Jerry F.

Age: 65
Occupation: Software Engineer
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Voyager of the Seas
Sailing Date: May 20th, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

I just returned from a Royal Caribbean cruise on the Voyager of the Seas to the Western Caribbean. My wife and I were celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary and my 65th birthday. We sailed from Cape Liberty NJ on May 20th 2005. There was a mass outbreak of the Norovirus (a.k.a. Norwalk virus) aboard this particular vessel that affected hundreds of passengers. Royal Caribbean forced anyone into 'isolation' in their cabins who went to the Ship's Doctor with complaints of nausea, stomach cramps, or diarrhea. Once other passengers discovered what was going around the ship, they chose not to report their own sickness for fear of being similarly isolated in their cabins and having their cruise ruined. Sick people just walked around making other passengers sick. People were isolated for allegedly having the Norovirus even if they only presented symptoms of food poisoning, sinus problems, or irritable bowel. Royal Caribbean displayed absolutely no empathy or understanding for wrongly ruining the cruise vacations of passengers not actually having the Norovirus. If a passenger even had even the slightest similarity, the ship's doctor quarantined that person and his/her family and ruined their vacation. Crew members were isolated for the Norovirus. Royal Caribbean and the Voyager of the Sea do a very poor job of cleaning their ships. None of this story is an exaggeration. How can Royal Caribbean clean and prepare their ship for the next cruise in just one (1) hour after the previous 3,500 passengers disembark and then the next 3,500 'new' passengers come on board?

There were stories that the previous cruise had a similar Norovirus outbreak. Warning! If get sick aboard Royal Caribbean, they will make you lose your very expensive vacation. Royal Caribbean may compensate you for the lost days they keep you and possibly your family in your cabin. For a cruise that may cost thousands of dollars per passenger, how does a few hundred dollars compensate for the loss of ports-of-call and a miserable time? What passenger would want to be kept isolated in their room against their will? Yes, the Voyager of the Seas is a beautiful ship, but if you get sick on an infected ship, and the Royal Caribbean ship is 'dirty', your vacation will be forever ruined as our vacation was. My wife was not sick and Royal Caribbean would not let her leave the ship and visit the ports-of-call. I happen to have an ulcer and sometimes suffer from an irritable bowel. I take Nexium (the 'purple' pill) that produces stomach cramps and nausea. When I saw the Ship's Doctor, he decided that my stomach cramps was a good enough reason to put me into the same group of passengers with the Norovirus going around the Voyager of the Seas. I didn't have the virus, but I was trapped by a nasty doctor. This is not the professional manner in which Royal Caribbean should be treating its passengers. Consider taking a different cruise line. Don't be caught with hundreds of other innocent passengers who've had their vacations-of-a-lifetime ruined by an unkind robotic cruise-line. I'll bet the Royal Caribbean Bermuda cruise that left from Cape Liberty NJ on May 29th 2005 had plenty of sick people thanks to Royal Caribbean. I despise Royal Caribbean and get angry every time I see their television advertisement. Royal Caribbean should advertise, "Get out there - Come on our ships and have your vacation ruined. You have a 10:1 chance of getting sick on us." I am very unhappy. I was celebrating my 39th wedding anniversary and my 65th birthday. These moments cannot be recaptured. Royal Caribbean could have offered my wife and me another cruise. They didn't. Thanks for nothing Royal Caribbean!
 

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