Magic 11/16/02 Illness - THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN POST ABOUT THIS INCIDENT

[Cindyluwho]

I spoke to Disney early this afternoon and they made it clear that no decisions regarding compensation would be made for at least a week. They really need to see how this goes and what the CDC comes up with after the test results are in. I'm not sure where CNN got the 50% compensation info, but it's been a rumor since the beginning of this thing and just keeps getting passes around as fact. I have to say that Mike, who I spoke with at Disney, was amazing. After all the phone calls he's taken and all the reports he's filed he still is friendly and patient and even still has a sense of humor. After I gave him my statement I asked him to please include in the report that even though we were disappointed in the way the illness was handled in the beginning, we still love and respect the company. I also told him that he was doing a great job and it was really appreciated. He then told me that I'd made his day. Please remember when you call, it's not that particular person's fault what happened on the last cruise. They're just there to help. Just wanted to pass that along, thanks for listening.

 

[Thumper1]

psimon -

Sorry, I changed the numbers in my post.

There were always be differences of opinion. Let's hope we can discuss this equitably and with respect for others.

 

[lruggiero]

"According to my husband, whom I consder an expert in litiagation and liability it is unreasonable to expect Disney to protect all future cruisers from any possible infection. This is not the blubonic plauge nor are they attempting to hide it under the rug."

AnnMorin-Again we disagree...

I spoke to Tom at the special 866 number for Disney and I told him that although myself and I'm sure most others do not "blame"
Disney for this virus, we do have a sanitization issue. If the incubation period can be up to 48-72 hours, how does that protect the crew member who served breakfast to the man at 8am on Saturday who was afterwards throwing uo in the lobby?

When the ship left on Saturday, I'm sure there were crew members that felt completely fine but since they were in contact with contagious passengers, they have now been stricken. Now, they in turn will infect at least one other person.

Tom (from Disney) and I both agree on the above. Although Diseny has not made any decision to dock our boat on Sat the 30th, we do have other options, however, I was told by Tom that if any 11/30 cruisers decided to sail and did fall sick, they would be offering the same compensation as before. Free 3 day cruise or 50% off a future 7 day.

I think if anyone wants to quote what they think Disney is or isn't going to do, they need to call the hotline and get the info straight from the horses mouth.

Not sure what I will do yet, I am not looking for compensation on another cruise, i am looking and hoping to have an illness free vacation now!
What good does compensation do me if there is no gurarantee that there won't be something on the future sailing I pick.

Lori

 

[Tluvs2talk]

I have been sick with the stomach virus all week as has my Hubby and we were not any where near the Disney Magic. This is the prime time of the year for sickness. Do you think Disney will give me a free cruise too????

 

[disneyholic family]

i totally agree with you...

 

[ppiew]

Iruggiero - I don't think you would get a GUARANTEE from Disney or anyone for a sick free vacation. Not in the realm of possibility! You need confidence in the provider (Disney in this case) as well as faith in your fellow cruisers to follow all perscribed and reasonable precautionary measures ie. hand washing etc. Keep in mind if the ship were 100% virus free, ANY new passenger can 'bring something' on board on the very next cruise and the cycle would repeat itself.

 

[suez live]

I hate to be the cloud stops lurking and then rains on everyone’s “happy parade” but get serious—THEY SHOULD CANCEL THE 11/30 CRUISE!

While sad that it would dampen a few holidays, they MUST break this cycle of illness or it will never end. Even if they remove an ill crew member, the one who is “healthy” serving you dinner or sterilizing your cabin may be contagious and fall ill on Monday. Hence, the cycle begins again.

If we can stop clouding the numbers, DCL states that the average ill for a trip is 5-10 people*—NOT 85, or 100, or 275 which happened last week. And this time it appears to be spreading much faster than the week before.

Intentionally exposing thousands of people to any illness once the precautions have proven ineffective (which is now) is negligent.

It certainly appears that the only company with operational dignity right now is Holland America.

Shame on DCL if they let this continue.

(*As reported by CNN on 11/26/02)

 

[KMovies]

As for the previous post:

"It certainly appears that the only company with operational dignity right now is Holland America. "

Disney did what it could on Saturday ... if it had worked - then everything would have been OK. Holland America tried for 4 cruises thus prompting the 5th to be cancelled.

We don't even know if the two are the same yet - the virus hasn't been confirmed on the Magic. It had been on the Holland America.

We also don't know if Holland America will be virus free when it sails again.

Not sure if Holland America contacted all of its passengers, gave them the options that Disney is giving, and all.

Hey - would you rather sail on the next Holland America sailing or Disney???

Interesting note: Holland America is much smaller - only 1050 passengers and 525 crew - so while their numbers may be similar (500 in 4 cruises) - (335 in 2 cruises) - Disney sails with over twice the passengers and almost double the crew.

 

[suez live]

Did what it could?

DCL took the same measures that HA failed with for THREE WEEKS! While I’m most sure DCL made a valiant effort, the responsible course of action would have been to stop the spread in its tracks. As many indicated on these boards, somebody cleaning who is infected does little more than unknowingly spread the infection further.

Contacting future passengers and ship capacity is irrelevant to this discussion.

An epidemic is an epidemic and should responsibly be treated as such.

If the choice is sailing on a clean vessel vs. one that is knowingly contaminated and that will cause harm to more than 5% its passengers? What a ridiculous question.

 

[Carameo]

I've been reading this thread since it started and while I have seen specifics for what DCL did in cleaning, I don't recall seeing anything about the steps that HA took before they took their ship offline. Maybe HA didn't do the intense cleaning that DCL did on Saturday.

Also, I am sure that they have asked passengers to report ANY symptons (even slight ones) so they can determine if they are related. This number COULD include your normal seasickness, which for the people that have it the worst, can feel like a stomach virus.

Just my opinion.

 

[miksicnarf]

"It certainly appears that the only company with operational dignity right now is Holland America."

I believe HAL sailed the Amsterdam for four consecutive weeks with the virus before taking it offline.

 

[LisaFB]

As stated by ppiew

Keep in mind if the ship were 100% virus free, ANY new passenger can 'bring something' on board on the very next cruise and the cycle would repeat itself.

That's exactly how I feel.. unless the virus is stopped at its source (which peopel are speculating is somewhere in Central FL) then no matter what happens, it'll still spread!!!! So even stopping the next cruise wont'' do anything!

As stated by carameo

Also, I am sure that they have asked passengers to report ANY symptons (even slight ones) so they can determine if they are related. This number COULD include your normal seasickness, which for the people that have it the worst, can feel like a stomach virus.

The CDC did ask us last week to report ANY symptoms we had no matter what and whehter or nt we really got sick! That's where the extra 75 people came from (about 200 really got sicka nd 75 reported symptoms). They did that to see everything they possibly could, even knowing that some of them cam be seasickness or from eating too much, etc.

Really, the only way to stop this thing is to frist find out what it is, which the CDC has not yet finsihed doing, so everything that's being said is speculation. And once they find the source, then they need to stop it there otherwise it'll keep spreading NO MATTER WHAT!!

Look at it this way, I was on the first contaminated ship and didn't get sick, but I could be carrying whatever it is. Not knowing that, I may have broughtit back home with me or on the airplane, etc and unfortunately I may have unwillingly gotten someone else sick. If the enxt person in mt seat on the plane got sick, there's nothing the airline could do since I brought it with me and no one knew.....

 

[sjm]

Originally posted by WebmasterMichelle
I will politely DISAGREE with those who say to dock the ship.

Disney IS giving those who do not want to sail the TOTAL OPTION of A FULL REFUND.

It has been shown on other cruise lines, that it is sometimes necessary to cancel a sailing, in order to get rid of the NV.. In that week they not only continue cleaning the ship, but it gives time to be sure that no crew members still have the virus.

I think that Disney is handling this much better then other cruise lines. At least they are letting passengers know ahead of time and offering full refunds if you do not want to sail.

I don't want a refund, I want the NV to be gone so I can sail in Jan.

Sue - Disney Magic 1/25/03

 

[Jammarx]

Hmm.. Disney is contacting everyone who is cruising this weekend on the Magic???? hmm I dont think they contacted me or my wife-- yet.. and when im flying out today.. it will be a little hard to get ahold of me-- so no they havent given me a chance to change my mind-- and to tell ya the truth- unless I had read about the illness here on these boards-- I would have never known anyone was getting sick! I wonder how many people going aboard will not know anything about it?

I'll also play -- what IF it the virus was brought on board from a plane, or a train or an automobile... ya know what? It doesnt matter any more where it came from.. what we do know is that we have a place where it exists now, and is spreading! ... a known focal point to where this virus exists now.... again-- im supposed to be on this ship.. and from other chat boards and websites, (non- disney) talking about this outbreak think that any one willing to put themselves or their families in any non-normal chances of harm or illness is just plain crazy.. I think in a way that alot of people on these boards specificaly let the "Disney Magic" get a little far fetched.. what im saying-- if this wasnt a Disney ship- on a disney chat board, I think peoples opinions would be different... much different .. but then again opinions are like Mothers.. everyone has had one at one time!

 

[suez live]

"That's exactly how I feel.. unless the virus is stopped at its source (which peopel are speculating is somewhere in Central FL) then no matter what happens, it'll still spread!!!! So even stopping the next cruise wont'' do anything!"




Following this logic, every ship sailing out of Florida should be infected. . .as it stands now, this is not the case.

 

[LianeMJ]

I live in South Florida and I've not heard of anyone around here having the flu or Norwalk Virus, so to say it's originating here may even be far fetched. It could be coming from anywhere - one of the ports even.

They just need to get rid of it and fast - I sail on December 14th and don't want my trip docked! I hate to see anyone else's docked either but maybe that's what they need to do...

 

[KMovies]

Since the HA ship hasn't sailed again ... we won't know if that solved the problem either.

 

[suez live]

While we don’t know if canceling a ship will stop the spread, we DO know that continuing to sail and trying to clean in response does NOT work.

Obviously one line already figured out this not-terribly-complex quandary.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Yes, good points Suez and Liane....

This is a fairly serious virus... It is spreading in the confines of this one particular ship... The CDC is involved....

I must respectfully disagree with those who are trying to treat this as a NON-serious problem. IE: it is just a bug, could have come from anywhere... etc...

And, I know that one person stated that a certain percentage of those at one particular school had a Flu, of some kind.... that does not mean that they close the school...

Sorry, but in my state, when that many precious vulnerable little kids are taken with a serious illness, they DO close the school. Sometimes just a long weekend is enough to break the cycle.

 

[4cruisin]

Since this thread is now getting out of control, I have some suggestions to make.

1. For those of you sailing on Saturday, I'm willing to bet that DCL may offer some type of compensation if you choose to cancel now.

2. For those of you sailing on future dates, hopefully you were smart enough to purchase trip insurance. Maybe you should look into what is covered.

3. Let's all stop panicking and judging both other cruisers and DCL itself. Do you really think there is just one person deciding when, if and should the ship cancel? There is DCL, the CDC and I bet DCL's lawyers and insurance company all having input about ALL decisions relating to this outbreak.

What it comes down to is this, if you want to go ahead and cruise, go for it and if you don't, then don't get nasty with DCL and the passengers that do decide to go.

Remember ....it's a darn stomach bug. So far there are no reports of people dying from it. In fact people that got it said they were pretty much over it in 24 hours. I get stomach bugs at least twice
a year and unfortunately, it's just a fact of life for most people now a days.