amsterdam
 

We are sailing on the Amsterdam<BR>on Dec. 11. Stateroom is a<BR>miini suite. Has anyone been on her?<BR>

Been on Amsterdam, but in category S, not A<BR><BR>Been on other HAL ships category A, mini-suites.<BR><BR>Here's my take.<BR><BR>The Amsterdam is a midside ship with a happy crew and tough management. You are recognized and attended to. Food is standard HAL fare, not too bad but definately not 5 star.<BR><BR>Mini-suites are very comfortable, with plenty of room to sit and have room-service breakfast. The balcony does not have a table, as does category S, so all eating is inside. There is no suite lounge or concierge for A's and B's as there is for S's.<BR><BR>Be more specific in your questions and I will tell you what I know.

Sailed in a suite on the Amsterdam -- not a mini-suite. The perks on the full suite are really worth condiering if you could afford the upgrade.<BR><BR>A beautiful ship and a very nice cruise experience.

I have also been ona suite on the <BR>Volendam last year. Couldn&quot;t get<BR>one on the Amsterdam. I have heard they were having trouble with some<BR>kind of virus. have you heard anything about this?

I think the last 3 sailings have had an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.<BR> Beware!!

Another fearful Californian heard from. Maybe we should pass a law!

zory,<BR><BR>Yes, the Amsterdam has that nasty Norfolk like virus since the Oct 1 sailing. There have been about 38 cases reported on this current cruise. The previous cruise there were about 170 ballpark. Go to cruisecritics for any info on this. It is all over the hal board. Lots of talk about the possiblity of canceling a cruise etc. Lots of news articles also.<BR>The Statendam now has an outbreak also.

There was also a report on the Cruisecritic-HAL board that a Celebrity ship came into port with 100 sick.<BR><BR>HAL seems to be getting all the press coverage,tho'

Celebriy was mentioned in one of the press releases. Seems like it was on the Consellation coming back from Europe. <BR>This difference here is there have been no more reports of the virus on the Consellation. The Amsterdam has had 4 straight cruises with this virus. One press release said the CDC thought it was now being passed around by the crew. I think the press jumped on it because it was the 4th straight cruise with it and the number of sick passengers was very high and it still sailed this past Monday. Perhaps Holland should have dry docked it like they did with the Ryndam and give it a better cleaning. This seemed to fix the problem on the Ryndam this past summer.

there are now hundreds sick on the current voyage. they will probably have to pull the ship out of service to clean it. Can't imagine wanting to sail on this ship otherwise.

Big article in today's Wall St Journal re the Amsterdam's problems.

Holland America has cancelled this week's sailing of the Amsterdam because 284 people came down with the Norwalk virus. They offered a complete refund plus $500 pp for a future cruise. Not enough if you ask me!

Just heard on the nightly news that the Amsterdam is canceling next week's cruise but should be cruising again by next month, they said.<BR><BR>Hope this cleaning works.

Strange how this so called Norwalk virus which was supposed to be an Alaskan thing is now showing up in the Caribbean. <BR><BR>After thoroughly cleaning the ship from top to bottom under the direction of the CDC, the virus (which is 3 days of upset stomach and not life threatening) still is showing up. The CDC believes it is being carried on and off by the crew. <BR><BR>Now with the ship not sailing for a week and afdter another cleaning, they believe the virus will not occur again.<BR><BR>Paul

Contacted my travel agent yesterday<BR>after just hearing that the <BR>Amsterdam was being pulled from <BR>service for the rmainder of it's<BR>November schedual. If the ship sails<BR>in December I still have to go on <BR>Dec. 11 or lose my money. I <BR>contacted HAL day before Yeterday<BR>and was lied to. They said everything was fine. Plan to call<BR>the V.P. in charge of passenger booking today.

yep, i live down here in florida and HAL tried to spend 10 hours cleaning the ship and then more people got sick, so they finally pulled the ship in and canceled a few cruises and have been cleaning the ship for 10 days.<BR><BR>Good luck to anyone who goes on that first sailing in December when they try it again.<BR><BR>All of the fancy pants people who bash Carnival and RCCL have shut up when their beloved HAL has problems, huh?

Paul<BR>The Norwalk virus can be life threatening to certain people with certain conditions. Also, anyone who has suffered through it will tell you that it is more than just a few days of stomach upset.

I'll second the above poster.I saw on the half hour TV show last night the bit about the guy who sailed on an Alaska cruise on the ship and HE DIED.Yes, he did have other ailments and complications.But the medical people on the interview siad if he had not contracted the virus,in all likelihood he would have survived.So dont go saying it aint life threathening.Saying it is a 3 day disease or whatever length--I guess you think a cold lasts only 26 hours, huh??Nonbody knows how long it lasts.

Zory,<BR><BR>You and a lot of other people that have called Hal were fed the same garbage, including me. <BR><BR>The part I liked was that in some of the press releases a PR person from Hal, Rose Arbello, said that all the passangers were told about the virus and choose to board the ship. Crap!<BR>The part that was missing was &quot;Either board of loose all your money.&quot; Many people were not aware of the virus nor understood what was going on. Yea, they were handed a paper saying to wash your hands etc. Even with Hal's insurance you were with in the no cancel 24 hr period. They were told about it at the terminal. Hal never so much as notified anyone about it, including people who were scheduled to sail Nov 21. They were called when they canceled the cruise. <BR><BR>

Sorry, just repeating what I read. I also read on the last cruise 34 passengers got the virus. That's 34 out of over 2000. Not pleasant, of course, for the 34.<BR><BR>Strange viruses occur in hotels around the world and in office buildings. Seems that when a bulding is cleared an cleaned for a week the virus disappears. <BR><BR>Would you not think that when the crew is isolated for a week that the virus will cease?<BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>

Paul,<BR><BR>The cruise that left 11/11 and is docking 11/21 had 234 people reported sick as of Tuesday.

ABC News reported the total sick passengers was &quot;over 500&quot;.

I read a lot of articles that had the total count, for all 4 cruises, over 600 which included crew. <BR>This number is still low. There were many people who got it the day they disembarked on 11/11 and it was not reported.

Starfish this is for you.<BR>You say you called HAL. Are you sailing on the Amsterdam in<BR>December? Do you have the insurance?<BR>

Yes, but not Hal's. Their cost is too high. They base it on that inflated brochure price. <BR><BR>I feel much better about the 10 day sanitizing. At least I know I will be getting on the cleanest ship afloat. <BR>I sail Dec 1, the first sailing after the cleaning. <BR><BR>

Hi Starfish,<BR><BR>Better that you have 3rd party insurance. At least you will not get stuck with HAL credits rather than cash back if anything does go wrong.<BR><BR>I hope everthing goes OK.<BR><BR>Paul

Does this whole thing worry anyone else but me? You have these huge ships crewed mainly by foreign workers and here is this mysterious illness that is supposedly &quot;only in Alaska&quot;. Now it is in ships sailing the Caribbean and Europe too. If this isn't terrorist related, I bet it could be.

Cynic,<BR>Info on the virus can be found on multiple web sites including the CDC. <BR>The name Norwalk comes from a town in Ohio where there was an outbreak. <BR>It is not confined to Alaska. There was a nasty outbreak of it this past summer in the Northwest, but you can get it anywhere. <BR>An NCL ship had an outbreak of this Norwalk like virus returning from Europe recently. Celebrity's Constellation also had an outbreak a couple of weeks ago. Terrorist related?<BR>I seriously doubt it.<BR><BR>Paul,<BR><BR>Thanks, I hope all goes well too.

The idea of seeing terrorist behind the Norwalk virus because &quot;you have these huge ships crewed mainly by foreign workers&quot; is far fetched.<BR><BR>In most cases, the Norwalk virus is a major annoyance and not a life threatening event. [Yes, I know it is claimed by some that a death did result from the imune system being weakened by the virus] Terrorists have access to much more lethal pathogens. A confined space such as a cruise ship would not be a terrorist's primary target. <BR><BR>None of this should mean we should lower our guard....for there are terrorists afoot. All it means is we should think through our fears.<BR><BR>

And now you can add the Disney Magic to the list of ships with the Norwalk virus.

Can someone explain to me how this<BR>virus is jumping from ship to ship.<BR>Are passengers getting off one <BR>cruise and immediatly hopping on<BR>another ship?

Can't you just see it....two of HAL's octagenarian passangers saying &quot;You touch the right railing, Harvey, and I'll get the left. We'll move this thing from ship to ship.&quot;

The Amsterdam sails from Ft. Lauderdale along with a few other cruise lines. Why is the virus not carried to the other cruise lines by the cabs and buses or maybe in the airport?<BR><BR>Why has the Disney Magic contracted the virus? It sails form Port Canaveral. Is the virus carried like pixie dust that flies through the air? You can't see it. You can't feel it. It is not lke Anthrax.<BR><BR>Every ship that has the virus should be put up for a week such as what they did with the Ryndam for a thorough cleaning.<BR><BR>I'm sure this is what will occur in the future with so many passengers infected.<BR><BR>Paul<BR>

HAL cruisers tend to be older. Disney cruises have a lot of children. Older people and children are always the most susceptible to a virus or bacteria so it is not surrising that cruise lines with more older people and more children will have more cases of a contagious illness -- an illness that can be on any ship. Cruises throw a lot of people together in close quaerters for a period of time ading to the liklihood that just one person infected can start spreading the illness.

ashuma,<BR><BR>Can't totally agree with your theory.<BR><BR>Paul has some good questions. I have had some of the same thoughts. <BR><BR>I don't think anyone can figure this out including the CDC. All they said was they felt it was being passed around by person to person contact.