Hi Marigold…sorry that you also got quite ill…what I saw happening to people I wouldn't wish on anyone!

One word I see being used is 'outbreak'…don't think it was an 'outbreak'…just unfortunately many who caught one of the two illnesses going around.  We do know of one woman who was very sick prior to getting on the ship…guess she thought checking the little boxes on the health form was gonna make her better…wrong!

And those who had a bad cough/cold/congestion…might have been better to have not boarded the excursion buses…the kind of small tiny box that germs just love!

We too hated the Point hotel…but really loved the Hilton in Athens!!

Yes…we booked the same ship & the same cabin…with assurances it will not be the 'same'!!!

I just got back from the NCL Sun cruise (Azar did not go…she had work)…but it's my understanding that the staff will be getting together to address these issues (and what ever others they have).  Most of the staff has been out of the office and away from home this past month or so (Oct - Nov) with 5 back to back trips.

So…I'm waiting to hear from someone as to what the plan of action will be for the Azamara Journey for it's next cruise.  If there are no firm reassurances…then we will not be going.

And please…anyone who did have problems…let Olivia know…it's one of the ways to help things for the future.

By letting Olivia know…it is not hurting them…it will only make future travel better for us all!!!

Hey grape girl,

We must have been your neighbor because I had to chase down the room steward while wife was on toilet waiting for toilet paper !! We never had tissues! When we arrived we noticed bathroom floor dirty but it only took them 2 days to clean!!  5 star cruise ?? Give me Holland America anyday !!Sorry to hear your partner got sick, we were able to dodge that somehow.

Sherry  

Thanks to all who are posting your stories and thoughts here....we really appreciate the sharing....it's nice to know it's "not just us" who experienced some of these concerns.

I want to acknowledge that we totally understand how this felt traumatizing for some people....we're still working on shaking off a bit of PTSD and post-trip-depression that lingers.

Though I was very sick, I think it was harder on Jeri than it was on me.  She had to make frequent trips back and forth between the hospital and hotel via cab, acting as the communications liaison between everybody, because the trip insurance company doesn't have an international phone number, the hospital fax was unable to communicate with the trip insurance fax, etc.

LESSONS LEARNED RE COMMUNICATIONS:  (1)  In the future, we will travel with an international calling plan on our cell phones (it will be worth whatever it costs).  (2)  Also on future trips, we will bring our laptop for use in case of emergencies, so that we can be in touch via email with friends and family, insurance companies, hospitals, etc, and also will be able to do any internet research we might need to do in an emergency.  (We enjoy traveling computer-free, but it will be worth carrying the laptop along just in case.)

REPORTING CONCERNS:  I want to acknowledge that it isn't always easy to report every concern as it happens.  We don't like to be complainers.  We would rather enjoy our vacation time.  By my 20/20 hindsight, I can see that I should have gone running straight to Olivia with the greasy plate that I picked up from a stack of "clean plates", so that an immediate action could have been taken to remove that stack of plates from the dining room.

PREVENTION:  I also want to acknowledge, as several others have mentioned, the responsibility of each individual to practice simple measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases....at home and away, at work and at play.....the big three....

(1)  Washing hands with water and soap, especially after using the restroom and before and after eating or touching serving utensils.  (Purell should be used in addition to hand washing, it is not a substitute for hand washing.)

(2)  Covering mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.

(3)  Staying home when sick (or in your hotel room or stateroom).

Here's to healthier traveling for us all, through personal prevention practices.

Joan

Wow! We didn't realize that there were really this many women who were really this sick and even hospitalized!! We're so sorry to read all about this. As if it's not bad enough to be so sick, but then to be on VACATION and a much anticipated one at that, and so far away from home. Thankfully, we didn't catch the stomach/traveller's bug but we were so worried about it. We knew something was up mid-way through when the staff started pulling out the Purell stands before we got on board, but that was I think a full day or two before Jill publically announced the public health warning.

My partner Jessica DID get sick though - she started with the awful cough/cold and congestion around end of week on the ship. Sounds like the same cough many of you have been talking about below. It was a terrible, nagging cough for the whole last week of our trip, much of which we spent in Mykonos (we flew back there to relax for the last few days of our vacation). She coughed the whole flight home to Toronto from Athens (Oct. 15) and STILL has the remnants of it. A pain! But again, we're grateful that illness wasn't more serious and didn't interfere with our trip too much aside from a low-key day or two for Jess.

As for Azamara... we thought it was only OUR room steward!! We were vastly unimpressed with him, his service (or lack thereof) and the level of cleanliness. We were surprised because it was unlike any other cruise we've been on. He left dirty bed sheets (menstrual stain - sorry for too much info) on for two days till we finally took them off ourselves. Then he replaced them with other stained sheets!! He never filled the mini bar with diet coke and Perrier when we kept asking for it; nor replenished the tissue box and toilet paper in a timely manner. Strange service for a 5-star ship. (There are other reasons we wouldn't travel Azamara again... their male staff mingling with us in the public areas on their breaks, making fun of us on the tenders, etc. But I'll let Jess rant about all that.)

We haven't told Olivia about Jess' cough but we will e-mail them now that we've read Jeri's e-mail.

Sandra

Hi Joan and Jeri

We stayed at the Nippon and it was a very nice hotel but the carpets could have used a good cleaning and the room needed to be dusted very badly. the only thing they did was changed our towels and make the bed so anyone could have picked up a germ from Turkey and brought it to the ship.

I am so sorry to hear that you both were sick on the trip and didn't have a good experience.

The reason I am writing this is because we went on the 2008 Cruise and women got sick on that one as well so I don't think it was the Azamara per say, but some that were already sick on the cruise and passed on their germs it is just too bad that your experience had to happen on this ship. I witnessed some women going in and out of the washroom and leaving without washing their hands and even commented to my partner about it and this was before and after they announced that women were sick, so it starts with the indivisual and we have to be consistent as cleanliness is the up most importance especially when traveling in groups.

I have two persons in my office that mentioned when I got back that they had been on this ship last year and had a wonderful experience.

The only negative thing on the ship for us was the Specialty Restarants I thought the meals were aweful, we both preferred the Discovery Restaurant but what I don't understant is that it is all the same food...but I guess the cooks have a lot to do with it and makes a very big difference...so why is it a specialty...I just don't get it....anyways

So with that being said I hope the both of you are doing much better and get every solved with your insurance company.

Looking forward to seeing you both on the upcoming Hawaii trip! 

Hugs and Kisses to you both, take care of each other.

Vona & Laila 

We appreciate hearing from everyone who is sharing their experiences on this thread, so that we don't feel like we're going through it all alone.

How are things going for you guys re dealing with the various communications and paperwork with the travel insurance entities?

(There should be a class on how to understand the travel insurance company entities and how to deal with the inconsistencies of their staff, who don't seem to agree with each other on what services they provide or not.) 

It is sad that so many of us were so sick on this trip.....and that we had so many issues and disappointments with the cleanliness of the accommodations.

This trip was priced very low for an ultimate escape....maybe too good to be true.  And the Point Hotel was even more too good to be true.  So maybe there is a lesson to be learned in this.

We're still trying to shake off the tendency to feel an underlying depression on returning home, only to deal with ongoing illness, travel insurance confusion, and the overwhelming feeling that we "need a vacation" to recover from this one.

We feel confident in our future travels with Olivia.  This was only our 5th trip with Olivia, but we've been very happy with the accommodations and cleanliness on each of our previous trips...two other cruises and two resorts.  We love Olivia.

We look at this Azamara ship as a "once in a lifetime" experience for us (we will never travel with Azamara again)....all better now .

Looking forward to Amsterdam and Hawaii!

Joan

Hey there Marigold. I hope you are feeling A-1 now. What an experience you had! Sorry you missed the greater part of your vacation. We  were sorry we didn't get to spend time with you on board the ship. Hopefully another time.

I don't think anyone can reassure you but I can say that we've been on 16 cruises & this problem never occurred before. Have heard in the past though, of some ships that have had the stomach virus & had to take extraordinary measures to contain it. It doesn't seem to happen often but you know, we fly to these destinations in a plane where we are in close contact with many people that could easily pass on the bug. Then on the ship we're in close quarters. Possibly it manifests that way. We are also more susceptible when we travel  through different time zones & just get plain tired with travel. Who knows! I'm not an expert on this subject.

It's good that Olivia is aware because I know they take pride in ensuring their "Ladies of Olivia" are safe & happy. I'm sure they will follow up on it.

Julie

> ^..^ <

boy oh boy.....reading some of this stuff is killing me!  Don't know where this bug came from....it may have started at the belly dancing night, but I didn't catch it until the Tuesday.  I am terrified to travel at the moment and would need to be paid to cruise on the Azamara again.  That's probably the wrong attitude, but I have been traumatized.  I was so sick and narrowly missed being hospitalized.  I paid to return home early.  Time will take care of it I suppose, and it better, as I am booked on the China trip for next year!  I also wrote to Olivia and to Azamara and have not heard back from either.  It's good we have this chat line as I now realize from reading below that Olivia had five vacations going on in October and may be the reason I have not heard back from Desiree.  I had a huge problem with my room at the Point and tried to have it changed, but no one could help.  The carpet was filthy, the chair was soiled, outside the window was all garbage.  I hated it, but no one could do anything.  Luckily I was only there two nights or I would not have stayed there at all.  This was an ultimate escape and I was so disappointed in the hotel.  It ruined my first night in Istanbul.  I would post pictures but don't know how.  I did send the pictures to Desiree as it's important Olivia gets this feedback.  This was my first cruise and I didn't get to enjoy it.  I so wanted to enjoy meals with my partner, and relax with friends etc, but instead I had to stay by the washroom.  Sleddog, why on earth have you booked the same ship, let alone the same cabin???

Anyway, enough said.....surely this is a fluke and will not happen again!!  Can someone reassure me?   

Jeri

Next time we will definitely tell Cuzy or Jill or Tisha or Judy…and we usually do!

It's just that sometimes…one hates to sound like their always complaining.

We tried to handle all problems as they came up through who should have been responsible.

One example…the Point Hotel trying to give us twin beds…Azar let the woman at the desk know that wasn't gonna happen…then all of a sudden there was a room with a king bed.

When we let the ship excursion people know about how some of the excursions were handled…they just kind of stared at you blankly…not really caring…some people got refunds…some didn't.

And…by the time we had had it with our room stewards (nearing the end of the week) when we went to talk to Cuzy…she was very busy on the phone trying to handle people who were sick…and we thought that took priority!

I don't think it needs to be Cuzy, or us, or anyone from Olivia…who has to come clean the room…that's what should have been expected from the Azamara staff.

Going all that way…we were dammed if we were gonna let things try and ruin our vacation…but in the end some things did!

But you are absolutely right…it should be brought to someone from Olivia's immediate attention so it can be addressed on the spot!

And right again…you cannot do anything unless you know that a problem exists…that's where we failed!!

I know everyone at Olivia really busted their a$$es with these past few trips being on top of each other…and if it happens again…Jeri I'll help you do some kicking and screaming!!!

I do know that Olivia provides great vacations…and the staff is the BEST...or we would not have been on 20+ trips…so we'll help if you'll help!

Jana

These messages are not to attack Azamara or Olivia. Just a huge concern for the people that did get ill and are just trying to

figure out what could have happened to us all.  I am sure that not everyone has reported that they were ill.

We started calling the day after we returned but could not get through. We had up to 20-25 minute waits. Tried about 2-3 times

each day.  Left a couple of messages to call us back. I finally got through on day 3..

We are very aware that the  Olivia team members were doing their very best at providing excellent customer service.

It was just a large volume of calls due to the special 2-1s and the trips scheduled almost back to back.

 When we finally got through, it was a new person to Olivia. She said that she had received several calls on issues with

the Turkey and Greece Cruise and was forwarding these calls to other Olivia team members, so that they could be addressed.

She was extremely kind  and immediately transfered our call with our concerns. 

On the issue about getting on the ship feeling a bit ill, may have been due to getting sick on the Precruise excursions.

Again, we all know that the Olivia team members always have been extremely kind and caring and always do their very best

to provide excellent service.

Hello Everyone –

Our team has just headed off for the Caribbean Sun cruise, but I promise we will discuss this thread when they return. I do hope all of you included this feedback on your Travel Surveys as we will be downloading that data before we meet.

We have a guest service desk on all of our vacations and if you encountered something unsanitary you've got to bring it to our immediate attention so it can be addressed on the spot. If we do not hear about it until after you are home, we have missed the opportunity to fix it and all you are left with is a bad memory. We don't want that on your Olivia vacation. We are there for you, but we cannot do anything unless we know that a problem exists.

GYPSYSOUL - please clarify who you were trying to call when you say it took two days to get through as this concerns me. Were you trying to reach someone on the ship or at the office? We have a high volume of calls but it has nothing to do with illness on cruise but because we have sent 3,500 guests on five Olivia trips during the month of October. I can honestly tell you, I have had less than ten calls relating to illness and several have admitted to coming on the ship sick. I'm not making excuses for Azamara, but we can't blame them 100 percent when we know some of it was brought onboard by our guests.

I agree it has been difficult to get through to us. We won't do five trips in one month again without a lot of kicking and screaming from me. I know it impacted our level of care and I'm so sorry!

SLEDDOG - the photos are horrible and unacceptable. I shared them with Cuzy and she said she saw you throughout the week and you never said anything. I know she would have gotten that resolved if she had to show up with rubber gloves and a bucket herself. Please, please, please don't accept substandard care without alerting the Olivia Guest Service Desk. I'm just beside myself that you had to look at that for a whole week.

Request: If you were sick and you have not reported it to Olivia, please email guestservices@olivia.com so we have a record of it.

I hope all of you have a happy and fun-filled weekend!

Jeri Umble, Sr. Director, Customer Care

[p.s. sorry for the deleted posts ... something wacky went wrong with my fonts and spacing.]

So sorry to hear about everyone's illnesses!  We were fortunate that Shannon had a sore throat but that's it.  I got some funny looks when pouring salt into hot water in the dining rooms to bring her salt water to gargle, but when explained what I was doing everyone was like oh yeah. 

We did the pre-package for Istanbul and ate at the Japanese restaurant the first night as part of the Point Hotel lobby, green apples from the hotel reception at 3:30am because we woke up starving with 10-hour jet lag, bought water chestnuts, roasted corn, pomegranite juice and hot tea on the street around the Blue Mosque Saturday, and then the Kervanseray "Turkish Night" food which luckily turned out to be such poor quality because we ended up eating bread and drinking wine for dinner.  The Point Hotel buffet breakfasts were good, however.

Our cabin steward Derek did a great job and we didn't have any of that nasty red algae.  That is not worth even a free room, sorry.

We also have a room on hold for the Scandinavian cruise and have not commited to this trip due to our illness and also fear, the lack of high standards on this Ship, and the Prepackage health concerns that some of Olivia staff was made aware of, before leaving Greece,

This ship is listed as a 5-6- star rating.

 It took me 2 days to get ahold of someone through Olivia due to the high volume of calls due to this outbreak.

My mother had broken her foot while we were traveling, so apon returning, I went to take care of her and believe that  I passed this illness on to her.

She was hospitalized 2 days after we returned. She was in the hospital for 6 days, and since her release is still throwing up, diarrea, congestion, cough etc.

This is extremely concerning to us because my mother is in her late 70s, and should not have been subjected to this.

We are hoping to hear from Olivia, as to what steps have been taken regarding this health issue, that affected many of us.