In April 2005, this was posted
recently boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise, on March 26. My wife and I
paid for a guaranteed balcony room. The first night we noticed a bug
between the sheets, but brushed it off and didn't pay too much
attention. The next morning we found 2-3 more bugs in the bed, called
for the staff to check it out. An officer came up and stated he was
stunned as this has not happened before, while his maintenance guy
states 'let me check one spot'. Behind the headboard was a swarm of
bugs, they were climbing up curtains and in our clothes in the closet.
They moved us to a non-balcony room, without mention of any
reimbursements of fees. They took all of our clothes to be laundered,
therefore we spent two days in the same clothes. However, my wife and
I tried to make the best of it, since I had had a heart attack 1 month
prior, and we were on the cruise to attempt to relax. We spoke with
lower management about needing a balcony, to avoid long walking
distances to the decks since I have a 100% blocked right coronary
artery, it is impossible for me to walk extended distances. We would
not have gone on the cruise without having a balcony room. They stated
they did not have any available and moved us to a smaller room with no
balcony.
"Cindy C" wrote:
>Hello Group,
>
>
>
>I hate to have to bring such bad news home from our 10 day trip but ya need
>to know!!!!
>
>We have cruised every year for the last 12 years. This was our second NCL.
>
>We booked NCL's Spirit out of NYC to S Caribbean 10/19/06-10/29/06. Selected
>a guaranteed balcony for us and an outside cabin for my parents (We were
>fortunate enough to be able to take them on their first cruise in 20 years.
>We were very excited.) We thought it would be a great idea to travel out of
>NY as we are from MD and my parents from DE (no airline hassles).
>
>After spending one night in our cabin we returned from breakfast to find a
>bug crawling on our curtain. I thought (rather 'afraid') I knew what it was
>but asked my mom for confirmation. Yep, sure enough, bed bugs. They were
>everywhere! Behind the bed, in the sleeper, in the curtains, etc. We killed
>and caught several and proceeded immediately to reception to speak with a
>manager privately. We spoke with the asst front desk manager and were told
>to give them an hour to figure out where they would move us to while they
>exterminated our cabin. After voicing my serious concerns about our personal
>belongings they offered to launder anything we wanted. Later that day we
>were moved (I should say *we* moved our belongings with out assistance) from
>deck 10 aft (balcony) to deck 6 very forward porthole! (Well at this point
>we hope it is far enough away from our original stateroom that the new one
>may be safe.) That took the better part of our first day at sea and we were
>unable to participate in any activities or formal night.
>
>All of our empty luggage remained in the room as it was stored under the bed
>and we could not bring ourselves to go under there again. I'm not kidding
>when I say it was alive! The bedding and sleeper were filthy with fecal
>matter, dried blood and living bugs of all sizes!
>
>The front desk contacted us to let us know that they would extend an onboard
>credit of $300 pp ($600), a complimentary dinner at a specialty restaurant
>and a bottle of wine. Big deal! The difference between staterooms is at
>least that much! They acted like it was generous! They replied that they
>needed authorization from Miami to do anything further.
>
>We tried to enjoy the second day at sea but we were now experiencing
>inflammation from the bites we received on the first night and constant
>itching. Later that evening we received a call from the front desk
>management that Miami has extended an additional $200 pp ($400) and no other
>credits would be offered. Meanwhile we still itch and can not sleep!
>
>
>Finally we get to the island itinerary (5 days) and can spend some time off
>of the ship and think about something other than bugs. But no, now we are
>overhearing other people talk about rashes, and "something biting" them.
>This how we realized the entire ship is infested! Nope we are not sleeping
>through the night anymore. We keep waking and itching all through the
>nights.
>
>On the morning of our ninth day I awoke with a rather large bedbug running
>down my arm! After screaming and cursing I captured and took the little
>b*st*rd to the hotel manager. I tried to explain that I feared the entire
>ship has a serious problem. He stated that he had a terrific extermination
>team however, acknowledged that docking in NYC presents a particular
>problem as NYC is known to have a dramatic bed bug problem. He was
>sympathetic as I explained that we are terrified that we are going to bring
>this problem home with us (as these things are efficient hitch-hikers) but
>offered no advice or assistance. I asked that we be provided with a letter
>acknowledging our complaint so I may have some instrument to persuade NCL to
>take some responsibility should we in fact bring this home, but that we
>would never get.
>
>
>
>So we have just spent our evening emptying our suitcases in our driveway
>(outside), sorted our laundry into plastic bags and sealed them. We will
>store our luggage in the shed and hope that mice do not inhabit them until a
>good freeze can kill any potential bugs or eggs. My parents also have bites
>and they are following the same procedures.
>
>
>
>Tomorrow I will consult with an exterminator as to anything else
>preventative we can do, and we will write NCL to pursue additional monies
>refunded.
>
>
>
>This has been a horrible horrible experience! There are so many more details
>that I wish I could convey, but this rant has gone on long enough. If anyone
>has any advice on either the bugs or how to handle NCL, please let me know!
>Thank you.
>
>
>
>FYI-That ship only exterminated our 1st cabin and has sailed again today
>with all of its little extra passengers.
>
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