LIVE from the Volendam April 12-22, CODE RED and Other Fun Stuff

[willowoodf]

Hi All!

The good stuff - We are onboard the lovely Volendam, which is a beautiful ship, and we had a great day in Half Moon Cay, Aruba and Curacao. The ship is great, most of the staff has been excellent, the food has been great, and we LOVED the ports so far. We have been at HMC before, but never to Aruba and Curacao. Unfortunately, we were in Aruba on Sunday so most of the stores were closed. We still admired the beautiful island and had a WONDERFUL dinner at Iguana Joes.
Curacao is so colorful and all the stores were open, so I managed to part with some cash!

The bad stuff - we have been under Code Red since Saturday afternoon. One of our dinner tablemates is down with the dreaded Norvo, and I understand that many crew and people are stricken. The captain's sailaway message today said the Code Red measures have been "effective" in that there are less people getting sick. The Spa is closed (and of course we bought the couples Thermal Suite pass!) Some of the staff, particularly in the Lido, are very cranky, probably because they are stressed out and those that are well are probably working EXTRA long hours. The library is more or less closed (what sense is it, though, that we can use the computers but not read a book??) Lido is of course NOT self serve anymore, no salt and peppers, no bread baskets in the dining room.

But we are still very much enjoying the cruise, the ship is still very lovely, most of the staff are very nice, with a few exceptions, including a particularly nasty beverage server in the Lido, and a cast member working in the library who is MUCH more interested in text messaging her friends and doing her own personal thing on the computer then helping some of the poor relatively computer challenged people who are trying to figure out the computers!

We've also been delayed being cleared in both Aruba (by about an hour) and Curacao -- because of our Code Red status? Probably. They particularly made an announcement for the Doctor to appear before the officials when we were in Aruba.

Oh, yes. We've also had a fire alarm two nights in a row! The first was determined to be smoke coming from the crew galley. Oops! The second was a bona fide fire in the engine room. We were all rather tense about that, but the captain kept us posted on the intercom and they had the fire under control very quickly. I didn't even have a chance to put my life jacket on!!

I don't want anybody to get the idea we aren't enjoying our cruise, because we are. It's wonderful. We just are hoping the Code Red restrictions will lift before the cruise is over and we can use the Thermal Suite and some of the other amenities of this beautiful ship!

I'll try to keep you all posted as the cruise continues!

Mary

[hammybee]

I am so sorry to hear it necessary to sail under code red but thrilled that you are taking it in stride and making the best of it, knowing they are doing what is necessary to prevent it from spreading.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the Captain will be in a position to lift the code and then it's everyone into the thermal pool !

[DFD1]

Mary, Thanks for your post. Sounds like "never a dull moment" on your cruise.
I've never sailed under a Code Red. Doesn't sound like much fun. I hope it is lifted soon.

The Volendam is one of our favorite HAL ships. Glad you are enjoying her.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good to hear from you Mary,:) that is too bad that you are under Code Red but I am glad that you are still enjoying yourselves. I know you enjoy that Thermal suite like I do so I do hope they lift it before the cruise ends so you can enjoy it.

As for Fire Alarms it seemed for about 4 or 5 cruises in a row we had one or two for each cruise at some time in the middle of the night but our last two cruises were free of that so I am hoping the spell has been broke.:D

Continue having a great time despite a few minor problems:)

[earl_m]

I think its not your average cruise, fire alarm, 2 times. code red . This is not a cruise that you will soon forget.

[imchooch]

Seems like the Volendam likes to catch fire. The incinerator and the room it is located in caught fire the last night of our cruise in March.

[Sundagger]

Sorry to hear about the Code Red. I just got off the previous cruise and there were no problems (announced) with Noro. No fire alarms.

I did notice a wide variation in the helpfulness of the staff in the Lido. Most were always smiling and anticipated your needs, but others were nearly sullen. I couldn't have asked for better cabin and dining room stewards - they were exceptional.

This was my first time on a ship with Explorations and I fell in love with it. Particularly the blue chairs/ottomans looking out the windows. I didn't have to use the services of anyone there, but did notice a LOT of socializing between staff members there. Some of the computer patrons were "difficult" as well. The coffee bar is first class.

I've never been as enthused with Aruba as many people seem to be, but I do love Curacao. The Canal is fascinating and Puerto Limon is ... um ... interesting.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear about another ship in Code Red.

Are they going to refund your money for the spa if they aren't able to reopen it?

[GmaPajama]

Thanks for letting us all know how things are on the Volendam this week. I took a photo tour of it on another thread, and can hardly wait till it's my turn to be there.

I'm saddened, though, to know about the code red. We sailed under that earlier this year on the Ryndam - and even though it didn't ruin our cruise, we're really hoping to never see it again. It just seemed to throw things off a bit. Our cruise previous to that one was "perfect" though, and it's always hard to follow one of those.

Looking forward to your next post.

[Connecticutnewcruiser]

We're on Volendam in mid May (Alaska) - I assume various viruses are less likely to thrive in the colder climate or am I wrong? I sure hope that the ship is healthy by then - so sorry about your experience although you sure are still upbeat about it - Good for you!

[willowoodf]

Hi again!
Nobody seems to know when the Code Red will be lifted. The Captain said he had to be in touch with Seattle. I guess they must hae some standard about new cases, etc.
One of the crew members told us that they did NOT have any cases until we shared Half Moon Cay with the Maasdam. He said the Maasdam had a problem and they spread it to us. I don't know if this is true or not, but DANG that Maasdam!!
I forgot to say that we got an upgrade once on the ship. We started out on the Dolphin Deck (gty FF), but we had our name in for an upgrade, and when we got back from HMC, there was a message on our phone that they had an A veranda open and it was ours if we wanted it. YIPEE! Deck 1 to Deck 7!! We are really enjoying the veranda. We had to pay for the upgrade, but it was a minimal amount.
The spa doesn't know what is going on either. They said they would refund our money, but no idea of the full amount or pro rated or whatever. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens!!
Off to lunch now!
Mary

[PsychDoc]

What great attitudes you have! We could all take a lesson from you and be better at going with the flow of things that are out of our control. Glad to hear that you are choosing to have a great time despite the problems. We are booked on the Volendam this year for the day after Thanksgiving Panama Canal cruise - if anything at all goes wrong, I'll definitely think of your experience and quickly adjust my attitude!

[willowoodf]

Hi All!
It is now Thursday. We had a wonderful day going through the Gatun Locks yesterday, and Jeff and I did an excursion into Panama City. It was a great excursion, and we had one of the best tour guides ever. Very nice and informative, very infectious enthusiasm about his country and esp. Panama City.
Today we did Costa Rica, and had another great excursion to the Tayutica (sp?) Hacienda. Very nice excursion and again a great tour guide. Makes me want to move to Costa Rica!
The bad news is that we are still under Code Red, and it is getting worse. Out of the 10 people at our dining table, we were down to 6 last night, who knows what tonight will bring!
Jeff had gone down to the infirmary yesterday looking for a band-aid, and he said that the waiting room was full and the sick people were spilling out into the hallway. Jeff turned tail and beat it away from there! I scrounged around and found him a bandaid in my bag!!
There are employees everywhere with Purell bags and Peroxide wipes. You can't walk too far without being faced with one or the other. That's OK though, anything to try to prevent the spread!!
Two more sea days and we are home. I love sea days and am looking forward to them, even though we won't be able to relax in the Thermal Spa like we originally had planned, but we'll make the best of it!!
PsychDoc -- have a great time on your cruise and I'll keep my fingers crossed all will go smoothly for you!
Mary

[labmom]

Hi Jeff & Mary, since you were just on the Volendam could you tell me how much their drink prices were. My husband and I will be on it in Sept and just want to brace myself with my husband bar bill! We were on the Carnaval in Jan and my husband had a little bit of the stomach flue, thank heavens we brought along some imodium ad!
Hope you had a great time and thanks.
Pam

[willowoodf]

Hi Pam:
Hope you have a great time in Sept.!
The drink of the day is $5 or $5.25 I think, and the regular drinks are $6.25, I believe, with a service charge of 15% added onto that.
Mary

[hammybee]

What great attitudes you have! We could all take a lesson from you and be better at going with the flow of things that are out of our control. Glad to hear that you are choosing to have a great time despite the problems. We are booked on the Volendam this year for the day after Thanksgiving Panama Canal cruise - if anything at all goes wrong, I'll definitely think of your experience and quickly adjust my attitude!

The OP is an inspiration to all cruisers-fabulous attitude.

[willowoodf]

Thank you, Hammybee!
It's still been a great cruise and great vacation, despite the kinks. We've enjoyed it immensely. The ports have been really great, and we've enjoyed ourselves onboard, with the exception that we do miss the Thermalsuite! We got our preliminary bills today, and they never charged it to our account at all, so I guess we can be happy - we got a free day of use out of it before the Code Red!!
Code Red is still on, we only had one new case reported yesterday, but as the Capt. said, we had a "spike" in reports this morning. DH and I are still healthy <pausing to knock on wood>.
It's kind of funny, they won't let you touch anything in the shop, so if you want to look at something, the employee has to pick it up for you. Makes shopping slow. I just don't spend as much money, I guess! More for the slot machines!! (which I can say have taken ALL of my money....) But in the shops, everybody gets to use the same pen to sign their ticket. Hmmm.... It is in a pen container with a wipe, though....
We definitely aren't put off cruising, in fact, we booked one this morning with the cruise consultant! We are going to try the Southern Wayfarer cruise on the Maasdam in April '08!!
We are going to be sad to get off tomorrow morning.... tonight is packing... that's always the worst....
Bye! Mary

[willowoodf]

OK, for the next excitement in this eventful cruise! We had a medical evacuation early this evening!

The story we heard - and this is word of mouth from supposedly a witness - the cruise staff had some game going where they drop Dam Dollars into the atrium from the steps above and people rush to grab them -- supposdely there were some $50 bills among them. I guess the people were grabbing for them so much that a woman was bending over and was pushed into the center pillar head first. She fell to the floor and the witness said it looked like she was having a seizure, yet still people were stepping over her to grab the Dam Dollars! The witness told us that people finally realized something was wrong and started yelling, the medical staff came very quickly and put her in a neck collar. The witness told us that there was fear she had a broken neck. This happened around 2 this afternoon. At about 6:30 we noticed the ship had come to a stop, and soon the captain came on and said we were having a medical evacuation, a helicopter was coming to evacuate a woman requiring immediate emergency medical attention. It didn't take long for a Coast Guard helicopter to come, and they evacuated the woman from the bow using a basket. The doctor went with her. It took quite a while for all this to happen. We were all told to stay off the decks, so we just watched what we could from our balcony and the Bow Cam.

I am praying that the woman will be all right.

The next thing - a previous well table mate succombed to the nasty virus tonight and didn't make it to dinner. That makes only 4 of the original 10 at our table that have been well the whole trip (pausing to knock on wood!)

The previously sick tablemates told us that they are not allowed to put their luggage in the hallway for pickup, but they have to wait in their cabins with their luggage for the CDC to come to them! But, one of the sick people had a well cabinmate, and she is allowed to put HER luggage out in the hall and disembark as usual, even though her luggage was in the same cabin as the sick woman. Does this make sense??

Other than that, things have been fine! LOL! We had my favorite dessert tonight, watermelon pie! YUMMY!

Gotta go up to the room and pack now.... very sad to be leaving....

Mary

[jascruise]

I've never washed my hands so much in my entire life.

We were pretty sure that we were never going to get to see the Canal, but fortunately none of us got sick.

Thankfully the Purell now contains moisturizer and they've eliminated the alcohol smell.

Hope that everyone made it home safely.

[jascruise]

We definitely aren't put off cruising, in fact, we booked one this morning with the cruise consultant! We are going to try the Southern Wayfarer cruise on the Maasdam in April '08!!

We tried to get info from her about Alaska for May 08. Specifics were not available, but we were at least hoping for some insight or even general guidance. However, the cruise consultant was quite possibly the least organized, least prepared person I've encountered in a long time. Clearly not the model of efficiency that one has come to expect from HAL.

She was so bad, it was laughable.