One cruise passenger's experience
We recently were contacted by a woman who posted about her cruising experience on her blog, The Savvy Old Lady's Cruising & Travel Tips. Here is an excerpt of her blog post about a recent cruise trip she took.
For the next three days countless PA announcements, many by the Captain himself, were made, especially at meal times, about the necessity of washing your hands before each meal. Necessary, yes, but somehow a little disconcerting when you were eating your lunch and listening to someone talking on the PA about the symptoms of Norovirus and Norwalk like virus, namely diarrhea and vomiting. There were many areas that were closed for at least three to four days or the entire cruise. They included part of the Windjammer, the twenty-four hour pizza, sandwich and desert bar. Some areas, such as Johnny Rockets, a wonderful hamburger and milk shake restaurant and the arcade (there was a special concern about children and teens and hand washing) were close for the entire voyage. Passengers were not permitted to remove food from the Windjammer or dining rooms so we could not eat on the open decks or bring food to our rooms (room service did operate normally though after the second day). We were told the reason for this was so the crew would know where all the food was going. Well big surprise all the revenue center food and beverage outlets (coffee shop, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop and the bars) on board permitted you to take food out. Hmmm, doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines was losing money on this cruise and I suppose that they had to make the revenue up for it somewhere.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — The storied Queen Elizabeth 2 has a new distinction its owners would prefer not to have after it become the first cruise ship in 2007 to suffer a serious outbreak of norovirus illness, according to the 