Crown nightmare

[notentirelynormal]

So if princess was concerned with well being of there passengers, why during hanukkah services did they not pass out the food. Instead they let everyone touch all the food. Did they not consider the spread of noro then? Look we could go back and forth all day and night. Im not mad, just thought that cruise critic was for giving people your experience and opinions . Not to be judged or labeled. That's not constructive or helpful. This is truly my last response to this thread I have started. To all have a good night and happy new year.:D:)

 

It seems to me that you are the one who doesn't want to hear other experiences or opinions. You've stated yours, others have stated their positive experiences and opinions on the very same cruise. You seem to be the one who doesn't want to hear anyone else's words. There really is no "going back and forth" other then not everyone agreed with you 100% and that bothers you.

[JLC@SD]

Here is a live thread by Hulagirl which provides a little more positive experience on the same cruise:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1533077

[notentirelynormal]

From the "live from" thread....

 

I did talk to one of the workers today about the norovirus outbreak this time. He said last cruise was around 70 or so people. This cruise is in the 20 something amount of people, so considerably less, which is good. They are really trying to watch that people use the Purell dispensers and of course serving everything in the buffet, etc.

 

 

I can't imagine canceling an entire cruise because 70 people out of a couple of thousand were sick.

[Pam in CA]

I can't imagine canceling an entire cruise because 70 people out of a couple of thousand were sick.

The Crown has over 3,000 passengers and I'd bet even more on a holiday sailing. With 70 passengers sick, that means 98% of the other passengers are healthy and (hopefully) enjoying themselves. Not a reason to cancel a cruise and disrupt literally thousands of people's lives and cost them many thousands of $, particularly if they booked their own air, hotel, etc. A cruise line is not going to cancel a cruise and take a financial hit because 2% of the passengers happened to catch a virus. I'd bet that at least that many others caught colds. Should the cruise be canceled because they did?

[ONT-CA]

... A cruise line is not going to cancel a cruise and take a financial hit because 2% of the passengers happened to catch a virus.

 

A contagious virus.

[1 HappyCruiser]

From the "live from" thread....

 

 

 

I can't imagine canceling an entire cruise because 70 people out of a couple of thousand were sick.

 

And how many of the "sick" people actually had the Noro & not just sea sick? :confused:

[downwithprincess]

How about properly cleaning the ship before healthy people board so they won't get sick when they get on the ship?

[geoherb]

There's no law requiring U.S. workers get a day off either. The people who work on the ship choose to do so. For some, it may be the best job they'll ever get--a way to provide for their families even though it does have the hardship of being away from them for long stretches of time. That's why I always try to be pleasant to the crew members.

 

I'm sorry the OP, Amber, and Down With Princess did not experience a great cruise. We had several problems on this cruise, but we tried to go with the flow and not blow minor disappointments into major ones.

 

Rcl has upped there game.

Which is great for people who love the innovations that RCL has come up with. A recent article in the AARP magazine said that some women the reporter talked to had not even seen the ocean on their cruise. I don't want a holiday in the mall. I want to feel like I'm at sea, which is why the rough seas were enjoyable to me on this cruise.

[bigguy1]

We were on this cruise also and I just have to say it was the most unpleasant cruise that we have ever been on. Even at that we did manage to have a great time and did not let this ruin our annual cruise. We were fortunate in that none of the members of our party became will due to the norovirus however we did get a little woozy with the rough seas.

 

I thought the staff was pleasant in the Horizon Court and all over the ship. To mee everyone seemed very cheerful as always on Princess. We did not have any experiences with rude ship personnel. Yes it was a little slow going through the buffet line since they had to had out the food but for me it is better to be safe than sorry. I am sure that the people serving us did not enjoy it any more than we did but they were just doing what they were told to do. As far as the weather being bad with rain in Aruba and some in Curacao that was not the best but we managed to have a pleasant experience at both places.

 

I look at it as something that we will be talking about for years into the future but it will not in any way keep us from cruising with Princess again. We have done 10 cruises with Princess now and if this is as bad as it gets, I will take it!!

 

Merry Christmas everyone!!:)

 

Well said!!!!!

[WiseOldFool]

Most of you following this already know the overall details of the cruise, so I'll just stick to what my wife and I experienced. For background we've sailed Celebrity twice, and in the past year have sailed NCL five times. Our friends are super-elite with Princess and love it, so we booked a mini-suite on their recommendation. We received the email from Princess explaining the norvirus situation on the preceding Thursday and that boarding would be slightly delayed:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: CRUISE CHECK-IN

 

 

On the current sailing of Crown Princess there has been an increase in the number of cases of gastrointestinal illness amongst passengers caused by Norovirus, a common illness. It will be necessary for the ship to undergo a prolonged and additional disinfection in Port Everglades on Saturday, December 17. Consequently, embarkation will be delayed and will now begin at 2:00 pm. To ensure a smooth start to your voyages, we will continue our normal check-in procedures. Once you have completed check-in you can relax in the terminal or explore downtown Ft. Lauderdale on your own. We kindly request that you return no later than 3:00 pm. We plan to sail on schedule at 4:00 pm.

 

 

We flew a red-eye and got to FLL around 10AM and had airport transfers. We arrived at the Convention Center just before noon and registered for the cruise within a matter of minutes owing to only a few hundred people there at the time. Yes, the free offerings for refreshments were very limited, so we opted for the "food stand" and the high cost,, low quality offerings. At the time we were amazed that the food wasn't free. 2 o'clock was greeted by an announcement pushing the boarding back to 2:30. I'm not exactly sure, but I think the first group was called at about 2:50. I read HulaGirl's post saying that this part was a breeze, but being our first Princess cruise, we got our call at about 3:45. But, we felt if the ship was clean, the wait was okay, and off we went. Security was quick, got our pictures taken and we finally got on board just after 4PM.

 

We were handed what appeared to be a scavenger hunt being held from 1-4PM. Huh? I mentioned that it was already after 4, and the girl said, "Oh, we've extended it to 4:30!". O-Kay, guess we missed that opportunity, but all still okay. Found our stateroom, no luggage yet, so we set off to do some exploring, then back to room to pick up the life jackets and off the the boat drill in the theater. Then back to the room, we each had one of our two suitcases, but of course the one with the majority of my wife's clothes did not arrive. Not cool, but tolerable. Decided to freshen up and then off to Michaelangelo's for dinner, which was very nice. Good food, and sat with a couple and a family of four. We ordered the 5-bottle wine package and signed up for the wine and cheese event the next day. All is well!

 

Got out just before 9PM, back to the room, no new luggage, and off to the casino, which was surprisingly DEAD. Stayed to nearly 11, then back to the room, and our other bags were there. Yea! Finally.

 

My wife woke me up at 3AM feeling less than healthy and exhibiting signs of noro, so she called the 911 number and was connected to a nurse, who paid her a house call. Gave her immodium and announced a 48 hour quarantine on her, but not me since I had no symptoms. She also left the "bland diet room service menu" for my wife.

 

Sunday, we slept until late morning and after a spell, she called room service, ordered her bland stuff and asked for bottled water. She was told there would be a charge, which my wife challenged seeing that she was stuck in the room and didn't want to drink tap water. The response was "We will send you a glass of water". Again she asked for the bottle, and the response changed to "Who do you expect to pay for this?". We got the situation elevated to management, who relented, and shortly thereafter we were delivered a large bottle of water. I then called to order for myself from the normal menu, and was told no, the room was quarantined. I explained that it was for me, not her, and the response was "Are you sure?". What? We got this every time we called room service. Yes, every time, and it was old the first time it happened and went downhill from there.

 

So, we missed the broken tender issues and the private island that we were looking forward to, but oh well I guess. We never saw our cabin steward that day at all.

 

Monday, the same deal with room service. I wandered out and ran into our cabin steward, who told me that nobody came to clean our room because we had the "do not disturb" sign on the door. I told him that I thought we would be expected to have that on the door considering the quarantine, but he said no, they just don't bother with the room. So, yes, we would like the room made up, and he said he would pass the word. A short time later, two guys in surgical masks show up. One stays in the hall and the other comes in, strips the bed and remakes it, all the linens go into plastic bags with red stripes on them. He then proceeds to spray down the cabin with disinfectant.

 

My wife was feeling okay by now, so I went to the Excursion Desk to book for Curacao and Aruba, then to the Pursers Desk. I told the lady that we had purchased the wine package the first night, but due to the quarantine issue, we wanted to cancel it since we would not be drinking 5 bottles in 4 nights. She nicely explained that it was policy that it could not be cancelled, but that we could take the unused bottles home with us. I challenged that by saying that I was not about to carry up to 5 bottles of wine home in my luggage, that I wanted to cancel the package, and that was what I was going to accept. She then went off to speak to management, and returned with what I wanted to hear. Policy! I can see it being necessary, but not for those in quarantine before they've even had a single bottle opened.

 

I also took that opportunity to write up a comment card describing the attitude we got from room service. I then went to the internet cafe, and at no time did I see any cleaning of anything in that area. The rest of the day was spent in the cabin and dealing with room service a couple more times.

 

Tuesday, and the nurse called around 8:30AM to check on her condition, and released the quarantine. Yea! We went to the buffet and witnessed the crew serving the diners and bringing the drinks. We didn't know this was special protocol, as we had never sailed Princess, but we do now after reading the thread. Personally, the part where they bring you your drinks is nice because carrying a tray and balancing drinks on your arm is pretty difficult.

 

Still upset with the attitude from room service, we went to the Pursers Desk and asked for a face-to-face with someone in management. Within minutes, we were led to Joe's office. My wife did most of the talking, but our theme was that it wasn't her fault that she got sick seeing that the ship had problems from the prior week. The nursing staff on the ship is most professional and does a great job. But from that point on, our only real contact was room service and the attitude was horrible. We felt completely isolated and having to deal with those attitudes was not fun. Getting the initial response on the wine situation was extremely frustrating nearly to the point of anger. We both confirmed to Joe that if there was an exit opportunity from the ship, we would have taken it. At no time was there any show from the crew about how sorry they were or anything of that nature; if you are quarantined you don't exist and that's exactly how you are made to feel. Joe did listen, and agreed that perhaps an acknowledgment from the crew would be something they could look into doing. Kudos to Joe for seeing us on short notice and listening.

 

The remainder of the cruise was normal. Well, barf bags taped to walls around the ship and guys with canisters spraying all over the ship were a bit strange to see. Yes the weather sucked and the sea was rough but that comes with the turf.

 

Another thing that we found amazing was how unengaged the crew behaved. It was rare that you would pass a crew member that would even acknowledge you, much less say something. In my email survey I referred to them as zombie-like. Yes there were exceptions, our waiters in Michaelangelos and in the Crowne Grille were great.

 

Would we sail Princess again? No. Yes, you can catch noro on any ship, but the attitudes and the unfriendly crew turned us off completely from Princess.

[capriccio]

 

 

My wife woke me up at 3AM feeling less than healthy and exhibiting signs of noro, so she called the 911 number and was connected to a nurse, who paid her a house call.

 

Would we sail Princess again? No. Yes, you can catch noro on any ship, but the attitudes and the unfriendly crew turned us off completely from Princess.

 

According to the Canadian Public Health website, your wife probably didn't get noro on the ship (small comfort) but either in transit to the cruise or waiting at the Convention Center. I'm glad she's feeling better and you didn't get it.

 

"People exposed to the virus usually develop symptoms of illness within 24 to 48 hours, but symptoms can occur as early as 12 hours after exposure."

[1 HappyCruiser]

 

Would we sail Princess again? No. Yes, you can catch noro on any ship, but the attitudes and the unfriendly crew turned us off completely from Princess.

 

An almost identical situation happened to our friends on HAL a couple of years ago and they swore off HAL because of the way they were treated. Under the circumstances of a Noro outbreak any cruise lines can only do the best they can. If you can find a ship that can do a better job of satisfying everyone please let us know.

[Host CJSKIDS]

To the OP and others who have posted and were ill, I am sorry to hear about your illness while cruising. It's extremely hard to be on vacation and have the unexpected happen. It's even harder to be frustrated when you feel the situation is being handled poorly. Not to make excuses, but I'm sure the "every day" crew members that you met were all stressed and pushed beyond their limits. Who knows, maybe they had just recovered. I have found them to be very friendly, but then again, my experiences with them were under normal circumstances so I have no idea of how they were on your sailing.

 

I hope that for the days that you weren't ill you we're able to have fun and enjoy some of the wonderful things The Crown does have to offer.