Land & Sea - LIVE from Spain as we sail & compare HAL to Oceania

[sppunk]

I'd say this has been quite a successful thread. When I do my compound trips I normally do several threads, one on each of the cruise line's forums and one thread somewhere on neutral territory covering the entire trip. In 2017 I'm doing a trip where a 10-day Crystal World Cruise segment will be sandwiched between the Konigsdam and the Zaandam. The overall itinerary is something like this:

 

A couple of days pre cruise travel

Konigsdam 10-days

2-days travel to Buenos Aires

10 days on Crystal Serenity

A week interlude, probably visiting Iguazu falls

32 days on the Zaandam

Amtrak back home

 

How would people feel about me reporting the entire trip here since most of my time will be on HAL?

 

I'm also thinking of one little quirk in particular. There's been a lot of talk in this thread about the Oceania gangway. Crystal uses a similar gangway. I've never really thought about it but I would take a look at it in various ports to see how it is really set up and how things work for less mobile passengers. I know I usually have seen scooters, walkers, and chairs on the ship but have never seen any real access problems. I also do not remember RuthC mentioning difficulty with the gangway on her O cruise so I expect it's less an issue than it looked like in Nassau, but I will have a close look.

 

How do you feel?

 

Roy

Make sense to me to do,it all here, just let your Crystal followers know. They too love you live threads!

[kazu]

First of all, if you want a brand new sparkling ship which has lovely rooms with some nice touches (like lots of outlets for charging stuff), the Riviera is certainly that.

 

Like the Prinsendam, her pool is not covered, but I did not find this an issue as there are protected areas like the Prinsendam which permit you to sit out even in inclement weather.

 

The food selection in the Terrace Grill is huge and you can just about anything grilled from Mahi Mahi, steak, Florida lobster, etc. every day.

 

A number of O cruisers do not bother with the specialty restaurants nor the MDR and simply go to the Terrace Grill.

 

If you want a LOT of food (and believe me I saw a lot of people making multiple trips with plates piled high with food), then I think O has value if you want to eat in the Terrace Grill every day.

 

I also thought Waves was a real nice addition with it's surf & turf sandwich, hamburgers (Angus Beef and Kobe beef) and hot dogs. They also had a couple of sandwiches.

 

I found the service in Waves to be excellent, but once the rule came down that all steak had to be well done (because of the noro) the sandwiches were not good. Same in Polo (from comments) and Toscana (our experience). The meat was heavily salted to try to keep it tender and that just is not a good taste experience. Now, keep in mind that that was after Noro struck and prior to that the meat was good.

 

I think for those that want to eat grilled lobster every night (and I saw a number of those) and steak, etc. every night and have lots of food that O does have value.

 

For those who do not eat generous amounts and prefer well prepared food and good service, for us it does not have value for the price charged.

 

In fact, as we sorted through the mail today, there were 4 O brochures. Nice and shiny. DH and I thought that if they spent less money on these brochures and more money on the service aspect on board life would have been much better ;)

 

DH has made it clear that he will not go o another O ship for a very long time. Normally he doesn't care what ship - it seems he now does.

 

Thanks everyone for following along here and on my live thread.

 

Remember these are just our experiences and we both hope that whatever your cruise ship is in your future, that your experience is better.

 

We still had a good time and made the best of it. After all, a change is as good as a rest!

 

Any questions, please do fire away and if I can answer I shall.

Edited December 5, 2015 by kazu

[sail7seas]

Roy,

I'd be so appreciative if you would do a report of your whole journey.

It sounds wonderful and would be so enjoyable to 'travel along with you.'

It would be so kind of you to go to all the time, effort and expense.

 

[Lizzie68]

I'd say this has been quite a successful thread. When I do my compound trips I normally do several threads, one on each of the cruise line's forums and one thread somewhere on neutral territory covering the entire trip. In 2017 I'm doing a trip where a 10-day Crystal World Cruise segment will be sandwiched between the Konigsdam and the Zaandam. The overall itinerary is something like this:

 

A couple of days pre cruise travel

Konigsdam 10-days

2-days travel to Buenos Aires

10 days on Crystal Serenity

A week interlude, probably visiting Iguazu falls

32 days on the Zaandam

Amtrak back home

 

How would people feel about me reporting the entire trip here since most of my time will be on HAL?

 

I'm also thinking of one little quirk in particular. There's been a lot of talk in this thread about the Oceania gangway. Crystal uses a similar gangway. I've never really thought about it but I would take a look at it in various ports to see how it is really set up and how things work for less mobile passengers. I know I usually have seen scooters, walkers, and chairs on the ship but have never seen any real access problems. I also do not remember RuthC mentioning difficulty with the gangway on her O cruise so I expect it's less an issue than it looked like in Nassau, but I will have a close look.

 

How do you feel?

 

Roy

 

I subscribe to your emails and thoroughly enjoy all your trips, but it sure would be nice to see a thread on this board.

[kazu]

I have to say that reading reports like yours (and Ruth C.'s previously) really give me pause re: trying Oceania. I still think I will try the line someday but not until I'm able to find a pretty good deal for doing so...

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. :)

 

Good strategy! If we were to give it another try, it would have to be a very sweet deal I think

[cat shepard]

I'd say this has been quite a successful thread. When I do my compound trips I normally do several threads, one on each of the cruise line's forums and one thread somewhere on neutral territory covering the entire trip.

 

How would people feel about me reporting the entire trip here since most of my time will be on HAL?

 

 

How do you feel?

 

Roy

 

---------------

Roy, though more of a lurker than a poster, I would love to follow your thread. I learn so much form those of you who do this. And now I know how to subscribe to threads, I won't miss a post. :D

 

Ann

[RMLincoln]

Welcome home! When you are up to it, I'm curious as to what types of entertainment there were on O. Show-lounge shows? Guest entertainers... I saw that you mentioned Sonya, what type of entertainment does she do? Is there a dance band? Classical strings/guitarist, Piano Bar, comedy?

 

We are not so much foodies, we usually enjoy a quiet dinner for two in the MDR, not the specialty restaurants, breakfast and lunch in the buffet. DH like good pizza if it's to be had but is just has happy with decent hamburgers.

 

We enjoy lectures and some of the computer classes to learn some new things; we like a hot tub soak in the afternoon and some nice listening music in the evening. plus the evening shows. I'm not hearing that there's much on O that we'd be inclined to pay more for but I want to ask in case I 've missed something.

 

Thanks for all your reports and sharing and glad you didn't get sick! Otherwise I maintain that, "It's hard to have a bad day on a cruise ship!" and good to hear that you were able to enjoy a cruise though it didn't meet your expectations. m--

[kazu]

Welcome home! When you are up to it, I'm curious as to what types of entertainment there were on O. Show-lounge shows? Guest entertainers... I saw that you mentioned Sonya, what type of entertainment does she do? Is there a dance band? Classical strings/guitarist, Piano Bar, comedy?

 

We are not so much foodies, we usually enjoy a quiet dinner for two in the MDR, not the specialty restaurants, breakfast and lunch in the buffet. DH like good pizza if it's to be had but is just has happy with decent hamburgers.

 

We enjoy lectures and some of the computer classes to learn some new things; we like a hot tub soak in the afternoon and some nice listening music in the evening. plus the evening shows. I'm not hearing that there's much on O that we'd be inclined to pay more for but I want to ask in case I 've missed something.

 

Thanks for all your reports and sharing and glad you didn't get sick! Otherwise I maintain that, "It's hard to have a bad day on a cruise ship!" and good to hear that you were able to enjoy a cruise though it didn't meet your expectations. m--

 

happy to fill you in. I did bring home the daily progams in case someone asked and they are only in the "not yet" recycling.

 

Sonya is a singer and she is VERY good. At least we all thought so.

 

She performed on the Prinsendam and she would have put some of the performers to shame but sadly, she was to board in Bermuda so came on in Nassau and we got nor performance from her. the people on the next leg are in for a treat IMO.

 

The pizza was pretty weak on board in our opinion - but the hamburgers were quite edible and decently done :)

 

I will look up the Currents and post the entertainers for you and anyone who is interested.

 

It was very much like a Prinsendam cruise type of entertainment and I did hear some O regulars say it was improved. The Prinsendam does a better job in some areas of that IMO.

 

But some of it was better than I expected. I knew O didn't shine at entertainment and I wasn't expecting much - I knew her strong points and weak points before we sailed but some of the weak points became strong and some of the strong points weak.

[RuthC]

How would people feel about me reporting the entire trip here since most of my time will be on HAL?

Works for me! :D

Although I am thrilled to receive your e-mail reports, sometimes I do read them in the thread. You have been known to put things in one place that are not in the other, so I like to read it all.

I'm also thinking of one little quirk in particular. There's been a lot of talk in this thread about the Oceania gangway. Crystal uses a similar gangway. I've never really thought about it but I would take a look at it in various ports to see how it is really set up and how things work for less mobile passengers. I know I usually have seen scooters, walkers, and chairs on the ship but have never seen any real access problems. I also do not remember RuthC mentioning difficulty with the gangway on her O cruise so I expect it's less an issue than it looked like in Nassau, but I will have a close look.

When I sailed on Oceania I was not yet using a scooter. I remember leaving the ship on a gangway that had stairs, but they were not so deep that I couldn't handle them. Someone using a rollator, walker, or scooter, would not have been able to go ashore that way. I also remember returning via a Crew gangway one time, but can't recall how I had gotten ashore in that port; I don't recall using that route off the ship, but it must have been available.

 

Now that I think about it, though, I also think someone using a scooter (especially a scooter) would have trouble in some of the public areas of the ship. There just wasn't room to maneuver with a standard size scooter.

I don't recall seeing any scooters or wheelchairs on Oceania. A friend was using a rollator.

 

Yes, I would definitely like to read about these aspects of the ship, should you choose to report on them.

[kazu]

Works for me! :D

Although I am thrilled to receive your e-mail reports, sometimes I do read them in the thread. You have been known to put things in one place that are not in the other, so I like to read it all.

 

When I sailed on Oceania I was not yet using a scooter. I remember leaving the ship on a gangway that had stairs, but they were not so deep that I couldn't handle them. Someone using a rollator, walker, or scooter, would not have been able to go ashore that way. I also remember returning via a Crew gangway one time, but can't recall how I had gotten ashore in that port; I don't recall using that route off the ship, but it must have been available.

 

Now that I think about it, though, I also think someone using a scooter (especially a scooter) would have trouble in some of the public areas of the ship. There just wasn't room to maneuver with a standard size scooter.

I don't recall seeing any scooters or wheelchairs on Oceania. A friend was using a rollator.

 

Yes, I would definitely like to read about these aspects of the ship, should you choose to report on them.

 

thank you for posting RuthC as I remembered people asked me to post something.

 

there are no buttons on the public washrooms to open the doors on O. So someone in a scooter or wheel chair basically has to ask someone to open the door for them.

 

One person got trapped inside unable to get out and several made a comment that for a brand new ship a $3 fix (I have no idea what it costs) was silly not to have added.

[RuthC]

Is there a dance band? Classical strings/guitarist, Piano Bar, comedy?

When I sailed on the Riviera (a trans-At, which may make a difference; I don't know) there was a lovely dance band that played in the show lounge for a hour (maybe a little more) early every evening. Couples came, went up on the stage to dance. When it was time for the show, though, that ended, and off they went.

 

There was a classical group that played in the lounge near the dining room. They, too, ended very early in the evening; they were finishing just about the time I came out (about 8:00-8:30? sometime along in there).

 

There was someone who played piano in another lounge, but it was in no way a Piano Bar. He played more background, cocktail music, and did not engage with the passengers in there at all.

He seemed to take a lot of breaks, too. Again, he ended very early.

 

This was probably the first cruise I ever took where I would just return to the cabin when I finished dinner most nights. I had unlimited internet, and filled the hours on the computer until bedtime.

[RMLincoln]

Thank you Jacquie and Ruth for addressing my questions. I've learned not to say never, but although there are some nice aspects to Oceania, it's doubtful we would find a deal that we thought to be worth it. We'll see how far down some things continue to go on HAL. I have to say that we did enjoy our NCL cruise surprising more than we expected (took NCL home from a long set of tours in Europe because it fit our schedule and price!) and may look at their itineraries again when the time comes, along with HAL and others :)

 

Again, Thanks to you both for sharing your insights, observations and wisdom. m--

[Charlie Chan]

Jacqui, I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into reporting on your experience. I'm so glad you received support from others - it can be lonely out there! Your balanced observations have helped me so much in my planning and also my expectations.

 

We board the Nautica in a couple of days for our first Oceania cruise. We choose our cruises by the itineraries and to date, HAL has given us the best options. We have also cruised with Celebrity and Azamara and a couple of the river cruise companies. We are very low maintenance - think the most we have ever asked for is some ice and extra hangers. We enjoy good food - ran a restaurant in a past life - so have some understanding of the difficulties of pleasing everyone as well as the need for good service. It's not till stuff goes wrong that you really learn about the way a company looks after its customers.

 

Like you, we also know HAL is not perfect. We complain each time about the cutbacks in staff - especially the wine stewards in the main dining room. I didn't like the way that the 'no touch' rules were not in place for the first couple of days on our last cruises. (But having Captain Timmers for 28 days was brilliant.) We don't bother much with the shows - like a later relaxed dinner with good company. 2 hours is not a problem. We do enjoy listening to music and the quality certainly varies from ship to ship. We do appreciate the wonderful staff/crew. Oh - and the beautifully packaged free laundry simplifies packing.

 

This will be the most expensive cruise we have taken and I guess this puts pressure on the cruise line to show us what their reputation is based on. We certainly enjoyed Azamara - the Quest was the same size as the Nautica and I guess that will also be a factor in helping to form our opinions. Interestingly, the ship is not full, yet the prices have skyrocketed on the Australian site over the last couple of days.

 

Like you, I'm a glass half full person. I won't be attempting a 'live from' but will post when we return. Then I can get back into the planning for the Westerdam next year with you.

 

I hope the dogs were as happy to see you as you were to see them, and that you have an enjoyable Christmas and New Year with not too much snow. I've only experienced one real 'White Xmas' when we were living in Glasgow for a year. This time will be our first onboard experience - but in the tropics again.

 

Wendy

[kazu]

Jacqui, I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into reporting on your experience. I'm so glad you received support from others - it can be lonely out there! Your balanced observations have helped me so much in my planning and also my expectations.

 

We board the Nautica in a couple of days for our first Oceania cruise. We choose our cruises by the itineraries and to date, HAL has given us the best options. We have also cruised with Celebrity and Azamara and a couple of the river cruise companies. We are very low maintenance - think the most we have ever asked for is some ice and extra hangers. We enjoy good food - ran a restaurant in a past life - so have some understanding of the difficulties of pleasing everyone as well as the need for good service. It's not till stuff goes wrong that you really learn about the way a company looks after its customers.

 

Like you, we also know HAL is not perfect. We complain each time about the cutbacks in staff - especially the wine stewards in the main dining room. I didn't like the way that the 'no touch' rules were not in place for the first couple of days on our last cruises. (But having Captain Timmers for 28 days was brilliant.) We don't bother much with the shows - like a later relaxed dinner with good company. 2 hours is not a problem. We do enjoy listening to music and the quality certainly varies from ship to ship. We do appreciate the wonderful staff/crew. Oh - and the beautifully packaged free laundry simplifies packing.

 

This will be the most expensive cruise we have taken and I guess this puts pressure on the cruise line to show us what their reputation is based on. We certainly enjoyed Azamara - the Quest was the same size as the Nautica and I guess that will also be a factor in helping to form our opinions. Interestingly, the ship is not full, yet the prices have skyrocketed on the Australian site over the last couple of days.

 

Like you, I'm a glass half full person. I won't be attempting a 'live from' but will post when we return. Then I can get back into the planning for the Westerdam next year with you.

 

I hope the dogs were as happy to see you as you were to see them, and that you have an enjoyable Christmas and New Year with not too much snow. I've only experienced one real 'White Xmas' when we were living in Glasgow for a year. This time will be our first onboard experience - but in the tropics again.

 

Wendy

 

thank you Wendy. I am glad you are getting on the Nautica as the Noro is still on the Riviera and she is under restriction according to updates on the Noro thread.

 

Hopefully the Nautica shines in service and you have a wonderful cruise.

 

I heard good things about the smaller ships on board.

 

Have a great time and a wonderful holiday on board!

[kazu]

I posted the list on my live thread and thought I would save you all looking.

 

We had Sergy at the piano in Martinis every night.

 

Ocean Strings Quartet performed in the Grand Bar

 

Riviera Orchestra had performances in Horizons

 

Our enrichment lecturers were Kathleen M Wulf & Graham Anthony.

 

Shows on board in the Riviera Lounge:

- Variety Entertainer Ray Michaels

- Riviera Production cast in Lights, Camera, Music, the Look of Love, Entertainment, World Beat

- Comedy of Noodles Levenstein (along with a pre-show performance as well)

- Tenor/Instrumentalist Ugo Paliotto

- David Copperfield (not the illusionist but the Unusualist)

- vocal entertainer Paul Edison & a repeat performance by him

- pianist Sergy Nikityuk

- Evening Cabaret - musical theater with Rebecca Futterman

 

 

Late night performances in Horizons:

- Song Stylist - Sean McGee

- Olympic Duo in Save the Last Dance for me, Dance club classics, Let's Face the Music and Dance

- Elizabeth Hake performing Standard & Jazz favourites

- Blast from the Past with Riviera Orchestra

- Dance Party with Entertainment Team, assistant Cruise Director

- Song Stylist Eric Potter

- Latin Night with Olympic Duo & Entertainment Team & Dance Party

- Vocalist Edward Gartj

- Karaoke

- Steel Pan musician Robert Symons

 

The performances by the string quartet are much shorter than we are used to. Two 45 minute performances and one 30 minute performance.

 

Sergy at the piano had four 45 minute performances.

 

The Olympic duo had two 45 minute performances and one 30 minute performance.

 

There are two happy hours on the ship. one from 5-6 pm in Waves Bar, Martinis or Grand Bar (some exclusions) and the late one was from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in Horizons.

 

they also had three drinks of the day for $5.50. There was decent variety in the choices.

[retiredkid]

wow! such a lot of information on this last update. It shows us how much effort you have put into this. Thanks so much Jacqui!

[rogerthornhill]

We did this same cruise on the Riviera 2 years ago. We were looking for a cruise line like "HAL used to be". Oceania turned out to be a huge disappointment. After getting home we had our name removed from Oceania's mailing list.

 

This is what I posted on RuthC's thread at the time:

We did watch most, if not all, of the enrichment lectures. The first one we attended in person but after that only on our TV as they weren't worth the effort to attend. I would not say our knowlege was enriched by any of the lectures. One of the speakers was OK, merely OK. The other I'm not sure why we watched his talks. Maybe to see what stupid thing he would say next.

 

As an example during a talk about Pirates in the Caribbean he made a comment about one returning to England as he hadn't received the email not to do so. He talked about a variety of subjects and we had no idea as to what in his background would made him authoritative in the majority of the topics. Plate Tectonics and the history of South America? Those are pretty diverse topics. We didn't see the correlation to his being a graduate of the USCGA and having retired from the Coast Guard to the topics on which he spoke. As uninformative as he was I must say that he was a better speaker than we had on our HAL trans Pacific cruise earlier this year. That guy was not only was a very poor speaker in the quality of his presentation, but he provided incorrect information.

 

Back to food - on the O forum they rave about the superior food compared to the mainstream lines such as HAL. We can't agree from this experience. In the Grand Dining Room my wife finally gave up on trying to get eggs that were between runny and hard cooked. She tried an omelet but that was dry and tasteless. Ruth's roomie had an omelet a few days later and shared the same experience. Giving up on eggs my wife tried the waffles. She gave up on those too when she was served one that was hard and dried. Waffles can be crispy on the outside, but they should be tender inside. Ruth's roomie liked her waffles so there must have been inconsistency problems. The waffles on the Prinsendam were far better. Even the waffle at the Hyatt Place we stayed before going home was much better - and that had been under the heat lamp a bit too long.

 

We did appreciate that the Riviera tried to serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. While I did end up finishing my wife's meal, I had ordered the halibut that night. It was the superior choice to the turkey dinner which the other 3 ordered. In the traditional dinner the Brussels sprouts were very nicely cooked and the cranberry sauce was tasty. The three ladies all passed on the sweet potatoes and succotash so no comments on those items. We didn't understand why the (dry and flavorless) white meat was served with beef gravy. The "onion and herb dressing" was served looking much like a hockey puck (except in color). It was same consistency throughout and Ruth thought it should have been described as cornmeal dressing. None of us could taste any onion or herbs.

 

The meals served in the specialty restaurants were very good - aside from getting meats to temperature in Polo, the steakhouse. If one is in a PH or higher suite they can order room service (served by their butler) any night from any of the specialty restaurants. In our experience that would be a big advantage should we sail on Oceania again, but we'd rather not eat in our cabin most nights.

 

Looking back, I was very kind in what I wrote. I didn't get into the lack of service on board - or often when there was service, it was awful. Many rave about Red Ginger's Miso fish dish. It was merely OK. I don't know if our cruise was an anomaly, but we've never had worse. For the price O charges, at least average would have been nice.

 

Just the other day my wife asked if I'd want to give Oceania another chance. NO. Not even if the price were the same.

 

I don't know if you'll ever hear back from Oceania about your problems. We expressed our displeasure in the post cruise survey. Haven't heard a word.

[kazu]

We did this same cruise on the Riviera 2 years ago. We were looking for a cruise line like "HAL used to be". Oceania turned out to be a huge disappointment. After getting home we had our name removed from Oceania's mailing list.

 

This is what I posted on RuthC's thread at the time:

 

 

Looking back, I was very kind in what I wrote. I didn't get into the lack of service on board - or often when there was service, it was awful. Many rave about Red Ginger's Miso fish dish. It was merely OK. I don't know if our cruise was an anomaly, but we've never had worse. For the price O charges, at least average would have been nice.

 

Just the other day my wife asked if I'd want to give Oceania another chance. NO. Not even if the price were the same.

 

I don't know if you'll ever hear back from Oceania about your problems. We expressed our displeasure in the post cruise survey. Haven't heard a word.

 

 

I doubt we will hear back from O from our survey.

 

they will be getting a letter as well and whether they choose to reply or not is their own decision.

 

I have been told on the O board that my cruise was a "one off". It doesn't sound like that is the case between your experience and RuthC's.

 

I liked a lot of things about the ship - but the food is not the be all to end all nor is the service - at least, not on our cruise.

 

As to the fish dish in Red Ginger, I had the same problem. Others in the dining room with different servers raved about it, so I wonder if it could have been sitting under heat lamps when it wasn't picked up on time by our server.

 

It will take a LOT to convince DH to try O again. If he had done the live thread, the tone would have been much harsher I suspect.;)

 

Interesting enough - I had the same problem with eggs. It took me too long to realize that if I ordered them sunny side up, they were cooked enough to qualify for over easy. It was the only alternative. I am fussy on my eggs ;)

Edited December 6, 2015 by kazu

[RMLincoln]

Thank you Jacqui, that's a great list of entertainers! Noodles was on our NCL cruise too and did two shows for our TA crossing. I'm impressed with the variety that Oceania put together. But it's a personal decision it it's worth the cost. Looks to me, for us, the overall ups are food variety, beautiful rooms and good entertainment; downs include inconsistent food quality when served and general inconsistencies in the service, some questionable ship and corporate policies.... I'll have more research to do before I'd take the step to O.....

 

Thank you so much for digging through your currents and reporting back, your efforts are much appreciated. (And I'm sorry I spelled your name wrong before, my bad!)

m--

 

PS If you find that you are getting too much snow, please share with us in the NM mountains to help keep our fire danger down for next year!! :) They keep saying we're in for an El Nino winter but again we'll going out for a Christmas tree without snow :(

[kazu]

Thank you Jacqui, that's a great list of entertainers! Noodles was on our NCL cruise too and did two shows for our TA crossing. I'm impressed with the variety that Oceania put together. But it's a personal decision it it's worth the cost. Looks to me, for us, the overall ups are food variety, beautiful rooms and good entertainment; downs include inconsistent food quality when served and general inconsistencies in the service, some questionable ship and corporate policies.... I'll have more research to do before I'd take the step to O.....

 

 

 

Thank you so much for digging through your currents and reporting back, your efforts are much appreciated. (And I'm sorry I spelled your name wrong before, my bad!)

 

m--

 

 

 

PS If you find that you are getting too much snow, please share with us in the NM mountains to help keep our fire danger down for next year!! :) They keep saying we're in for an El Nino winter but again we'll going out for a Christmas tree without snow :(

 

 

never worry about my name - I've been called everything from Jack to Jacques, etc. ;)

 

I would be HAPPY to send you some snow. I just wish I had the power to do so.

[RMLincoln]

Confused and a bit horrified...

 

What good does overcooking a steak do to counter a Noro outbreak?

Surely there are many cold foods served...

And I thought that Noro was a contact-transmitted virus.

Unless someone had their fingers in the middle of my steak I just can't see the benefit.

They're more likely to have their fingers in the middle of my grapefruit and that's not getting cooked.

 

What am I missing? m--

[kazu]

Confused and a bit horrified...

 

What good does overcooking a steak do to counter a Noro outbreak?

Surely there are many cold foods served...

And I thought that Noro was a contact-transmitted virus.

Unless someone had their fingers in the middle of my steak I just can't see the benefit.

They're more likely to have their fingers in the middle of my grapefruit and that's not getting cooked.

 

What am I missing? m--

 

 

O put out a publication - ok, well really NCL holdings did on behalf of O.

 

It stated that undercooked meat and shellfish could attribute to Noro.

 

I have no idea on this stuff, but that is what it said.

 

From then on, all the meat was cooked well done (uggh), the shell fish was over cooked (IMO) and the sushi was cooked fish or a ceviche style cooking.

[cruisemom42]

O put out a publication - ok, well really NCL holdings did on behalf of O.

 

It stated that undercooked meat and shellfish could attribute to Noro.

 

I have no idea on this stuff, but that is what it said.

 

From then on, all the meat was cooked well done (uggh), the shell fish was over cooked (IMO) and the sushi was cooked fish or a ceviche style cooking.

 

CDC bears this out. In the link below, they mention specifically how raw and undercooked foods can transmit norovirus (from infected food workers primarily). One quote: "The virus can easily contaminate food because it is very tiny and infective. It only takes a very small amount of virus particles (as few as 18) to make someone sick."

 

http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/food-handlers/work-with-food.html

[qsuzi]

CDC bears this out. In the link below, they mention specifically how raw and undercooked foods can transmit norovirus (from infected food workers primarily). One quote: "The virus can easily contaminate food because it is very tiny and infective. It only takes a very small amount of virus particles (as few as 18) to make someone sick."

 

http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/food-handlers/work-with-food.html

 

Thanks for posting this information cruisemom.

[cat shepard]

I am a medium rare gal. I can't imagine having no choice in how my meat is cooked. And if they have to cook shellfish the same way, My entree choices would be extremely limited. But if this helped me stay healthy, I would swallow this bitter pill. Sigh. Will need to remember this if I am ever on a ship with a Noro outbreak.

 

Thank you all for this info.