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This was going to be our best cruise ever!. A 14 day cruise to Hawaii from LA. All we had to do was get to LA in time to get on the ship, so we left the day before. We made it, but now I wish we hadn't.
Left port on Wednesday, and first port day in HI was Monday. Saturday morning I awoke with a drip in the back of my throat and a ticklish cough. It was then that my wife informed me that the woman sitting behind me during the leg from DFW to LAX was coughing all the way.
So, I figured a cold wasn't going to set me back from having a good time. I have had them before. Monday morning arrived and I wasn't getting any better, but we had purchased an excursion that included a Helo ride over the Volcano on the Big Island. I suffered through it, but it was nice. The next day was Oahu. After breakfast on the ship we returned to our cabin where the wife promptly gave up her breakfast. So much for seeing the Arizona Memorial!. I managed to get into Honolulu to pick up some needed cold related stuff like Kleenex that didn't fall apart when you try to use it, like the stuff Princess supplies. Also needed to get some Nyquil. All they had in the on board store was the capsules. I needed to coating action the syrup provides. We decide we had better go to the Medical Center on board to get checked out. It didn't open until 4PM at that point. There goes that day.
At the Medical center they tested us for the flu and it showed we had H1N1. We had both had our flu shots in the fall. Didn't help. They gave us Tamiflu and some form of acetomenifen(sic?) and flagged us to be isolated in our cabin until our fevers were back to normal. I guess once that happens we were no longer a threat to anyone else. They told us the next evening someone would come around to take our temps. The next day was Kauai, which looked pretty nice from our balcony, which was as close to it we would ever get. They never did come by to get our temps, so the next day(Maui) we waited until they opened at 8AM and went down to the Med center. We were released from isolation, and went ashore to get more supplies and a few trinkets from our "memorable cruise". We did get to sample a Hawaiian shaved Ice, which really tasted good and soothed our throats.
So much for seeing Hawaii! I have to say I did not hold Princess in any way responsible for our bad luck, but some things unrelated to our illness made it more difficult to enjoy this cruise, and probably would have been more of an issue otherwise, had we not been so sick. First, our AC in the cabin was totally inadequate. As evidence of this, we had fevers which usually result in chills. We never felt any chill!. In fact we were uncomfortably warm most of the time.
Second, this was the first cruise we have been on where they had alternative dining. By that I mean upscale dining where you pay a little extra to go to a restaurant separate from the dining room. After having been on about 7 previous cruises that did not have this option, I feel that alternative dining is a way for the cruiselines to cut costs on the dining, and still have the truly upscale dining experience, as long as the passenger is willing to pay more for it. The quality of the food was not as good as we have previously experienced on Carnival cruises without upscale dining. Also, because some friends were also on this cruise, we opted to change to the anytime dining option, as opposed to scheduled dining times like we had always done in the past. We found that we missed the interaction we had in the past by having the same waitstaff at each meal. I don't know if that also had any effect on the quality of the food.
On the return to LA we had a severe head wind which made the passing a little rough. We were in a cabin the farthest forward possible on the highest deck possible(Golden Princess L202). Whenever the bow crashed into a wave, the balcony door, which had no latching mechanism, cracked open a small amount and the wind loudly whistled through the crack. This went on for about two and a half days. Not that we could get much sleep anyway what with all the coughing we were both doing!
Kudos to Princess, though, for reimbursing us for the excursions we were unable to go on. Even reimbursed us for the excursions on Oahu, that actually completed before we could get to the medical center later that day. They also reimbursed us for a cabin credit that our daughter and sil bought for us, for a balcony dinner, served in our cabin. This is normally not a refundable credit. Either you use it or you lose it, but under the circumstances, they refunded it to our account.
We had purchased the cruise through Priceline and bought their trip insurance. I called them and they supposedly will cover us for the two days portion of the overall cruise price that we were isolated in the cabin, as well as the medical center charges. Unfortunately that is two days out of the 14, as opposed to 2 out the 4 days in HI. Still waiting on the claim forms to arrive and for them to process them. We will see.
One possible upside to this is that I have trying to convince my wife that we should get an RV for when I retire in a few years. We are not too keen on flying anymore after this. We are also not too keen on cruises, mainly because of the possibility of becoming imprisoned in our cabin again. Especially, but not limited to, flu season. If we ever did go on another cruise, we will without a doubt, never get an inside cabin. I can't imagine how that would have worked!
Last edited by Cruzincat; 01-26-2013 at 12:06 PM..
With this new strain of flu you would have had to have contact with the carrier from 48 to 72 hours earlier.
Sorry to hear about your experience. Being on a floating city anything can happen. Sometimes it's a crapshoot. You said you've been on several cruises so you see already what I'm saying.
We've been on 9 cruises, 7 with Princess, always in an outside cabin, and have seen everything from drunks falling overboard to people dying to colds, etc, just like at home.
This was going to be our best cruise ever!. A 14 day cruise to Hawaii from LA. All we had to do was get to LA in time to get on the ship, so we left the day before. We made it, but now I wish we hadn't.
Left port on Wednesday, and first port day in HI was Monday. Saturday morning I awoke with a drip in the back of my throat and a ticklish cough. It was then that my wife informed me that the woman sitting behind me during the leg from DFW to LAX was coughing all the way.
So, I figured a cold wasn't going to set me back from having a good time. I have had them before. Monday morning arrived and I wasn't getting any better, but we had purchased an excursion that included a Helo ride over the Volcano on the Big Island. I suffered through it, but it was nice. The next day was Oahu. After breakfast on the ship we returned to our cabin where the wife promptly gave up her breakfast. So much for seeing the Arizona Memorial!. I managed to get into Honolulu to pick up some needed cold related stuff like Kleenex that didn't fall apart when you try to use it, like the stuff Princess supplies. Also needed to get some Nyquil. All they had in the on board store was the capsules. I needed to coating action the syrup provides. We decide we had better go to the Medical Center on board to get checked out. It didn't open until 4PM at that point. There goes that day.
At the Medical center they tested us for the flu and it showed we had H1N1. We had both had our flu shots in the fall. Didn't help. They gave us Tamiflu and some form of acetomenifen(sic?) and flagged us to be isolated in our cabin until our fevers were back to normal. I guess once that happens we were no longer a threat to anyone else. They told us the next evening someone would come around to take our temps. The next day was Kauai, which looked pretty nice from our balcony, which was as close to it we would ever get. They never did come by to get our temps, so the next day(Maui) we waited until they opened at 8AM and went down to the Med center. We were released from isolation, and went ashore to get more supplies and a few trinkets from our "memorable cruise". We did get to sample a Hawaiian shaved Ice, which really tasted good and soothed our throats.
So much for seeing Hawaii! I have to say I did not hold Princess in any way responsible for our bad luck, but some things unrelated to our illness made it more difficult to enjoy this cruise, and probably would have been more of an issue otherwise, had we not been so sick. First, our AC in the cabin was totally inadequate. As evidence of this, we had fevers which usually result in chills. We never felt any chill!. In fact we were uncomfortably warm most of the time.
Second, this was the first cruise we have been on where they had alternative dining. By that I mean upscale dining where you pay a little extra to go to a restaurant separate from the dining room. After having been on about 7 previous cruises that did not have this option, I feel that alternative dining is a way for the cruiselines to cut costs on the dining, and still have the truly upscale dining experience, as long as the passenger is willing to pay more for it. The quality of the food was not as good as we have previously experienced on Carnival cruises without upscale dining. Also, because some friends were also on this cruise, we opted to change to the anytime dining option, as opposed to scheduled dining times like we had always done in the past. We found that we missed the interaction we had in the past by having the same waitstaff at each meal. I don't know if that also had any effect on the quality of the food.
On the return to LA we had a severe head wind which made the passing a little rough. We were in a cabin the farthest forward possible on the highest deck possible(Golden Princess L202). Whenever the bow crashed into a wave, the balcony door, which had no latching mechanism, cracked open a small amount and the wind loudly whistled through the crack. This went on for about two and a half days. Not that we could get much sleep anyway what with all the coughing we were both doing!
Kudos to Princess, though, for reimbursing us for the excursions we were unable to go on. Even reimbursed us for the excursions on Oahu, that actually completed before we could get to the medical center later that day. They also reimbursed us for a cabin credit that our daughter and sil bought for us, for a balcony dinner, served in our cabin. This is normally not a refundable credit. Either you use it or you lose it, but under the circumstances, they refunded it to our account.
We had purchased the cruise through Priceline and bought their trip insurance. I called them and they supposedly will cover us for the two days portion of the overall cruise price that we were isolated in the cabin, as well as the medical center charges. Unfortunately that is two days out of the 14, as opposed to 2 out the 4 days in HI. Still waiting on the claim forms to arrive and for them to process them. We will see.
One possible upside to this is that I have trying to convince my wife that we should get an RV for when I retire in a few years. We are not too keen on flying anymore after this. We are also not too keen on cruises, mainly because of the possibility of becoming imprisoned in our cabin again. Especially, but not limited to, flu season. If we ever did go on another cruise, we will without a doubt, never get an inside cabin. I can't imagine how that would have worked!
what a bummer trip: that is horrible. I am not surprised Princess did reimburse you, they should have. As for your insurance paying for the two days, good for them, I think that is going above and beyond.
you mention alternative dining, you must have done those other cruises years ago cause all mass marketed lines have offered alternative dining for years. NCL was the first, back in the 90s. Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, HAL, RCI have all offered sur charge dining since maybe 2005 if not before. We had our first princess cruise in 2006, they had 2 restaurants then and HAL has had one since before that. Princess started their specialty dining in about 2003 I think it was...Yes, it is a way to get more revenue, but we have the choice of eating only in the MDRS if we want. I like the idea of keeping the cruise price down and letting us decide how we want to spend our budgeted money. Some use it for tours, some, the casino, some on booze and some on specialty dining. Some choose not to spend extra on any of this. I see you didn't care for the open dining concept. Most lines now offer it because of its popularity. There are pay offs and yes, not having the same wait staff it one. You could have chosen regular dining, but at least yo gave this a shot..It isn't for everyone.
Before you choose not to cruise again, let the disappointment of your sick cruise settle in..
Last edited by nmnita; 01-28-2013 at 12:40 PM..
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