Norwalk Virus!!!! January 2008

Item: Norwegian Star
Rating: 1
Author: JohnS50

Norwegian Star Cruise Review to Mexico

JohnS50

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 10

Overall rating:

1 out of 5

Sail date: January 01, 2008

Ship: Norwegian Star

Cabin type: Inside

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 16 years ago

Review summary

We boarded ship for an 8-day Mexican Riviera Cruise departing L.A. on 1/18/08. We were unaware that the ship had already been "infected" with the Norwalk Virus. On day 3 (Monday, 1/20/08) we were first informed over the intercom by the Captain that there were passengers with the Norwalk Virus on board and that we should take extra care in washing our hands, etc. On Tuesday, 1/21 the buffet lines were staffed with NCL employees to keep passengers from handling food, spoons and serving plates (this was mostly enforced, but I watched passengers "break the rules" daily with no intervention by crew. Each day more and more people were sick (we heard from other guests about someone in their group being sick, etc.) We stayed in our cabin the majority of the cruise and rarely ventured out of cabin unless we were in port. Also, we did not allow any crew members in our cabin and we retrieved clean linens for our own cabin, not wanting to allow the staff access so that they could cross-contaminate our cabin (this was no fun for us on vacation, but necessary.) There were a few occasions (we saw one and heard about others) where passengers were so violently ill that they vomited in public without warning. Also, the captain warned over the intercom 3-4 days at the end of cruise that "infected people had been seen around the ship after they were on quarantine." We spent one day in port purchasing Lysol, hand sanitizers and cleaners as we wanted to make sure we did not get ill.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Food in buffet and in specialty restaurants that did not charge was average at best and much of the entrees looked the same. Honestly it look like frozen and canned ingredients mainly and not the fresh food I have been accustomed to on other cruises. Not enough wait-staff: There were always lines and slow service and int looked like many of the crew members were completing multiple jobs which resulted in poor food safety practises (I witnessed servers handling dirty dishes and than handling food without washing hands or changing gloves on multiple occasions.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

I can't really comment, because after people started vomiting in public places I really did not want to attend any more entertainment activities.

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

I don't blame this on the crew-members - there has to be poor management and lack of training in order for so many employees to make so many mistakes.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

One small pool that was dominated by kids (kids had their own pool too, but apparently they needed to stay in main pool as well.)

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Cabin was kept clean as we cleaned and kept it up ourselves in order to keep the ship staff from possibly cross-contaminating our cabin with Norwalk Virus.

Pros: Leaving the ship in port

Cons: Norwalk Virus - poor quality food - not enough staff

Norwalk Virus!!!! January 2008

Overall rating:

Review summary

Ship experiences

Recommends Norwegian Star? No.

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