Balmoral Nightmare

[DAN 60]

Having just stepped off the Balmoral, this morning. I can only say a prayer
for the poor people who are joining the ship this evening.Do they know,has anybody told them. I refer to the, YES you know. NORVIRUS.
Its not in the brochure. Travel agents never mention it. Well this is me
for the first time in my life on a forum telling the world, that i spent TWO days with my partner who had the virus in our, inside cabin only to see
the outside world through the TV screen. Never Never Never Again.

[bossmum1]

Having just stepped off the Balmoral, this morning. I can only say a prayer
for the poor people who are joining the ship this evening.Do they know,has anybody told them. I refer to the, YES you know. NOR VIRUS.
Its not in the brochure. Travel agents never mention it. Well this is me
for the first time in my life on a forum telling the world, that i spent TWO days with my partner who had the virus in our, inside cabin only to see
the outside world through the TV screen. Never Never Never Again.
How sorry i am to hear you had the dreaded word Norovirus, Hope you are feeling a lot better. And such a shame it spoilt your holiday.And i know how you felt trust me i know.We returned from the Black Prince a week ago Where three people left the ship in Madeira, no reason given for there early departure. On Friday i was violently ill with the said symptoms. I am just getting better today Sun. Are you aware you can carry this germ for up to twelve days. I hope this hasent spoilt it for any future cruises.

Take care Chrissy.

[the english lady]

I have also just come off BL025 round Britain cruise. I did not have the virus, but I know the ship did everything to try and stop it spreading. No buffet serve yourself meals, disinfectant hand wash at every meal, and when going out on excursions. When ever one has people in close proximity with lots of other people, not just cruise ships this sort of thing can happen. I did say to my husband how terrible it must be for people in inside cabins who were asked to stay in their room. Please do not blame Fred though. We found the cruise very enjoyable and will return to Fred to do another one.

[concerned-son]

My parents have just got home from this cruise.

Father caught the virus on Saturday 11th, and they were not allowed out of their cabin until Thursday 16th.

They were both very confused by what happened, for a long time my father thought it was caused by a piece of cake he ate on shore at the one of the stops. He did not know others were also involved for a long time. I'm sure the doctor told them, but both being 80+ these details don't get remembered, especially when you are ill.

How many others were involved?

[the english lady]

i don't know numbers,but i ate in spey dining room at the top of the ship and everyone there always seemed to be in their seat for the evening meal. I do feel sorry for those who went down with it,especially if they were in an inside cabin. I did see however at the beginning of the cruise people use the toilet and not wash their hands afterwards, or try and avoid the hand gel going into meals (that were in use from the beginning) I used the public toilets on the boats 3 times,the rest of the time i always went back to the cabin. It just needs one person coming on board thinking i feel a bit run down and need a holiday and to behave in the above manner to bring it on board and spread it. I guess your parents must have been in quarentine so long as due to their age the medical staff wanted to make sure they were not re infected. I am sure that must have totally messed their cruise up. has fred offered any compensation, not that it would make up for this cruise.

[bossmum1]

I have also just come off BL025 round Britain cruise. I did not have the virus, but I know the ship did everything to try and stop it spreading. No buffet serve yourself meals, disinfectant hand wash at every meal, and when going out on excursions. When ever one has people in close proximity with lots of other people, not just cruise ships this sort of thing can happen. I did say to my husband how terrible it must be for people in inside cabins who were asked to stay in their room. Please do not blame Fred though. We found the cruise very enjoyable and will return to Fred to do another one.
The Black Prince did the hand wash at every turning, boring but a great necessity, One evening our dining room was half empty due to illness,
Going off the topic now how did you find the trip we are thinking of doing the Britain tour next year, hubby not keen said it would be cold and water very choppy. any help would be wonderful.

[gerden]

I was also one of the unlucky passengers who came down with the dreaded virus, and had to spend two and a half days in my cabin which unfortunately was a inside cabin. I tried to cancel this cruise when they sent out the letter delaying boarding, I had my suspicions then that things were not quite right, but Fred was having none of it, cancel and you lose your money, thanks Fred. On another topic. I think Fred must have cut back on the food budget, the menu were lacking imagination and the food quite bland. And guess what they ran out of bananas, OK if your at sea for several days maybe, but going round Britain. A memorable cruise for all the wrong reasons. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[merecat]

A friend was on the new Queen Victoria 2nd, voyage when most of the ship went down with Noro ,she spent 4 days in her cabin and at the price she paid for her single cabin ,she wasn,t too happy but not Cunards fault ,some person takeing it on board.:)

[the english lady]

we loved the cruise. you forget how lovely the UK is sometimes. Mind you we only had one rainy day,in Cobh. They said our weather was better than on the august cruises around the UK. The only really bumpy sea we had was guernsey to cobh, our cabin was right at the front of the ship and we seemed ok. hubby wants to do it again as we did not see all we wanted to this time round!!!. thought up round the top of Scotland would be bad, but it wasn't at all.going through Pentland Firth was very enjoyable. only sad we did not see whales. going on P an O next year,so have been on their boards,one of their ships had it as well. it is not the ships fault. they know what problems it causes when this strikes and will do all they can to avoid it, but if people don't have the correct hygene. With that i am not saying that everyone who went down with the bug did not wash their hands etc, it just needs one person to bring it on board, and then decide to share it (unknowingly)

[concerned-son]

... I am sure that must have totally messed their cruise up. Has Fred offered any compensation, not that it would make up for this cruise.

As far as I can tell, the only compensation is a discount off another cruise. :(

Overall they tell me they were well looked after. :)

Obviously not the fault of Fred directly, but assuming that the infection is spread by someone touching the food, buffet style, which is then eaten by someone else who then catches the virus, it does make you wonder if the choice and type of food served to big groups is well enough though out ?

One annoying fact, they paid for a number of shore visits, but could only do some of them. But Fred has only offered discount vouchers against these unused visits. I would have thought they would have refunded the unused visits, especially as they knew that the ill passengers would not be able/allowed to go on the visit :confused:

[the english lady]

we were talking to a couple at the train station coming home,they had been restricted to their cabin ,but she said fred did return their money they had paid out for excursions,and could not go on, as they were restricted to to their cabin.
One badd thing i felt was the cabin felt he out to put a message out of the tannoy system saying to people who were restricted to their cabins not ro be rude/abusive to the medical staff, who were presumably not letting them roam the ship..we were in one of the shops one day and a lady was trying to purchase something. the guy behind the counter said he could not sell it to her and her card was stopped, presumably so she should not be wandering round the ship trying to buy things..as she had the virus. she was not happy, the guy said to take it up with reception. she had not bee cleared by the medical staff but was wandering around. as i said i guess thats why the ship tried to keep your parents from being re infected. do chase them up though about the excursions refund.
ref the buffet, i can see what you are getting at..people tend to moan about the time delay etc if they cannot serve themselves. still we will have to see if that is something that changes in the future. do not let this put your parents off Fred though, it can and does happen on any ship.

[gerden]

The writer on these boards who accuses passengers of not having the correct hygiene should remember that the virus could have been brought aboard by a member of the crew, and bad hygiene by kitchen staff. On two occasions when using the public toilets I had to complain that they had run out of paper towels. Also Fred Olsen should have anti bacterial sprays outside all public toilets. You can be as scrupulous as you like its just the like the common cold its just a case of luck or bad luck if you contract the virus.

[the english lady]

point taken about the staff. do you think if they had the pumps inside/outside of the toilet doors the people who tried to avoid them going into dinner would use them.

[gerden]

The point is that having anti bacterial sprays by the toilets would encourage all passengers to use them. I can only speak about my experience of the mens toilets. By the exit there is a sign which basically asks you to when leaving open the door with a paper towel, but there are no towel dispensers by the door, if Fred Olsen were to install machines by the door once again this would encourage people to use them.

[balf]

We have always found Fred Olsen ships to have much more stringent hygene policies than than other lines; P&O are much less fussy, but Fred seems to have more Noro outbreaks than most. This would suggest that the problem is other than from the passengers.

Could the problem be in the galley?

David.

[merecat]

I think its more likely to do with the age of FO passengers ,older people are more susceptible to catching things and also spend more time inside the ship.
I don,t think Olsens ships get it more often than American or P&O, Cunard ,in fact Carnival did say the hand wash didn,t do anything to protect people and they were going to withdraw it.
So perhaps thats the problem ,Freds too clean.!!!:)

[the english lady]

merecat you have said what i was thinking. the demographic of Fred seems to be the older passenger. I wonder how the Saga ships (which again have towards the older end of the spectrum) compares.