POH 11/6 thru 11/13 Cruise Review (including norovirus)

[smeyer418]

Thanks for that bit of common sense. Our cruise experienced the buffet with and with out the celophane. It did slow things down a little bit with it. It took maybe 5-10 minutes longer in line at each station. Without the wrap it was much like any buffet like you would find in Las Vegas, no better and no worse.

 

you are welcome...its funny that the most uncommon thing is common sense. there are always people who know better and have a better way to do things but most of the time the tried and true ways work the best.

 

Did you know there is a way to kill the novovirus? You just irradate everything and everyone....its too bad that it also makes you glow :)

[flag fan]

ohioNCLcruiser -- Thanks for the information explaining things. Its good to hear from someone who knows, like a crew member. (Also the apology and the thanks were very classy, even though the ship in question was not yours.)

[shoreguy]

..it just seems to be over kill at the buffet. ! :D

 

 

If we ended up confined to our cabin for 3 days because they did not take these "over kill" steps we would be demading to know why the didn't :eek: :D

[Retired not Expired]

If we ended up confined to our cabin for 3 days because they did not take these "over kill" steps we would be demading to know why the didn't :eek: :D

 

Isn't that the truth. I bet the 20% of the passengers and 15% of the crew of that Carnival ship coming in tomorrow would have liked to have seen overkill as that was how many got sick on that Trans-Atlantic.

[uneamie]

If we ended up confined to our cabin for 3 days because they did not take these "over kill" steps we would be demading to know why the didn't :eek: :D

 

 

Very true, and if they decided to confine everyone for a couple of days and someone didn't like it and called it "over kill"....someone else would come along in defense and say we should be glad they didn't put everyone off the ship. :( ;)

I guess it is a matter of how much is enough! :rolleyes:

Short of canceling the cruise that is.

[ferris wheeler]

I had read several reviews of this ship and the bad service, and all of the other problems it was having prior to my cruise. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. And believe me, I went into it expecting problems. Room service was always there on time, and was always good. Sorry you had problems. Having my coffee brought to my room was a godsend, and the staff was always friendly.

 

The outbreak of whatever was going around actually started about Wednesday of the trip. I noticed the saran wrap on everything about that time, because I never actually ate there...just got the cookies!!! They did not start spraying our hands until about Weds also, contrary to the remark that they always do this. No one ever said what was going on, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out, especially when our newsletters contained a full page on what to do to avoid the Norwalk virus. Really, what difference does it make how many got sick? It's surprising to me that more people do not get sick. Use the hand balls and do what you can to prevent it....:rolleyes:

 

Nope, celophane was in all 3 places (main cafe buffet, aft/ouside buffet, and poolside bar/grill) first day. I guess you didn't get to the ship early afternoon when no rooms were clean and they had almost EVERYBODY in the cafe until their room was cleaned (sanitized). There was no available seat at any of the cafe tables until rooms were cleaned. Tables were slow to be cleaned. And eating on dirty tables sure doesn't sound like very good preventative measures about avoiding any virus. We got sprayed getting on the ship first day and were asked EVERYDAY after that getting on to use "Mr Bubble" by a very friendly welcome by one crew member.

 

Again, for the most part, we enjoyed our trip. This inconvenience was a small part of many small disapointing issues. Most were waitstaff related (clean silverware...I guess the 3 spoons we had dirty at one meal missed the 1000 parts bleach, dirty water by room service, missing items by roomservice, lack of coordination in dining rooms, and others)

 

But, hey, I will go to Hawaii again as the islands were the attraction, not the ship and especially not the crew. Matre D' told us that they were severely understaffed. And not even a sorry for the dirty dishes.

[dancintomusic]

When they finally allowed us to board the first day, we were told to go to the cafe and wait until they announced that our deck was ready. Our deck was not announced until after 4 pm. There still was no explanation, and staff would only say that they were just taking longer than usual to do the normal cleaning. In fact, there never was an explanation. I just found it odd that they obviously were in the sickness prevention mode but were denying that there was any illness of the ship. Seems to me that if you tell people what is going on, they will be very careful to keep their hands clean and not catch the virus or pass it on. Denying that a virus was on the ship had the opposite effect.

 

We did not have any problems with dirty dishes or silverware. In the cafe, we were given a knife and fork in a napkin, but we always had to ask for a spoon. We also noticed that the tables were not cleared promptly in the cafe. I bussed our table several mornings so that we would have a place to sit.

 

A server in Le Bistro told us that some of their staff had been taken to work in other areas of the ship and that was why service was so slow. Maybe they were placed in the other specialty restaurants; the service was quicker in those restaurants and especially quick in Jasmine.

 

There was extra staff in the cafe handing the food to the passengers--maybe that was where the staff from Le Bistro was sent.

[youbid]

We too were on the Nov. 6th sailing. I posted earlier but it was deleted, hmmm ?

TO sum this cruise up in short....Go for the islands and expect nothing from the ship and you'll be OK. As for me this being our 29th cruise I will never use NCL again. From best to worst I rate this at 29 for us. I have already called NCL and asked to be removed from there mailing list and Latitudes list...NEVER AGAIN with NCLA or NCL

[dancintomusic]

Just wanted to add that the housekeepers on the 10th deck seemed to be all Americans. They were friendly and stepped aside and greeted us whenever we passed by any of them. By the second day, our housekeeper recognized us and greeted us by name every time she saw us. We had no problems whatsoever with housekeeping.

 

In reading other threads here, I have seen comments where people say just enjoy the islands and don’t expect much from the ship. The islands are truly beautiful, with plenty to see and do, but you can’t forget that you are on the ship for just about 12 hours most days. Spending so much time standing in line waiting for a table, or sitting at a table waiting forever for service and for food is not a pleasant way to use up the hours of your vacation. It is hard to accept that you have spent several thousand dollars of hard earned money for one week’s worth of transportation, entertainment and at least breakfast and dinner most days, and that you will have to look the other way when you receive substandard food, service and indifference from the staff. For many people, these cruises are the trip of a lifetime, and they have been saving for years for their trip. The attitude that we should just shrug our shoulders and look the other way when confronted with substandard cruise experiences does not encourage the cruise lines to fix their problems.

[ferris wheeler]

In reading other threads here, I have seen comments where people say just enjoy the islands and don’t expect much from the ship. The islands are truly beautiful, with plenty to see and do, but you can’t forget that you are on the ship for just about 12 hours most days. Spending so much time standing in line waiting for a table, or sitting at a table waiting forever for service and for food is not a pleasant way to use up the hours of your vacation. It is hard to accept that you have spent several thousand dollars of hard earned money for one week’s worth of transportation, entertainment and at least breakfast and dinner most days, and that you will have to look the other way when you receive substandard food, service and indifference from the staff. For many people, these cruises are the trip of a lifetime, and they have been saving for years for their trip. The attitude that we should just shrug our shoulders and look the other way when confronted with substandard cruise experiences does not encourage the cruise lines to fix their problems.

 

Well said. My comments to not expect too much from the ship were in respect to expectations of currently booked pax. Their money is spent already and if they expect A+ food and service they will be disappointed. Those that are still saving dollars and/or considering an NCLA cruise, should use these comments in deciding their next trip. For my cruise, I cannot say for certain that I got what I paid for. At least I didn't get what I expected.

 

If one goes and does not find all what they expect, they should let NCLA know via these forums, the customer comment cards and follow up emails to NCLA and their Travel Agent. NCLA will get the message. Whether they have the desire or capability to fix it is up to them. As long as they sail full, they will probably not make many changes very fast.

 

BTW, 11th floor here and no complaints with housekeeping either, except for the one day when my stewardess was sick and somebody half filled in.

[dancintomusic]

Those are very good suggestions, ferris wheeler.

[uneamie]

 

In reading other threads here, I have seen comments where people say just enjoy the islands and don’t expect much from the ship. The islands are truly beautiful, with plenty to see and do, but you can’t forget that you are on the ship for just about 12 hours most days. Spending so much time standing in line waiting for a table, or sitting at a table waiting forever for service and for food is not a pleasant way to use up the hours of your vacation. It is hard to accept that you have spent several thousand dollars of hard earned money for one week’s worth of transportation, entertainment and at least breakfast and dinner most days, and that you will have to look the other way when you receive substandard food, service and indifference from the staff. For many people, these cruises are the trip of a lifetime, and they have been saving for years for their trip. The attitude that we should just shrug our shoulders and look the other way when confronted with substandard cruise experiences does not encourage the cruise lines to fix their problems.

 

BRAVO! Excellant post! :)

[Bob On Cruises]

Hi!

 

I was very scared of taking a recent cruise (Royal in the Mediterranean), but read a couple of articles that explained what it is. As long as the disinfectant is there and it's highly-pushed by the crew, I'm much more at ease. Especially since there are several cruise line lawsuits going on now.

 

The article on Norovirus is at lawsuitsearch and can be found here:

http://www.lawsuitsearch.com/other-lawsuits/noravirus.aspx

 

Best!

Bob

[newmexicoNita]

We too were on the Nov. 6th sailing. I posted earlier but it was deleted, hmmm ?

TO sum this cruise up in short....Go for the islands and expect nothing from the ship and you'll be OK. As for me this being our 29th cruise I will never use NCL again. From best to worst I rate this at 29 for us. I have already called NCL and asked to be removed from there mailing list and Latitudes list...NEVER AGAIN with NCLA or NCL

why are you asking to be removed from the latitude list and NCL? Oh well, I guess that is your choice. As for having earlier post removed, this only happens if the guidelines are not followed.

 

NMnita