LESLIEKURZ

11/18 left late but not by much.

Got back today. No Noro for my group of 4. Didn't seem like there were a lot of sick people either. Delayed boarding of 1 PM still had us on the boat at 11:30 but rooms took till 2:30/3. Delayed muster but not by much. Cleaning was happening everywhere, all the time. Lots of wet, wet surfaces and hand washing and sani enforcment. Had to do both. Was happy to comply. Lots of times all elevator buttons were pressed from being cleaned. No fruit anywhere the first few days. Limes appeared about halfway through. Freestyles and water, coffee, tea, juice self service was all still self service. Ice cream on deck was manned though and hand washing was required. Didn't have smell or breathing issues but I'm not really sensitive. Did notice a lot of kids not properly washing and definitely touching stuff in Windjammer. Like, a lot. Just avoided the kiddie foods. I'm talking to you chocolate chips by the waffles. Honestly, I saw fingers digging in pretty much all of those bowls. Buffet staff were replacing tongs very frequently and tables were cleared very quickly. I wouldn't worry too much for future sailings. It seemed like things were much improved over the prior two cruises.

Hey Watson50... is Tyvek allowed in the MDR? Is bubble wrap OK for formal night? Might need to think about that.

Wow people. Look...to some, getting an illness like Noro is no big deal. To others, it's the end of the world and they're dying. To others still it could actually be life threatening. It's unnecessary to judge or call names if an opinion differs from yours. I have decided to put my faith in the crew and RCCL to address this issue and provide a fun and safe trip. If that means a few hours more in the terminal than so be it. If someone else decides that they have to cancel I get it. I don't feel that way. I live understanding that not everything can be controlled. I evaluate and make decisions that I feel are best for me. Seems like that's what the other posters are doing too so let's let them do that huh?

It says not to arrive before 1 PM due to limited seating in the terminal but we aren't able to change our arrival time so we'll see what happens. I don't mind sitting in the terminal or even my car for a bit to ensure a puke free cruise. I don't think they can really delay a day without a lot of hoops. From what I've been reading the outbreak wasn't severe enough to warrant that. Could be wrong. Only time will tell. Again.. keeping my washed and sanitized fingers crossed that all goes well.

Hahahaha. Best post of the day. I agree though. WTH?

Saturday sailing is now delayed boarding.

Got that email too and was bummed but guess better safe than sorry. Now to download a book for all that terminal time.

RCCL has an awesome special needs department that handles dietary restrictions, among other things. I would contact them via the form found here https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/guestSpecialNeeds.do or via email. They will be able to make your servers aware of your needs in advance which is a huge help. As someone else said, you will probably get to pick your meals in advance, the evening before which takes a huge weight off. If you like Indian food you can also look for dishes that are Jain. They are vegan and also don't contain a number of other ingredients including onions, which are my allergen. They aren't marked at the buffet but the chefs know. The vegetarian and vegan dishes are marked BTW.

Thanks all!

Wasn't worried. Just curious. Wasn't the best time for us anway since we're late dinner. Will try to find another time.

Wonder what they're doing at that time that cancelled the showing? Says I have too rebook onboard so probably aren't any prebook spaces left. Oh well. Guess I'll try to reschedule with IQ once we're onboard.

So, got this email from RCCL last night. Wonder what happened?

a.pdf

and for lunch we will either hike over to The Fish Fry or try the Bearded Clam.

Love the Bearded Clam. Pricey but chill and fun with great bar food.

Oh man. We board on Saturday. Keeping my sanitized fingers crossed that our party stays healthy and that RCCL has things under control by then.

Every ship I've been on in the past two years has had dusty cabins. Some worse than others but I don't think they do a good job with that. I generally didn't complain because it seemed a bit trivial to take him on a white glove tour to show major spots missed. Also, I don't think they vacuum much.

 

As to dishes laying around, again some ships are worse than others. In Windjammers, I've seen bus people walking around cloth in hand, but somehow didn't notice the unbussed tables./

I've noticed that too. IMHO, a lot of that is flipping the ship too quickly.

We're going Thanksgiving week and my SO is the same as yours so I'll try to remember to let you know once we're back. Missing the game is not an option.

I have to think there are things going on behind the scenes that are keeping staff from cleaning properly. Sea sickness like someone else said or a new crew or training or something. Though I've seen food plates around it's never looked like that on any of my RRCL cruises. I would definitely say something. Maybe if there are enough complaints, management will reevaluate and reassign staff. If you want it to get better you have to make it known that there's an issue. :@)

Thanks all for the info. Think I'm going to get one. I'm really the only one that comes back to the room with full hands and the only one that gets in the pool so feeling like 1 should be enough.

So basically to make a bar purchase you have to take them off?

It's a tender port so shots will be of the ship in the ocean, by the island.

They actually put them up on our Thanksgiving cruise last year.

Yes to what everyone else posted. It kind of stinks that they can't figure this out but it is what it is.

Did you have reservations for the North Star on embarkation day or did you just do walk on? We'd like to try to get on in port and weren't sure how that worked.

Laughing at this thread as I don't care what others wear on cruises or anywhere else. Wanted to update the definition of "Mall Wear" though. It now mostly consists of yoga pants and workout wear on people who have not been to and/ or have no intention of going to the gym. Hahahaha.