Veendam viral outbreak request for info

[grammi]

A passenger returning from the Veendam shared with me some of his experiences with me and I would like some clarification or validation of some of his remarks.

1st he tells me the ship was never vacuumed for the enite 14 day cruise due to fear the virus might becom airborn.

2nd, he was informed of the prior cruise outbreak and offered refund just steps from boarding the ship making it hard to make a rational decision.

Thanks for any light someone can shed.

[sail7seas]

I think that HAL's very correct and most fair offer to refund the price of the cruise to any embarking passenger who chose not to board was generous and appropriate.


We were on the previous cruise. We stayed on in Tampa after disembarking the ship and we walked to the dock early in the afternoon. We picked up a copy of the letter that was being distributed and were most impressed with it.

It was completely honest and revealed exactly what was our understanding of what occured during the 12 days we had been aboard.

It offered reimbursement (up to $10) to pax who wished to get lunch someplace while waiting to board the ship.

It offered a full refund to anyone who chose not to board and assistance with any necessary travel plans.

DH and I were very happy to have seen that letter and to know that HAL and Veendam were being absolutely honest and fair. I give them Kudos for that.

[OCruisers]

grammi .... We were on the Veendam 15th sailing (the one after sail7seas).

The info you were given is correct.

The ship was NOT vacuumed. At the CDC Q&A Session for Passengers they assured us it was not airborn (except from direct droplets) BUT they did not vacuum as a precausion. :confused: Steam cleaners were used in some but not all areas.

We were offered a full refund on the cruise if we decided not to sail. Yes, we only had two hours or less to make a decision and in in most cases this was AFTER folks had already checked their luggage at the cruise terminal.

S7S .... I have a copy of the letter and your quote is correct: "Certainly, should you wish to cancel your cruise today, we will assist you with arragements to get home and reimburse you in full for your cruise."
Unfortunately, the AIR FARE was NOT included in this reimbursement. At least it was not for some folks from Canada who had booked their own air.

THIS SAME LETTER also stated: "When the ship arrived in Tampa this morning, we had outside contractors board the vessel to perform what we call 'super-sanitizing'."

Our cabin wasn't even very clean ... much less "seper-sanitized"! :eek: In our bathroom cabinet we found a used bottle of Scope and a tin of lipgloss. Under the bed was a dirty sock!

:) Will say that at the CDC Session the Captain, Hotel Manager, and CDC officals were VERY honest. They freely admitted that only the cabins where Norovirus had been reported to the infirmary were "super-sanitized" and much more would be done for the next sailing. :rolleyes: This didn't help us ... BUT, at least, they were honest about it!

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[grammi]

Thank you Ocruiser. I was surprised when I had heard reports from these cruisers when they told me they actually felt the ship was very dirty and not being kept. When they had a chance to see the service areas they appeared filthy.

Also these passengers were quarantened for the 72 hours and felt they received very limited support from cruise ship staff. Actually they thought if they died in their cabin nobody on ship would have known.