Bed bugs on the Poesia

[Wychkeep]

We have just returned from our cruise on the Poesia and I hate to ay it but the ship has a problem with bed bugs. We were in cabin 9180. It was a nice cabin. When I woke up in the middle of the night with bites on my hand I though it was a mosquito. The next night my husband was bitten. We went to reception and were told housekeeping would deal with it. We went back later that day and was told they found nothing and refused to give us a new cabin. On the third night we were both bitten and found two bugs in our bed. We went back to reception and again we were told that housekeeping had done a cleaning and had found nothing. It was not until insisted on seeing her supervisor that an officer came out and escorted us to his office quickly. He told us that they were moving us to a new cabin,12146 and that we could move at our convenience. Then he got a call from the captain who insisted that we move immediately. I would like to add that there was no offer to launder our clothes or disinfect our cases so who knows if we spread the bugs to this new cabin. Also, the cabin was below the buffet and we had to listen to chairs moving constantly.
The other major problem with the ship is there was a nasty upper respiratory infection that was going around. I think it came from the air conditioning. I got very ill about 3 days into the cruise. I had to go to the medical centre twice for antibiotics. A lot of people were coughing throughout the cruise.
I would like to say, yes the ship is lovely and I wish I could have enjoyed the food but I was too sick. What saved our holiday was the wonderful people that we met. Otherwise. The reception staff need to be trained to deal with a guests concerns immediately and Do whatever is necessary to make that guest happy.
Shelley and Adrian

[Deckhandoug]

What a horrible experience, so sorry you had this happen to you!

I have to say we have been very, very fortunate to have never fallen ill while cruising nor have had to deal with bed bugs in all our many travels, and I'm sitting in a hotel room now, so I can't imagine how bad this must have been for you.

Sounds like you feel the staff and crew weren't as accommodating as they could have been either, I'm sure that just made it worse.

Hopefully next time you'll have better luck!

[Cruisin-Geezer]

Originally Posted by Wychkeep

The other major problem with the ship is there was a nasty upper respiratory infection that was going around. I think it came from the air conditioning. I got very ill about 3 days into the cruise. I had to go to the medical centre twice for antibiotics. A lot of people were coughing throughout the cruise.
I would like to say, yes the ship is lovely and I wish I could have enjoyed the food but I was too sick. What saved our holiday was the wonderful people that we met. Otherwise. The reception staff need to be trained to deal with a guests concerns immediately and Do whatever is necessary to make that guest happy.
Shelley and Adrian

Hi Shelley & Adrian - we were on this cruise too (repositioning from Ft Lauderdale to Genoa) and in fact we shared an excursion with you from Malaga to Alhambra. I can't comment on the bed bug problem, but I can both relate to the very unsatisfactory guest-relations performance and to the respiratory infection.

Re the latter we joined the ship on the preceding week's cruise of the West Caribbean and then back-to-backed with the TransAtlantic sailing. I picked up the rasping sore throat and dry cough during the first week in the Caribbean and did not shake it off until we were in Mid Atlantic some 9 days later. During that time I consumed more pain relieving Ibuprofin than I would normally use in a year!

My wife picked up the infection a couple of days after me and is only just recovering now, one and a half weeks after the cruise finished. Worst, my 86-year-old sister travelling with us caught the infection with about 5 days left on the cruise and she became very ill towards the end. I became very anxious that she might contract pneumonia. Fortunately, we got her home in one piece and she has since been confined to bed with antibiotics - now slowly recovering, but still very weak.

Yes, so many aboard the ship were hit with this bug, which I suspect was carried by the A/C system and in my experience the discomfort was intensified by it.

As for the Guest Relations operation aboard Poesia, I will not go into detail as this is the subject of a formal complaint on my part - but let me just say it was disgraceful.

It is a pity to have encountered issues, as this was our second cruise on Poesia and our 8th with MSC, which generally we find good value for money. The itinerary was good, the cuisine mainly good, the cabin, bar & restaurant services were fine and we had wonderful companions throughout the sailing. MSC generally has an excellent record regarding hygiene and health and safety, but we did find the management of the ship to have seemingly gone down hill markedly since our last sailing on her two years ago.

[Deckhandoug]

You both should make sure and post your reviews, I'm everyone would be interested.

[Wychkeep]

Hi Roger, I think I remember you on the Alhambra trip. The tour guide on the bus was very informative. I am still sick and Adrian still has a sore throat. Who knew you could get so sick on a ship. I made a formal complaint to MSC and have had no response. I also tried to do a review and apparently if you do a very negative review it is refused. I wonder just how many people have had problems and never get a say. Anyway, I am glad that you are all on the way to a good recovery. I think our next holiday will be a river cruise, a much smaller boat. Cheers
Shelley

[Frenchsnowhite]

So sorry to ear about all the problems you had
Hope next cruise will be better for all of you

And I also hope that everything is back to normal by the time we cruise on the Poesia in december. I have a question for you guys, do you remember what kinds of drinks (juice/ice tea/lomonade maybe?) where at the buffet self service drink station????

Thanks

[Wimpinthewater35]

Originally Posted by Frenchsnowhite

I have a question for you guys, do you remember what kinds of drinks (juice/ice tea/lomonade maybe?) where at the buffet self service drink station????

Thanks

If I remember correctly it was orange juice water and something else maybe cranberry juice sometimes for lunch they had lemonaid but the juices were all horrible in our opinion, after 1 sip we stuck with water or drinks that were $ and tea/coffee from the self serve machines. And even the self serve coffee wasn't that great again IMO.

Oh and they had milk but they were the small cartons like in school chocolate or regular found near the cereal and we could ask for some during the day at the buffet bars usually gave us 2 cartons each whenever we asked for milk if it wasn't out.

[Frenchsnowhite]

Thank you so much!!!!

[sophiecruiser]

Originally Posted by Cruisin-Geezer

I can't comment on the bed bug problem, but I can both relate to the very unsatisfactory guest-relations performance and to the respiratory infection......As for the Guest Relations operation aboard Poesia, I will not go into detail as this is the subject of a formal complaint on my part - but let me just say it was disgraceful.
.

My sister-in-law fell ill with an awful respiratory infection during our sailing on the Poesia in December. Could it be something in their air conditioning/circulation system? She also had an extremely horrible experience with Guest Relations. My advise to anyone speaking with Guest Relations regarding an issue would be to use your cell phone to record the conversation. Toward the end of their trip when their problem was not resolved, Guest relations would not provide them with anything in writing to confirm that they had in fact placed multiple complaints with them. She has also filed a formal complaint with MSC who has been unresponsive to their issue. Such a shame.

On the other hand, the rest of our group, consisting of 8 other people in 4 different cabins, did not experience any illness or customer service issues. We had a wonderful cruise and enjoyed the food, entertainment and service immensely.