Royal Feb 27 Delayed Boarding-Sanitation

[Kirsten T]

Just got an "emergency" email from Princess (text below.) Royal's Friday turnaround will be delayed for an extensive cleaning. My Mom and I are on Dolphin deck, which according to the schedule gives us 45 minutes to check-in and get aboard before the delayed departure (not really sure when that might be, but "all aboard" is now 5PM.) Opinions on when to really show up? I'll scrap the usual noon arrival but not sure I want to wait until 4; Mom's 80 and while mobile, isn't capable of hustling anywhere or standing for a long time. I'm Platinum, for what it's worth... if anyone's had this experience, what would you do? Thanks for the advice.

 

Kirsten

 

 

 

ROYAL PRINCESS PRE-BOARDING HEALTH ADVISORY

Please be advised that during the current cruise there has been a slightly higher than expected number of cases of gastrointestinal illness among guests suspected to be caused by norovirus. A comprehensive sanitation program was launched in response, and Royal Princess will undergo a prolonged and additional disinfection in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, February 27. Check-in for your cruise will be delayed until 2:00 PM. Please do not arrive earlier than 1:30 PM as the terminal will be closed for sanitation. To minimize terminal congestion we use a progressive check-in schedule as follows:

2:00 PM - Aloha & Lido Decks - Cabins begin with A & L

2:45 PM - Caribe & Riviera Decks - Cabins begin with C & R

3:30 PM - Baja & Marina Decks - Cabins begin with B & M

4:15 PM - Dolphin & Emerald Decks - Cabins begin with D & E

All guests must be aboard by 5:00 PM. We look forward to welcoming you on board.

[kitkat343]

I'd do two things: the first would be to contact the special needs department, and explain that your mother isn't capable of waiting extensively and request that they please call or email you on the day of embarkation to confirm that cleaning is complete and that passengers are actually able to board at 2 pm. My concern would be if the cleaning process is delayed, and no one is able to board the ship for a few extra hours.

 

Also, I'd post on the roll call asking if others could please post there when boarding actually begins.

 

If you aren't far from the port and can easily arrange transportation with little notice, I'd wait until I had confirmation that they are actually starting the boarding process before traveling to the port. If they start at 2, and it would take you an hour to get there, you will safely arrive in time to board the ship. If it gets close to 5, and they still haven't started boarding I'd call Princess directly to ensure that they aren't closing the port and to see what they would advise given your special circumstances and their timeline.

[Colo Cruiser]

Just got an "emergency" email from Princess (text below.) Royal's Friday turnaround will be delayed for an extensive cleaning. My Mom and I are on Dolphin deck, which according to the schedule gives us 45 minutes to check-in and get aboard before the delayed departure (not really sure when that might be, but "all aboard" is now 5PM.) Opinions on when to really show up? I'll scrap the usual noon arrival but not sure I want to wait until 4; Mom's 80 and while mobile, isn't capable of hustling anywhere or standing for a long time. I'm Platinum, for what it's worth... if anyone's had this experience, what would you do? Thanks for the advice.

 

Kirsten

 

 

 

ROYAL PRINCESS PRE-BOARDING HEALTH ADVISORY

Please be advised that during the current cruise there has been a slightly higher than expected number of cases of gastrointestinal illness among guests suspected to be caused by norovirus. A comprehensive sanitation program was launched in response, and Royal Princess will undergo a prolonged and additional disinfection in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, February 27. Check-in for your cruise will be delayed until 2:00 PM. Please do not arrive earlier than 1:30 PM as the terminal will be closed for sanitation. To minimize terminal congestion we use a progressive check-in schedule as follows:

2:00 PM - Aloha & Lido Decks - Cabins begin with A & L

2:45 PM - Caribe & Riviera Decks - Cabins begin with C & R

3:30 PM - Baja & Marina Decks - Cabins begin with B & M

4:15 PM - Dolphin & Emerald Decks - Cabins begin with D & E

All guests must be aboard by 5:00 PM. We look forward to welcoming you on board.

 

 

You don't say how you are getting to the port?

You may want to take a cab and head somewhere that you can sit and rest until its time to head to the port. Probably don't want to hang at the port all day.

[Kirsten T]

All good ideas - thank you. We're flying down from MA to FLL tomorrow and overnighting near the airport, so I'll see how late a checkout we can get. It'll be interesting - but it was -12 here this morning, so just being in Florida will be perfectly fine. :)

[capriccio]

All good ideas - thank you. We're flying down from MA to FLL tomorrow and overnighting near the airport, so I'll see how late a checkout we can get. It'll be interesting - but it was -12 here this morning, so just being in Florida will be perfectly fine. :)

 

The weather will be a definite improvement. It was in the low 80s today, mid-high 80s tomorrow and high 70s predicted for Friday!

[Kirsten T]

Sweet! It'll be nice to see grass again.

[kelly94942]

We had the same issue on the Crown in November - there was a LOT of waiting. We didn't arrive until the designated time and we still had to get a seat and wait and wait and wait. They finally started calling people and everyone cheered as each group was called. I don't think we left until around 10 PM.

[luvabeach]

I have same problem with my elderly father who needs wheelchair assistance. I really wanted to get on early ( and we , too, are dolphin) and are not platinum but ruby level...to be able to reserve a chaise for entire week in the sanctuary for him. He is not going to get off the ship for the entire week. Does anyone have a phone number for the special needs department. I got no where calling princess this evening and speaking to a supervisor. Dolphin deck is now last to board, so guess we're out of luck ...the chaises get booked up quickly by those that board first. This'll be interesting as it might be last princess we will be going on ....if he has to struggle to find somewhere to relax...especially sea days when all chaises are taken.

 

 

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[sydneyguy]

The Royal Sanctuary is usually pre booked by B2B passengers from last cruise. Unlikely you will get a spot.

 

 

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[Grego]

Our feeling is that they are serious about letting people in before they are ready. If there are cases of Noro among disembarking passengers, they will want to blast the terminal after all passengers are disembarked so there won't be anything picked up by embarking passengers going through the terminal.

 

Normally we arrive around 10:30 and are allowed in with preferred boarding, however, we will most likely arrive closer to noon and see what the process is at time and either park in the Northport terminal or drop the luggage and go visit one of the local places for a bite to eat and arrive close to the scheduled time.

[Grego]

What is really curious is why there isn't anything posted from the Royal passengers talking about any Noro onboard. Nothing on the Roll Call for this voyage nor on the Princess forum. Weird.

[buchananglasgow]

im glad they are going to do the terminal. That's 3ships now that were docked in that berth , that have had the bug when they get back to port. My guess each time the passengers picked it up as they checked in at the terminal.

Equinox, Oasis, and now the Royal, can't see it being anything other than the terminal. We sail in November on the Royal , I won't be touching anything if possible while getting on the ship. Will be using hand wipes too.

[texasrose0219]

My dear hubby and I are on this cruise, and I received this email last night as well. Well, I should actually say that I received the email about this 7 different different times last night over the course of a few hours. The bad part for us will be that we are both working all day today and driving through the night from Jacksonville, NC to Ft. Lauderdale. Were hoping to get in the ship relatively early so we could crash in our room as soon as it became available. Oh well, I would much rather have a sanitized ship than sleep anyways (full disclosure, we are bringing our own hand sanitizer and 2 bottles of the lysol disinfecting spray with us anyways haha) :) If you see 2 twenty something zombies walking around the terminal tomorrow, don't be alarmed, it will just be us :)

[luvabeach]

Ok....coming to terms with not getting chaises...you are right we have zero chance and as we are spg members....will get a late checkout from hotel and just find a market and buy lots of Lysol!!!! Well go very late....last on board!

 

 

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[sailor1362]

...especially sea days when all chaises are taken.

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We spent 20 days on the Royal in January, no problems at all to find chairs even in sea days. Enjoy your Cruise!!!

[caribill]

We spent 20 days on the Royal in January, no problems at all to find chairs even in sea days.

 

On a sea day on the Royal this January:

 

[sailor1362]

ops! i missed reading "sanctuary", sorry...

[YWW]

I suggest you two show up around 2:30/3 instead of 4. I agree there simply is no way to board all the people in just 45 minutes. No point to show up early since the whole terminal is closed for deep cleaning and won't open until 1:30/2pm. With a fully booked cruise, my own guess is departure will likely be delayed till 7pm. Talked a travel agent earlier who's also on this cruise, she's been thru something similar before and said 5pm for all passengers to be aboard is extremely unlikely. FYI, we are also on Dolphin deck and we have met over 20 in our hotel who are also scheduled to go on Royal tomorrow. All the shuttles going there have been pushed back because of this.

[canadarocks]

I suggest you two show up around 2:30/3 instead of 4. I agree there simply is no way to board all the people in just 45 minutes. No point to show up early since the whole terminal is closed for deep cleaning and won't open until 1:30/2pm. With a fully booked cruise, my own guess is departure will likely be delayed till 7pm. Talked a travel agent earlier who's also on this cruise, she's been thru something similar before and said 5pm for all passengers to be aboard is extremely unlikely. FYI, we are also on Dolphin deck and we have met over 20 in our hotel who are also scheduled to go on Royal tomorrow. All the shuttles going there have been pushed back because of this.

 

We're on this cruise as well. Based on all the excellent points you make in the rest of your post, I'm curious as to why you recommend arriving at 2:30/3 instead of at 4? :confused:

Edited February 27, 2015 by canadarocks

[FraudBroad]

I just heard from a friend who is waiting to disembark. People are ill and it's assumed that it is Noro. She says they are even serving the food in the buffets. You can't serve yourself any food...they do it for you.

 

We experienced this last year when sailing on the NCL Star. It's amazing the lengths the ship has to go to when Noro appears.

[-Lew-]

 

What is really curious is why there isn't anything posted from the Royal passengers talking about any Noro onboard. Nothing on the Roll Call for this voyage nor on the Princess forum. Weird.

I received an email from a friend onboard the Royal on February 24th informing me of noro onboard as of dinner the previous evening. Since it didn't come from an official source, I resisted the temptation to post this info and instigate yet another noro frenzy.

 

Lew

[dstables]

I received an email from a friend onboard the Royal on February 24th informing me of noro onboard as of dinner the previous evening. Since it didn't come from an official source, I resisted the temptation to post this info and instigate yet another noro frenzy.

 

Lew

 

We just got off the Royal today after a wonderful 20 days on board. I believe it was Monday that we received a notice from the Captain that the ship was experiencing a higher than usual number of gastrointestinal problems among passengers. The Captain never used the word "Noro" in any of his daily updates on the situation. Dishes and cutlery were removed from the tables on Monday and remained removed as of this morning. You could serve yourself your food in the Horizon Court. You could see them removing and changing the serving spoons every 10 minutes or so. Lots of cleaning going on throughout the ship in all areas. Staff stood at the entrance to the Horizon Court and insisted that you use the hand washing station before entering the restaurant. Yesterday at noon the captain announced the numbers of passengers reporting gastrointestinal problems were down but the level of caution would continue for the next 72 hours. We were told today before disembarking that all passengers has to leave the ship so that staff could do extra cleaning. All passengers in transit had to leave as well and no passengers could board till 3:00.

 

As I said we had a wonderful cruise and if it had not be for the notice from the Captain we had not heard of many passengers being ill.

[-Lew-]

 

As I said we had a wonderful cruise and if it had not be for the notice from the Captain we had not heard of many passengers being ill.

Thank you for your post. Happy you enjoyed your cruise...

 

Lew

[cruiselvr1]

The Royal Sanctuary is usually pre booked by B2B passengers from last cruise. Unlikely you will get a spot.

 

 

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This is someone who has no skin in the game, I have never used or plan to use the Sanctionary. Princess needs to find a better way of reserving it, even if it means first come first serve each morning.