gb_cruise

My husband and I also sailed on this cruise. We had a very good time and did not exhibit any symptoms. Yes, the buffet food had to be served to you and the entertainment that was to board in St. Maarten were not able to come on board. The captain of the ship was so professional and compassionate. He spent a lot of time speaking to travelers with problems.

The crew was sensational! They worked so hard sanitizing the ship and doing double and triple duty. The activity director Erky and the Cruise director Leigh were helping out serving food I the buffet. One of the female singers, Ann was giving out plates and silverware at the Windjammer. We booked this cruise as a back to back cruise with the January 31 st cruise. Because the cruise was ended early we have been transported to a lovely hotel in the heart of midtown New York with the cruise line picking up the tab for two days. There is a bus load of cruisers at our hotel . Friday we all will be bused back to the ship. Are we going to sail again? We sure are.

Royal Caribbean is a class act. The compensation everyone got was more than generous. This cruise proved to me again that I remain loyal to royal.

It is good to hear that Royal Caribbean crew went above and beyond in this situation to help the passengers on this cruise. All the feedback I have read from passengers who were on the ship has been very complimentary to the crew.

Some un-flattering coverage on FOX News tonight.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/01/29/cruise-ship-returns-after-nearly-700-fall-ill-highlighting-risks-getting-sick/?intcmp=latestnews

 

A relative of a Fox reporter was on the ship and said that when they first got into their cabin it had not been cleaned. :eek:

From the FOX article - 2% is the reporting threshold.

"“When an ship sails into U.S. waters, by law they must notify us if a certain threshold – 2 percent or greater – [are] sick on a vessel, including passengers and crew members,” CDC press officer Bernadette Burden told FoxNews.com."

There are statistics and then there is what one does with statistics.

 

Noro outbreaks on cruise ships have to be reported to the CDC once there are 3% of the passengers on board infected.

 

On a ship with 3100 passengers, that means at least 93 passengers must be infected. So a Voyager class ship with 90 such cases would not have to report this and would not be included in the statistics.

 

So the numbers from ahecht really only reflect the number of reportable incidents, not the number of actual incidents.

As a side note, the only commentary that I saw from a CDC official regarding Noro on cruise ships focused on three primary methods of reducing outbreaks.

1) Having everyone on board regularly wash their hands.

2) Cleaning using specified products and methods.

3) Having buffets served by servers and not self-serve.

Does anyone have a link to information on how the CDC calculates if an illness event counts as a Noro outbreak as per the standards outlined above for reporting? I thought the threshold was lower than 3%?

Very interesting. The U.S. State Department has issued no travel warnings that I could find for the Bahamas.

The U.S State Department has multiple travel warnings for the Bahamas. Here is the latest summary:

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/the-bahamas.html

I have personally never had any problems in the Bahamas and have enjoyed visiting Nassau.

Celebrity built these ships with multi occupancy capacity so clearly want to maximise the number of passengers on board, as do every cruise line.

 

However X doesnt particularly target families either through the facilities on board or marketing. It is unfair that they build ships that can accomodate so many kids with parents and yet they know there are not the facilities for them.

 

Weve sailed on P&O ( a British line under the Carnival Group whos ships follow the Princess design) over Christmas and we had 700 kids on board however we rarely saw one since they had huge kids clubs and lots of staff to entertain them all day plus adult only pools.

 

It makes me wonder why families would choose X when other lines offer better facilities for their little treasures.

 

I feel for the OP. Sounds like a nightmare.

Let me just mention that Celebrity has excellent club programs for Kids and Teens. My children always thought the Celebrity programs were better than RCCL.

Our family has been on three Christmas cruises with Celebrity. I agree the ships were very crowded with children but most were not excessively unruly. The pools & hot tubs however were always very crowded with kids on these holiday cruises, but other venues were not.

The Myth: Celebrity designed the new program as a response to those who complained about too many Elites and the ease of reaching the Elite Level.

 

The Truth: Celebrity designed the new program as a way a containing the overall cost of the loyalty program.

 

Discussion: When the program was originally designed Celebrity miscalculated how successful it would be in attracting new business. One source with close connections to the Miami office told me about 3 years ago that there were many discussions about the program around the board room and once the benefits were announced it was too late to make reductions. In the earliest days there were a relatively few numbers of Elites and there was no problem holding the Happy Hour in Michael's Club. Two things happened to change that. As time went on more people made the Elite Level. Second, perhaps more importantly, RCCL and X agreed to a receprocity. Thus, a large number of RCCL cruisers were now attending the Elite Hour. On some of my cruises, especially Trans Atlantics, there were as many as 800-1000 Elites onboard. Eventually Celebrity developed a system of vouchers. Many fought the idea at first (including me), but later came to favor the idea. There are many threads on this. Vouchers really solved the overcrowding situation. The real problem for Celebrity was that the number of people reaching the Elite Level was growing at a high rate. The vouchers satisfied the demand, but the cost to Celebrity continued to esculate. The answer was to create a new program that would slow the flow into Elite and that was accomplished. Two additional levels were created beyond Elite Level that would be difficult to reach if one just became Elite. We see many posting on these threads that they believe that they will never reach these new levels. I've discussed this before and won't repeat here. These levels, according to a representative of Captain's Club who spoke to me, were designed to enhance PR and Marketing. With the Zenith Level Celebrity could now claim that they had the best benefits for their most loyal guests. Another CC Rep told me that this program was a loss for Celebrity and each Zenith was costing them "thousands of dollars". Understand that the "seriously addicted" cruiser doesn't spend much for extras on board. They don't purchase photos, don't spend extra money in the shops, don't usually take ship excursions and now with Zenith benefits, don't buy drinks or pay for internet or laundry. I believe that Celebrity would rather sell a cabin to a first time cruiser or newly wed couple than a very frequent cruiser. But, the frequent cruisers might contribute by introducing new cruisers to Celebrity. they are, for the most part excellent ambassadors. I'd be glad to read analysis from others who have actual experience in the program and have had discussions with people in the Miami Office and Senior Staff on the ships.

All-in-all this is an excellent summary of the situation. I will mention (as others have) that the Elite Happy Hour in Michael's Club started many years later than the Diamond Club gatherings on RCCL AFAIK. I can understand the need to change the Celebrity program and issue drink vouchers due to overcrowding. I will say that one of the enjoyable parts of cruising with X is meeting other experienced cruisers in Michael's Club and sharing our experiences. I hope that Celebrity sets up other daily venues that will enable experienced cruisers to gather and meet one another.

Orator, reciprocity with Royal Caribbean occurred many years before Celebrity introduced the Elite Happy Hour in Michael's Club. In fact I learned about Celebrity having met a number of Elites in Royal Caribbean's Concierge Club (and oh how Diamonds on RC complained when they were tossed from the CL because of all those Celebrity Elites;)). When Celebrity implemented the HH we were already Elite on our own right. Someone in Miami is feeding you some incorrect info regarding reciprocity.

 

On an more upbeat note, Happy New Year and I hope our paths cross in February.:)

I just was on a RCCL cruise over the holidays and overheard a lady in the Diamond club complaining to the RCCL employee running the Diamond lounge about the Elites who come over from Celebrity and make the place crowded during happy hour.... never ending - sigh

My wife and I are just short of 50 and have three children in their early 20s. Our family has been on many Celebrity cruises, and on RCCL as well. We prefer the 'upgraded' experience on Celebrity over RCCL (but enjoy Royal also). And yes, you will find a excellent gambling, dance, nightlife, and bar scene on a Celebrity cruise. The Summit is an excellent experience. Based on your description of what you are looking for - IMO you made the right choice going with Celebrity.

This is an interesting thread. My children have been on many cruises with Celebrity and have enjoyed all of them. They are all in their early 20s and started cruising with us at a young age. All achieved Elite status on Celebrity by the time they were 18.

From a young age they enjoyed the many activities that Celebrity had for kids including the Kids club, Teens club, and 18 to 20 socials, etc. In my opinion Celebrity does a great job with activities for the younger generation - even though they do not market towards this 'generation'.

This has now created a next generation of cruisers for X that favors Celebrity over RCL, NCL and other lines (but they enjoy these other cruise lines also).