Just came back from a barf fest on the Volendam

[sail7seas]

Thanks for clarifying. :)

 

[sizzle_sisters]

Well this has been an interesting read. I have submitted a letter of critique to HAL re my first cruise with them. I too was on your Oosterdam cruise Rochelle.

I was appalled at the shabbiness of the ship, and the dirt of our cabin. We have never needed to ask a steward to clean our cabin for us on any other line, until this May 7th cruise. The carpets weren't just dirty, they needed to be pulled up and tossed.

I actually wrote a word in the dust and coffee marks on the night tables......

We did not have Noro on this ship, but did anyone else get this respiratory infection from Hades?? I am not suggesting it was the current flu, but the readers can put 2&2 together. I wondered how the cruise after us managed with it, or if everyone on that cruise kept quiet too??

I am blaming HAL for some of the issues we noticed on this sailing. I firmly believe that they have cut back. The lack of cabin staff was clearly evident on deck 5. Did I ask them..... yes, and they're answer was yes.

Great ports, great weather, and good food. But the overall shabbiness?? No excuse for it. Stains on our furniture certainly appeared to have been through a Norwalk battle at some time in their life!!

[Boatdrill]

 

... you said they offered to escort you off before the debarkation crowd....but then they fell down on that....you'll probably never cruise that line again, and they have only themselves to blame.

 

Excuse me....but we don't know why they weren't escorted off the ship.

And HAL may not only have themselves to blame.

 

We don't know the other side of the story. Could be that the escort was waiting for the family at one place, and the family was waiting for the escort somewhere else. IT HAPPENS. Want to hear my stories of passengers saying one thing, and then doing another ? I'm not saying that's what happened here...I just urge everyone to keep in mind there are two sides to the story, and we will probably never hear HAL's explanation of how they managed the problems on this cruise.

 

As for the lost luggage the OP mentions...there must be more to the story. It's very unusual for bags to be "lost" during debark. He said "they" lost their bags. Who are "they" ? The longshoremen ? The baggage porters ?

 

The bags come straight down from the ship, and put on the pier. Want to hear my stories of passengers who claim that HAL lost their luggage, only to find out upon further questioning that the passenger NEVER put their bags out the night before ? Or what about the unknown passengers who mistakenly take the wrong bag out of the pier ?(which happens alot) Then yes, there would be a delay in finding bags.

 

The Volendam cruise sounded absolutely awful for this family, AND for the ship.

[beamteam]

Ny husband did get sick on the noordam in January and HAL did give us a nice credit.

[pspercy]

"spray every surface with some kind of disenfectant spray that is effective against noro virus"

 

Such as ?

 

Other than the almost inevitable bugs on third world biz trips (thankfully now in the past) I rarely get sick (touch wood) so I'm not fully up to date on current products.

 

Thanks

[knitlady037]

I used OUST surface and air sanitizer. Also used Lysol surface spray. Took two cans and kept spraying because I knew ship was already in code red when we boarded. We were also given the opportunity of cancelling the cruise with a full refund or booking at a later date. We chose to go because we had flown into Florida the day before.

[Jemima]

Why? They are already using extra items in code red cleaning plus they do extra cleaning/sanitizing with all the cabins at the end of the cruise. We were in Code Red on our Feb. Zaandam cruise and saw this.

[woody73]

When we left the Volendam on May 27 (the day the OP came on board?), it was no longer in Code Red.

 

Since we were in the last group called to leave the ship, we saw many other cabins being prepared. There were no special measures taken.

 

Woody

[world~citizen]

Well this has been an interesting read. I have submitted a letter of critique to HAL re my first cruise with them. I too was on your Oosterdam cruise Rochelle.

I was appalled at the shabbiness of the ship, and the dirt of our cabin. We have never needed to ask a steward to clean our cabin for us on any other line, until this May 7th cruise. The carpets weren't just dirty, they needed to be pulled up and tossed.

I actually wrote a word in the dust and coffee marks on the night tables......

We did not have Noro on this ship, but did anyone else get this respiratory infection from Hades?? I am not suggesting it was the current flu, but the readers can put 2&2 together. I wondered how the cruise after us managed with it, or if everyone on that cruise kept quiet too??

I am blaming HAL for some of the issues we noticed on this sailing. I firmly believe that they have cut back. The lack of cabin staff was clearly evident on deck 5. Did I ask them..... yes, and they're answer was yes.

Great ports, great weather, and good food. But the overall shabbiness?? No excuse for it. Stains on our furniture certainly appeared to have been through a Norwalk battle at some time in their life!!

 

Everyone is sympathetic to the "need" for cruise-lines to cut back in this economic environment but differ with respect to where. What you say is poignant. It demonstrates that wherever they cut-back, it shows.

 

If you can actually see dust and dirt as you describe, just imagine all the microscopic sized vacation ruining nasties you can't see.

 

I hope this is not the shape of things to come.

 

Smooth sailing...

[bepsf]

Having caught Noro aboard a cruise - I can empathize w/ the OP.

 

I hope that you and your family recover fully from this awful experience.

[travelgalcali]

CRUISERMAN79-our conditions onboard the Amsterdam aided in the illness, we did go code red-I am asking for a refund because the lack of properly working sewage systems most probably aided in the transmission of our illnesses. Also read the CDC reports from 2009-almost HAL's entire fleet has had an outbreak this year. :mad:

 

 

 

Yes indeed I am angry, and I was am aware that people do indeed get sick on cruiselines. In fact, I was not complaining at all about being quarantined or even missing some of our cruise. The crux of my complaint is the conditions aboard this ship and the procedures that were clearly not followed by HAL. Even if they did all that the CDC demands when an outbreak occured, perhaps following the bare minimum of standards is NOT enough to comfort paying customers through horrendous discomfort that is clearly the result of their mismanagement.

 

Regarding the "Code Red". This was mentioned to myself and my family personally by the on board nurse, specifically that the ship was entering a Code Red status. He assured us that extra precautions pertaining to this would occur. This never happened. No notice of any outbreak was given until the captain's final address on the last afternoon of the cruise. This is unacceptable.

 

I don't mean to argue, as I really do appreciate your insight. I am refining my case and I think that refunding our money is the very least that could be considered. If we have to take it up with Health Canada or the CDC, then we may go down that route as well.

 

Again, I realize that gastrointeritis occurs. In fact, the reports are available on the CDC website for all lines and their vessels. The problem I have is that the attempt to warn us and maybe prevent some of the outbreak onboard was extremely minimal to nonexistant.

 

I may live to cruise again, but it won't be with HAL.

[aaerobear]

One thing to note. not all of the precautions required during a "code red" are publicly noticeable and are things that are done out of the passenger areas. A ship is also not required to report "code red" or "noro" to the CDC unless more than 3% of the people onboard (pax and crew) are affected. On a ship with 2000 passengers and maybe 900 crew (total 2900) that would mean that there would have to be 77 reported cases to require reporting.

 

I do think there have been cutbacks and that cabins need to be cleaned more thoroughly. It would almost be better to delay boarding on turnarounds for a couple hours to get this done properly. At least completely block the cabin decks so passengers can not get to those areas until ALL the cabins have been cleaned.

[wigwam12]

Come on HAL. You have a month to sort out the issues on Volendam!

[Wild Thing ~T]

We have sailed the Amsterdam twice, I agree, the sewer odor does not add enjoyment (to say the least) to the cruise! The last Amsterdam cruise April 24, 09 we were greeted at the brand new pier 91 in Seattle by HAL staff with warning notices in hand, that the Amsterdam pulled into port (the very first cruise ship to EVER use the new port) with noro onboard. There were 9 on us in our group and we did not come down with it. But, it was on my mind during the cruise. We saw a team board the ship in Vancouver and all of the vent screens were taken off of the air vents on deck 3. I thought that probably had something to do with noro.

 

We like HAL, but they sure have had bad luck with noro the past year!:(

 

I agree the poor cabin stewards are way over worked with cut backs.:mad:

[Twaincruisers]

We have been on one HAL cruise that had Noro. Cruisers with the virus were put off at the next port. Does HAL no longer do this?

[brucory]

We have been on one HAL cruise that had Noro. Cruisers with the virus were put off at the next port. Does HAL no longer do this?

 

Maybe they chose to get off... If cruiselines "put people off" when they reported symptoms of gastro/noro, people would be terrified to report it which would potentially excacerbate the problem.

 

I have heard cc'ers report that medical people say that every cruise on every cruise ship has an element of these types of infections. It is just how much they spread if they are not dealt with properly and people are not hyper aware of the way they spread...

 

:(:(:(

[durangoscots]

..... or they refused to stay in their cabins as requested.

[suse]

Sorry, but this is totally ridiculous. It's not HAl's fault that you got sick. It could have happened ahead of time. Trying to get a total refund is silly. It wasn't their fault!

[knitlady037]

I totally agree with you suse. But when people have it in their minds that they have been wronged, there is nothing that could be said to change their minds.

[suse]

Thank you for that. I have ridiculous situations all day long where I work. Self-employed. A little too much time on my hands these days, therefore, I'm here! But, really, people are usually looking for something for nothing. And that's a fact, Jack.

[RuthC]

We have been on one HAL cruise that had Noro. Cruisers with the virus were put off at the next port. Does HAL no longer do this?

It's been a long time since there were any reports of people being involuntarily disembarked due to having norovirus.

 

Passengers who are infected are now confined to their cabins, and given a credit for their "unused days" when they couldn't enjoy their cruise freely. HAL got a better response of people reporting they are sick when the procedure was changed.

That made it safer for everyone.

[sjdnv]

It's been a long time since there were any reports of people being involuntarily disembarked due to having norovirus.

 

Passengers who are infected are now confined to their cabins, and given a credit for their "unused days" when they couldn't enjoy their cruise freely. HAL got a better response of people reporting they are sick when the procedure was changed.

That made it safer for everyone.

Ruth, how does one get a refund for unused days I recently had Norwalk on the Volendam, I reported it and

there was no mention of a refund I spent glacier bay staring out of the window, not too much fun:(

[knitlady037]

When we were on the Zuiderdam sailing under code red, we were informed that noro would have to be confirmed by the ship's doctor and forms filled out for the quarantine for any credit. This also holds true for our travel insurance. Luckily, we didn't get sick. Hope this helps.

[cruiserman79]

Well this has been an interesting read. I have submitted a letter of critique to HAL re my first cruise with them. I too was on your Oosterdam cruise Rochelle.

I was appalled at the shabbiness of the ship, and the dirt of our cabin. We have never needed to ask a steward to clean our cabin for us on any other line, until this May 7th cruise. The carpets weren't just dirty, they needed to be pulled up and tossed.

I actually wrote a word in the dust and coffee marks on the night tables......

We did not have Noro on this ship, but did anyone else get this respiratory infection from Hades?? I am not suggesting it was the current flu, but the readers can put 2&2 together. I wondered how the cruise after us managed with it, or if everyone on that cruise kept quiet too??

I am blaming HAL for some of the issues we noticed on this sailing. I firmly believe that they have cut back. The lack of cabin staff was clearly evident on deck 5. Did I ask them..... yes, and they're answer was yes.

Great ports, great weather, and good food. But the overall shabbiness?? No excuse for it. Stains on our furniture certainly appeared to have been through a Norwalk battle at some time in their life!!

 

Your experiences with cabin cleanliness, or lack of, are very similar to my own. I am glad to hear that you didn't actually get sick. But it only makes sense that this kind of environment only heightens the risk of retaining and transmitting viruses. Those carpets are going to be next to impossible to clean, so perhaps it is a poor choice of materials knowing that people are sick on cruise ships on a continual basis (seasickness or otherwise). Is this just not common sense?

 

Cheers.

[cruiserman79]

Excuse me....but we don't know why they weren't escorted off the ship.

And HAL may not only have themselves to blame.

 

We don't know the other side of the story. Could be that the escort was waiting for the family at one place, and the family was waiting for the escort somewhere else. IT HAPPENS. Want to hear my stories of passengers saying one thing, and then doing another ? I'm not saying that's what happened here...I just urge everyone to keep in mind there are two sides to the story, and we will probably never hear HAL's explanation of how they managed the problems on this cruise.

 

As for the lost luggage the OP mentions...there must be more to the story. It's very unusual for bags to be "lost" during debark. He said "they" lost their bags. Who are "they" ? The longshoremen ? The baggage porters ?

 

The bags come straight down from the ship, and put on the pier. Want to hear my stories of passengers who claim that HAL lost their luggage, only to find out upon further questioning that the passenger NEVER put their bags out the night before ? Or what about the unknown passengers who mistakenly take the wrong bag out of the pier ?(which happens alot) Then yes, there would be a delay in finding bags.

 

The Volendam cruise sounded absolutely awful for this family, AND for the ship.

 

I agree with you, there are always two sides to the story. I appreciate you erroring on the side of caution and defending HAL, but I assure you this is an error. As I mentioned earlier, there were WRITTEN revised disembarktion procedures delivered to our staterooms. These instructions were followed to the letter by ourselves. HAL arrived to our room at the agreed time and proceeded to load up our luggage, and then forgot one bag. We then tried, at length, to contact the front office and have this bag picked up. This did not happen.

 

By "losing" our luggage, I define this as our luggage was not at the agreed spot at port Vancouver at the agreed time. We then required extra effort to contact HAL so they could get their act together. This was another clear case of one hand not knowing what the other was doing on their part and more confusion. The whole idea of the early escort, I believe, was to avoid contaminating others and also to comfort our family after a horrendous comedy of errors. And by "they", I am of course referring to HAL's crew. As for specifics, I do not know what occured on their side and frankly don't care. I was simply holding up my end of the deal and they fouled up AGAIN. The Vancouver port staff went over and above their jobs to contact HAL, locate our luggage and even help us transport. HAL was nowhere to be seen at this point.

 

As far as feeling bad for the ship, that may need some clarification. If you are inferring that we somehow willingly put the ship in harm then I think that is a little callous, frankly. I am giving HAL the opportunity to respond to my detailed account of what happened and am perfectly willing to share that here. If they are planning on resolving this in a meaningful way then I will give them credit where it is due. If I am to blame in not following procedure or agreement at some point then HAL is perfectly welcome to address that.

 

We must keep in mind that I am the paying customer here. Having worked in the service industry, customers tend to require a little handholding from time to time but I would rate myself as pretty independent. After paying a large sum of money for this service, I simply feel that it was not provided in a safe and satisfactory manner. Dissatisfied customers must receive explanations to concerns so that the service provider can make the necessary changes and improve. Businesses that don't do this will eventually be OUT of business.

 

So far, I have received the obligatory response form letter. We shall see. Thanks for your reply.