Zuiderdam Quarantine

[highscar]

Thank you. Don’t know what else to say.  

[RuthC]

6 hours ago, NMCruiser123 said:

HAL is crediting my shipboard account $200 for not being able to attend any of my shore excursions I had booked with my “Have it All” fare.  Of course not redeemable for cash so I’ll step off the ship tomorrow with a couple hundred dollars credit vanishing into thin air, but what can ya do.  I can only stuff myself with so much steak and lobster.

If you can't, or don't want to, spend it on anything for yourself, and can't carry the excess OBC forward to another cruise, you absolutely can donate it to the crew by increasing your Hotel Service Charge (by whatever name HAL calls it these days). 

Now, I know you didn't get a lot in the way of cabin or table service, but if the money is  going to be gone anyway, might as well give it to those who did get you food & wine while in captivity. They will remember when they see you again, and will spread the word. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

7 hours ago, NMCruiser123 said:

I’m still here!  Just hard to come up with new material in my 225 square foot universe day after day.  As you’ve probably seen on another thread,  we were denied from tendering at Half Moon Cay today due to our COVID load.  Rotterdam appeared to be successful though and we had some nice views of her this morning.  We are now making our way slowly towards Florida.  Interestingly, I just got a letter under my door.  HAL is crediting my shipboard account $200 for not being able to attend any of my shore excursions I had booked with my “Have it All” fare.  Of course not redeemable for cash so I’ll step off the ship tomorrow with a couple hundred dollars credit vanishing into thin air, but what can ya do.  I can only stuff myself with so much steak and lobster.

 

Medical will drop off a letter tomorrow with 1). My positive test results 2) Verification of my 10 days in quarantine (should I decide to pursue a refund with the insurance company, but I’ll probably just opt for the automatic FCC) and 3) a letter of recovery, should there be an issue with testing for my Eurodam cruise in 3 weeks.

 

I also worked out details for disembarkation tomorrow.  My flight is at 11:30 AM so they are planning to escort me off in full PPE and chemical spray at 7:30 AM.  They also told me they will come to my cabin today and take a picture of my passport so that I don’t have to interact with customs officials tomorrow.  I’ve never heard of that happening.  Otherwise, I’m packing up, drinking wine, and feeling like a prisoner on his last day before parole! 

You  can buy a gopro camera for you excess OBC.   They hold their value and are pretty easy to sell.

[boze9999]

Did HAL give you a final test @NMCruiser123  to ensure airlines don't hassle you and so you can travel on your air reservation? 

[NMCruiser123]

I’m free!  I’ll close it out formally later.

[ger_77]

3 minutes ago, NMCruiser123 said:

I’m free!  I’ll close it out formally later.

Yay!!  Welcome back to the outside world!

 

Smooth Sailing!   

[dfish]

25 minutes ago, NMCruiser123 said:

I’m free!  I’ll close it out formally later.

 

Wonderful!   Safe travels home and hope the rest of this year is healthy and happy for you.

[trixiee]

Yeah!!

[Sea42]

17 hours ago, cruzin4us said:

I'm sorry you had to go thru it, but it's still probably better to be quarantined on a ship then in your house

Can't say I would agree with that! I would much rather be in my home, there's so much more here that would keep me occupied and it's a bit larger than a ship's cabin.

[FlorenceItaly]

 

[RuthC]

Free at last! Free at last! Congratulations. 
Thank you for the ongoing saga. At least we were entertained while you were on the ship. 

[regnig]

WONDERFUL!!!!!

[Mtn2Sea]

Safe travels!!

[NMCruiser123]

1 hour ago, FlorenceItaly said:

 

Oh that is really unfortunate.  My isolation hall definitely got filled to the max my last couple of days on the cruise.  I think if they had decided to test the entire ship again in the past couple days, they may have run out of isolation rooms!  

 

Anyway, I’ve said it before but thank you all for keeping me company and giving me support during what was a very long stretch of 10 days.  I can’t tell you how elated I was to step off the ship onto the gangway.  I’ve been at the Fort Lauderdale airport for the past 2 hours now just loving how far I can walk before running into a wall!

 

My last 24 hours in isolation was fairly uneventful.  I ended up with about $120 in unused OBC.  Thanks for all your advice on what to do with it.  Buying some duty free was given to me as an option, but I honestly need a detox now.  I ended up giving it to the dining services group as they were my lifeline during quarantine.  Sometimes delivery was a little slow, but my orders were always perfect and the food was almost always delicious.

 

I did have to spend quite a bit of time on the phone with guest services working out my final statement as for some reason some of my beverage were charged to me outside of my beverage package, but ultimately this was taken care of.  The main thing I was concerned with was getting a letter stating my positive results, my quarantine length, and a “statement of recovery” from medical.  I had requested that 4 or 5 times during my isolation, and it finally arrived at my stateroom about an hour before I disembarked!  When it was time to leave, I was able to leave at the same time as the earliest self-assist group.  An officer came to my cabin and personally escorted me to the gangway, trying their best to take me down empty halls and stay away from other guests.  This was all pointless in the end though, as security at the gangway wouldn’t let me disembark because I didn’t have a room key for my isolation room (by design) and I had to stand there for 5-10 minutes while about 100 other guests swarmed around me and off the ship.  I doubt I’m still infectious, but it was a little comedic how it played out.  Best laid plans…

 

So to wrap up this whole experience…would I have gotten on this ship if I could have foreseen what happened?  Absolutely not.  After a scary first couple of days, I was ultimately taken care of very well, but I’m not built for isolation.  It was terribly lonely at times and I am just thankful for my partner and good friends (and CC community) that I was always able to chat with.  Knowing that I am going to get a big old chunk of FCC or refund soon also makes it better.

 

Will I go on the Eurodam in 3 weeks?  I think so.  I believe the chance of this happening again is low, but if it does happen…well it’s only a 10 day cruise so if they test on the 2nd or 3rd day at least my isolation won’t be as long!  I’m hoping that our current wave will be well on the descent by that time.

 

If anyone ever runs into Stevie with dining services, or Eduardo the GSM on the Zuiderdam, give them my regards.  They were both really amazing and my most consistent sources of human contact during this time.  

 

I’ll leave you all of this photo with me and my partner, Floyd, taken onboard the Koningsdam at 11:23 PM on NYE. (Notice the brief lack of masks…perhaps this is where the COVID came from.  Can only blame myself!).  This was a happy evening but little did I know what I had in store!  If any of you see my onboard in the future, say hi!  HAL made the best of a bad situation, and I look forward to continuing to cruise with them in the future!

 

Take care everyone!

 

Dan

[seaoma]

Thanks @NMCruiser123 for the wrap up. It was interesting that you were escorted off the ship when there were so many others that were in isolation. Perhaps you were the nicest. 🙂  Crazy that they didn't remember that you needed a key to get off the ship.

 

I think you should be good to go for February. You obviously need to practice the covid protocols but I don't think I've heard of anyone getting Covid twice in such a short time. 

 

Since my next cruise is on the Zuiderdam in February, I will definitely look out for Stevie and Eduardo and pass on your regards.

 

I'm really sorry that this happened to you, but I'm glad you weren't suffering from symptoms and I appreciate you sharing your experience with us

 

[GrannieNannie]

Thanks for the posts.  Good luck and post again when you cruise.

[rotjeknor]

On 1/15/2022 at 4:34 PM, CruiserBruce said:

@rotjeknor my comments are regarding HAL operations in the US, both East Coast and West Coast, so a quarantine ship in the Netherlands doesn't much help.

Read my last sentence...

I was just describing how the HAL did it in Europe. Some might find it interesting , you apparently not 😉

[cruzingnut]

@NMCruiser123, as one of the many following you, I want to thank you too for your very interesting and informative postings during your isolation.  There are so many differing reports on how the passengers are being treated across the cruise lines when this happens and I'm glad to see that HAL did a decent job of it.  Maybe you need to keep this cruise critic name and post again when you get on your next cruise.  I'm sure a lot of us will recognize it and want to follow you again, but having a better experience on that cruise!  Safe travels home!

 

 

[Stakeout]

glad you did okay and are well.. we were on the Koningsdam for 8 weeks Nov 14-Jan 9 .. so on with you..  

 

as a sidenote---just think every staff member including the Captain and every crew member has to Quarantine for 7 days onboard before being able to start working onboard..

[Nancy&Frank]

@NMCruiser123 Thank you for your insight as to what quarantining

on a HAL ship is like.  Sorry you had to go through this, but your sharing it has helped many of us.

Stay safe, be well and hopefully you will enjoy your February cruise😊

[TiogaCruiser]

Thank you, OP, for sharing your story. Safe travels to you.

[Turtles06]

Thank you Dan, @NM Cruiser, for sharing your experiences with us.  Your positive attitude and your grace through all this were amazing.  I'm so glad you are well and heading home (and perhaps home by now).   All good health and happiness, and safe and fun cruising, to you and Floyd.

[OceanPatter]

NMCruiser123, what a loyal following you’ve developed here on cruisecritic. And almost 50k views of your thread … amazing. It speaks in part to the kindness of the HAL ‘family,’ who adopted, supported and cheered you on. (Of course, it was quite evident early on, that you’re very laid-back, friendly and just plain cool.)

 

Please update us on your future cruise … we’ll be all ears.

[Nashna]

Dan, I followed this entire post.  I had briefed husband about your plight.  He asked this morning, "What happened to that nice guy on HAL?  I had just read your last post and was delighted to let him know you were "out"!   Take care and enjoy!

[notladjr]

NMCruiser,

 

As others have said thank you so much for sharing your experience with us! I am boarding Zuiderdam January 30th for the 14 night Panama Canal cruise. I have wondered what would happen should I test positive during the cruise and now I know! Good luck on your upcoming cruise. I pray it goes well.