining area! .

With an outbreak of Noro, every possible point of contact and contamination has to be eliminated. An infected guest that picks up a glass then decides they don't want a drink and puts the glass back in the rack is a potential source of contamination. Same goes for an infected guest reaching in to a container of salt/pepper packs. There hand will come in contact with a number of other packets potentially leaving behind the virus.

 

As far as staff being rude, there is no excuse.

 

Sanitizing upon exiting may be overkill but won't hurt anything. We wash hands much more frequently on cruises just because we are in an enclosed environment.

 

.......Another annoyance was the fact the food was very often stone cold. We’ve never found it so bad, and we’ve been on over a dozen cruises over the past 15 years. Is it really that difficult to keep food warm? It got so ridiculous we actually found ourselves hanging around for batches of French fries to come out of the deep fryer. And we were trying to eat healthy! We literally for the first time, lost weight on a cruise which, as all cruisers know, is next to impossible to do. .

Again, no excuse for cold food. Did you bring it to the attention of one of the supervisors?

 

 

.......Also, on this trip we encountered some of the most exorbitant prices for shore excursions. One example: it cost $299 for an all-day excursion in St. Petersburg and we got to see only the Hermitage and Catherine’s Palace. Passengers had no choice to take the ship’s excursions at that stop because we weren’t allowed off the ship without a visa and we had to take an excursion to get it. It seemed like they were taking advantage of the situation. Yes, I understand passengers could have applied for a Russian visa prior to the cruise, but who wants to go through all that trouble? .

The Visa is required by the Russian Government and starts around $50 for a single entry visa I believe. If you use a service the single entry starts around $75. From what I've seen all excursions in Europe are much more expensive than those in the Caribbean.

 

 

.......A tour of Berlin, which granted included a two-hour train ride from the port, cost $399. This trip has somewhat spoiled our love for cruising.

Round trip train Rostock-Berlin runs $80-100 per person if you go on your own. With some planning you can see the highlights that you want to using public transportation.

 

Finally, it may be that you are burnt out on cruising for a while. Take a break with some land vacation time and maybe the desire to cruise will come back.

 

Charlie

[cruiser2101]

Personally I think 3 cruises in 6 months is a bit much. I know many cruisers like to book several trips a year, but we like spacing our cruises out between 1 and 2 years. Then when it finally rolls around again, we're extremely excited about it.

[ldog]

Maybe you should look at changing cruise lines. Sounds like NCL didn't give you enough information when they went to Code Red.

 

You can get lots of information by reading here on Cruise Critic.

 

I found this site after our Baltic cruise. Would have done lots of things differently if I'd known. You don't have to take the ship's shore excursion in St Petersburg and you don't have to get an individual visa. You can book with an independent guide service DenRus and Rec October are ones that comes to mind. They will obtain your visa. With them you get to travel with a smaller group and usually get to see more because you are more mobile.

 

We have since used private guides in Europe, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand and have them lined up for our next Amazon cruise.

 

There are tons of valuable tips in the Ports of Call section of CC. You can join the roll call for your next cruise which lets you get to know some of your fellow cruisers and share private tours with them.

[cruiserbryce]

cruising isnt for everyone and your tastes can change...if you can have a better vacation on land I would recommend that...the ships will always be around...so you can always cruise again

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have had some exhausting cruises and some disappointments, but we still sren't cruised out.

[Roz]

Europe is very expensive compared to what it used to be (value of the dollar vs. the euro), and I see it reflected in the price of shorex.

 

As far as the Noro, I think NCL was doing was it was supposed to do. Sorry you didn't get your melon.

 

As far as food temps, that's a whole separate issue.

 

Roz

[serendipity1499]

Welcome to Cruise Critic...Only you can tell if you are cruised out..

 

Agree that NCL handled the Norovirus problem as all cruise lines do & yes they don't even permit you to handle salt & pepper shakers..It's also quite common for a line to request that you sanitize your hands after eating in order to stop the spread of noro which takes quite a toll on a ship..Noro is spread when people touch things..As others have said there is no excuse for cold food & that's a different ball game..We would send it back if it was cold..

 

Shore excursions on all cruise lines are quite expensive...When we went to the Amazon the first time, we booked a couple of Ship Excursions in the Amazon & took private tours in the Caribbean....When we went to the Amazon a second time, we made our own deals with either private guides, walking tours or taxis on the dock for all ports...

 

I don't agree with those who said that one or two cruises a year is too much though..Every person is different!

 

I'm retired from the Airline industry & frequently traveled...Our vacations by air were no longer fun times for us..We began to get annoyed with living out of a suitcase & taking vacations such as "If it's Tues it must be Belgium" ....It's now like pulling teeth to get DH to fly long distances...He agreed to fly to Alaska this year..Hooray! Resorts are boring to us, as we live in a resort area & have sailed many miles & to different places on our sailboat before we sold it...

 

However, we both still have the travel bug, enjoy visiting different places, so we take one or two cruises a year...We've taken several long cruises & have found that after three weeks we might begin to get antsy & picky...As of now we're limiting our cruises to two-three weeks..But this too, could change..;) ..I would still love to do the "Maasdam" trip from Boston to Europe someday..

 

In any event, perhaps you should sit back & take your time with booking your next cruise & possibly look into another Cruise Line...You will get a great deal of good (and sometimes not so good) info from these boards..

 

Hope your next vacation is more enjoyable to you..

 

Cheers..:) Betty

[happy cruzer]

My take is that you did not research the 3rd cruise enough since you were an old hand a cruising, just a guess. What you experienced in the ports of St P and Berlin is reported very often. I don't even intend to do a Baltics cruise and I have read about peoples experiences in those two ports. Everyone reports that St P is great but it is a real pain to tour and expensive. Berlin is very far inland which makes it difficult too. We recently toured Barcelona which is a much less expensive part of Europe but it still cost about $250 pperson per day plus museums that ran about $25 p person.

 

Also many many accounts on CC of norovirus and what happens. Just do a search. Almost everyone who does not know what to expect really reacts negatively to the precautions. And many think the crew is being rude when really they are working very hard and extra hours to protect everyone from getting sick. The worst area during a breakout is the buffet.

 

Anyway you may be burnt out but you may just need to do more research now that you are more discerning with your travel experiences. I think your reactions match many peoples' when they are surprised with extra costs and inconveniences.

 

Also remember travel itself will be changing because of inflation. Cruise may still be the best once you compare everything. Hope you have a great time no matter what you decide.

[pungo3]

You should have booked with Denrus for the St. Petersburg tour. I used them and they were wonderful and quite a bit cheaper than the ships tour. The cruiseline will tell you that you can't leave the ship without booking a ship's tour but that is a lie. Denrus will tell you exactly what to do and it works. St. Petersburg turned out to be my all-time favorite excursion.

 

Not being able to serve yourself from the buffet does sound like a huge pain but it's far better than being sick. I think you were just tired and let things get to you. It's totally understandable. Don't give up on cruising. It still is the BEST vacation for your money!!!

[Cricket999]

Thanks everybody for all the helpful input and setting me straight! I’m now beginning to think that perhaps I did overreact on the Noro issue. As many of you pointed out, NCL’s protocol was standard. My chief beef was that NCL kept passengers entirely in the dark, which not surprisingly led to all kinds of speculation — and fear among guests. That’s why I didn’t even call it Noro in my original post: the ship never did tell us exactly what it was, how many people were affected, quarantined etc. If they had explained the process, passengers would be more understanding. I know I would be. After all, the measures were meant entirely for our protection. In any case, I don’t want to be too harsh on NCL, especially since I was on the Sun just last December and it was a wonderful cruise. (However, I’m not yet sold on their freestyle concept, but that’s another discussion.) Last question: Is there any way to find out which ship and/or cruiseline are struck most often by Noro? That info would be useful.

[DesertDogs]

Last question: Is there any way to find out which ship and/or cruiseline are struck most often by Noro? That info would be useful.

 

Here is a link to the CDC Website that lists the outbreaks.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm

[serendipity1499]

Thanks everybody for all the helpful input Last question: Is there any way to find out which ship and/or cruiseline are struck most often by Noro? That info would be useful.

 

That's a difficult question & one I can't really answer for sure...Every Cruise Line has had multiple outbreaks..We've even seen ships delayed out of ports for several days due to outbreaks.. Perhaps the CDC keeps records of each outbreak on Cruise Lines, but I don't know..You might want to see the CDC WEB site & the info they publish about this highly infectious disease..An outbreak such as this can occur in Nursing homes, & other health care facilities..

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/norovirus.htm

 

Fortunately all the Cruise lines are proactive to try to stop the virus..Several years ago on HAL we cruised with another couple..The second day the wife came down with a bad case of it...The Steward reported it to his Superiors & The Dr. on board immediately confined both of them to their cabin..At the next port HAL had them leave the ship & paid for their air fare home..They also gave them a nice refund of the entire cruise & a 25% discount off their next HAL cruise..

 

 

Betty

[Plant]

Thanks everybody for all the helpful input and setting me straight! I’m now beginning to think that perhaps I did overreact on the Noro issue. As many of you pointed out, NCL’s protocol was standard. My chief beef was that NCL kept passengers entirely in the dark, which not surprisingly led to all kinds of speculation — and fear among guests. That’s why I didn’t even call it Noro in my original post: the ship never did tell us exactly what it was, how many people were affected, quarantined etc. If they had explained the process, passengers would be more understanding. I know I would be. After all, the measures were meant entirely for our protection.

 

I've never understood this either! People who aren't familiar with the Noro precautions (people who haven't been on this site or on numerous cruises), may think something terrible is happening :eek: . IMO, there's no excuse for any cruise line (or hotel or school or nursing home...) to NOT tell their customer's what's going on and why.

 

I guess they're afraid people will "freak out" and sue them for "whatever" instead of being happy that they know what's really happening and that they're being protected.

[ancldaca]

Here is a link to the CDC Website that lists the outbreaks.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm

 

 

Thanks for that link DD! Learned a lot on this subject taking that as a base (plus the good old wikipedia...).

 

First thing that struck me was that the bulk of the cases were in the winter, something I didn't know. Sure enough, on wiki, there was an outside link to a UK Govt. website on "winter vomiting desease" which I had never heard of before. Learn something new every day!!!

[chrisbd1]

After 3 NCL cruises we had our first Code Red cruise, on the Pearl in Alaska, last month. The Captain came on the loudspeaker twice to reminded everyone to take precautions. He didn't call it NORO just gastrointestinal issues, but from reading CC, I knew what it was. I already knew what the buffet situation would be like and was prepared.

 

So many passengers still, wouldn't take precautions, though. The best way to avoid getting sick is to WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP before eating. On the second day, people were still leaving the restroom without washing their hand. Then getting crabby if anyone reminded them to do so. Those are the people who are necessitating the Code Red precautions.

[BILLP1]

We reached the same point a few years ago when we thought that less was included and the quality of food dropped to below any standard of the defination of decent food. Drinks were way over priced and were made with the lowest amount of liquor to be called an adult beverage.

 

At that point we decided to spend more money on an all inclusive cruise line .We new after that cruise that we could never go back to the mass cruise lines.

 

To us it was like the cruises that we took years ago with great food and service with the added treat of Tips and all drinks included.

[lady_cruiser]

I'm with the majority - take a break from cruising.

[CWcruisers]

This is just my opinion, but I think NCL is kind of like Motel 6. You don't really plan to be there, you just end up there. How many Platinum NCL cruisers do you see. I have been on 3, but they are never my first line of choice.

 

As for the Baltic cruise, it is expensive and you really need to plan ahead to cut expenses.

 

As for 3 cruises in 6 months, I have no problem with that. I do 4-5 a year and I am booked ahead on 4-5 more for the following year. I never can get enough cruising. 34 and counting!