Any Ryndam Updates?

[USNDiver]

I heard there was a Noro outbreak on the Ryndam, anyone have any info on this? My folks will be boarding tomorrow and were concerned about it.

 

Thanks much,

 

Dave

[Gsel]

Where did you hear this?

[ReadyToFloat]

NOTE: This came from a close friend who spoke with another close friend on a current HAL cruise. Her cruise ship is currently coming up from Mexico to San Diego.

 

Our friend on the cruise with HAL right now is either on the Oosterdam or Ryndam (not sure).

 

Word from her was that there was a Noro outbreak, and over 5% of the ship is sick, which may affect their ability to dock. It sounded from the description that if >5% of the ship is sick, the ship is in a type of quarantine until the numbers of sick passengers decrease.

 

I don't know the vailidity of the policy - that's what was referenced. It may or may not be accurate.

 

Worse yet, sounds like there were one to two passengers who may have died while on the cruise... no indication it was from anything other than natural causes.

 

I realize there are facts and rumors, and I'm not in any way claiming this as fact since I can't personally verify it... though just passing along info from someone on the ship.

[cruisinjudy]

I only heard that it was code red from friends on board, but no updates.

[cruisinjudy]

I only heard that it was code red from friends on board, but no updates.

[USNDiver]

Sorry guys, I wasn't intending to fuel a rumor fire - I read some word about Noro and was goint to pass it on to my Parents before they boarded.

 

Dave

[DougH]

I sure hope it isn't a Code Red as I sail on 3/6. A couple of years ago I did a B2B on the Sun Princess while under a Code Red and it sure does affect numerous shipboard services

[goat rancher]

Egad....Guess we were lucky....We were on the PREVIOUS cruise ( Feb, 5th through 15th) and, although we DID have a fire onboard, there was no Code Red...

Only talked to ONE person who knew someone was sick...this poor sweet old gentleman from Canada kept coming down to the Lido by himself...his wife had come down with a "virus" and was too sick to leave their stateroom for the whole cruise, but he didn't say "Norovirus" and we certainly weren't put on red alert because of her illness......

[nchank]

Hmmmm. We will be on her March 16. I would imagine it will be all cleared up by then.

[DAllenTCY]

I understand that boarding will begin at 3pm tomorrow. That usually means hundreds of guests in the terminal for hours. Please let your parents know, so that they can avoid the crush. Maybe a late brunch at Anthony's and a tour of the Midway Museum or a visit to the zoo if they are from out of town.

As usual, complimentary shuttles to Seaport Village will be offered.

Snacks will be available, along with bottled water in the terminal.

David

[messymarie]

David where do you get your information?

[sldispatcher]

Would be nice if they let people know ahead of time.

[susandiego]

Would be nice if they let people know ahead of time.

 

I was wondering about that myself. The San Diego Union-Tribune story reported:

 

Refunds will be offered to anyone who wants to back out of the cruise, Elvejord said. A letter was sent out to travel agents last week notifying them of the outbreak on the ship. So far the company had not received word of any cancellations, he said.

 

(The story is currently here:

 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080225-1230-bn25cruise2.html

 

)

 

I was on this cruise. The captain announced the problem on Tuesday evening while we were docked in Topolobampo. Even if HAL "sent letters" via USPS to TAs on Tuesday, I don't imagine the TAs would receive them before Friday. I hope that is not really an accurate description of "getting the word out." It sounds helpful, but really, I do hope they used email. Else why bother, with such tight timing?

 

Re the rumor of people dying, if anyone passed away on this cruise, we sure didn't know about it. I'm sure the press would be having a field day with that if it did happen. (But then, our cable is on the blink now that we're home, so for all I know...)

 

Fwiw, we did see guys wearing masks and spraying down the deck, lounges, chairs, tables, and railing on the stern outside on navigation and lido decks while we waited to disembark today.

 

Will be interested to read the Live from the Ryndam posts over the next 10 days -- albeit mainly out of nostalgia for our trip. We were lucky not to be infected and had a great cruise.

 

Be well!