LETTER FROM READER ON CELEBRITY MERCURY
Second Illness Outbreak in a
Row: March 17 - 27, 2006
We were on the 10 day Celebrity
Mercury cruise to the Mexican Riviera and had a nightmarish trip.
Following is a bulletin I posted on CruiseCritic website and after that
is a formal complaint I sent to Celebrity Corporate Headquarters.
It's been two weeks and we have still not heard anything back from this
company. We are asking for any advice you can give and are also
seeking legal representation to get our money back. We did not
pay for this, were not warned of this, and were not given any
opportunity to not get onboard. If we had known any of this was
going on (these events happened on the two previous cruises to ours and
on the current cruise which arrives back in San Diego today) I've
also attached pictures
we took while onboard. Would appreciate any advice you can
give. Thank you,
'Abort! Jump
off! Do anything but get aboard the Mercury! My fiance and I just
returned from a 10 day hell at sea to the Mexican Riviera on the
Mercury from March 17th- March 27th, 2006. Minus the fact that the
norovirus is rampant on this boat and we were quarantined near the end
of our trip there are so many other issues at hand: The boat is aged
and weathered,
there is no glamour at sea on the Mercury. Because the sickness has
affected the staff as well, many of the services are limited. On our
cruise the Sushi Cafe was non-existant, their flagship Midnight Buffet
was cancelled, different tastings were cancelled because the staff told
us, "There is too much bleach in the air to serve food." The Center for
Disease Control (CDC) has explained the cleaning standards but the
Celebrity staff has not been trained. The boat resembles the inside of
washing machine, all mirrors, windows, surfaces, and elevator doors are
doused with bleach to the point that the numbers in the elevator
are sticky and unreadable. The doors and door handles to our stateroom
were sprayed continuously throughout every day and night to the point
that they looked like a gallon of spoiled milk had exploded on them. No
matter what the signs say, never use the handrails, they are constantly
dripping with a bleach-like substance that ruins your clothing and
cracks your skin. Cafeful where you sit, whether pool-side or at
dinner, even the chairs and tables are dripping with bleach. You would
think that this would contain the problem but on our cruise several
quarantined passengers who refused to stay in their room were kicked
off the boat. Others refused medical attention in hopes of not being
quarantined so they could enjoy the remainder of their 'vacation'. Some
were concerned that if they went to the doctor they would end up with
huge medical fees onboard so there was no real containmnet of the
virus. In the staff's futile attempts to contain the norovirus,
restaurants (like the Manhattan Dining Room), the Casual Dining
Boulevard, ice and beverage dispensers near the buffet lines, including
some buffet lines and gift shops were randomly closed to be sanitized.
The guest relations staff was overwhelemed and responded with
script-like answers and provided no real resolutions or assistance.
Avoid the Mercury like the plague ...The only thing Celebrity is adept
at is avoiding the situation and those seeking information and/or
compensation. In reading past reviews a lot of people have been
questioning whether or not it is OK to drink the water on board. It
seemed filtered to us but most of the glassware were soiled with
lipsitick and fingerprints. Seems like the necessary detergents to cut
grease are not being used onboard. And if you have any doubts that you
may be allergic to heavy chemical spraying or abrasive cleaning
products rest assured you will
onboard this ship. If you are not affected with the norovirus (leading
to extreme vomitting, diahrea and stomach cramps) you will experience
severe migraines, congestion, and chronic tearing of the eyes from the
chemical solutions sprayed courtesy of the untrained Celebrity Mercury
staff ... These problems, we have recently found out, were onboard the
two preivious Mercury crusies to ours. We were not warned of the
probable health risks associated with getting on board nor of the
severe bleaching going on. If we had known we would have never gotten
onboard. Now you have been warned. It's up to you now to cancel your
cruise on the Mercury.'
Attn: Richard
D. Fain – Chairman and CEO Celebrity Cruises
April 2, 2006
Celebrity Mercury Cruise setting sail March 17th, 2006.
Reservations under
Stateroom #9229 Reservation # XXXXXXX
To Mr. Fain,
I would like to take some of your time to explain a serious situation
that occurred on the 10 day cruise we took on the Celebrity ship
Mercury from March 17th – March 27th, 2006. I am very disappointed,
angry, and embarrassed due to the experiences we had onboard. We got on
the boat without forewarning regarding the previous illnesses on the
ship and without explanation regarding the new sanitary guidelines
required by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). I was appalled at the
amount of bleach being used around the ship. From literally streaks and
puddles that were sprayed and never wiped up; it was everywhere.
Several people on day ONE complained of bleached clothing from when
they leaned up against a wall or sat on a poolside chair. Luckily
we stayed away from the elevators and the stairwell banisters where the
collections of bleach were most concentrated. If we had obeyed
the signs reading, “Please use handrails,” we would have received
bleach burns on our skin from the drops of chemicals dripping daily
from them. Quite the workout never using the elevator, but that
was part of the
“new sanitation program”. Not one of the employees on board would
or could reveal what was in the bottles they were spraying, including
the front desk guest relations people. Some of the bottles indicated an
official Ecolab label and others were unlabelled. I endured severe
headaches on the boat and couldn’t wait for the next ports. To
add to our duress, the tender
boats ashore at each port were delayed up to 2 hours for the boat to be
cleared by officials for sanitary reasons. We started taking
pictures around the boat of blocked exits, staff in
facemasks/gloves/protective clothing and windows/mirrors that were
completely fogged over by the solutions sprayed randomly and never
wiped off. The inhalation became so bad that we stopped the
housekeeping from coming into our cabin when we noticed them spraying
chemicals into the overhead vents, allowing the bleach to shower down
on the bedding and such. I had severe allergic reactions to the spray
and visited the medical department on the ship. After blaming my
chronic tears, swollen eyes, heavy congestion, and sore throat on the
bleach products, the doctor suggested I stay away from the bleach and
to stay in my room. He prescribed some over-the-counter mild
decongestant spray and Allegra tablets. I was left with little to do
except to avoid the indoor areas of the ship and sit up on the
basketball level where the staff was not spraying.
It really seemed as though the boat was understaffed. Many of the
buffet lines were closed. The beverage centers and ice dispensers were
limited because of the lack of men to man them. Because we were limited
on what we could touch, the problem became more and more evident as we
waited for staff to assist us in every move we made. The staff eating
areas were quarantined by the CDC that got onboard in Puerto Vallarta
and we noticed staff eating with us, and in the shops buying
snacks because they couldn’t eat in their designated areas. The
Manhattan Dining Room was closed (3/25) for breakfast and lunch in
order to be sanitized, leaving it open for the third formal night
dinner. We opted, due to illness, to go to the casual dining area
because of our reactions to the bleach. Sadly, that was now closed to
be sanitized as well. Several of the traditional onboard activities
that we were looking forward to were cancelled including the Midnight
Buffet, the Sushi Café, and the Rum Cake Tasting in the Logo
Shop. The staff told us it was because there was, “TOO MUCH BLEACH IN
THE AIR!” The front desk agents all complained to passengers in line
with us that the spray was affecting them with headaches as well!
Near the end of the cruise my husband contracted the flu symptoms of
the gastro intestinal disease Norovirus. He gave the medical staff
onboard all the information needed and we too were quarantined. In
addition to general medical background he provided a stool sample and
we have yet to hear anything back from your company regarding its
results. We were told by an official member of your staff that a few
guests refused to stay in their rooms after being quarantined and were
taken off the ship in Ixtapa…I am sorry, we didn’t go to the scheduled
stop in Ixtapa…without warning we ended up in the neighboring town of
Zihuatenejo instead. During the last two days of the cruise we seemed
to be running out of the cruise essentials regarding food. We compiled
a list of the items we were told the ship ran out of the last two days
of which they had no replacements:
Croissants Bananas Hash browns
Maple Syrup (at the waffle station and in Manhattan Dining Room)
Potato Chips
Salad dressings
Dijon mustard
Illness or not, a cruise line of your stature should never run out of
food. We were limited to room service after being
quarantined. I feel the Celebrity line was aware of the conditions on
the ship and I feel like there should have been some sort of warning
pre-boarding OR FORFEIT THE CRUISE ALL TOGETHER considering some sort
of service standards/reputation your company upholds. I am susceptible
to strong allergic reactions to harsh cleaning products and would have
NEVER taken this cruise had we been informed of the CDC sanitation
program. I feel the quality of this cruise was greatly compromised and
we must be compensated for our grievances. The fact that vacuums were
not allowed onboard for sanitary reasons and that we noticed sand and
grit in the carpet of our room at time of check-in was horrid. The
entire trip was unbearable and we are both disappointed in a company
with a great reputation to continue to conduct sailings like this and
angry that the staff wasn’t trained to handle these situations. The
staff was shuffled around to clean and we didn’t get the service for
which we paid. I purchased this trip for my husband in celebration of
our engagement/honeymoon and it’s not often we are able to take 11
consecutive days off to vacation together. We chose your company to
allow us a dream vacation; instead we received a nightmare at sea with
nowhere to go. We expect compensation for this. I am interested in
sending you the digital imaging we took on the boat including buckets
of bleach, wide open at the top of the stairs each night in the
Manhattan Dining Room and the staff wearing masks and gloves surrounded
by passengers wearing no protective covering. We also took pictures of
emergency exits being illegally blocked with furniture by Celebrity
staff in an effort to get all of us to enter and exit through one door
where we could be supervised sanitizing our hands. I will include
the breakdown on what I paid for this “cruise”. Thank you for reading
this complaint and I expect to hear from you soon, for this is my
second attempt at reaching you in specific.