Azura - Hand Gel

[greenp]

Hi

1st time with P+O 2/3/12, I was reading some December reviews on Cruise.co.uk and many comment on the lack of enforcement to use hand gel before entering dining room's / buffet ?? is this your experience?

Paul

[Essexlass2]

Yes, it certainly is our experience. We did the pre-Christmas cruise on Azura and whilst she is without doubt a beautiful ship and everything else about the holiday was great, we were dismayed at the lack of encouragement or enforcement to use hand gel. Hopefully things will chance sooner rather than later.

[jeanlyon]

Well the hand gel was certainly available at both ends of the buffet and was available for use in the main dining room. Remember it isn't exactly necessary in the MDR as everything is brought to the table on a plate and you will only use the salts and pepper.

[greenp]

Hopefully someone from P+O reads the reviews. I think the visable enforcement / encouragement makes people more aware of the issues, you will always get the old lady who picks up every pear in the bowl until she find the soft one !!

[davedex]

Hopefully someone from P+O reads the reviews. I think the visable enforcement / encouragement makes people more aware of the issues, you will always get the old lady who picks up every pear in the bowl until she find the soft one !!

 

Can't beat a nice pear!! ;p

[littlesteelo]

It was similar on Ventura. There was no hand gel at the restaurant entrances at all. In the buffet and the outdoor food places, the hand gel was there, but only occasionally did any staff force you to use it.

Compare this with Royal Caribbean, where they had people at the entrances to the restaurant and buffet with bottles of hand gel so you couldn't get in without using it. They also had it at the gangways too.

It doesn't bother me so much that there weren't staff enforcing it, but that it wasn't there at all in the MDR, so there wasn't even the option.

[LibraLass41]

It was similar on Ventura. There was no hand gel at the restaurant entrances at all. In the buffet and the outdoor food places, the hand gel was there, but only occasionally did any staff force you to use it.

Compare this with Royal Caribbean, where they had people at the entrances to the restaurant and buffet with bottles of hand gel so you couldn't get in without using it. They also had it at the gangways too.

It doesn't bother me so much that there weren't staff enforcing it, but that it wasn't there at all in the MDR, so there wasn't even the option.

 

P&O sometimes have staff at entrances of the buffet and main dining room holding out gel inviting you to use , other times its just on a stand when its up to you to use, some do, some don't. I assume the times the staff are there holding it out to you are when a outbreak is just begining and they want to higher their level of protection.? I've been onboard on a Noro Virus outbreak, and the cleaning standards obviously go up a gear once people start being ill. ... Toilets closed for cleaning more often, no menus or salt/pepper pots etc (but strangely they still let you sign for your drinks with the same pen the bar steward holds all night and passes to every customer!!! ) Which is surely more of a risk that a salt pot! - ALL THOSE SWEATY HANDS SIGNING CHITTIES WITH THAT PEN....:eek:

[Cosmic Rays]

It was similar on Ventura. There was no hand gel at the restaurant entrances at all. In the buffet and the outdoor food places, the hand gel was there, but only occasionally did any staff force you to use it.

Compare this with Royal Caribbean, where they had people at the entrances to the restaurant and buffet with bottles of hand gel so you couldn't get in without using it. They also had it at the gangways too.

It doesn't bother me so much that there weren't staff enforcing it, but that it wasn't there at all in the MDR, so there wasn't even the option.

 

Also on Cunard where ALL restaurants used it. It is appalling that it is not enforced bearing in mind all the Norovirus around and how quickly it is spread...........

[cclarke12]

I think it is a problem with buffets on many ships. We have done two RCI cruises from Spain and despite staff being at entrance to the buffet with hand gel they were fighting a losing battle with the number of people walking past them. Similarly on QM2 it was difficult to tell if people had cleaned hands or not as the King's Court is in different sections so it is possible you have gelled hands but then walked into a different section to check out what is in offer and it might appear you haven't gelled hands ever though you actually have. Also while there was gel outside MDR on RCI and on Qm2 nobody actually enforced use and plenty just ignored it.

[Rachie B]

It was similar on Ventura. There was no hand gel at the restaurant entrances at all. In the buffet and the outdoor food places, the hand gel was there, but only occasionally did any staff force you to use it.

Compare this with Royal Caribbean, where they had people at the entrances to the restaurant and buffet with bottles of hand gel so you couldn't get in without using it. They also had it at the gangways too.

It doesn't bother me so much that there weren't staff enforcing it, but that it wasn't there at all in the MDR, so there wasn't even the option.

 

just recently back from ventura and we *had* to use it at the buffets and on gangways

 

none in the table service restaurants but agree that it doesnt "matter" so much in there

[littlesteelo]

P&O sometimes have staff at entrances of the buffet and main dining room holding out gel inviting you to use , other times its just on a stand when its up to you to use, some do, some don't. I assume the times the staff are there holding it out to you are when a outbreak is just begining and they want to higher their level of protection.? I've been onboard on a Noro Virus outbreak, and the cleaning standards obviously go up a gear once people start being ill. ... Toilets closed for cleaning more often, no menus or salt/pepper pots etc (but strangely they still let you sign for your drinks with the same pen the bar steward holds all night and passes to every customer!!! ) Which is surely more of a risk that a salt pot! - ALL THOSE SWEATY HANDS SIGNING CHITTIES WITH THAT PEN....:eek:

 

I think the issue is with the fact P&O seem to have absolutely no official ship policy on this. On some cruises, as with you, they have people at the entrances, others and myself have have seen no such thing. It is irrelevant how much the cleaning goes up when there is a outbreak. They should be trying to prevent the norovirus beforehand, and consistently having people there ensuring passengers use it will help.

 

I think also common sense comes into it. If there is gel provided, and I don't use it, it doesn't feel right to me. I can't see how people would ignore it. It takes 5 seconds to get some and rub it in, and usually you are standing around queuing for a tray anyway.

[Pobman]

Also on Cunard where ALL restaurants used it. It is appalling that it is not enforced bearing in mind all the Norovirus around and how quickly it is spread...........

 

Yes BUT is the gel used by P&O one of the ones that kills Norovirus? Or is it simply a cheap alcohol based one which will have almost no impact on the virus?

[jeanlyon]

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't in the MDR, as it took 5 days for us to actually notice it. It was on the side as you walked in and you would need to actually look for it.

[Host Sharon]

The staff were certainly enforcing the use of hand gel at the entrance to the MDR on Oceana last month, and there was no apparent norovirus on board.

[LEESRE]

Perhaps on this thread it would be more useful to mention that if people washed their hands more often.

 

ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY USE THE TOILET.

 

This way they would cut down the risk.

[Freda bloggs]

Dear Mr GreenP.

I am an old lady and I resent your remark.

Freda Bloggs

[greenp]

Hi Freda

Sorry I offended you and my comment was not necessary to make the point about the lack of enforcement to use hand gel.

 

Our last to cruises were with Celebrity who did deploy staff to dispence gel on the entrances to all eating venues. So I was shocked when I read reviews mentioning on the Azura this was not the case.

 

Like you Littlesteelo if you walked past , say talking, you felt bad that you had missed it.

 

I wonder if its a Ship thing, cutting staff to save costs rather than a company issue ?

However P+O need to address this on the Azura

[littlesteelo]

I think the problem comes from the design of the ships (Ventura and Azura at least). Having 3 stairwells splits the aft section of the ship in two, resulting in multiple entrances to the buffet, and splitting the buffet into two smaller ones. The tiny serving area combined with the thoroughfare nature of the buffet itself make it difficult to have staff with gel at the entrances due to lack of queuing room and people simply walking through to the lifts.

Plus if you had it at the entrances to the serving areas it would mean every time you went back for food, you would have to use the gel. People can also go to the toilet without using gel when they come back. A big flaw in passenger flow on the Grand Class.

 

As greenp said, Celebrity have the same system as RCI. This comes from the fact that The ships only have 2 stairwells, resulting in one big buffet area at the back of the ship, but more importantly, only one entrance, allowing staff to stand there with gel, and much more space in the buffet overall.

 

Still, there is no excuse for not having staff at the entrance to the MDR.

[halfpast]

We have just got off the Azura today and it was very noticable that the hand gels were not easy to find.

Certainly in the MDR we could not see any and we did look, nor were we asked to use them in the buffet areas, we saw some people using them, many walked straight past them.

Compared to RCL I found it surprisingly lacking on the whole handwash front. As I understand it the cruise before us had the salt and pepper pots taken away and these were returned to the tables over the Christmas Cruise.

[cclarke12]

I think the problem comes from the design of the ships (Ventura and Azura at least). Having 3 stairwells splits the aft section of the ship in two, resulting in multiple entrances to the buffet, and splitting the buffet into two smaller ones. The tiny serving area combined with the thoroughfare nature of the buffet itself make it difficult to have staff with gel at the entrances due to lack of queuing room and people simply walking through to the lifts.

Plus if you had it at the entrances to the serving areas it would mean every time you went back for food, you would have to use the gel. People can also go to the toilet without using gel when they come back. A big flaw in passenger flow on the Grand Class.

 

As greenp said, Celebrity have the same system as RCI. This comes from the fact that The ships only have 2 stairwells, resulting in one big buffet area at the back of the ship, but more importantly, only one entrance, allowing staff to stand there with gel, and much more space in the buffet overall.

 

Still, there is no excuse for not having staff at the entrance to the MDR.

 

I thought the gel on Azura and Ventura was on the entrance to the immediate serving area, rather than the main entrance from the stairwells. This makes sense as many just using as a thoroughfare to get to pools rather than because they are going to use buffet. I liked where it is stationed when we were onboard as people should gel every time they go back for more food. How many people do you see eating with fingers and licking them. On the ships with gel at main entrance from the stairwell people don't gel hands again when they go back for more food - yuk

[littlesteelo]

I thought the gel on Azura and Ventura was on the entrance to the immediate serving area, rather than the main entrance from the stairwells. This makes sense as many just using as a thoroughfare to get to pools rather than because they are going to use buffet. I liked where it is stationed when we were onboard as people should gel every time they go back for more food. How many people do you see eating with fingers and licking them. On the ships with gel at main entrance from the stairwell people don't gel hands again when they go back for more food - yuk

 

Yes, the gel is at the entrance to the serving area, but the area is so small, and gets crowded so easily that it is difficult to enforce, or have a member of staff there, as there are food counters as soon as you walk in, so no space for queuing up to use gel. Plus there is only one gel dispenser in the entrance. If people have to wait to use it, they will inevitably just skip past it. On Indy there were 4 fixed dispensers, and usually members of staff with hand bottles. Some gel is better than no gel at all.

[del13]

We are just back from a cruise on the Aurora, we were surprised that the only location with hand gel was the self service restaurant. on talking to the Alexandria restaurant manager we were told that there was no need for the use of hand gel as they expected diners to have washed their hands!! Not surprisingly an outbreak of the Noro Virus soon occurred at which time the gel was introduced. Surely prevention is better than a cure

[marylizcat]

When we were on Arcadia in December, there was nobody manning the gel at the entrances to the buffet and there was none on boarding the ship. The one at Southampton port when we boarded was empty and we were one of the first to board so they can't say it ran out! P & O really need to make more effort on this. After all, either the gel works, so it should be used, or it doesn't, so take it away! Other lines such as RCI and Disney, we have found to enforce its use very well.

[Sir James Windsor]

We too were on a Celebrity ship (Equinox) and the staff were always at the entrance to both MDR and buffet area with hand gel, I know we Yorkshire people are tight (or so they say) but have been to Boots and purchased several small bottles so we can each carry around with us, also hand wipes, as previously stated "Wash your hands".:confused:

[whippet]

on IOS they have people standing at all restaurants squirting the stuff in your hands this works very well