horrible experience RCCL

[Judgekw]

I am sorry it has taken me so long to post this thread, but a word of warning: Think twice before you cruise RCCL. My family, two children, and two parents, plus two grandparents went on Rhapsody of the Seas this summer sail date July 6th. We almost went on DCL as we have cruised with them in the past and had a great time. Based on advice from friends we decided to try RCCL, what a mistake!!!!!

All four of our family got severe food poisioning the second night of the trip. We had to spend the whole night in the infirmary and it was the most ill I have ever been in my whole life. The entire family was throwing up and having violent diahrraha and we could not summon housekeeping to get us more towels or containers. We all felt terrible for at least two days and my husband and I never really recovered. The Doctor on board the ship told us we had food posioning but tried to blame it on food we ate before we boarded the ship. That is absolutely ridiculous as food poisioning has a gestation period of 2 to 24 hours. It was absolutely awful and it completely ruined the cruise for my self and my husband. My children eventually recovered but none of us ate much of anything the entire cruise. We had to miss our ports, and to top it all off a hurricane was off the coast of Mexico and instead of going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel we went to Nassau and Miami. I realize this was not the fault of the cruise line but it just added injury to insult.

I wrote RCCL immediately after we came home thinking they might offer us some type of compensation. ZILCH, they did not even accept any responsiblity but said that more people would be sick if we had food poisioning inspite of the fact that their own doctor diagnosed our illness. ANYWAY, from what I have read on these boards there is not way DCL would treat its passengers in a similar manner. I am very sorry that we did not pay the extra $1,000 to cruise with DCL. My advice, if you are on the fence go with DISNEY!!!!

 

[alexandrew]

I'm sorry you had such a miserable time...

Perhaps you should consider contacting an attorney....

 

[eek40]

I am also sorry to hear about your trip. The only thing is I dont agree with alex about getting a lawyer. The world is just so "law suit" happy, and ultimately we all end up paying for it. I would just say well we wont do that again, and move on. Everything you did was right in writing the line. They are in the wrong for not offering any support.
Aimee

 

[my3kids]

If you got food poisioning from something on the ship, wouldn't a bunch of others have gotten it too? No way your family was the only family eating a particular food on the ship.

I have seen some food bourne illnesses with incubations of up to 72 hours.

 

[kajohn]

While I'm sure it was not a pleasant experience, I would have to agree with my3kids, if it was food poisoning from food you ate on the ship, many many people would be effected. If just your family was having these symptoms, I'm sure even DCL would not compensate you for your illness as it was more than likely something you ingested before getting on the ship or a virus. If you had travel insurance, you could probably make a claim through them, that is what it is for. It shouldn't be the cruiseline's responsiblity.

 

[Dreamer04]

I'm sorry your vacation was ruined. While I don't know much about the law, I would not leave it at one letter. There must be someone else at RCCL you can contact. I once got food poisoning on a ship, and I was the only one of our party who became ill. It is a very rough sickness.

Good Luck

 

[rundogrun]

You may want to check out the RCCL board at cruisecritic.com and see if anyone else complained about getting sick. Otherwise it's quite possible you picked it up somewhere else...it can take days to appear. Given all the Norwalk issues this past year, I'm sure the RCCL doctor would have been well aware if there was an outbreak on board. If other people got sick, there will definitely be a thread over there.

Sorry your experience was so bad.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

I am so sorry your vacation was so bad.I do not see that it was anything that you wuld have eaten on the ship because if it was there would have been definetly alot more people sick than just your family.As for the hurricane keeping you from your ports of call,That is why i do not book in Hurricane season.I dont think they should have to compensate you for that.My DBIL got sick on our last cruise and had to be taken off the ship and have emergency surgery for appendicitice and he only spent the first night on the cruise and that was it,but we should have taken out trip insurance but we didnt and he was not offered any kind of compensation and we did not ask for any.
Misty