Mercury Panama Cruise Dec 08, 2006

[C 2 C]

We are presently docked in Acapulco, our second port on our sailing to Miami.

We are sailing under the dreaded Red Code as a result of passengers bringing the NLV onboard. It seems a group of about 100 passengers stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the cruiseport and were sick within hours of getting on board. There were reports of 30 to 40 affected people and a larger number are in quaranteen. After a vigorous bleech campaign in which every crew member, including sales staff, spa, even dancers were seen cleaning the walls... it seems that there have been only 2 new cases so this campaign seems to be working.

Certain changes have been made.. no butter nor bread on the table at dinner time, staff serving coffee rather than self serve in the cafe. There is no casual dining nor sushi. Even the "Captain's table" was cancelled on formal night.

Entertainment so far has been exceptional. The cast is great and the performance better than it was in February when we spent a month onboard. The Rendezvous band and the Headliners party Band provide great music for dancing.

So far except for the illness we think it's agreat cruise.

[kruisecat]

I hope you stay healthy and can continue to enjoy your trip!!

[excitedofharpenden]

Another cruise Arno? Someone's paying you too much:D

 

Sorry to hear that Mercury has the bug again and hope you manage to stay clear of it. Is there a hot bed of Noro in San Diego, I wonder?

 

Phil

[Rob&Nancy]

"It seems a group of about 100 passengers stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the cruiseport and were sick within hours of getting on board. There were reports of 30 to 40 affected people and a larger number are in quaranteen. "

 

Which Holiday Inn?

 

Thanks!

 

Nancy

[poohtaz]

That darn virus:eek: is my biggest fear for our cruise in January, we are not staying at the Holiday Inn, so that's one good thing. Course you can pick it up anywhere, gladly I do carry hand sanitizer with me at all times.. yes I am a freak :rolleyes: .. ha ha

 

Nice to hear everything else about Mercury is great:)

[CRUISERCOUPLE]

We are right behind you sailing out of Miami on 12/23 . I hope the ship is cleaned up by then. Please keep us informed on the situation. Thanks

[SilverFoxLady]

I sure hope this gets cleaned up too.... sailing on Dec 23rd as well...

 

 

Cruisercouple...here is a link to thread with about 70 more folks on your cruise...come on over and join us...........

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=222996

[Kathie44]

Every time I hear about another norovirus outbreak I cross my fingers, but now I will have to cross my toes, too. We are sailing Mercury to the MR on 1/29. I hope this is an isolated incident for Mercury. Stay well and give us updates when you can. I guess I need to beef up my hand sanitizer supply again. :D

[C 2 C]

We´re presently docked at Cristobal Pier

The outbreak has been largely contained by a very stringent cleaning effort by the entire staff.

Every half hour the Ghostbusters crew.. guys with sprayers on their back spray every empty chair and carpet area... hack hack. Seats are often moist so I´m carrying a towel around to sit on.

The latest is that .. news is tough to get.. but there have been no more than two new cases a day... and none yesterday.

There is no casual dining, no lunch in the dining room.

Today we snagged an anchor while waiting in Gatun lake, delaying our arrival by nearly three hours.

For us, not having been sick, things are still very good.... there are lots of complaints heard from people who are inconvenienced by attempts to keep us healthy.

I believe we will be on a healthy ship by the time we reach Miami...

[cruisinjudy]

Hi Arno,

Sorry to hear you are on a sick ship, but it sounds promising with no new cases!

 

We are staying at the Holiday Inn in January. Guess we will be very careful there.

[C 2 C]

Hi Judy

Have a great cruise.

 

We're in Aruba today with no new reported cases for 4 days. The spraying continues however. Safeguards are still in effect, no butter, salt & pepper, handling of cups, bread.....

 

It looks like this bug has been beat.

I'm just waiting for all the demands of compensation to start for inconvenience and stuff...

Waffles are OK though;)

[chrismch]

Thanks for the update! We will be boarding on Saturday for the trip west through the canal and are relieved that things have improved. We still plan to use those sanitizers all the time as usual. Have a Merry Christmas!:p

[Drew B]

Safeguards are still in effect, no butter, salt & pepper, handling of cups, bread.....

 

I'm confused by this. Does this mean that the waiters have to salt and pepper your food for you and dole out pats of butter, or does it mean that you simply can't have any salt/pepper/butter?

[kehlx2]

There is no casual dining, no lunch in the dining room.

 

So is there no lunches at all? Sure hope it is better & stays that way the end of Jan. I am leery of just getting on the flight--really close to everyone--I have always thought this is where most of us get sick & not the ships--we are breathing everyone's germs on the flight to warmer weather every winter.

Hope your cruise stays healthy & you have a good time.

[C 2 C]

We are safely home, unaffected by health problems.

 

Drew: Salt & pepper were in small packets in the Cafe.

At dinner, the waiter ground fresh pepper upon request. I've never had to ask for more salt on any of our meals.

 

I think the crew did a fantastic job cleaning the ship and containing this virus. I'm sure other guests will describe their own ordeal if they were affected. I did not hear of the ultimate toll.

[Deb C.]

Welcome home, Arno and Joanne!

 

Thanks for the interesting updates along the way.

 

Glad you had a good time. Any report on trivia? Who won "Battle..." this trip?

 

Have a great holiday! Deb C.

[rubrrick]

Arno...........thanks for keeping everyone informed along the way. My DW and I were on the same cruise, and although there were some inconviences, there was only one day of major bleaching.........so much so, that bleach ran down almost all surfaces, and allowed to dry overnight. The captain only showed his face for a Captains Club party, no captains tables for the whole cruise, but did come out on the last day for an hour to sign anything that people were purchasing onboard.

 

The one loss that we occurred during the way was that the Hotel Director, Beatrice Moine left the ship to take a new job in France and so we have a new Hotel Director by the name of Carlos Ramirez. Captain Nikos gave Arno and a few of us a bit of his time one evening, and the only thing that I came away with is the knowledge that when the Mercury goes into drydock in April........there will be a new communication system installed, along with updating the public areas.

 

If the Noro does not reappear.......the ship will be back in code green by day after tomorrow. We hope everyone that has joined the ship on 12/23 will have a wonderful sailing.

 

Rick

[C 2 C]

 

Glad you had a good time. Any report on trivia? Who won "Battle..." this trip?

 

This trip the trivia bragging rights was determined not by overall points but by days won. The men won day one, the ladies day 2 and 3, men 4, 5, 6. Several ladies complained that the men's questions were easier than the ones for the ladies. On the last sea day with the men leading 4 games to 2, 20 questions were asked for a dead heat 17 vs 17. Some ladies declared therefore that the men did not win but that the score was tied overall..

Joanne sys the guys won.

The conclusion was however that it would be nice to compete with the same questions for both sides. ( I think the questions given to the ladies were easier than to the men and we should have won 6 times with one tie);) but who's counting..

The activities staff were great but only one of them asked original questions. The CD, Stewart Turnbull, did not provide a great schedule for us on any sea day.

[Host Anne]

Arno ~ welcome back and glad to hear you and Joanne stayed healthy!

 

We were on Century while you were on Mercury and Dru was our CD again. He has changed the way Battle is conducted and it was terrific. I think you would really like it. Made it more strategical and kept everyone in it until the end. Guys won and got certificates, but it was a close and fun game. By the way, Dru says hello! And I believe we actually had a passenger more into trivia than you ;) . Would be fun to sail with both of you sometime!

 

Hello to Joanne for us!

[Deb C.]

Thanks , Arno, for the trivia update. Sounds like "Battle" has really become a BATTLE in the past few cruises.:eek: Just hate to see hurt feelings. We are there to win, but also to have fun!!

 

I think Carlos R. was our hotel director on Nov. on Zenith.

[rubrrick]

Thanks , Arno, for the trivia update. Sounds like "Battle" has really become a BATTLE in the past few cruises.:eek: Just hate to see hurt feelings. We are there to win, but also to have fun!!

 

I think Carlos R. was our hotel director on Nov. on Zenith.

 

Deb...........you are correct that Carlos was your Hotel Manager on the Zenith, having been promoted from F & B manager.

 

Stewart did a decent job.......but let the old hands at trivia down, and so Rick and Arno didn't have enough of a challenge. I think there should be some true challenges between ships.........as we have come into the information age, with instant email between ships.

 

Rick

[SheilaNC]

Arno,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like there has been a lot of turnover since we were on Mercury in July. Do you know where Robin McCartney who was our cruise director went. I've never been impressed with Stewart Turnbull so I'm not surprised about the schedules he put together. Were Justin (CC host )and Natalie (future cruise sales) onboard? We were hoping they would have repeat contracts and be with us when we sail Down Under. It's hard to keep up with folks.... Glad you had a good cruise and that the NV didn't get you!

[rubrrick]

I can answer one thing for you............that Natalie was aboard.......and taking Arno's money for future cruises!! We contributed a small amount, but I think that Arno was the big winner on future cruises!!

 

Rick

[SheilaNC]

Thanks, Rick...we contributed our share in July as well...but probably not a threat to Arno. If either of you has an email address for Natalie or Justin, I've misplaced the ones I had and would appreciate them. Our experience with the waiters, asst waiters, asst Maitre D', and the rest of the crew was amazing...we're already looking forward to our next time with them and it's still 14 months away.

[C 2 C]

Arno,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like there has been a lot of turnover since we were on Mercury in July. Do you know where Robin McCartney who was our cruise director went. Were Justin (CC host )and Natalie (future cruise sales) onboard? We were hoping they would have repeat contracts and be with us when we sail Down Under. It's hard to keep up with folks....

 

I was told that Robin is no longer with Celebrity. Emma was the new CC hostess and she needs a bit of experience in that role. She kept on calling me Mr McKay until the last day... It must be tough to keep frequent cruisers apart. Natalie told us this is about the slowest cruise for sales that she has ever had. On the last day she had no appointments prebooked!

The crowd was different from the normal as well. Formal night saw about 10% of the men in tuxes. Informal saw very few jackets and even fewer ties.