Anyone on Royal Just Now

[gbldcl]

What I am getting sick of is the rude arrogant passengers who feel like they have to give the crew a bunch of crap because all passengers are being told to wash their hands before entering the HC. I noticed this morning a couple of ship's officers at the doorway helping to enforce the rules for those that think they do not need to comply and thereby compromise the health of others.

[Jjtwhitby]

Agreed, Keel Hauling comes to mind.

[FritzG]

What I am getting sick of is the rude arrogant passengers who feel like they have to give the crew a bunch of crap because all passengers are being told to wash their hands before entering the HC. I noticed this morning a couple of ship's officers at the doorway helping to enforce the rules for those that think they do not need to comply and thereby compromise the health of others.

 

The very ones who will whine and complain that it's Princess's fault when they get sick.

[spyro1952]

I am on for the TA Sept 6th. Hopefully they will take some time very soon and do a deep clean of the entire ship. This outbreak has been going on for about 2 weeks now - much too long. Maybe a day out of service between cruises?

[kcfoxy]

Aha, I spy several members from our Roll Call dropping by to chime in. I'm sure the ship is doing everything possible to help curtail the nasty germs, and of course there are several things we can bear in mind.

 

With 14 years under my belt, as a telephone Advice Nurse, we were often called upon to share CDC recommendations for travelers, including cruisers.

For my own self I have then added a few of my own observations and some experiences over time.

 

As there is a few days incubation period, sick pax may not even realize they are ill until several days on board. Perhaps someone sneezed, coughed or grabbed surfaces on the airplane and thus the germ was passed to the unsuspecting.

 

Besides those ubiquitous elevator panels, gangway railings and railings in general are quite germy. We know about public bathrooms, but I wonder how many actually think about all the steps taken there. Say you really need to use the facilities and are good about washing your hands. Do you then touch the fixtures, hand dryer or door as you are leaving? Recontaminated now.

 

We tend to avoid the Buffet and other areas of shared food/utensil handling for the first 48 hours of any cruise. Usually by the 2 day mark, ship's Doctor will know if any cases of Noro on board.

 

Hand wipes and sanitizing gels may give a false sense of cleanliness. In our hospital use they have not found to be as effective as handwashing. Just 15 seconds, the amount of time it takes to hum the Happy Birthday song, will suffice with soap and warm water.

 

You've heard not to touch your mouth with your fingers, to help prevent spread of this GI disease. But other mucous membranes can also be entry points. So think eyes, nose and mouth. Many might be surprised at how often people will touch these parts of the face, yes even in public. My DH is a Professional Cook and is more aware than most...see how long you can go without doing so, or at a traffic stop, just observe fellow travelers. :rolleyes:

 

Noro is nothing to sneeze about, upsetting your whole electrolyte system, a real danger to the elderly or those with impaired immune systems, diabetics and so on. And speaking of sneezing...and coughing. Have you been taught to cover those potentially infectious droplets with your hand?

 

In the food industry, DH Richard relates they are taught to cough into their elbow or sneeze facing the ground. Otherwise that hand acts as a marvelous conveyor of nasties...and not everyone can immediately have access to soap and warm water after doing so.

 

Having learned so many useful things on CC, here I am paying it forward with the hopes it will likewise be helpful. Have a safe and wonderful cruise, and here's hoping our beloved and beautiful is once again ship shape in no time at all!

[Linda-E]

Can someone please tell us if the ship is still code red?

 

Thanks.

[Shogun]

Hi All

Looks like a rough days weather ahead for the Royal

[kirwilliam]

I didn't think the code red was too much of an inconvenience... we had a great time and got use to the constant hand-washing

 

BUT.. who designed that ship to have no stairs in the middle? That was so annoying!

[AZChristian]

We disembarked from the Royal yesterday. It was our second - and LAST - cruise on that ship.

 

Customer Service was rude. We heard scores of stories, in addition to what we encountered ourselves.

 

We had opted for Traditional Dining. Service was so s-l-o-w that we had virtually little chance of seeing the early shows because the venues were full before we could get there. The only time our dining steward made an attempt to do more than take our order and put food in front of us was about the 8th night, when he was suddenly very friendly and chatty . . . "Oh, and don't forget you'll get your survey form, and we're always hoping for 10s." (You were about 8 nights too late for a 10, fella . . . I deducted a point for every night of poor service, and you're hovering at a 2.)

 

Lastly, we were given disembarkation tags to take us to Terminal 3 at Heathrow. Our original documents from Princess said we were flying out of Terminal 5. We went to the desk to ask about it, but the young lady gave us one of those condescending little smiles and said, "We check these online, and your flight is definitely going out of T3."

 

So we went to T3, and then found out that she was wrong, so we had to get all of our luggage to T5 with no help from anyone (we are NOT spring chickens). Fortunately, we had plenty of time to check in and have lunch and a bottle of wine at Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food at T5. But I've told my travel agent to tell Princess that we expect a refund of the money we spent on the transfer, since they sent us to the wrong place, in spite of our double-checking with Princess. Others on our flight had the same issue.

 

We did wash our hands a lot. We didn't touch any elevator buttons, railings, etc., and never used the public restrooms. We found it ironic that we weren't allowed to touch salt and pepper shakers, but they NEVER wiped off any of the menus that went from passengers to crew back to passengers . . . and all wiping down we saw was done with common buckets full of disinfectant, with cleaning rags that was never changed out. So they took a germy rag and contaminated the contents of the bucket over and over again, and then used it to wipe down other surfaces.

 

Never again on the Royal. Never.

[BassettMom]

My parents and I were on the Aug 1 sailing and disembarked on Aug 13. I am a loyal Princess cruiser, but I will say that I was disappointed on this cruise. Of course with everything, there are both good and bad and we tried to make the most of it. We did enjoy the trip overall and our private excursions were wonderful.

 

Here is what we experienced.

 

Embarkation: The ship had delayed sailing due to sanitization, which we fully understand. The delayed embarkation itself was chaos with very long lines snaking around the side of the building--they were only allowing a few to enter at a time to go straight upstairs. We did manage to board by 3:45, but others I had talked to later didn't board until well after 7:00pm. I do understand the problems of trying to get everyone on board with all the issues, but do believe the port could have handled it a little bit better. For one thing there was no place to sit outside, and I overheard a person in line behind us ask for a wheelchair for his mother since she couldn't stand for such a long time only to be told they were all being used and she would just have to wait with everyone else.

 

Buffet: There are sinks outside the buffet and everyone was asked to wash their hands before entering which was good--it did make for line to enter the buffet, but that wasn't a problem since it was all for a very good reason, and most of the people understood (there were a few passengers that complained, but aren't there always). Plates and utensils were handed out individually, no salt and pepper shakers, etc., which is good. But the buffet was still self serve so everyone did help themselves to the food, rolls, etc. Salt and pepper and were individual envelopes--great, except when we asked for salt or pepper or sugar, we were presented with a bowl full and we picked out the envelopes we wanted (so what was the point if we were helping ourselves anyway?). Service was extremely slow--not blaming the crew working the buffet since they were extremely busy wiping every chair and table as soon as someone got up. The disinfectant they were using in a bucket was pretty much slopped on, so tables and chairs couldn't be used until they had dried. Unfortunately, there were several times when the table looked dried, but the chairs were still soaked and you didn't realize it until you sat down on wet chairs. There were times it took such a long time before you could get anything to drink, or salt or pepper or sugar, that we were almost done eating before we were served. Again, it's not because the crew weren't trying (they were working very hard), but they were kept so busy wiping everything down, they really didn't have time to be responsive. On the day we were supposed to be in Dublin and missed that port (making it a sea day), the buffet was so busy, there were absolutely no tables available and we ended up skipping lunch. Part of the reason may have been that the weather on the cruise was cold and windy, so almost no one was sitting outside; another reason was that a few passengers camped out playing cards or reading and not actually eating (especially at tables near the window).

 

Belfast Sanitization: My parents are in their 80s and we had no plans to go ashore in Belfast since we had a very long excursion in Liverpool. We had planned to just sleep in, relax, do laundry while most of the passengers were ashore, watch a movie in the cabin, and take a nap. Well, plans do change, so instead, we set the alarm, put all of our belongings away (semi packed up except for the clothes handing in the closet), and had to be out of the cabin early in the morning. We asked when we could return and was told not until late afternoon. We packed a bag with things we would need for the day like medication for my parents, my laptop, kindle, etc. The captain had announced that disinfection of the public areas would start forward and work their way aft, so we found someplace to sit toward the back of Deck 7. Once again, plans changed and the disinfection teams came through from the back, so we moved forward. We had been sitting for about 30 minutes when another team came from the front, so we went down to the piazza, and sat in middle, when another team came, so we moved again. We spent the day moving from one area to another. Thinking that the team had finished with the area we started in 3 hours prior, we went back to the back of Deck 7 and sat down in the original chairs--the cushions were wet! So we moved again (this time with very damp pants). The ship normally asks that you use your own toilets vs public toilets, but when you can't get back to the cabins, then public toilets are the only alternative. Unfortunately, finding one that didn't have yellow tape across it wasn't easy and we had to spend time looking for one while avoiding the disinfection teams who where wet wiping everything and spraying everywhere (crew members had tanks on their backs with a long nozzle, very similar to what my pest control person wears when he sprays outside my house). We did try to make the best of it, since we know it was for a good cause, and we felt for the hardworking crew who have had to deal with all the issues. Still, this made for a stressful, nonrelaxing day and my parents were pretty exhausted. We were finally able to get back in our cabin around 3:00pm, then had to unpack all the things we had packed up. We ended up canceling plans in Glasgow so they could sleep in, relax, do laundry, etc.

 

TV Issues: One evening, my parents were watching TV when the screen turned a bright neon blue with the words "Please stand by" across it. No problem, they wait for half an hour. Deciding to go to sleep instead of waiting, they found that none of the controls would work--they could NOT turn off the TV, either using the remote or the buttons on the TV itself. You couldn't do anything. So at around 11:00pm, my dad calls passenger services and was told they were aware of the problem and were working it. When he tells them he can't turn it off, they again say they are aware of the problem and they are working it. Turning the lights off in the cabin, they try to sleep with that bright neon blue light glaring down at them. Giving up, my dad gets dressed at 3:00am, and goes down to passenger services. There is one woman working the desk. My dad asked to speak to a supervisor and the conversation goes like this:

Passenger Service Rep: we don't have supervisors, we have managers.

Dad: OK, let me speak to a manager.

Passenger Service Rep: I don't know where he is. You'll have to talk to me.

Dad: My TV won't go off and my wife and I can't sleep. I called here at 11 and was told it was being worked. Do you know when it will be fixed?

Passenger Service Rep: You're not the only one on this ship with a problem you know. My computer won't work and I don't have wifi.

Dad (at this point, he's now angry): I'm not interested in your computer problems, I want to know when the TV will be fixed so we can get some sleep.

Passenger Service Rep: There is no one on the ship that can fix it. Why haven't you just unplugged it yourself instead of coming here.

Dad (really upset now): Look, I haven't been rude to you and there is no reason for you to be rude to me. I am a passenger on this ship, and I am not in the habit of unplugging anything. It's not my job to go messing around with the TV. If something were to happen, and the TV fell off the wall, I'm sure Princess would be charging me for it.

Passenger Service Rep: Well what do you expect me to do, find someone to unplug it for you!?

Dad: I want the TV off so we can sleep. If you need to send someone to do that, then I expect someone to be there.

Passenger Service Rep: Fine, I'll see if I can find a maintenance man.

Well, the maintenance man does come, is very nice and apologetic. He spends almost 20 minutes trying to reach the plug which apparently is lodged pretty tight behind the screen, and finally is able to unplug it. He did tell my dad that he should not be doing that himself and the passenger service person was wrong to tell him to do it himself.

Next morning, my dad can’t let it go and goes down to passenger services to talk to a manager about the rude person he spoke with. The manager is very nice, apoligizes and says he will look into it. Later, my dad gets a call in his cabin from one of the managers who says, he understands there was a problem and that he has looked into it, and that he (the manager) would be able to extend printing services for the boarding passes, but can’t extend it to his (my dad’s) entire group. Huh??? My dad says he has no idea what he’s talking about. The manager says didn’t you have a complaint logged with passenger services, and my dad says yes. The manager says, well, I’ve looked into it, and we’ve decided to allow you to print your boarding pass, but can’t allow your entire group to do that. My dad says again, I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m not travelling with a group, and I don’t need my boarding pass printed since I’m already on board. I have a problem with my TV and with a very rude person I talked to last night. The manager says oh…oh, yes, I’m looking into that, and he hangs up. That is the last we hear, until the night before disembarkation when complementary chocolate covered strawberries arrive in his cabin at 8:00pm with a card apologizing for the inconvenience. (Nice thought, but they are getting ready for bed since we have to be off the ship at 7:00am and have already had dinner, so the strawberries were still there when we left.)

 

Crowded Ship, Design Flaws, and Other Issues: I’ve heard others say this ship didn’t feel crowded despite being so large. Unfortunately, it did in fact feel very crowded to us. Perhaps with warmer weather, there would be more passengers outside, but with the cold temps (highs in the 50s and low 60s, with a lot of wind), there were few people outside so everyone was inside. Since the passengers weren’t as spread out, then most of them were congregated on Decks 5, 6 and 7, and the buffet, making it much more crowded than it would have been had some of them been out on the lido deck pool area, or the promenade deck (what little there was of it), or even on their balconies. The lack of center stairs accessible to passengers—one officer who spoke at our meet and greet told us to stop saying there were no center stairs on Cruise Critic, since they do in fact have center stairs, but they simply don’t allow us to use them—did cause congestion with the center elevators. There were times when we all watched as elevators bypassed us either up or down (I’m guessing there is some reason like they were full and perhaps a sensor of something knew that so the elevator didn’t stop, but can’t say for sure). Other than the trivia during the day, and the usual shows, a lot of the activity centered around passenger participation shows and jewelry (infomercials). The casino was closed for the majority of the cruise due to the ship being so close to land. These were minor issues, but even the minor things start to try your patience when added to other issues.

 

Debarkation: We were scheduled to meet at 7:15am, and when we got to our designated lounge were told that they were ahead of schedule and to go ahead to the gangway on Deck 7. We got to the gangway and were scanned off and then came to a stop—the line wasn’t moving. We heard an announcement made that due to our early arrival and the smooth disembarkation, the schedule is 20 minutes ahead and that all passengers should proceed to their designated disembarkation lounge 20 minutes earlier than their scheduled time. In the meantime, we were still standing in a line that wasn’t moving—not off the ship, but still not really “on” since we had been scanned off. After standing there for quite some time, we finally learned from a security officer that the gangway wasn’t working (not sure what that means) and that an engineer had been called to fix it and hasn’t arrived yet. By this time, the crowd in the hall behind us was packed with passengers all complaining that they had planes to catch. Security was having a difficult time controlling the crowds and angry people who had been told to go to the gangway only to be surrounded by other passengers all gathered around as far back as I could see. We stood there for about 40 minutes before we were finally turned around and told to take the elevators (those central elevators since there were no stairs anyone could use). We had to be rescanned back onto the ship, and guided to the central elevators (nothing like hundreds of people all waiting for elevators to go down to Deck 5 where a new gangway had been opened. We were not allowed to take the stairs, and not allowed to go forward to another set of elevators. So we waited until the crowd behind us finally got on and we were able to get on the elevators and down to Deck 5 and were finally allowed to get off. It took over an hour of standing around to get off the ship. Unfortunately, the security staff took the brunt of the angry passengers although it was not their fault. The ship should have held people in the lounges instead of continuing to send more passengers to the gangway to the point that the crowd was almost unmanageable. Luckily, it didn’t turn into an angry mob scene although several passengers were yelling, with security yelling back to try to control it.

 

As I said, we did try to make the best of it and fully understand the precautionary procedures while in Code Red. The crew was overworked with the constant cleaning and, with the exception of the Passenger Services rep my dad encountered, the rest of them were very good despite all the extra work they had to endure. Almost every passenger I talked to during the cruise had some complaints, which is unfortunate. There was one lady who told me she had been sick the first three days and during that time, no one came to her cabin to clean and that after two days, she had to call and request someone to at least provide clean towels, and more toilet paper.

 

I’ve always loved cruising with Princess and will continue to do so, despite the issues we encountered. I imagine other passengers will be writing off Princess after this experience. Luckily, we didn't get sick (it could have been so much worse, so we're thankful for that). Hopefully, those on the current cruise will have a better experience.

[spyro1952]

Thanks for your post. I'm getting on the ship on 9/6 for the TA. It does sound passenger services needs attitude adjustment and the cleaning crew need a vacation.

I'm sorry but the issue with your Dad and the TV really made me chuckle. Yes, I would have ripped the plug right out of the wall but my Mom is 90 and I knew exactly how they are and she would have been down there standing next to him @ 3am.

So sorry you ran into all those issues.

[Colo Cruiser]

Holy cow! :(

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Code red puts so much extra work load on crew its no wonder standards drop,

 

service becomes slow,

 

wish Princess would draft in extra staff for cleaning.

 

yours Shogun

[Colo Cruiser]

 

wish Princess would draft in extra staff for cleaning.

 

yours Shogun

 

 

Are you kidding? With all the cutbacks everywhere. More staff? :(

[gbldcl]

Hi Dublin is a hard port to get into due to tides and wind, ships often late getting in having to wait for right conditions weather is very nasty for today

 

I have to wonder why the decision was made to change from Dun Laoghaire to the city port if it is so hard to get into? There was a lot of talk on the ship the day we missed Dublin about why we could not go to the original port.

[FritzG]

What was playing in MUTS over the last couple of cruises?

[ernieb]

What's happening with the Code Red? Have things settled down any?

[Putterdude]

I have a similar question re the Code Red condition. There have been people on the 8/25 sailing wondering? There hasn't any posts on the original thread about the Code Red condition since 8/1 so I am guessing things have improved.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Putterdude

[BassettMom]

I have a similar question re the Code Red condition. There have been people on the 8/25 sailing wondering? There hasn't any posts on the original thread about the Code Red condition since 8/1 so I am guessing things have improved.

We were still in Code Red when we disembarked on Aug 13. Not sure about the current cruise.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[BosoxI]

Bassett Mom,

Thanks for taking the time to provide such a well written description of your trip on the Royal. Ours will be our first on that ship on September 21. I sure hope things are improved by then. If they aren't, this might well be our last hurrah on Princess after thirty years with them. Too many other possibilities nowadays.

[BassettMom]

Bassett Mom,

Thanks for taking the time to provide such a well written description of your trip on the Royal. Ours will be our first on that ship on September 21. I sure hope things are improved by then. If they aren't, this might well be our last hurrah on Princess after thirty years with them. Too many other possibilities nowadays.

Despite the issues, we still enjoyed the vacation (heck, it's better than being at work). I think the combination of cold weather and Code Red was the biggest problem. Hopefully you won't have any problems and will have a great time.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[gorge girl]

We were on the August 1st sailing and had a great time. It seemed that by the end of our cruise the norovirus had pretty much disappeared as on the last evening the Captain finally said he was happy to announce good results from all of the cleaning and hand washing. I think we were kept in Code Red to ensure a "clean" cruise for the next sailing. There are no postings showing up from the current cruise indicating any problems, so even though we experienced a little inconvenience on our cruise - happy it has not carried over to the current cruise.

 

We had amazingly great weather with lots of sunshine in various ports and the only day where we actually used our rain jackets were for some showers that lasted for 5 minutes one afternoon. Yes, it was cooler weather than we are used to, but we are in the British Isles and it was expected - so we packed warmly. We attended the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh on Friday, the opening night, and what a perfect evening with clear skies. Temperatures in England are certainly not what we experience here in Oregon/Washington for the summers but it didn't stop people from using the pool and enjoying the Lido deck - I was surprised at how many people were outside as I felt it was a little too cool for me.....but obviously not to others. I actually got a chuckle out of how many people wore shorts as I certainly didn't pack shorts for this trip.

 

We love the Royal Princess and considering the number of passengers it never felt crowded - unless tendering - which is always crowded no matter what ship you are sailing. The Royal and Regal are definitely our favorites and we look forward to sailing on them again. In fact, already have our next cruise booked for next August on the Royal.

 

Enjoy your cruise, you will have a wonderful time. Check out Alfredo's just off the Piazza and the International Cafe always has wonderful items, fresh and delicious. You will have a great cruise !!!

[gorge girl]

What was playing in MUTS over the last couple of cruises?

 

MUTS had The Rewrite, Woman In Gold, Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, McFarland USA, The Imitation Game, The Longest Ride, Cinderella, The Age of Adaline and a few others.

 

The TV in your stateroom has an incredible amount of new movies available for watching and the day following the MUTS movie those movies will show up on the TV - so if you miss MUTS (as it is too cold to sit outside) you can always watch them on your TV in your stateroom. We always catch up on all the movies we haven't seen and have movie marathons on the sea days !!! The new TV system on the Royal and Regal are great! Just one more reason I really enjoy these two ships - hopefully all of the Princess ships will be updated to match the new ships.

[FritzG]

MUTS had The Rewrite, Woman In Gold, Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, McFarland USA, The Imitation Game, The Longest Ride, Cinderella, The Age of Adaline and a few others.

 

The TV in your stateroom has an incredible amount of new movies available for watching and the day following the MUTS movie those movies will show up on the TV - so if you miss MUTS (as it is too cold to sit outside) you can always watch them on your TV in your stateroom. We always catch up on all the movies we haven't seen and have movie marathons on the sea days !!! The new TV system on the Royal and Regal are great! Just one more reason I really enjoy these two ships - hopefully all of the Princess ships will be updated to match the new ships.

 

Thanks. Unless it's rainy we love to sit wrapped in a blanket watching (napping?)MUTS. We've got lots of sea days, too, so watching them in our cabin will be great.

[Putterdude]

We were on the August 1st sailing and had a great time. It seemed that by the end of our cruise the norovirus had pretty much disappeared as on the last evening the Captain finally said he was happy to announce good results from all of the cleaning and hand washing. I think we were kept in Code Red to ensure a "clean" cruise for the next sailing. There are no postings showing up from the current cruise indicating any problems, so even though we experienced a little inconvenience on our cruise - happy it has not carried over to the current cruise.

 

QUOTE]

 

Thanks for the update, I am sure our roll call members will be happy to learn this.