| dd/mm/yy |
2009 |
Incident |
| 28.4.10 | From a passenger: During the week of 3/17-3/24/2010, my husband and I cruised the Mexican Riviera Cruise on the ship. We were in Cabin 7046 (Port-side, Penthouse Suite). From day one of the cruise, and throughout the cruise, we had a smell of sewage throughout the suite, but worse in both the master & the guest bathroom. The smell seemed to be coming from the deck drains. We immediately informed the Cabin Steward who sprayed both bathrooms but this did not help at all. On day two, we complained to the Front Desk and a supervisor came to the room with a ship's plumber. The supervisor acknowledged the smell, the plumber said there was nothing wrong with the plumbing, he said we should pour hot water in the drains/toilet to clean it out. The front desk supervisor suggested we use hot coffee because she had used this on another ship and it kept the smell away longer. My husband said to her, "You want me to pour hot coffee in the drains?" She replied "Oh no, we will do it". They never did. The next day we informed the Hotel Manager (Marcella). She and another Supervisor, (Eddie), came to the room. Marcella said she did not smell anything, but they would try to do something, not sure what. We asked about alternate accommodations, but the only thing they "may" have to offer was a lower deck, inside stateroom. Our Penthouse Suite cost $7,000. We wanted to fly home but were advised against it as there was no guarantee that we would be compensated. The HAL home office offered us a $750 on board credit as compensation which we refused. We asked that they not put any credit on our account, but they went ahead, and did so anyway. We asked, again, that this offer be removed. Marcella and Eddie said they had never had a prior problem with this suite but we were told otherwise by crew. After many discussions with Eddie, nothing was ever resolved. On the final day of the cruise, the problem continued. We never heard from the Hotel Manager after that one encounter. The smell of sewage never disipated. I think the gas from sewage is methane, and we were exposed to it for the entire cruise. We kept the doors open to the balcony whenever we were in the room to keep it aired out. We had a guest in the suite, (an authority on ships), who complained of the smell, and said it was most definitely toxic. I am concerned about any long term outcome of being exposed for the week to toxic fumes. We e-mailed Walter, Guest Relations, at HAL, on 4/23/10. We never recieved a reply. Our travel agent has been working diligently to try to resolve this matter, but even she is encountering apathy, and road blocks. | Sewage smell in room |
| dd/mm/yy |
2009 |
Incident |
| 23.11.09 | The ship was cited for one air quality violation in Alaska during the 2009 cruise season. | Environmental |
| 15.2.09 | The Juneau Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. | Environmental |
| dd/mm/yy |
2007 |
Incident |
| 25.5.07 |
From a passenger:
There was a small electrical
fire on the cruise to
Alaska. The fire alarm (which sounded eerily similar to the 'put on
your lifevest and head for the lifeboats' alarm) went off shortly
before midnight on May 21, 2007. There were three announcements over
the public address system; the final one informing us that the fire was
due to an air conditioning belt in the Vista dining lounge area. The
cruiseproceeded as if nothing had happened. |
Small fire |
| 2.4.07 |
From a passenger: The hoisting mechanism for life boat 12 failed when attempting to stow the craft after using it as a tender in Cabo San Lucas. The ship left the port at about 6PM, but at a much reduced speed until the crew was able to lash the boat to the Deck 3 railing. The Oosterdam made the next port Mazatlan on time and the hoist was repaired while in port. | Life boat problems |
| 24.1.07 |
A reader reports that the cruise scheduled for 21 April 07 ( 7-day
Mexican Riviera from San Diego) has been canceled due to overhaul of
machinery. She writes: Trouble
with this had been reported on your
site BEFORE we booked the cruise, and we had our travel agent check
with HAL ... She was told the problem had been fixed. It was to be our 55th anniversary
celebration and we had reserved 3 cabins for ourselves and our sons and
daughters-in-law. We are devastated by the news as it is too late
to have any choice on another cruise at the same time. Our sons
have already arranged the vacation time for the dates of that
cruise. We will get a
full refund, as we're too old to try to scramble for new reservations
with some cruise line, but our plans of spending time with our family
have been completely wrecked thanks to HAL not being honest with us. |
Cancelation 21 April 07 |
| dd/mm/yy |
2006 and earlier |
Incident |
| 14-21.10.06 |
From a passenger: The broken Azipod was still not repaired so HAL gave all passengers a $ 25.00 credit as well as a glass of wine. Calls at ports were shortened somewhat, especially Puerto Vallarta. In a conversation with the Captain, he indicated the propulsion unit would not be repaired until April during the next haul out. The ship was able to maintain 19 knots instead of the regular 23 or 24 knots. Docking had to be tug assisted. | Propulsion problems |
| 8.10.06 |
A fire alarm went off at 6:00 AM as a result of a fire (or
excessive smoke) in the engine room and affected one of the
azipods. The problem was put under control with injuries of
difficulty, however one of the azipods was now disabled. Because
of reduced speeds the ship will sail a revised itinerary for the
remianing cruise days, skipping Puerto Vallarta. This is a seven
day cruise from San Diego and the incident occured the first morning of
the cruises. The ship will return to San Diego one day early and
passengers will be permitted to remain onboard. Compensation
included a $150 shipboard credit and future travel discount of 25% of
the fare paid for this cruise. |
Fire |
| 10.4.05 |
Though airlifts from cruise ships are not uncommon, it is
unusual that three passengers would be airlifted the same day.
That was the case in San Diego. A 78-year-old man who fell and broke his hip and a 64-year-old woman with a tear in her esophagus (reportedly after walking through a glass door at an onboard shop) were airlifted Saturday night; the following morning a 55-year-old woman suffering "severe internal pain" was airlifted from the Paradise. These are reminders not to travel without adequate health insurance that will cover such emergencies. |
Airlift ill pax |
| 11.3.03 |
The
first two voyages originally planned have been cancelled
because the ship's delivery will be delayed. The maiden voyage
will now depart August 3 (instead of July 10) |
Cancellation |
| dd/mm/yy |
Outbreaks |
| 27.2.09 | KFMB-TV in San Diego reports 84 passengers have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness, likely caused by norovirus. The ship returns to San Diego tomorrow and acccording to the cruise line will be sanitized. Update March 2: eFluxMedia reports the numbers are now 106 passengers and 4 crew reporting ill. NOTE: Is it a coincidence that this cruise began the day after the Zaandam cruise (below) ended or is it possible a crew member from Zaandam brought the illness with him/her onto Oosterdam? UPDATE: CDC reports the numbers ill at 110 of 1840 (5.98%) passengers and 10 of 786 (1.27%) crewmembers. |
| 1.3.08 |
From a passenger: We just returned from a 7 day Baja cruise. Two days into the cruise my fiance became very ill and was quarantined to the cabin for 48+ hours. It was the virus. Naturally this ruined the cruise for us which was an Air America Progressive Radio cruise, with 400 others. I never could find out how many others were ill, but I believe several. We were offered $200 in ship credit for this disaster, which we refused, going all the way to the Hotel Manager. There were inadequate services in place to deal with this quarantine and I was forced to carry meal trays and clean the bathroom! Regular stewards were not allowed to attend us. |
| 5.1.08 | The ship reported 4 (0.5%) crew and 76 (3.84%) passengers had reported ill on a seven day cruise to/from San Diego ending today. |
| 23.12.06 |
CBS in San Diego reports an outbreak
of gastrointestinal illness on the 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise ending
today. While the cruise line says there were 55 passengers and
crew
reporting ill, reports from passengers indicate the number was
higher.
One says about room service, "So many people were sick, they stopped
answering the phone." Room service was taking as long as three
hours
for deliveries. |
| 10.6.06 |
Messages
from several passengers report there was a small outbreak on the Alaska
cruise ending today in Seattle -- the numbers may have been less than
3% (i.e.,
less than 55). According to one passenger: "...passengers
and crew became sick (total of about 36 I heard) with a stomach virus.
The ship began taking precautions against contamination beginning about
Tuesday (salt and pepper shakers disappeared, some crew wore gloves and
masks, they were spraying something around the ship, lots of Purell
being offered, etc.), but other than warnings to wash your hands and
not shake hands, Holland America did not tell us much of what was going
on." |