Noro virus on westerdam

[3rdGenCunarder]

I think a one night cruise sounds like a great way to find out if one likes sailing and if one could handle 4, 7 or more days. Perhaps folks dont have the ability to be away from work or home more than a day or two at a time. I dont think any one is nuts for doing this cruise.

 

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I agree that the short hop is convenient for someone who has very little free time or money, but it doesn't give you a representative sample of the cruise experience.

 

It's too little time to get the feel for the ship and what it's like to be at sea. Plus the very short cruises tend to have a frantic vibe to them as people try to cram a week's worth of cruise experience into a few days. If someone really wants to try out cruising, I think 4 days is a minimum.

[SwissMyst]

Considering sea conditions can alter the best laid plans, one does have to be prepared when taking such a tightly scheduled trip like this.

 

Eventually cruise passengers learn the sea is the fickle mistress and the passengers are but her servants. And that includes missed ports as well as scheduling delays or changes. But I do agree, there should have been food at the Lido. Was it confirmed there was not?

[kazu]

This is the part that doesn't make sense to me though. We just got off the ship and the Noro was finished before we boarded in San Diego. The library was open for our entire cruise and books were available.

 

thinking about this - dvd's are normally rented for 48 hours - may I also hazard a guess that on top of trying to prevent the risk of infection (and yes, I'm serious) with new cruisers coming on the next day - that they couldn't do the admin work to rent them out for like 8 hours:confused:

[sail7seas]

Taking a one night cruise sounds nuts to me, but to each his own. However, it's like the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. The pax aren't allowed to board until 8:30 after late arrival due to weather problems, but the dining room still closes at 9 and the Lido even earlier?! The dining room can't adjust its schedule and take care of feeding these pax? This is truly outrageous. No way room service could handle all these new pax. It was known at least the day before and all that day that there would be very late boarding, so this was not a surprise problem that the Hotel Mgr shouldn't have handled appropriately.

 

 

We read here on CC the day before that Westerdam would arrive late. It was no surprise.

 

[gentlemancruiser]

Sounds reasonable to me, after all it was a one night cruise. How do you expect HAL to conduct a muster drill with everyone trying to eat dinner? I'm sure the crew were also under pressure to prepare the cabins for new passengers very quickly.

 

There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that passengers never get to see and never know about.

[sunviking90]

thinking about this - dvd's are normally rented for 48 hours - may I also hazard a guess that on top of trying to prevent the risk of infection (and yes, I'm serious) with new cruisers coming on the next day - that they couldn't do the admin work to rent them out for like 8 hours:confused:

 

I think you are right.

[496and706]

Let me get this straight... you went on a one night cruise and you were going to watch a dvd instead of explore the ship or go to the show or the casino or walk the deck in the moonlight?

 

 

Seems to me you could have watched a dvd at home.

[BunlessInSeattle]

The muster drill was at 10:30.

 

As soon as we got on the boat, we dropped everything at our room and headed to dinner. We were seated in the MDR a little before nine and didn't have time to finish our main course before we had to leave for the drill.

 

We asked one of the head servers if they were letting people leave and come back to finish their meals. We were told no, that we could go to the Lido.

By the time the muster drill was over, the only thing that I saw still available at the Lido were desserts. Maybe they put more out after that? Luckily I didn't need to eat more.

 

I know that they were still seating people at 9:30, but if they were able to get more than an appetizer course--which on a boat is the proper size, not really enough for an entire meal.

 

This morning we ate breakfast in the MDR. We were seated shortly after they opened around 7:30. I think we got our food around 8:20. I ordered Museli, my friend ordered cottage cheese and fruit. They were out of cut fruit, so they brought out a banana, two apples, and no cottage cheese.

 

A girlfriend and I decided to do this cruise as a girls night out. We took the train up to Vancouver, which is very enjoyable. We walked around, did some shopping, had a very nice, leisurely meal at a bistro, then made our way to the pier to check in at the time we had been told we could check in during a phone call the day before--that was 5pm, I think we got on the boat sometime around 8:00.

 

We kept trying to make the best of everything, and I'm the eternal sunshine optimist making excuses for everyone... but the whole situation was really handled poorly by those in charge. When you get off a cruise ship and go immediately to find brunch... something is wrong.

[SwissMyst]

The muster drill was at 10:30.

 

 

This morning we ate breakfast in the MDR. We were seated shortly after they opened around 7:30. I think we got our food around 8:20. I ordered Museli, my friend ordered cottage cheese and fruit. They were out of cut fruit, so they brought out a banana, two apples, and no cottage cheese.

..............

We kept trying to make the best of everything, and I'm the eternal sunshine optimist making excuses for everyone... but the whole situation was really handled poorly by those in charge. When you get off a cruise ship and go immediately to find brunch... something is wrong.

 

The eggs benedict are usually quite good as well as many of their larger breakfast/brunch items. HAL has terrific fresh baked items. Was the Lido also open for breakfast where you could have gotten something else?

[SwissMyst]

Do they also do the late night buffet in the Lido which is quite hearty in its choices on these over-night cruises? Maybe that is why they have to break down the dining room service, to get ready for the late night buffet preparation down in the galley?

[BunlessInSeattle]

Was the Lido also open for breakfast where you could have gotten something else?

 

Yes, however, we have a couple of serious food allergies in our party, including Celiac disease. When you have a food allergy, they tell you it's best to sit in the MDR as they can help you more with knowing what you can eat. In the past, on longer cruises, when we would check into the MDR they would know that there was an allergy because you give them your room number. This time, both the dinner and the breakfast were so poorly run that there wasn't care given to this.

 

If I had been with another good friend who has a lethal shellfish allergy, I doubt she would have eaten at all because of the rushed vibe to the place. It would have felt unsafe to her.

[working2cruise]

There was no food service by the time we got on board. And, no customer service, no eye contact, nothing. This wasn't our first cruise. Extremely disappointing.

[acetray]

Do they also do the late night buffet in the Lido which is quite hearty in its choices on these over-night cruises? Maybe that is why they have to break down the dining room service, to get ready for the late night buffet preparation down in the galley?

as far as late night food, no there was none, there was desert and that was it. I walked through the dinning room a few times and only saw icecream and pizza.and the pizza was gone before the drill at 1030

[SwissMyst]

There was no food service by the time we got on board. And, no customer service, no eye contact, nothing. This wasn't our first cruise. Extremely disappointing.

 

Was this the window between the end of dinner and the beginning of the late night buffet? Or, was the late night buffet also eliminated on this short cruise?

[BunlessInSeattle]

And, I will say this...

 

For myself, going on a one-night cruise. I know that there aren't going to be many of the things that I love about cruising with Holland America. I know that there won't be time to develop relationships with the crew and other passengers. I know that I won't get to have the thermal suite or time curled up in a corner with my book. I went in to it knowing that things would be different.

 

All I was looking for was a weekend getaway, combining a train trip, quick Vancouver visit, and an overnight cruise where I would get a fabulous dinner, some after dinner entertainment, and time with a friend.

 

Even when we knew that the cruise would be late, I was still looking forward to those things.

 

My complaints with this whole thing wasn't that it was delayed, it wasn't against the crew who honestly seemed just as confused as the rest of us--I felt bad for them, they seemed understaffed and overworked and there was lots of finger pointing by passengers at them because there weren't enough servers to go around.

 

My complaints go directly to management and officers because of the way they handled things. Communication is everything, and if the top isn't communicating efficiently and clearly to the bottom, then everything goes south.

 

Case in point, the bottle neck to get to the atrium...to get to the front desk in the morning because of no one getting customs forms the night before.

 

I would also like to say that we, too, had a stateroom that was not very well prepared. One quarter roll of TP, no face tissue, two towels, no washcloths or hand towels. No soap other than the body wash in the shower. There were also issues with TP in public restroom areas. By midnight one of the ladies rooms had one roll of TP that was on the counter that everyone would take a couple of squares from before doing their business.

 

If they were worried about Noro Virus, it didn't come through from the way that they were providing for personal sanitation on the ship.

[Typhoon1]

Wash those hands every time you return to your cabin.

[SwissMyst]

Yes, however, we have a couple of serious food allergies in our party, including Celiac disease. When you have a food allergy, they tell you it's best to sit in the MDR as they can help you more with knowing what you can eat. In the past, on longer cruises, when we would check into the MDR they would know that there was an allergy because you give them your room number. This time, both the dinner and the breakfast were so poorly run that there wasn't care given to this.

 

If I had been with another good friend who has a lethal shellfish allergy, I doubt she would have eaten at all because of the rushed vibe to the place. It would have felt unsafe to her.

 

Good idea. Lots more reasons to not take these one day over-night cruises. Personally, if I had a lethal allergy I would also make sure I was carrying on my person all possible due precautions under any conditions, not just an overnight HAL cruise. I also don't think the responsibility for prevention should be passed on to HAL under any circumstances when one has a known lethal allergy.

[496and706]

Went back and re-read.

[kazu]

And, I will say this...

 

For myself, going on a one-night cruise. I know that there aren't going to be many of the things that I love about cruising with Holland America. I know that there won't be time to develop relationships with the crew and other passengers. I know that I won't get to have the thermal suite or time curled up in a corner with my book. I went in to it knowing that things would be different.

 

All I was looking for was a weekend getaway, combining a train trip, quick Vancouver visit, and an overnight cruise where I would get a fabulous dinner, some after dinner entertainment, and time with a friend.

 

Even when we knew that the cruise would be late, I was still looking forward to those things.

 

My complaints with this whole thing wasn't that it was delayed, it wasn't against the crew who honestly seemed just as confused as the rest of us--I felt bad for them, they seemed understaffed and overworked and there was lots of finger pointing by passengers at them because there weren't enough servers to go around.

 

My complaints go directly to management and officers because of the way they handled things. Communication is everything, and if the top isn't communicating efficiently and clearly to the bottom, then everything goes south.

 

Case in point, the bottle neck to get to the atrium...to get to the front desk in the morning because of no one getting customs forms the night before.

 

I would also like to say that we, too, had a stateroom that was not very well prepared. One quarter roll of TP, no face tissue, two towels, no washcloths or hand towels. No soap other than the body wash in the shower. There were also issues with TP in public restroom areas. By midnight one of the ladies rooms had one roll of TP that was on the counter that everyone would take a couple of squares from before doing their business.

 

If they were worried about Noro Virus, it didn't come through from the way that they were providing for personal sanitation on the ship.

 

You raise some very good points - for what it's worth - if it were me and I had no embarkation forms - I'd be calling to have them. If I was missing towels/toilet paper whatever I'd be calling for that too.

 

I think these one day things are very hard on the stewards and for all we know, there could have been a turn a round crew (new people). Not enough towels, toilet paper or tissue is not something I like whether it be a one day cruise (confess I've never been on one) or a 31 day cruise;)

[SwissMyst]

as far as late night food, no there was none, there was desert and that was it. I walked through the dinning room a few times and only saw icecream and pizza.and the pizza was gone before the drill at 1030

 

Late night buffet usually starts after 11pm, plus there is the food buffet for the late shift staff as well. I would be surprised this later food service was entirely closed down for passengers under these circumstances since it was available for crew. But I was not there.

[terrascape]

We had friends on this one night cruise on the Westerdam. We have been trying to get them to try cruising for three years and they finally made the decisoin for this one nighter. Oops. Bad choice. It may be awhile before they try again.

 

That being said we have done two, one night cruises with HAL in our 200+ days with HAL. We had specific reasons for each of the one night cruises. First, we live in Seatle, so transportation via Amtrak either direction is a breeze. Our first one-nighter was several years ago on the Westredam from Seattle to Vancouver at the end of the Alaska cruise season. We had never sailed on a Vista-class and it was a perfect opportunity to get a "feel" for the larger class of ships. Since they were simply sailing at the end of an Alaska trip the ship sailed on schedule, and service was at HAL levels.

Our second one-nighter was on the Rotterdam. I simply wanted to add the Roterdam to our list of HAL ship we had cruised. This was a perfect opportunity. The Roterdam had repositioned from San Diego with a stop in Victoria but was right on time, and everything was right on schedule with perfect service.

One clue is do not always expect a ship to be on time in Vancouver coming from San Diego if it does not stop in Port Angeles or Victoria first. Having an extra day on the coastal cruise allows for a buffer when the weather conditions are not favorable on the coast such as on this trip of the Westerdam. You can always figure strong Northerly winds in the spring on the West Coast.

Even though the Zuiderdam encountered the exact same weather, they arrived in Vancouver on schedule on Saturday, as they had a port call in Port Angeles the day previous, which had to be cancelled, but it allowed the time needed to make up for the weather.

To conclude, I agree the communication on the Westerdam was inexcusable, but not all one night crusies are bad. They are what you make of them.