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Liberty of the seas - huge disappointment


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Our family booked the 11/8 sailing of the Liberty largely for the H2O Zone and hot tubs extending over the side of the ship. This has been a rough year as my 37 year old daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer - had radiation, chemo, a double masectomy and is taking Femara which does causes joint pain. This was to be a cruise for relaxation for this family. Her son was so looking forward to the H2O Zone. Are you ready for this - both the H2O and the hot tubs were closed 6 days out of 7. Yes - you read that right. We learned that the H2O zone had also been closed for the entire week on the 11/1 sailing.

This cruise started off horrible as we were told there had been two cases of Legionnaire's disease on the 11/1 sailing and that Customs was also checking the entire ship and we did not get to board until 2:30 pm. We were given varying answers in regard to why things were closed which ranged from - Legionnaire's, not enough children, contamination of the zone and hot tubs, etc. etc. Only on the next to last night of the cruise did we learn the truth - equipment failure. Royal Caribbean knew this when it boarded the 4000 passengers. No additional activities were offered for the children which normally would have used the Zone. If you wanted to use the hot tubs - you were SOOL - go soak in the cold pool. This was not our first cruise on RC. However - this may be our last. If RC had been honest and said it was the equipment we would not have wasted our time going to guest relations every day to inquire when things would open. I am starting to believe that customer satisfaction is second to revenue for Royal Caribbean.

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I am starting to believe that customer satisfaction is second to revenue for Royal Caribbean.

 

Unfortunately, being a for-profit company, revenue is ALWAYS going to take priority over customer satisfaction. Only when the satisfaction falls to the level that it affects revenue will there be a change...... It is as it is. :(

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WOW... this is really, really disappointing to read. It's the 2nd time I've read about the failure of the equipment and makes me scared. I'm sailing on Liberty in February and if the hot tubs are down I'll be SUPER bummed...

 

Experienced cruisers (especially of Freedom class) how often has this occurred?

 

Let's keep our eyes on this...

 

If I were the OP I would DEMAND OBC for the next sailing (if there is one).

 

PS - sorry to hear about your daughter's cancer :(

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I was on the 11/1 sailing of Liberty. We received a letter in our stateroom (2nd day?) from corporate indicating that a passenger on the previous cruise had been diagnosed with legionaires and as a result they would have to close the H2O Zone and hot tubes. I don't think RCL was lying about legionaires as that potentially opened up an entire bunch of other problems with passengers being concerned about their health. Maybe there was a mechanical problem that did not allow them to restart the areas or they were still closed for cleaning.

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Thats very disappointing, I would also be upset.

 

Had it been a genuine cross contamination risk then I would understand RCCL putting passenger safety first not matter how peeved passengers would be - but a blatant lie is not acceptable if that indeed is the facts.

 

Have you or any of the passengers been offered any form of compensation? Have you written to outline your complaint?

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I was on the 11/1 sailing and H2O and all the hot tubs were closed the last five days of the cruise (made for a relaxing pool area with ALL those kids there...) because of Legionnaires'. I find it interesting that you were told that two people were sick on OUR cruise, when we were told someone was sick on the PREVIOUS cruise.

 

But I can't imagine the entire H2O zone and ALL of the hot tubs had a giant mechanical failure unless every hot tub, the cantilevered ones, the one in the solarium and the ones by the pool are ALL hooked up to ONE main...thingy, as well as the H2O zone. That just seems weird, but what do I know about ship mechanics.

 

I also can't imagine some crew member would just blurt out a completely different story than "the official" one.

 

I guess we'll never know! :(

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if all the hot tubs were closed, it certainly wasn't an equipment malfunction.

exactly.

 

I also would not assume that Guest Relations had info. like any other company, my guess is communication there sucks. It's just feasible to expect all the staff to know what's going on with everything. I would not put it up to staff attempting to mislead, however.

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The hot tubs were only open on day one and day seven. The H20 Zone opened late on day six.

 

We were actually given a paper on boarding that said the previous cruise was the one with two cases of Legionnaire's disease and now I am reading the 11/1 passengers were being told it was the previous week.

 

It would be interesting to know when the problem started.

 

I am all for sanitation and would not want anything open for sanitation purposes. However, I find it strange that Legionnaire's disease closed the hot tubs and H20 zone. Maybe someone familiar with infection control can inform me as to why a complete and thorough cleaning would not take care of the problem in short order.

 

We were offered nothing - no onboard credit, no apology, no additional activities for children - just lies about malfunctioning equipment. Never again.

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So, upon arrival at the pier for checkin, if there had been signage or if someone had said the Zone and hot tubs were closed, you and your family would NOT have checked in but would have returned home?

 

I think not.

 

With so many things to do on a huge cruise ship, this is small bananas.

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So' date=' upon arrival at the pier for checkin, if there had been signage or if someone had said the Zone and hot tubs were closed, you and your family would NOT have checked in but would have returned home?

 

I think not.

 

With so many things to do on a huge cruise ship, this is small bananas.[/quote']

 

Maybe you can tell me all the inventive ideas you have for amusing children on sea days with the anticipated H20 zone closed.

 

Maybe if your 38 your old daughter had endured surgery and treatments for cancer and her body ached from the necessary drugs you could understand the importance of hot tubs.

 

This is our 26th cruise and made us Diamond on Royal Caribbean. We are not novices and were offended at Royal's handling of this situation.

 

We don't live in New Jersey and it would be only a 2 hour trip home. We could have taken any ship any time and yes - we probably might have said this is not what we contracted for and returned home.

 

Small bananas to you - big deal to me.

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So' date=' upon arrival at the pier for checkin, if there had been signage or if someone had said the Zone and hot tubs were closed, you and your family would NOT have checked in but would have returned home?

 

I think not.

 

With so many things to do on a huge cruise ship, this is small bananas.[/quote']

what an idiotic, senseless comment.

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A cruise is many things, to many people, each with different significance. I feel for the OP, it's a shame this happened and as it sounds, not much can be done about it.

 

For a comparison to some who think it wasn't a 'big deal', it would be similiar to:

 

 

  • Going for your morning coffee at a gas station, only to realize the only creamer you like is empty. Ruins the coffee entirely.
  • Traveling to Disney World with children who love, and I mean love the water. Upon arrival you find out, all the pools and water parks are down for maintenance all week. Why even go?
  • Driving hours to a theme park just to ride the latest, greatest attraction, only to find it's out of service.
  • Grilling your hamburgers for the entire family and realize you don't have any buns!
  • Choosing a vacation knowing it has the immenities to keep your child occupied and the pain low, as in this case, both were unavailable.

Sorry to hear about your luck :(

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I am so VERY sorry for the situation not only your daughter has been dealing with but for you also..Cancer affects the whole family..I know and understand the stress all of you are dealing with...The expectations of this cruise had so much potential to start the healing process..and I am sad that didn't happen..Please continue to persue your complaint with RCCL.....But always keep in mind how fortunate you are to have your daughter and the possibility of many more family vacations to come...

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So' date=' upon arrival at the pier for checkin, if there had been signage or if someone had said the Zone and hot tubs were closed, you and your family would NOT have checked in but would have returned home?

 

I think not.

 

With so many things to do on a huge cruise ship, this is small bananas.[/quote']

 

Cruises offer many different things to many different people. What is small bananas to one person may well be the highlight of someone elses cruise. No one knows what is important to you on a cruise or how you would react to the loss of that activity. How do you presume to know how anyone else would react to the loss of what they were looking forward to?

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Legionnaire's disease is caused by the bacteria Legionella. It loves moist environments and grows well in water that is between room temperature and about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. This includes normal pool and spa temperatures. A thorough cleaning and DRYING is necessary to get rid of the bacteria in places that were contaminated. If a pax was on the ship, then they would assume that ALL of these common pools were contaminated.

 

Legionnaire's has a high rate of fatalities. It's unfortunate that this happened on your cruise, but the ship would have been unwise and liable if they hadn't shut down the spas and H2O zone.

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Legionnaire's disease is caused by the bacteria Legionella. It loves moist environments and grows well in water that is between room temperature and about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. This includes normal pool and spa temperatures. A thorough cleaning and DRYING is necessary to get rid of the bacteria in places that were contaminated. If a pax was on the ship, then they would assume that ALL of these common pools were contaminated.

 

Legionnaire's has a high rate of fatalities. It's unfortunate that this happened on your cruise, but the ship would have been unwise and liable if they hadn't shut down the spas and H2O zone.

 

What I am wondering after reading all of these posts what is the time table for the germs to disapate? It seems that this condition was on more then one cruise. If this was the case was the spas & sauna's closed as well? I feel for the OP what a disappointment for you & your family especially after all you had to endure. If I was in your shoes I would be upset as well. Wishing your daughter a speedy recovery.

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