Mercury Travelogue, March 27 Mexican Riviera

[teedee]

Personally, I'm curious about Tuggers' final comment. How 'bout it, Gail, where you be??

 

I'm curious about your question. Gail hasn't posted on this thread.

 

Terri

[cleats007]

We were on the same cuise (arrived home this morning.) We did NOT experience any of the discomforts you mentioned. It was a great cruise.

[cleats007]

I ran into one of the ship's doctors on Wednesday April 5th (while walking the stairs) & asked him about the number of passengers who had come down with the Norovirus. He said approximately 20 (this is down from 200+ & 70+ on the previous two cruises.) I then asked him if he know how many of those had contracted the virus while ashore in Mexico. His answer: most of them.

[mktmzm]

Mercruiser....

 

Can you provide any additional informaiton on the 25% refund and discount on future cruise?

 

I was on the 3/17 cruise which had many more sick people and an equally chlorinated ambiance.

 

I was hoping they would provide such an incentive for us as well. I spent over $8K on my cruise and while we made the best of it, it was not up to our expectations or the standards previously set on other Celebrity cruises.

 

Marcy

[Lois R]

I'm curious about your question. Gail hasn't posted on this thread.

 

Terri

 

Hi Terri, hope you are feeling well:) I think Ed was thinking of

all the threads pertaining to the cruise and then Gail's thread with

her thoughts.

Not trying to answer for him...but I was thinking he meant

he valued her opinion on what went on all week.

Ed...?

[teedee]

Hi Terri, hope you are feeling well:) I think Ed was thinking of

all the threads pertaining to the cruise and then Gail's thread with

her thoughts.

Not trying to answer for him...but I was thinking he meant

he valued her opinion on what went on all week.

Ed...?

 

Hi Lois - I'm doing well, I'll be going back to work soon.

 

Ed - I didn't mean to be rude, I hope it didn't come off that way. I was just curious since Gail hasn't posted here, as far as I know she didn't even know about this thread. TThere sure have been some widely differing opinions on this cruise. I'm glad to see some positive reviews since I'm boked on the April 28 sailing.

 

Terri

 

Terri

[greeneg]

Lois, quite right. Since I also do know Gail, I certainly have a lot of respect for her opinion and experience, and am looking forward with interest to her final thoughts. Admittedly, this is sort of an issue that's ranged across several of threads; perhaps my post should have been in one of the other threads, but personally didn't think that it mattered, or was confusing. No intent, certainly.

 

I'm personally interested because of a prior wonderful trip on the Mercury, and also because our next booking happens to be this same trip in January of next year.

[teedee]

Ed - Again I apologise if I sounded rude, looking at my reply it does sound a little snippy, although it was not meant to be. I've sailed with Gail a few times & thought she's been getting a bit of a raw deal on the boards lately.

 

Terri

[Buckeye Geo]

I just checked out the Holland America Boards. It seems Amsterdam had back to back high Norovirus cruises. It was a 14 day SD to Hawaii. They left yesterday for the third cruise. Seem like their complaints are the same, but most of the posters were very understanding. Surprisingly there is only one thread.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

I do hope we hear from Gail (Tuggers) soon. I sailed with Gail a few months ago on Century, and Gail is a real gem. I truly hope things improved for her on the latter part of her Mercury sailing.

[Mercruiser]

Tuesday, April 4 – Manzanillo

 

I started my day with the usual walk out on the balcony to have a look at the surrounding area. Mercury was docked in the midst of a large industrial port. My GPS indicated that we were about 2 miles NE of downtown Manzanillo. To my left there was a bulk cargo ship, the Panamax Otter, which was being loaded with a black sandy material. A conveyor belt system was pouring this material in the open cargo holds. My guess is that this is a partially refined ore.

In the water next to the Mercury was a small, perhaps 22-foot, open boat with two outboard engines and four crewmen. Three of the crewmembers were wearing dark gray Mexican Navy uniforms with the word “MARINA” on the front, and wide brimmed hats. These men were all holding rifles. The fourth man had a blue uniform, a sidearm, and appeared to be the boat’s pilot. This Navy boat would stay by the Mercury for the rest of the day and even follow us out to the harbor breakwater on departure. Throughout much of the trip, the Mexican Navy provided guards on land or sea while we were in port.

After breakfast, my wife and I headed down to the pier to get a taxi. The pier was in the most northern part of the harbor away from the town of Manzanillo. Using a taxi was a must. There was nothing but industrial buildings within walking distance. We decided to spend the day at Playa Audiencia. This beach is on the opposite side of the Santiago Peninsula from the famous Hotel Las Hadas. The taxi fare was $12 USD.

Playa Audiencia is a horseshoe shaped beach with golden-black sand. On the both ends of the beach are rocky shoals. It is in a nice setting. Like most beaches we visited, you could rent just about anything needed for a day at the beach such as snorkel gear, wave runners, kayaks, etc. We arrived at 10:15 a.m. – there were no crowds and few vendors. Chair and umbrellas were available for rent. The quoted price was $8 USD each. We then walked past the big Hotel Tesoro (formerly the Gran Costa Real). It had open sided cabanas with chaise lounges. The independent chair vendors didn’t appear to have bathrooms available and the chairs looked uncomfortable so we decided to try the resort experience.

As with all resorts we saw, there was a guard posted at the top of the stairs from the beach. We talked to the guard and told her we were from a cruise ship and wanted to spend the day at the resort. She escorted us to the lobby and then left. We told the person at the lobby that we were from the cruise ship and wanted to know if we could spend the day there. She told us we could buy a day pass for $30 USD each that would include unlimited drinks, food, and use of the facilities. We decided to give it a try. I gave here my credit cards and she put plastic bands on our wrists – just like you get at an amusement park.

We then left the lobby and headed to the pool to get towels from the attendant. We took our towels out to the beach and staked out a couple of chaise lounges. The pool bar did not open until 11:00 a.m. Once past that time, a waitress came out to the beach to ask if we wanted drinks. We spent a couple of hours reading and relaxing on the beach. It was a very nice and relaxing.

The hotel restaurant opened for lunch at 1:00 p.m. The food was typical lunch buffet fare. It was mostly the same kind of food you would find in an American all-you-can-eat buffet. There was very little Mexican food available. The food was okay, but not as good as Mercury’s buffet. The Mexican food was not nearly as good as what we had at the palapa restaurants.

After lunch, my wife and I decided to rent a jet ski. Neither of us had ever been on one. The cost was $45 USD for a half hour. The vendor gave us life jackets and pushed the Yamaha WaveRunner down the beach and into the water. My wife and I got on. I looked behind me, and the vendor was already headed up the beach. He didn’t give us any instructions on how to operate the WaveRunner. It was easy to figure out. The starting and throttle controls were pretty much what you would find on a motorcycle. The water was choppy but very warm. We got splashed but not very wet. The half hour was plenty of time for us to zip around the bay several times and look at the big houses on the adjacent hills.

After the WaveRunner, we want back to the beach chairs to read and dry off before returning to the Mercury. The taxi fare was quoted as $90 pesos by the hotel bellman. The bellman told the taxi driver where we wanted to go. When we got to the area of the pier, the taxi driver wasn’t quite sure where to go. But, you could see Mercury’s funnel above the buildings. He then followed another taxi through the maze of surface streets to the pier entrance. I got the impression this wasn’t the usual place for the cruise ships to dock.

Back on board Mercury, we went back to our cabin to clean up and enjoy the air conditioning. The dozen red roses that I had ordered from Celebrity were finally wilted after eight days into our cruise. They were beautiful and my wife really enjoyed them. I left a note for the cabin steward to remove them.

The sail away took longer that normal because we were well inside the Manzanillo harbor. My wife and I headed back to the deck behind the Palm Springs pool to watch. As soon as they turned on the stern side thrusters, the back of the ship vibrated very noticeably. The vibration level was like riding in an SUV on a gravel road with washboard. The vibration level seemed very excessive as if the thruster blades were off balance. Based on the barnacles I saw on Mercury’s hull in Zihuatanejo, I will speculate that the side thruster blades are also covered with barnacles. I wonder how long it’s been since they have had this ship in dry-dock for a hull cleaning?

On our trip out of the harbor, two tugboats and two navy boats accompanied us. One of the navy boats was the small craft I mentioned earlier. The other navy boat was a fast, enclosed steel boat that looked suitable for use in the open seas. It would accompany us until we were a couple of miles out of the harbor. This was the most visible security detail I have seen on this trip.

The two tugboats never touched the Mercury. Since Mercury has both bow and stern thrusters, the tugboats seem largely unnecessary. I’m guessing that the harbor requires them as a safety measure in case a ship has a rudder control failure.

As we proceeded out of Puerto Manzanillo, we passed a container ship, the MSC Chitra; which appears to be an auto carrier; the BECRUX; a bulk cargo carrier; the Wren Arrow, which appeared to be unloading it’s cargo into railroad hopper cars. We also passed a floating dry-dock with a tugboat inside; and numerous Mexican Navy ships at the Manzanillo Navy Base.

We stayed on the rear deck for sail away until it was time to go to dinner. The dinner menu included one of my favorites, Duck al'Orange. I was introduced to this dish at Christos Ristorante in Phoenix, AZ. To this day, I try to go to Christo’s for duck any time I go to Phoenix. Christo’s has the edge on this, but Mercury’s version is very good – especially considering that this is banquet food – not individually prepared plates.

My wife had the seafood brochette in a fish shaped puff pastry. The presentation was excellent. It included scallops, halibut, salmon, calamari, and shrimp. My dinner included a deep fried garlic mashed potato ball. My wife loves these but had not yet ordered anything that included them. I asked our waiter, Bernard, if he could get some for my wife. Within a few minutes, he returned with a plate with two of them.

Towards the end of the meal, I noticed the Maitre d’ standing about 25 feet away. He was looking our way while trying to pretend not to be looking our way. Something was up. After a few minutes he came over to our table with a small chocolate anniversary cake. This was our 20th wedding anniversary trip. (We also celebrated our 15th anniversary on Mercury.) Several of the waiters came over to sing happy anniversary. It was a nice touch that really made for an enjoyable evening.

After dinner, we watched the sunset from our balcony. The weather was breezy but warm, given our ship’s speed of 23 mph. The sea was smooth with no white caps. At about 8:00 p.m. I saw another cruise ship about 5 miles away. It was headed southbound. Using my binoculars I recognized her as the Norwegian Star. She was headed southbound from Los Angeles to Acapulco on an 8-night itinerary.

The evening entertainment in the Celebrity Theater was pianist Pearl Kaufman accompanied by the Celebrity Orchestra. Pearl has played piano for more than 200 film soundtracks including Dr. Zhivago, Young Frankenstein, and Henry Mancini’s Moon River. My favorite part was the finale performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. (Many of might think of it as the United Airlines song!) This was the best musical performance of the cruise.

By this part of the trip, many of the passengers were getting quite fed-up with the on-going bleaching process. In the early part of the trip, the crew would spray on the bleach and wipe it down with a towel. As the trip went on, they ceased wiping and would just spray with bleach and let it run down the walls. Some passengers started writing graffiti in the bleach residue, especially on the elevator doors and interiors. The graffiti included “Stop gassing us”, “Mr. Yuk”, “No Bleach”, and “Full Refund”. Fortunately, this was the night that Celebrity passed out the letter saying we would all be getting a 25% refund and a 25% future cruise credit.

It has been a wonderful day. Let me recap the highlights.

· Enjoying the sun and sand at Playa Audiencia

· Duck al'Orange for dinner

· Anniversary cake presented by the Maitre d’

· Pearl Kaufman and the Celebrity Orchestra

· 25% refund and 25% cruise credit from Celebrity

Manzanillo was our last port of call. After four ports in five days, I was looking forward to the two “at sea” days. I like being on a ship best when it is moving. I never get bored on “at sea” days. There is always plenty to do, or not do, depending on what sounds nice at the time.

Postscript – Friday, April 07, 2006

 

I am back at home from the cruise. We had a safe and uneventful trip home.

I have enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and feedback. I will continue to add to the travelogue and will finish with a cruise review.

[Buckeye Geo]

Thanks for your thoughtful commentary.

[Andy]

Hi Mercruiser !

 

Thanks for your excellent comments. I enjoyed reading it very much. Welcome Home !

[MLT53]

Thank you so much from me, too, Mercruiser. I have really enjoyed reading everything you wrote about your cruise.

[SuSu530]

Welcome home!! Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and descriptive review. It sounds like despite all of the many inconveniences, you and your wife had a very special Anniversary cruise.

 

We leave on the Mercury on April 17 so I have found your comments very helpful. Thanks again for taking the time to keep us all informed.

[stinsowm]

Welcome home Mercruiser. Your posts have kept me so optimistic about our upcoming sailing on the 28th. Hope you will share more pictures with us as well. Again, a huge Thank you.

 

Walter and mom Iola

[cmecruise1962]

Tuesday, April 4 – Manzanillo

 

 

By this part of the trip, many of the passengers were getting quite fed-up with the on-going bleaching process. In the early part of the trip, the crew would spray on the bleach and wipe it down with a towel. As the trip went on, they ceased wiping and would just spray with bleach and let it run down the walls. Some passengers started writing graffiti in the bleach residue, especially on the elevator doors and interiors. The graffiti included “Stop gassing us”, “Mr. Yuk”, “No Bleach”, and “Full Refund”. Fortunately, this was the night that Celebrity passed out the letter saying we would all be getting a 25% refund and a 25% future cruise credit.

I was on the March 17-27 cruise...while we didn't get sick on the cruise, we both got sick afterward (me the day we docked, DH the following day). I called after I read the above, thinking they would surely compensate us in the same way...but no. It really leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Celebrity. Makes me very sad.:(

[Mercruiser]

Q & A

 

Now that I am back home, it’s time to catch up on the questions that have been posted to this thread.

Hardingk: I’m glad to hear the 4/7 Mercury trip is families with kids. There were a lot of families on our Alaska trip a few years ago. And, it was a wonderful cruise for all. I shouldn’t have speculated that it was spring break college students.

Grizzair: What they told us on the ship is that we would be receiving the future cruise credit voucher by mail within 4 – 6 weeks. Its value will be based on the fare paid for this cruise.

Joe Beach: Sorry, but I got sloppy with my proofreading on the Zihuatanejo post. My guidebook has the proper spelling of Las Gatas. But, I didn’t take the time to look it up. This morning I was re-reading the Zihuatanejo post while waiting at the San Diego airport. I noticed a few other grammatical and spelling errors that also slipped through.

CRUZBUDS: The water temperature at Playa Las Gatas was very warm – at least for this Northerner. I can’t give you a specific temperature. But, it was warm enough that it didn’t require any time for adjustment to the temperature. I could have stayed in the water indefinitely. The NOAA web site has satellite imagery derived Sea Surface Temperature Contour Charts that shows an open ocean temperature of about 27 C (81 F) in the Zihuatanejo area (17.6 degrees north latitude). I am guessing that the water is warmer in the bays than in the open sea.

Mktmzm: Here is what I understand about the refund and discount. But, first let me say that I have heard conflicting information from crewmembers on Mercury. So some of what I say might not be correct. In the end, we won’t know for sure until we get the future cruise credit voucher in the mail. I also hope they will provide an equivalent or better refund to the 3/17 cruise PAX.

· The refund will be 25% of the cabin fare paid. This excludes port taxes/fees and on-board account charges (drinks, casino, gift shop purchases, etc.) The refund will be provided in the same method as the payment was made. For me, that means I will see a credit on the credit card I used to pay for the cruise.

· My cruise fare was $3520 for two people in a Sky Deck CC cabin. I am anticipating a refund of about $880.

· The value of the future cruise credit is calculated the same way. From what I understand, I will be receiving a voucher by mail in 4 – 6 weeks good for $880 (in my case) towards a Celebrity cruise that departs by May 1, 2007.

· I have heard conflicting information from Mercury staff as to whether the future cruise credit can be used on Royal Caribbean. Shown below is the exact text of the letter announcing the refund and future cruise credit.

“As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank you for your understanding, Celebrity Cruises will provide each stateroom with a 25 percent refund of the amount paid for this sailing, and a 25 percent credit for a future Celebrity cruise, based on the amount paid for this sailing. The future cruise credit may be used toward any Celebrity cruise that departs on or before May 1, 2007.”

Stinsowm: Thanks for your comments. Now that I am back home, I will get more pictures posted. It was too expensive to upload pictures from Mercury. When in port, there was too much fun stuff to do to want to spend time in an Internet Café uploading pictures. Here at home, it’s 49F and raining. This is good weather for organizing pictures. I’ll post an update when I get new pictures uploaded.

cmecruise1962: I certainly hope that Celebrity extends the refund/credit offer to the 3/17 cruise PAX. I am hopeful that Celebrity management will come around on this issue. The offer that they gave to us made a lot of sense. First, the 25% refund addressed the issue that you and mktmzmit mentioned, “it was not up to our expectations or the standards previously set on other Celebrity cruises.” Second, the 25% future cruise credit gives people incentive to try Celebrity again. The worst thing that could happen for Celebrity is to have everyone on the 3/17 and 3/27 cruises decide not to cruise on Celebrity any more. We met one gentleman and his wife who were on their first Celebrity cruise. They had been on other lines before. Based on the “Bleach Cruise” experience, they were not planning on booking with Celebrity again. Once the 25% future cruise credit came out, they booked on-board, a very expensive (their words) 14-day Trans Canal trip on a Concierge Class balcony. Had Celebrity not made this offer, they may have lost these PAX forever. In fact, once the 25% offer was announced, the Cruise Sales Desk was inundated with people trying to book on-board to get the $50 - $200 shipboard credit.

[Fredr]

hello,

 

My wife and I were on the 3/27 Mercury sailing to Mexico. There was cleaning going on all the time and several events such as the gala midnight buffet was cancelled ( I like this event because of the style and presentation with the food a secondary issue). Despite this I had a very nice time, in part, because I tried my best not to let the problems overwhelm the fact that I was on a cruise. The weather was great, greatly enjoyed two excursions, met some very interesting people, and the food was excellent. Pearl Kaufman's two shows were very special not only because she is an outstanding pianist, she is also a very important person in Hollywood's storied musical history. She has worked with practicly all of film's great composers.

 

With one exception (our cabin steward was satisfactory but we have had much better in terms of friendliness) the crew was professional and very sympathetic toward me and my wife, and we in turn did our best to make the crew feel better.

 

As to the amount of compensation (25% refund and 25% toward another cruise) I am still unsure whether this is adequate. Being fair is very important to me and while I did my best to make the best of the situation, is this amount of compensation fair?

 

Fred

[cml3]

Cmecruise1962

 

We Were Also On 3/17.

Calling Celebrity Will Not Get You Anywhere. The Only Chance Would Be To Write To There Corporate Office. Tell Them Exactly How You Felt About The Cruise And Exactly What You Expect From Them.

I Don't Know If That Will Get You Anywhere--but It's Worth A Try.

Good Luck

[Netcouple]

Just wanted to add my thanks for the time and effort you spent posting your travelogue. I found your objective but honest postings very helpful. We're on the 4/28 cruise on Mercury to Mexico and are still very much looking forward to it.

 

It's unfortunate that cruise ships and planes are required to report noro outbreaks, but places like hospitals and nursing homes are not - this is something that happens in many different locations, not just cruise ships. That doesn't lessen it's impact on people, but it seems to get more media hype with cruises.

 

Thanks again Mercruiser!

 

E

[FinelyCruising]

We met one gentleman and his wife who were on their first Celebrity cruise. They had been on other lines before. Based on the “Bleach Cruise” experience, they were not planning on booking with Celebrity again. Once the 25% future cruise credit came out, they booked on-board, a very expensive (their words) 14-day Trans Canal trip on a Concierge Class balcony. Had Celebrity not made this offer, they may have lost these PAX forever. In fact, once the 25% offer was announced, the Cruise Sales Desk was inundated with people trying to book on-board to get the $50 - $200 shipboard credit.

The cruise credit comes anyway for booking even without being on a ship with the virus...the 25% off a future cruise offered as good will is precisely why it is called good will....at the end of the day, even though we recognize it may have been unusual, it really wasn't that bad of a cruise...was it...;)

[JohnChiang]

Hi Bob & Teri,

 

Thanks for sharing your cab to the San Diego Airport with me. I enjoyed reading your Mercury Travelogue.

 

Yes, this was a very strange cruise, well below the usual high Celebrity standards.

 

As you know, I was a little bit sick on this cruise (probably from something I ate in Mexico) and was quarantined for 48 hours in my cabin. It is funny thinking about it now, but someone from security would knock on my cabin door every few hours to check that I wasn't sneaking out.

 

On the morning of debarkation, I received a letter stating that I would be compensated for my 2 days of isolation. So 2 days out of an 11 day cruise means an additional 18% refund for me. Almost enough to cover my bar tab on board. ;)

 

I hope you have a great cruise with your family. I know that my next Celebrity cruise will be much better.

[rubrrick]

As you know, I was a little bit sick on this cruise (probably from something I ate in Mexico) and was quarantined for 48 hours in my cabin. It is funny thinking about it now, but someone from security would knock on my cabin door every few hours to check that I wasn't sneaking out.

 

On the morning of debarkation, I received a letter stating that I would be compensated for my 2 days of isolation. So 2 days out of an 11 day cruise means an additional 18% refund for me. Almost enough to cover my bar tab on board. ;)

 

Is this something new?............anyone that gets sick and has to be quarantined will be reimbursed for the time in isolation. Especially if it has nothing to do with the ships virus. Or is it bacause of the virus, that the ship was not taking a chance by asking you to remain in your cabin for 2 days?

 

Rick

[bigbigtuna]

Saturday, April 1, 2006 – Illness Update

 

For this travelogue, I have held off on writing directly about the gastrointestinal (GI) illness issue at any length. The main reason has been two-fold. 1) We’ve been having a lot of fun on this cruise and I’d rather write about that. 2) I wanted to wait until we were several days into the cruise to see how this group of passengers (PAX) would do.

 

To the best I can tell, we do not have an epidemic on this cruise. My wife and I are well. We have not talked to anyone who knows anyone who is sick. The rumor I overheard on the elevator last night (Friday, 3/31) was by two of Celebrity’s “gentlemen hosts” (they had Celebrity name badges with those as titles). The one said to the other that he had talked to the Doctor who told him that there were only two cases. That’s it for the rumors. He further commented that two people seemed like normal for this many people. But, don’t trust my rumors. On Monday, call the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program people and ask them for the specific number crew and PAX that have reported ill. They will give you the straight answer and provide a lot of other helpful information. If you find out the answer, please post it on this thread. I would be interested to know. While you are there, have a look at the illness reports for other ships. You will see that GI Illness has affected lots of ships over the years and several in the last few weeks. This is not a Mercury only problem. The CDC VSP phone number can be found on their web site http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm

 

I walked past the infirmary a couple of times yesterday. I didn’t see a line or anything unusual. The early seating for dinner appears to be generally full. The evening shows in the Celebrity Theater have been nearly full or even standing room only. There is nothing that would make me think anything is wrong.

 

How has this affected the present cruise?

 

The Bleach Cruise

 

I’m sure that my wife and I will always refer to this as “The Bleach Cruise”. The crew is constantly spraying down all of the surfaces of the ship and wiping them with cleaning rags. When I say constantly, I mean constantly. The smell of bleach is usually faint. This is in contrast to the last cruise for which I get the impression they were practically hosing down the ship with bleach.

 

The cabin attendants are using this bleach solution in the cabins. When we come back from a meal, there is sometimes a wet surface with a faint bleach scent. They are applying this to the windows, walls, tables, and the bathroom.

 

I have read a few posts by people on upcoming trips who plan to bring Lysol. Given the constant bleaching by the crew, I think this will be unnecessary. But if you do bring your own cleaner, I’d suggest reading the label to make sure it doesn’t react with chlorine bleach.

 

Watch for wet surfaces. If the crew has recently bleached an area, you don’t want to lean against the wall or touch it. It might leave a bleach stain on your clothes.

 

Food Services

 

Here are the things I’ve noticed in the food service area.

· Entrances to all food areas have hand sanitization stations. There is a crewmember there to make sure everyone uses it. (The have these when you get on and off the ship also.)

· All buffet food is placed on the dishes by the kitchen staff. PAX are not allowed to self-serve food from the buffet.

· Salt and pepper shakers are provided on request. They are not left out on the tables.

· The Sushi Café has not been open. All other food services are open normal hours, as far as I can tell.

· So far, there have been no midnight buffets. I don’t know what is normal for this cruise in this regard.

· Some fellow PAX commented that there have been no poolside buffets. Again, I don’t know what they have normally.

· Fruit has been added back to the mixed drinks. On the first couple of day, my virgin pina colada did not have pineapple. Now they are serving them with pineapple, maraschino cherry, and the little umbrella. (I didn’t notice it had been missing until it showed up.)

Other than what has been noted above, the food service seems quite normal. We enjoyed our fist formal night and are looking forward to the second formal night tonight.

 

On the subject of buffets, I am glad to see that they are not letting PAX serve their own food. I think this should be a permanent hygiene precaution. Remember, GI illness is an oral-fecal transmitted disease. The next time you are in a buffet, ask yourself the question, “The person in front of me who just set down the serving spoon, did he/she wash their hands the last time they used the toilet?” (I know, ew gross.)

 

Announcements and Notices

 

Announcements and notices abound. Starting with the March 30th issue, the front page of every “Celebrity Today” contains the following notice.

 

“PLEASE BE ADVISED

%3CP class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 3.75pt 7.5pt 0pt">All Guests are advised that due to the enhanced cleaning procedures onboard, we are cleaning with bleach every half hour. Guest are asked to take caution and not lean or rest on walls and other surfaces as they may damage their clothing. We thank you for your attention.</P>Helpful Health Information

Celebrity Cruises, working in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has instituted enchanced cleaning procedures onboard all its ships. You will likely see some of these activities during your cruise. Medical experts tell us that the best way to prevent colds, flu, and gastrointestinal illnesses is to simply wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after restroom breaks and again before eating anything. Your cooperation and assistance with this matter is appreciated. For your convenience, complementary consultations and treatment in our Medical Facility are available for gastrointestinal illnesses.”

 

TV channel 33, the safety channel, repeatedly plays a video with similar information. Once a day, the Captain gets on the PA system and makes a GI Illness announcement. He always emphasizes that they want anyone who had GI illness symptoms (stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, fever) to report to the infirmary for free consultation and treatment. Every night at the main show in the Celebrity Theater, the cruise director, includes similar reminders in his closing remarks.

 

What Does the Ship Look Like?

 

All shiny surfaces (glass, mirrors, chrome, etc.) in public areas have a whitish dull haze from the dried bleach solution. The cabins are being kept clean and shiny. You will see some wet surfaces where the crew has recently spray or wiped down the surface. You will almost always see crew members spraying and cleaning something. Other than this, the ship looks normal to me.

 

Is the Ship Safe?

 

I’m not qualified to say. Call the CDC and ask them. But personally, I feel very comfortable on this ship. On the morning of March 27, the day we sailed, we talked to a CDC VSP representative who told us they would not have allowed the ship to sail if they thought it was unsafe. CDC had representatives on the last four days of the previous cruise and before we left port. Mercury had to satisfy CDC before we could board. With all the bleaching and hand sanitizing going on, this might be the cleanest cruise ship in the world. If you are thinking about changing ships or cruise lines, another question to ask might be, “Are the other cruise ships and cruise lines safe?” I think Celebrity, or at least Mercury, has (finally) answered their “wake-up call” on this issue.

 

The gentleman from CDC told us it is a good idea to wash your hands and then use an alcohol-based gel hand sanitizer. (Gel because it needs to be on your hands for 20 seconds.) We bought one for our bathroom, and carry some with us when we leave the ship. He said he even does that on airplanes. That might be a good idea. It certainly doesn’t hurt.

 

Note: As I write this following section, I am not trying to discount the problems of the last cruise. From what I understand, it was a genuinely bad cruise.

I’m Booked for a Cruise on the Mercury, Will I Have Fun?

 

 

I know we are having fun. As I write this, we are on a wonderful sea-day between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. It is very tropical outside. The seawater temperature is 82F. The air temperature is in the high 80s. The pool area is packed with people who all seem to be having a very good time.

 

If you get sick, you probably will not have fun. But that applies to any vacation anywhere. Otherwise, it’s entirely up to you whether you will have fun or not.

 

I expect when we get back, there will be some, “This was the worst cruise ever,” reports about this trip. But, in the last year of monitoring the CC forums, I’ve noticed there are always, “This was the worst cruise ever,” reports about every cruise. There are also, “This was a great cruise,” reports on every cruise.

 

Summary

 

So far this has been a wonderful cruise. Barring a change in the situation (such as getting sick), I’m not going to spend any more time writing about GI Illness. There is plenty of much more fun stuff to talk about.

 

Q & A

 

 

Stinsowm and excitedofharpenden: Shhh, don’t tell anyone about the deck 12 CC cabins. Lets keep it our little secret.

 

Joe Beach: At no time have the PAX been allowed to dish up their own food in the buffet. I hope they make this a permanent policy. I don’t want to have to trust the personal hygiene habits of all the PAX touching the serving utensils.

 

Grizzair: Sorry to hear about your illness on the last cruise. I think many of the staff would agree with your choice of words, “hell at sea”. They weren’t having a good time either. I also agree that Celebrity management appears to have been in complete denial mode. I’m still very disappointed that we had to call the CDC to be told the facts. I also agree that the Internet access is very expensive. I’ve been using about 4 minutes per day because I don’t want to lug my notebook computer off the ship. I compose all my email off-line and then send/receive real quick. I haven’t been “surfin the web”. That would be way too expensive. I did use an Internet Café at the PV cruise ship terminal to upload about 10 MB of pictures to my web photo site. I used a USB memory stick to get the photos on the Internet Café’s computer.

 

Position Update

 

According to my GPS, our position is as follows.

N 17 degrees, 30.7 minutes

W 102 degrees, 10.7 minutes

36 miles West of Ixtapa

157 miles from Acapulco

Heading: ESE

Speed: 13 mph

Sea condition: Some white caps, light swell in ESE direction

Time: 3:30 p.m. ship time, 12:30 p.m. PST

(The ship switched to Central Daylight Savings time a day early.)

It is interesting to hear from mercruiser about the cruise which I also was on. I won't say he is wrong in what he is saying but he does not adequately cover what is happening. To say nothing is different about the ship except a residue left from wiping the bleach is not correct. First of all nobody is wiping the bleach off unless it is happening in concierge class which most of us are not on. They are often walking by with bleach bottles in both hands and hosing down the walls - I have not seen anyone wiping since the first two days. Our room has residue everwhere including the mirrors. I asked our cabin steward to wipe down the mirrors, and counters and he said he could not. A friend entered the hall from his room as they were spraying his door and got it in the face. Another friend leaned up against the railing and the bleach took the color out of her slacks. We were complaining to guest relations about the situation and received a shower of bleach from above. All the amenities are taken away, no body has ever asked to refill coffee, water or juice in the buffet area, seat cushions removed on the deck chairs, restaurant shut down on port days for breakfast and lunch so the waiters could clean, over 100 people recruited in each port to help clean, people quaranteened for 48 hours when they asked for a tums, etc, etc, This is an absolutely horrible cruise - don't know what mercruiser is trying to do or say but you can choose which version to believe.