Possible sickness on Century

[Elizanessie]

I really hate to post this but my parents are sitting at this moment in Barcelona airport waiting for flight home to UK after disembarking the Century where my stepdad got ill a few days ago.

 

They were having the best ever cruise until a couple of days ago when my stepdad started having tummy pains. He didnt go to the Med Centre as he thought it was his tummy reacting to so much fantastic food on their 10 Med cruise and the cruise was nearly over.

 

But alas after leaving the ship and talking with other passengers it appears others were suffering also.

 

How many? I dont know...all I do know is they were vomiting etc.

 

I have been on the phone all day trying to get my parents on earlier flights back home. They booked their own flights as this was a last minute deal. Sadly I cant get them earlier flights without having to pay major amounts of £££ so they will just have to sit in the airport waiting for check in at 3pm for their flight tonight at 8.20pm. They then have to have an overnight at LHR and then get flight tomorrow to Aberdeen and then they will have a 4 hour coach journey home.

 

My parents are in their 70s and yes they have insurance but my stepdad is feeling better now but a bit weak and exhausted.

 

They had hoped to get checked in early and sit in the Executive lounge where they could rest more comfortably but alas they cant go in there until they have checked in,also they cant have a wheelchair until they have checked in.

 

What really annoyed my mum the most was when the supervisor at the BA/Iberia check in said she "was fed up of cruiselines dropping off passengers so early at the airport !!!!"

 

Never again will my parents sail from Barcelona.

 

They had been so happy on this cruise...best ever they kept saying when they phoned me nearly every day but alas this has now been spoilt by sickness.

 

And before anyone flames me...no I am not pointing accusing fingers at Celebrity at this moment in time. I just wanted to share this worrying time for my parents,with fellow cruisers and hoping that anyone else returning from this sailing, posts here to let us know if they suffered sickness also.

[wvufan]

I can sympathize with the symptoms, as I was quarantined on my last cruise for 4 days due to the noro. Fortunately, those of us who contracted the illness promptly reported our symptoms and remained away from other passengers to minimize the spreading. By the second week, there were no more cases. Perhaps if others had reported to the infirmary, you step dad wouldn't have gotten sick.

 

I don't understand why you are trying to get an earlier flight-if anything, depending on when he has his last symptoms, they should stay another day or two in Barcelona-hopefully covered by their trip insurance-so as to not spread the virus to others at the ariport or on the flight!

 

If they had such a great cruise until the last few days, getting sick at the end shouldn't ruin the whole thing. I spent 4 days in my cabin, but it sure didn't ruin the cruise. Sick happens;) . It was simply my turn.

 

Never sail again from Barcelona? With all due respect, I understand that you are concerned about your folks, but I think you are overdramatizing the situation. They had a great cruise, your step dad was sick for a few days, and they have to wait at an airport. It'll be Ok:)

 

Best Wishes,

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[joelmarj]

I too can sympathize, as two of our friends were sick on a recent cruise as well. It is important that if you feel ill that you report to the dr. immediately for both treatment as well as quaranteen for prevention of spreading the illness.

 

As stated above, it also would have been adviseable for your dad to take the extra day in Barcelona to recover.

 

As for the airlines comment, how is that the cruiselines fault that your parents had a later flight? What was the cruiseline supposed to do with them? Your parents certainly could have booked one of the cruiselines day trips in Barcelona, but it's certainly not the cruiseline's fault that they were at the airport too early. There is never a guarantee that airline flights will "sync" perfectly with when the ship disembarks. Once the cruise is over, basically you are no longer their responsibility. Keep in mind, they are preparing for their next sailing the minute you step off the ship. If there was such a large time gap, perhaps your parents should have reserved a room at the local hotel (there is a Renaissance right at the airport). Then they could have spent the time resting and not sitting around the airport.

[Elizanessie]

The sickness has passed now ..thankfully. He is just very tired and weak..he is after all 78 yrs old.

 

They have now been told they cant give over their luggage until 6pm as another flight to LHR leaves before theirs but they have been given their boarding passes.

 

As to Barcelona...they have sailed from there many times in the past and there always seems to be problems there...hence why they say never from Barcelona again. They are experienced cruisers,they know the do's and not do's, if they had thought for one moment it was noro etc which had made him ill they would have reported it. They would never put anyone else at risk if they had thought it was Noro. They are pensioners not stupid and are in fact very bright, active, caring people.

 

From chatting with other pax..it seems at this moment it was under cooked Lamb at the gala/midnight buffet that may have caused this sickness.

 

Please remember I am getting only some details by cell phone calls from BCN and I am in the UK and therefore not able to get all info. Also as I said earlier they thought it was his tummy which was the problem...not anything on the ship if you follow me.

 

The reason for thinking of earlier flight was to get him home to rest and see his own doctor if need be...also..BCN is not the best airport for sitting around in for 12 hours (cold metal seats) specially when they cant get through to Exec Lounge as they still have their luggage.

[CaribbeanCrazy]

I'm glad your stepdad is feeling better...and will be going home soon.

It must be awful sitting in the airport all day feeling sick.

Which ever it was...noro or food posioning...it's not pleasant.:eek:

I had noro on the last day of our 01/06 cruise...and let's just say I have never felt that sick in my life!

 

CaribbeanCrazy

[mobster75]

My wife and I disembarked this morning from the Century and this is the first we've heard of anyone being ill.

 

In fact, we are writing this from our hotel here in Barcelona while we wait for our flights tomorrow back to Boston via LHR on BA

 

Everyone at our table was fine and while the lamb may have been slightly undercooked, my wife and others at our table enjoyed it without incident.

 

I must say the staff was diligent but not invasive with their push for passengers to use sanitizing wipes prior to entering the Grand Restaurant. They simply held out the wipes containers at the entrance with a couple champagne buckets a few feet inside to discard into.

 

There was no talk or gossip of illness and everybody looked quite well at all times.

 

I hope your folks feel better and have a speedy trip home!

[Elizanessie]

My wife and I disembarked this morning from the Century and this is the first we've heard of anyone being ill.

 

In fact, we are writing this from our hotel here in Barcelona while we wait for our flights tomorrow back to Boston via LHR on BA

 

Everyone at our table was fine and while the lamb may have been slightly undercooked, my wife and others at our table enjoyed it without incident.

 

I must say the staff was diligent but not invasive with their push for passengers to use sanitizing wipes prior to entering the Grand Restaurant. They simply held out the wipes containers at the entrance with a couple champagne buckets a few feet inside to discard into.

 

There was no talk or gossip of illness and everybody looked quite well at all times.

 

I hope your folks feel better and have a speedy trip home!

 

Thanks Mobster

 

Glad to hear you are both well. My parents had a wonderful cruise and they really adored the crew,the ship and oh gawd their Royal Suite :D

 

Having sailed on RCCL/Cunard/NCL, they say this first cruise on Celebrity beats all their past cruises. For my parents to say that ..well it must have been a fantastic ship and pax.They met lots of warm fun great people onboard. Everything was perfect until Ray got ill. They did inform Customer Relations, as they had had an exursion booked for Barcelona but cancelled it due to Ray being so weak and tired.

 

I hope you have safe travels home to the USA :D

[Elizanessie]

I'm glad your stepdad is feeling better...and will be going home soon.

It must be awful sitting in the airport all day feeling sick.

Which ever it was...noro or food posioning...it's not pleasant.:eek:

I had noro on the last day of our 01/06 cruise...and let's just say I have never felt that sick in my life!

 

CaribbeanCrazy

 

Thanks CaribbeanCrazy for your good wishes :D

 

I think it was probably food poisoning...and I guess maybe Ray has a tender stomach ...I dont know..I cant say for sure just what caused it. It will be too late I guess by the time they get home to Scotland to see a doctor and get some tests done to see what caused this.:confused:

[Elizanessie]

A little update.

 

Parents now at LHR waiting for their flight back to Scotland this afternoon.

 

They were able to get wheelchair in BCN after check in and also one at LHR when they arrived,kind gent even pushed the weelchair out to the taxi rank for them.:)

 

They were able to get a ground floor room at their hotel last night (hotel doesnt have lifts/elevators).They got to bed at near midnight last night,totally exhausted.

 

It will be another 10 hours before they get home tonight and no doubt will need a few days to recover but I will keep you up to date with things and hopefully be able to post a review for them as mum doesnt post on here.

[clvali]

The staff at Barcelona needs to do some serious PR work. A few weeks ago we arrived at the airport about 9am with a noon scheduled flight. We stood in the check in line for about 45 minutes, only to be informed that we had to get out of line until after the 10am flight left. Not enough seat available. We are also in our 70's. I really felt sorry for some that were leaving on the 3pm flight.

I have never been to an airport that has not let you check in when you arrive, silly me, I tought airlines wanted you to arrive early.

We were the only ship in port, I shutter to think what it is like in summer.

I will always have memories of the very rude agents in Barcelona. I also wonder if it was the fault of Dutch KLM and not the policy of all airlines,

Anyone have an answer for that????

clvali

[c-legs]

The staff at Barcelona needs to do some serious PR work. A few weeks ago we arrived at the airport about 9am with a noon scheduled flight. We stood in the check in line for about 45 minutes, only to be informed that we had to get out of line until after the 10am flight left. Not enough seat available. We are also in our 70's. I really felt sorry for some that were leaving on the 3pm flight.

I have never been to an airport that has not let you check in when you arrive, silly me, I tought airlines wanted you to arrive early.

We were the only ship in port, I shutter to think what it is like in summer.

I will always have memories of the very rude agents in Barcelona. I also wonder if it was the fault of Dutch KLM and not the policy of all airlines,

Anyone have an answer for that????

clvali

:( Good evening,

If you were already in the line-up for the checkin desks at KLM, I would suggest the ''fault'' lies with KLM; by all appearances, they were short staffed, thus not having enough checkin desks opened and had to go ''flight by flight''....A better way would have been, IMO, to have a roving personnel hollering'' Anybody for the 10.00am flight to such and such...please come this way'' and have the priority people q-jump .

Just my 0.02...

 

Cheers

;)

[Blazerboy]

Funny, a bad experience really can alter your perception of a place...we're just off Century a few weeks, and are ready to MOVE to Barcelona! :D Loved it. Had great ease with the airport, and thought everyone was professional, curteous, etc. (Continental Airlines) But that doesn't mean others didn't have trouble, and, as many have said, if you're feeling ill, even the Presidential Suite at the finest hotel would be less than wonderful.

 

Also, I HAVE had the delayed check in, but here in the States, at JFK, coming off a Cunard Crossing....we got there at 11:00 a.m., but they wouldn't take our bags until four hours before the flight....may be some sort of industry standard that we're mostly not aware of, as how many times DO we get to the airport MORE than four hours in advance....?:rolleyes:

 

Hope your parents are better, and have to add that I was singularly impressed with the job Celebrity was doing to keep the ship clean, and to remind passengers to wash hands and use the sanitizers...I was with those folks JoelMarj mentioned for five days before they were quarantined, and the only thing that happened to me was too much sodium in the water!

 

Andrew

[harrodsfan]

WE had to wait at Barcelona airport at smokey coffee bar until our BA checkin two hours before. Don't know why they do this..have travelled the world and have never ever had this happen in any other airport...

My heart goes out to the orginal poster...it is so hard to worry about parents and not be able to do anything.

Perhaps in the future a less difficult journey home might be a wise idea due to their age...two flights.. and overnight stay is a lot. I would be home in california before them...

[Yahtic]

Pretty standard industry practice to not allow checkin with baggage more than 4 hours prior to flight. I have encountered this with Delta and Continetntal at Newark, Delta in Salt Lake City. Just company policy.

[Alan2504]

Pretty standard industry practice to not allow checkin with baggage more than 4 hours prior to flight. I have encountered this with Delta and Continetntal at Newark, Delta in Salt Lake City. Just company policy.

 

In Europe the standard seems to be 2hrs, I have encountered this with a range of airlines from low-cost operators to the likes of KLM, Lufthansa etc.

[Oslo Dutch]

I was on the same cruise as Andrew. We had evening flights booked from and as we had nearly missed the ship in Rome due to train delays we decided in order to play safe to go early to the airport

 

KLM doesn't check in until 2 hours before departure. I was on Air Berlin, a german low cost carrier (with very good service!) and they allowed me to check in my luggage 3 hours before departure. I think this was due to a very nice check in agent who just wanted to help me out.

 

We sat downstairs in a bar which was pretty comfortable. Mind you we were happy to sit down after having walked through the city all day! :)

 

Reint