Gem medical in NY

According to the Local news, a passenger is being taken off the ship by the FDNY in New York Harbor.

Just heard on the news they are removing a male passenger from the Gem who is unconscious. Thoughts and prayers to his family.

Here's a picture and a short video.

http://7online.com/news/sick-passenger-helped-off-of-norwegian-cruise-ship-in-new-york/537624/

Was the Gem just setting sail or was it returning to port?

Was the Gem just setting sail or was it returning to port?

Just setting sail

I was on this cruise. We didn't return to port we just sailed slowly until we were past a certain area, then sopped in order for the fire department to board and remove the gentleman and his family.

Unfortunately the way people are after the muster drill, trying to get to where they are going resulted in crowds near the stair well and the man fell. I feel bad for him and his family.

For a quick review of the Feb 27 - March 9 cruise : I will start by saying we had a very good time with a few bumps. Of course food is subjective. We had ok to good food. Nothing great but nothing terrible. Dinners were eaten mostly in the dining rooms for the first half of the cruise. Had a not great service one night in Magenta. Tried the Grand Pacific the next night and service was non existent. We were there for almost 90 minutes and had been only served appetizers. Our waitress disappeared after bringing them to never be seen again. We got up and started to leave but I did ask the maitr'd to let our server know we were leaving. He apologized profusely and wanted to make it up to us but I declines and we ate in specialty and buffet after that.

Biggest problem we had was bed bugs. Cabin 9140 balcony. Not just our problem but others as well. We did bring it to the attention of our room steward the first morning we woke up with bites. He came in and checked both the bites as well as the beds, changed the bedding including the mattress topper, foam and bed skirt. This did not help. A couple days later a few cabins on our floor had their mattresses hauled out and new ones brought in. When we asked for this, we were told they were out of new mattress. They said that this is a problem as people come into NYC early and then bring bugs from the hotels to the ships. I can not comment on that as we did not stay in a hotel before the cruise.

Entertainment was good favourite was the crew talent show. Some of these people are quite skilled.

Entertainers in Magnums, piano guy Billy was good but favoured Billy Joel songs. While I like Billy Joel, I do not want to hear him everynight same songs over and over. The guitar guy wasn't my cup of tea. Last year the piano guy on the Gem was very good, got the crowd involved, joked around and didn't take himself as serious as the 2 this year.

Ports/excursions can not comment on as we did our own thing and did not book excursions.

Casino was fairly busy each night and service here seemed to better than the rest of the ship. Two outstanding bartenders/waiters were Red in the Magnums area and Jer in the casino.

The ship is showing some wear and tear on things like carpets etc for the people who care about that part but over all not in too bad of shape

I was on this cruise. We didn't return to port we just sailed slowly until we were past a certain area, then sopped in order for the fire department to board and remove the gentleman and his family.

 

Unfortunately the way people are after the muster drill, trying to get to where they are going resulted in crowds near the stair well and the man fell. I feel bad for him and his family.

 

For a quick review of the Feb 27 - March 9 cruise : I will start by saying we had a very good time with a few bumps. Of course food is subjective. We had ok to good food. Nothing great but nothing terrible. Dinners were eaten mostly in the dining rooms for the first half of the cruise. Had a not great service one night in Magenta. Tried the Grand Pacific the next night and service was non existent. We were there for almost 90 minutes and had been only served appetizers. Our waitress disappeared after bringing them to never be seen again. We got up and started to leave but I did ask the maitr'd to let our server know we were leaving. He apologized profusely and wanted to make it up to us but I declines and we ate in specialty and buffet after that.

 

Biggest problem we had was bed bugs. Cabin 9140 balcony. Not just our problem but others as well. We did bring it to the attention of our room steward the first morning we woke up with bites. He came in and checked both the bites as well as the beds, changed the bedding including the mattress topper, foam and bed skirt. This did not help. A couple days later a few cabins on our floor had their mattresses hauled out and new ones brought in. When we asked for this, we were told they were out of new mattress. They said that this is a problem as people come into NYC early and then bring bugs from the hotels to the ships. I can not comment on that as we did not stay in a hotel before the cruise.

 

Entertainment was good favourite was the crew talent show. Some of these people are quite skilled.

 

Entertainers in Magnums, piano guy Billy was good but favoured Billy Joel songs. While I like Billy Joel, I do not want to hear him everynight same songs over and over. The guitar guy wasn't my cup of tea. Last year the piano guy on the Gem was very good, got the crowd involved, joked around and didn't take himself as serious as the 2 this year.

 

Ports/excursions can not comment on as we did our own thing and did not book excursions.

 

Casino was fairly busy each night and service here seemed to better than the rest of the ship. Two outstanding bartenders/waiters were Red in the Magnums area and Jer in the casino.

 

The ship is showing some wear and tear on things like carpets etc for the people who care about that part but over all not in too bad of shape

We were on the same cruise and I would love some confirmation about Bed Bugs that is HUGE and if they were hauling out mattresses we would like to know!

The bed bug situation is a concern for us. We're in a nearby cabin on our upcoming cruise. We always do a bed bug check whenever we check into a hotel or ship. We'll certainly give it a close inspection this time.

whats the best way to do a bed bug check? I was in Florida about 3 months ago in a Disney hotel and my room had bed bugs. I was literally traumatized (I wont go into what happened immediately after and upon my return to NYC but let's say, it was awful) by this and had I known, I would not have booked my upcoming (as in this Sunday) Breakaway cruise.

A co worker friend of mine swears by " bedbug 911" travel size.

A co worker friend of mine swears by " bedbug 911" travel size.

Yes but that product requires contact, that is, spraying them to kill them. If I see them, I am not staying in that room anyway no matter how much cleaning they do.

Besides, if you spray any deadly chemical or something similar, that should kill them. Spray hairspray on them and I bet they will die.

That is disgusting. Did you take pictures? I am not calling you a liar, but the crew wouldn't just change the sheets, et al, for a bedbug problem. The entire room would have been stripped, treated, and cleaned ... or should have, anyway. If that is the way it was handled (changing sheets), then that is a major problem.

whats the best way to do a bed bug check? I was in Florida about 3 months ago in a Disney hotel and my room had bed bugs. I was literally traumatized (I wont go into what happened immediately after and upon my return to NYC but let's say, it was awful) by this and had I known, I would not have booked my upcoming (as in this Sunday) Breakaway cruise.

Lift the mattress, and look. Pay attention to the seams of the mattress, and behind any headboard. I always check!

Disney is darn good about keeping bedbugs under control. Sorry you had that problem :(

Lift the mattress, and look. Pay attention to the seams of the mattress, and behind any headboard. I always check!

 

Disney is darn good about keeping bedbugs under control. Sorry you had that problem :(

To be fair, it was not a Disney owned hotel but a hotel on Disney property (Swan). I saw it (the first bed bug) at about 1130 pm on our first night and it was a terrible experience all around. We did change rooms and yes I have pictures of the bugs and bites. I still was up literally all night in the new room (sitting at the computer desk) and by 8 am the next morning we checked out and went to a new hotel.

That 'new' hotel, Contemporary, went above and beyond in helping us (cleaning every single thing we had and getting us new clothing in the meantime). They checked in on us daily to make sure we felt ok. I will only stay in The Contemporary when I go back to Disney. Yes, it was expensive particularly because the reservation was last minute and yes, it was MORE than worth it.

The Swan never compensated us and also later claimed the room was bug free. Even the night housekeeping manager took one of the bugs he found with him so they knew there were bugs at the time. They later claimed it was a centipede even though I sent them pics of my bites and the bugs on the sheet. The bugs were bed bugs and not centipedes. Its very simple to tell the difference.

I would never recommend anyone to go to that hotel or its sister hotel.

Lift the mattress, and look. Pay attention to the seams of the mattress, and behind any headboard. I always check!

 

Disney is darn good about keeping bedbugs under control. Sorry you had that problem :(

When you say behind the headboard, do you mean the wall or on the back of the headboard or both?

When you say behind the headboard, do you mean the wall or on the back of the headboard or both?

The wall. They will hide where it's dark. I am petrified of getting bed bugs, and I always check for them. Do a google search. That's how I found what to look for.

The wall. They will hide where it's dark. I am petrified of getting bed bugs, and I always check for them. Do a google search. That's how I found what to look for.

Honestly, I can't google bed bugs. it will absolutely freak me out. I mean this literally. This is my first trip since the FL/ Disney bedbug incident and I am very scared to even think about this all let alone look for bugs in my room. I will probably have my dad (who I am traveling with me check) or force myself to check so I can rest easy on the trip. Googling anything about bugs though wont happen. That last trip put me in a very bad place.

Honestly, I can't google bed bugs. it will absolutely freak me out. I mean this literally. This is my first trip since the FL/ Disney bedbug incident and I am very scared to even think about this all let alone look for bugs in my room. I will probably have my dad (who I am traveling with me check) or force myself to check so I can rest easy on the trip. Googling anything about bugs though wont happen. That last trip put me in a very bad place.

I can only imagine. I'm sorry :( It would totally freak me out as well.

Very surprised by the contents of this thread.

Hygene is a very serious matter. Ships have very strinrent inspections under the Vessels Sanitation Program.

Results for all ships can be found here: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/inspectionquerytool/InspectionSearch.aspx

The operations manual is here: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/operationsmanual/OPSManual2005.pdf

However this program is probably irrelevant to bed bug infestation, unless they can cause gastrointestinal illness, which is what this program is concerned with. Still the reports available make interesting reading.

What I would like to know is, are bed bugs problematic in certain areas of the world? I am fairly well travelled, and I have never been in contact with these creatures.

Wow! I can't believe it. That freaks me out! I sure hope they took care of the Problem,

sailing next month on the Gem

Our cabin was not "infested" with bed bugs but enough that my husband had several bites. We did a bed bug check along with the cabin steward but being day time we couldn't see much. There were was some bedbug "dirt" as the cabin steward called it and blood spots on the sheets. The cabin steward said it happens, a few get in the cabin at first then it can become wide spread. Our cabin was 9140.

Our cabin was not "infested" with bed bugs but enough that my husband had several bites. We did a bed bug check along with the cabin steward but being day time we couldn't see much. There were was some bedbug "dirt" as the cabin steward called it and blood spots on the sheets. The cabin steward said it happens, a few get in the cabin at first then it can become wide spread. Our cabin was 9140.

I cannot believe that you would not have insisted on moving your room and speaking with the HD immediately . We were in the GV and it was spotless we had friends in various mini suites also spotless. A few years ago I had bites 2 days into the cruise on HAL and thought they were bed bugs, I was told by a doctor in San Juan ( family friend) they were tiny mosquitoes I was allergic to. I am sorry I have a hard time believing they were bed bugs. The Gem is also refurbishing as it sails and those mattresses may have been due to be replaced. Hard to believe that would have gone unspoken and unnoticed by everyone else on the ship.

We were on the same cruise and I would love some confirmation about Bed Bugs that is HUGE and if they were hauling out mattresses we would like to know!

That was scary!

We were on the same cruise. We had no bed bug problem (we were on deck 10) Everything was in good working condition. Had great service in the MDR. Food was good. Entertainment was good; have seen most shows before. No complaints at all!