Riveria Noro, Is 25% enough?

[RJB]

What we are going to do is take precautions (as I indicated on one of the "noro" threads). Now that we know that the CDC has recommendations for products to use that actually kill the virus, it makes sense to use these products wherever applicable. In the past we have wiped down airplane tray tables, arm rests and other hard surfaces with Clorox wipes, we'll now use the wipes recommended by the CDC (one is also made by Clorox). When we board a ship, we'll spray surfaces and wipe down handles, telephones, remote controls, etc. If there is an outbreak of gastroenteritis, we may do this multiple times. If not, we'll do it once.

 

Obviously this is not something that we want to do but will do if it helps prevent us from catching a virus.

 

One thing that I recommend that you do not do - under any circumstances is spray the air flow area on a plane. Someone did this once (actually, someone that works in the movie industry that most of us know) sprayed some disinfectant into the air conditioning vent -- people in the cockpit smelled a "chemical" and landed the plane at the next airport.

Very good advise for things that we can do. Some things we have no control over, including when people fly and where they stay.

[iamkingofall]

So what do you suggest? Close the Florida airports, close all the hotels in Miami? Did you want Oceania to keep everyone on the ship for another 3 days? Tell us what you think we should do?

 

Good one

[CintiPam]

Other than responding to a few basic factual questions, I waited five days to post my opinions regarding my experiences on the February 12 cruise because I wanted my mind to be well clear of any personal health concerns and the 10 days of stress all of us onboard suffered.

 

Oddly enough, I find myself even more unhappy with Oceania management and its lack of leadership rather than less as time goes by; this truly surprises me.

 

Riviera has been my husband's favorite ship and this was our fourth cruise on her in two years, but from the time we received an email the afternoon before we boarded until this past Wednesday morning, 48 hours after leaving our fellow passengers at our hotel after sharing our second breakfast in a row with them with shared serving utensils, common coffee pots, no sneeze screens, NO SERVERS, etc., we were stressed. Was this a vacation for which my husband used up precious vacation time to de stress? Emphatically not!

 

The precautions onboard the first few days were not too troublesome but the lack of information provided and lack of communication from ship's officers was very alarming. Other than excellent CD Dottie, officers hid from sight and never communicated. The crew was magnificent, doing double duty in their normal jobs plus endless sanitation duties. By the end of our week onboard the bleach/chlorine smell was everywhere from the halls to our cabins to even the pool deck, where the pool attendants sprayed the chaise lounge cushions endlessly right next to us on Saturday afternoon and all else in sight so we fled back to our dripping cabin.

 

It was not until our luggage color had been called to disembark, and we descended on the elevator from the calm of Horizons, and we were caught up in a crowd of several hundred because no tags were checked at all, unnecessary chaos, that we found out that Oceania had chosen to have us sail on a ship that almost 7% had Noro with only an hour delay before our embarkation for extra cleaning, and that our cruise had almost 10% sick at some point or other, that I became infuriated. A fellow passenger had read this information on the CDC website, and this information spread fast in the 20 minutes it took us to get off as we chose not to push as more colors were called to disembark. Yes, we were the last of our color to collect our luggage so easy to find!

 

Disembodied voice Captain Manzi always told us our navigational position but nothing more from Tuesday's "things are looking better for the illness onboard" until his Thursday evening's announcement of our early return to Miami for deep cleaning. From Wednesday's quarantine for two hours in St. Maarten (no one allowed off the ship) until Saturday night's chaotic scramble for buses in the dark with absolutely NO SIGNAGE on any of them, it was the epitome of a lack of leadership/crisis management skills exhibited by senior management.

 

Pocketbook wise, because my husband still works full-time, we cannot take advantage of the 25 percent future cruise discount because we have planned all of his 2016 vacation time and you must book your cruise by year end 2016 and actually cruise by February 2017. Why not give us more time in 2017 to cruise??

 

Really disappointed in management having this cruise sail; thankfully a week later it did the right thing with the deep cleaning but it should have occurred starting February 12!

Edited February 28, 2016 by CintiPam

[Wren3]

Other than responding to a few basic factual questions, I waited five days to post my opinions regarding my experiences on the February 12 cruise because I wanted my mind to be well clear of any personal health concerns and the 10 days of stress all of us onboard suffered.

 

Oddly enough, I find myself even more unhappy with Oceania management and its lack of leadership rather than less as time goes by; this truly surprises me.

 

Riviera has been my husband's favorite ship and this was our fourth cruise on her in two years, but from the time we received an email the afternoon before we boarded until this past Wednesday morning, 48 hours after leaving our fellow passengers at our hotel after sharing our second breakfast in a row with them with shared serving utensils, common coffee pots, no sneeze screens, NO SERVERS, etc., we were stressed. Was this a vacation for which my husband used up precious vacation time to de stress? Emphatically not!

 

The precautions onboard the first few days were not too troublesome but the lack of information provided and lack of communication from ship's officers was very alarming. Other than excellent CD Dottie, officers hid from sight and never communicated. The crew was magnificent, doing double duty in their normal jobs plus endless sanitation duties. By the end of our week onboard the bleach/chlorine smell was everywhere from the halls to our cabins to even the pool deck, where the pool attendants sprayed the chaise lounge cushions endlessly right next to us on Saturday afternoon and all else in sight so we fled back to our dripping cabin.

 

It was not until our luggage color had been called to disembark, and we descended on the elevator from the calm of Horizons, and we were caught up in a crowd of several hundred because no tags were checked at all, unnecessary chaos, that we found out that Oceania had chosen to have us sail on a ship that almost 7% had Noro with only an hour delay before our embarkation for extra cleaning, and that our cruise had almost 10% sick at some point or other, that I became infuriated. A fellow passenger had read this information on the CDC website, and this information spread fast in the 20 minutes it took us to get off as we chose not to push as more colors were called to disembark. Yes, we were the last of our color to collect our luggage so easy to find!

 

Disembodied voice Captain Manzi always told us our navigational position but nothing more from Tuesday's "things are looking better for the illness onboard" until his Thursday evening's announcement of our early return to Miami for deep cleaning. From Wednesday's quarantine for two hours in St. Maarten (no one allowed off the ship) until Saturday night's chaotic scramble for buses in the dark with absolutely NO SIGNAGE on any of them, it was the epitome of a lack of leadership/crisis management skills exhibited by senior management.

 

Pocketbook wise, because my husband still works full-time, we cannot take advantage of the 25 percent future cruise discount because we have planned all of his 2016 vacation time and you must book your cruise by year end 2016 and actually cruise by February 2017. Why not give us more time in 2017 to cruise??

 

Really disappointed in management having this cruise sail; thankfully a week later it did the right thing with the deep cleaning but it should have occurred starting February 12!

 

Thank you Cintipam for your post. It does put into perspective what occurred on board during your sailing for people who were not there to try and understand your points of view. It really is a shame that loyal Oceania customers are left feeling such a quandary after years of loyal patronage. I hope you will eventually try Oceania again but I understand if you do not. I am embarking on March 13th on the Riviera and have to wonder how I would react under the same circumstances. As you say, it isn't just about the money spent which is a considerable amount, it is about leadership and customer appreciation and respect.

[hiccups]

Pam, I hope you can voice your displeasure to Oceania directly. Especially coming from someone that has cruised with Oceania multiple times, I think it's important for them to hear it. And I hope they will offer to extend the discount, because I agree with you--for those of us still working, we don't have unlimited vacation time to add another trip! And for others, they might not have the funds for two cruises in a year, even with a discount.

[CintiPam]

Pam, I hope you can voice your displeasure to Oceania directly. Especially coming from someone that has cruised with Oceania multiple times, I think it's important for them to hear it. And I hope they will offer to extend the discount, because I agree with you--for those of us still working, we don't have unlimited vacation time to add another trip! And for others, they might not have the funds for two cruises in a year, even with a discount.

 

I would appreciate any and all suggestions as to the best way to voice my opinions to Oceania. We were not given any mid-cruise or cruise-end questionnaires to complete, and since FDR became head of NCL, I am not sure if anyone from Oceania now reads any of the posts on this Oceania forum.

 

We started cruising in 2008; eight of my ten cruises have been on Oceania ships; the other two on Azamara. (I note that Azamara has an official representative who reads and responds to posts on the Azamara forum.)

 

I certainly would not hesitate to write to Oceania in Miami but I would want my carefully-composed sincere letter to be read by someone with some real authority/leadership position who would respond personally rather than someone who would pull out a form letter response and consign my letter fairly promptly to file 13.

Edited February 28, 2016 by CintiPam

[jdm]

citipam - Thank you for posting what I was thinking. I was also on this cruise and agree with you 100 per cent. The ship should never have sailed on February 12th!

[CruiserPK]

I would appreciate any and all suggestions as to the best way to voice my opinions to Oceania. We were not given any mid-cruise or cruise-end questionnaires to complete, and since FDR became head of NCL, I am not sure if anyone from Oceania now reads any of the posts on this Oceania forum.

 

We started cruising in 2008; eight of my ten cruises have been on Oceania ships; the other two on Azamara. (I note that Azamara has an official representative who reads and responds to posts on the Azamara forum.)

 

I certainly would not hesitate to write to Oceania in Miami but I would want my carefully-composed sincere letter to be read by someone with some real authority/leadership position who would respond personally rather than someone who would pull out a form letter response and consign my letter fairly promptly to file 13.

 

Both my husband and I have already crafted letters to Oceania and like you, have no idea to whom they should be sent in the Miami office. By the way, reception told me no comment cards for either mid cruise or the end due to possible contamination, yet we all filled out and returned disembarkation forms twice.

[RJB]

Both my husband and I have already crafted letters to Oceania and like you, have no idea to whom they should be sent in the Miami office. By the way, reception told me no comment cards for either mid cruise or the end due to possible contamination, yet we all filled out and returned disembarkation forms twice.

They will spin it any way they want to.

[LHT28]

Your TA should be able to send your letters to those incharge

[ORV]

Other than responding to a few basic factual questions, I waited five days to post my opinions regarding my experiences on the February 12 cruise because I wanted my mind to be well clear of any personal health concerns and the 10 days of stress all of us onboard suffered.

 

Oddly enough, I find myself even more unhappy with Oceania management and its lack of leadership rather than less as time goes by; this truly surprises me.

 

Riviera has been my husband's favorite ship and this was our fourth cruise on her in two years, but from the time we received an email the afternoon before we boarded until this past Wednesday morning, 48 hours after leaving our fellow passengers at our hotel after sharing our second breakfast in a row with them with shared serving utensils, common coffee pots, no sneeze screens, NO SERVERS, etc., we were stressed. Was this a vacation for which my husband used up precious vacation time to de stress? Emphatically not!

 

The precautions onboard the first few days were not too troublesome but the lack of information provided and lack of communication from ship's officers was very alarming. Other than excellent CD Dottie, officers hid from sight and never communicated. The crew was magnificent, doing double duty in their normal jobs plus endless sanitation duties. By the end of our week onboard the bleach/chlorine smell was everywhere from the halls to our cabins to even the pool deck, where the pool attendants sprayed the chaise lounge cushions endlessly right next to us on Saturday afternoon and all else in sight so we fled back to our dripping cabin.

 

It was not until our luggage color had been called to disembark, and we descended on the elevator from the calm of Horizons, and we were caught up in a crowd of several hundred because no tags were checked at all, unnecessary chaos, that we found out that Oceania had chosen to have us sail on a ship that almost 7% had Noro with only an hour delay before our embarkation for extra cleaning, and that our cruise had almost 10% sick at some point or other, that I became infuriated. A fellow passenger had read this information on the CDC website, and this information spread fast in the 20 minutes it took us to get off as we chose not to push as more colors were called to disembark. Yes, we were the last of our color to collect our luggage so easy to find!

 

Disembodied voice Captain Manzi always told us our navigational position but nothing more from Tuesday's "things are looking better for the illness onboard" until his Thursday evening's announcement of our early return to Miami for deep cleaning. From Wednesday's quarantine for two hours in St. Maarten (no one allowed off the ship) until Saturday night's chaotic scramble for buses in the dark with absolutely NO SIGNAGE on any of them, it was the epitome of a lack of leadership/crisis management skills exhibited by senior management.

 

Pocketbook wise, because my husband still works full-time, we cannot take advantage of the 25 percent future cruise discount because we have planned all of his 2016 vacation time and you must book your cruise by year end 2016 and actually cruise by February 2017. Why not give us more time in 2017 to cruise??

 

Really disappointed in management having this cruise sail; thankfully a week later it did the right thing with the deep cleaning but it should have occurred starting February 12!

 

Both my husband and I have already crafted letters to Oceania and like you, have no idea to whom they should be sent in the Miami office. By the way, reception told me no comment cards for either mid cruise or the end due to possible contamination, yet we all filled out and returned disembarkation forms twice.

 

It seems those of us on the TA & the cruise after it voiced many of the same concerns, especially the lack of communication aspect, yet were poo poohed as complainers by the regulars here. I'm reminded of the Verizon commercial, Can you hear me now?

 

Hope these letters get more response than the folks that sent ones in then.

 

It's alway a bit different when it actually happens to someone, vs reading about it happening to others.

[CintiPam]

It seems those of us on the TA & the cruise after it voiced many of the same concerns, especially the lack of communication aspect, yet were poo poohed as complainers by the regulars here. I'm reminded of the Verizon commercial, Can you hear me now?

 

Hope these letters get more response than the folks that sent ones in then.

 

It's alway a bit different when it actually happens to someone, vs reading about it happening to others.

 

You clearly have mixed me up with someone else in your above accusations; I made no such posts.

 

Still hoping someone has some useful suggestions regarding to whom at Oceania we should address our letters.

Edited February 29, 2016 by CintiPam

[Paulchili]

 

Still hoping someone has some useful suggestions regarding to whom at Oceania we should address our letters.

 

If you have a way of contacting J&S, I am sure they would have an answer for you.

Sorry about your less than stellar experience on Riviera :(

[LHT28]

You clearly have mixed me up with someone else in your above accusations; I made no such posts.

 

Still hoping someone has some useful suggestions regarding to whom at Oceania we should address our letters.

Do you use a TA?

[hypercafe]

I would send my letter to James A. Rodriguez, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Oceania Cruises as he is in charge of sales and this is very bad for sales so it should get his attention. I would also send a letter to a Miami newspaper as that is where the offices are and they are interested in cruise line news, especially how Oceania exposed many hotels, cabs, busses and people in Miami to norn. Social media also gets their attention. I would post it in every site I could find like Trip Advisor etc.

Edited February 29, 2016 by hypercafe

[kazu]

It seems those of us on the TA & the cruise after it voiced many of the same concerns, especially the lack of communication aspect, yet were poo poohed as complainers by the regulars here. I'm reminded of the Verizon commercial, Can you hear me now?

 

Hope these letters get more response than the folks that sent ones in then.

 

It's alway a bit different when it actually happens to someone, vs reading about it happening to others.

 

+1

 

You clearly have mixed me up with someone else in your above accusations; I made no such posts.

 

Still hoping someone has some useful suggestions regarding to whom at Oceania we should address our letters.

 

I think ORV was wishing you luck in your letters ;).

[nordski]

I would appreciate any and all suggestions as to the best way to voice my opinions to Oceania. We were not given any mid-cruise or cruise-end questionnaires to complete, and since FDR became head of NCL, I am not sure if anyone from Oceania now reads any of the posts on this Oceania forum.

 

We started cruising in 2008; eight of my ten cruises have been on Oceania ships; the other two on Azamara. (I note that Azamara has an official representative who reads and responds to posts on the Azamara forum.)

 

I certainly would not hesitate to write to Oceania in Miami but I would want my carefully-composed sincere letter to be read by someone with some real authority/leadership position who would respond personally rather than someone who would pull out a form letter response and consign my letter fairly promptly to file 13.

 

Thanks to you and others for pursuing this issue.

 

Certainly the circumstances you encountered would be severely discomfitting.

 

Although no one questions that Noro Virus occurs in a number of settings, cruising creates a challenge in that it involves a closed environment that is difficult to escape.

 

Surely it would be useful if, as well as working with the CDC, the cruise industry as a whole recommended a series of protocols that would be implemented as soon as an appropriate number of cases are diagnosed.

 

Primary would be communication, especially as to the contents of cleaning materials used to control an outbreak. Whether those materials are effective or not, at least that information would be useful to those on board. Secondly, having sailed on a ship where the number of cases was reported each morning, that information served to warrant greater care of personal hygiene. (As, in my mind, does the presence of the hand sanitizers, as symbolic as they may be.

 

Thanks again to those who may effect change.

[bitob]

I would send my letter to James A. Rodriguez, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Oceania Cruises as he is in charge of sales and this is very bad for sales so it should get his attention. I would also send a letter to a Miami newspaper as that is where the offices are and they are interested in cruise line news, especially how Oceania exposed many hotels, cabs, busses and people in Miami to norn. Social media also gets their attention. I would post it in every site I could find like Trip Advisor etc.

 

 

I would not go to the media unless I got no response from Oceania. Once you do that you have closed the door to meaningful communication with Oceania. Not a smart move imo. Media should be a last resort. You can state in your letter that you don't want to go to the media .., might get their attention faster.

[PaulMCO]

I would specifically write a letter to FDR or send him an email. We had similar issues with the Insignia fire and rebooking credits that were only address after an email. Our TA did his best and Head of Sales turned down his request.

 

My suggestion get your TA to call and then get the names of the people he talked with. If no satisfaction is gained from your TA I would suggest an email or letter outlining whom and what your TA discussed and clearly state what you want.

 

Being in a similar position when I get a customer complaint and I do. I typically read them and them forward it to the department with a not saying "fix it"....

Edited February 29, 2016 by PaulMCO

[CruiserPK]

It seems those of us on the TA & the cruise after it voiced many of the same concerns, especially the lack of communication aspect, yet were poo poohed as complainers by the regulars here. I'm reminded of the Verizon commercial, Can you hear me now?

 

Hope these letters get more response than the folks that sent ones in then.

 

It's alway a bit different when it actually happens to someone, vs reading about it happening to others.

 

I'm not a regular poster on these boards, but find they can be helpful both before and after our cruises. It is disappointing to hear that your letters gave you no satisfaction from the Oceania management team. They have dropped the ball with customer service.

Edited February 29, 2016 by CruiserPK

[LHT28]

You could address it to Jason Montague (president and chief operating officer for Prestige Cruise Holdings) he could pass it on to the correct person if it is not himself

[LHT28]

Just read Anthem of the seas has Noro & returning 2 days early

same complaints

lack of communication

crew cleaning... everything dripping

people not getting their rooms cleaned

people out & about having " accidents " around the ship

crew sick & some down for days

lines to get to see the doctor

 

They will get the 2 days refunded plus 50% of the next cruise

similar change fees for airline fee

no numbers of sick people reports anywhere from 60 to 500

[hypercafe]

The difference I see is this is the first trip this happened, I believe and they are bringing the ship back early to clean it. Did not the Riveria have two or three bad trips before it was brought back early to clean?

 

Sent from my SM-T320 using Forums mobile app

[LHT28]

The difference I see is this is the first trip this happened, I believe and they are bringing the ship back early to clean it. Did not the Riveria have two or three bad trips before it was brought back early to clean?

 

Sent from my SM-T320 using Forums mobile app

I am sure you have researched that

 

the point i was trying to make (and obviously failed ) was it seems the way cruise lines handle NORO is more similar than different

 

JMO

[ORV]

You clearly have mixed me up with someone else in your above accusations; I made no such posts.

 

Still hoping someone has some useful suggestions regarding to whom at Oceania we should address our letters.

 

Sorry if you felt I was targeting you, I wasn't. Also wasn't making any accusations, just stating the facts as they occurred a couple of months ago. Posters on the TA & the cruise after reported things as they were and they were basically attacked as complaining. Once again, not by you, and I wasn't really the one that was attacked, it was more some posters new to Oceania.

 

Also, I didn't write a letter, I was speaking of some other posters here that sent letters and got zero response.

 

I stand by my statements about how it becomes different when it actually happens to someone, not just reading about it. Once again, not necessarily referring to you.