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Hi all just off the Tassie sailing and just to let you all know Norovirus was alive and well:mad: they were serving with tongs for the last few days and doing a deep clean when we got back to sydney

Jacquie

Not good, one of my golfing mates from down here and his wife, left on VOS yesterday, they were going to take some anti virus medication, never heard of it.

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Hi all just off the Tassie sailing and just to let you all know Norovirus was alive and well:mad: they were serving with tongs for the last few days and doing a deep clean when we got back to sydney

Jacquie

 

Besides the norovirus Jacquie how was the cruise overall? Hope you still had a good time. I have read a little information that the normal alcohol based gels DO NOT kill norovirus?? I wonder if the ships crew know that those gels do not help the spread of the virus. I am ordering some offline which apparently kills norovirus will let you know if we came out unscathed on our trip in March:-)

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Besides the norovirus Jacquie how was the cruise overall? Hope you still had a good time. I have read a little information that the normal alcohol based gels DO NOT kill norovirus?? I wonder if the ships crew know that those gels do not help the spread of the virus. I am ordering some offline which apparently kills norovirus will let you know if we came out unscathed on our trip in March:-)

 

Alcohol based gels? Are you talking about hand sanitiser?

 

 

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Alcohol based gels? Are you talking about hand sanitiser?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Yes I should have been more specific ... Alcohol based hand sanitisers don't work against Norovirus. Alcohol rub sanitizers are not very effective against Norovirus (winter vomiting virus) unless they are combined with benzalkonium chloride in a hand sanitizer.

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Yes I should have been more specific ... Alcohol based hand sanitisers don't work against Norovirus. Alcohol rub sanitizers are not very effective against Norovirus (winter vomiting virus) unless they are combined with benzalkonium chloride in a hand sanitizer.

 

Aah thanks Madtaj, much appreciated ;D. Will call into the chemist and see they can help me with the ingreds you speak of ;D

 

 

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As far as I could see only a minority of the passengers were affected as there was a quick and good response to the first reports of Norovirus. Extra crew were rostered onto duty in the Windjammer and also in the Carmen at breakfast to serve all passengers. This took a little longer to get food, but it stopped instances of some passengers picking up food by hand rather than using tongs (and seen putting it back on the self-help trays again!!).

Crew serving in the Windjammer also seemed to reduce the size of servings that many had on their plates previously!

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Besides the norovirus Jacquie how was the cruise overall? Hope you still had a good time. I have read a little information that the normal alcohol based gels DO NOT kill norovirus?? I wonder if the ships crew know that those gels do not help the spread of the virus. I am ordering some offline which apparently kills norovirus will let you know if we came out unscathed on our trip in March:-)

 

We're just off this cruise too.

Overall it was an enjoyable holiday and unless you actually fell I'll, the norovirus issue would not have affected you. I prefer the servers in Windjamer than the messy free for all without them.

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Not good, one of my golfing mates from down here and his wife, left on VOS yesterday, they were going to take some anti virus medication, never heard of it.

 

Have you ever been shopping and not allowed to touch things. Try buying a watch and you have to point and then the sales person picks it up and holds it just out of site so you don't breath or touch it. Voyger is one big virus floating on the water. Most people we spoke to had some sort of digestive problems, us included. Our cabin constantly smelt like a sewer, it was coming from the drains in the bathroom.

 

Don't try and get a drink on deck 11 by the pool it could take anything up to 45min to arrive and guess what, they were out of what was ordered so they took it upon themselves to bring an alternative. Funny thing is exactly what you ordered, and what they were out of, just walked past on another waiters tray. Harry the bar waiter what a joke, he should have been working on the welcoming committee because all he wanted to do was talk to all, bugger about your order. It took three days for the scotch to be delivered from down stairs - only god knows where down stairs is because it must have been a long way, then hey presto day 4 the scotch arrived, but I wanted a scotch on day one, in the mean time I took a shine to beer, guess what "were out of VB so I bought you a XXXX gold' were is the VB I ask ÏTS DOWN STAIRS". Were is the cherry in the cocktail, non of them they too are down stairs. Someone down stairs is having a good party because all the grog is down stairs. :rolleyes::(

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Don't try and get a drink on deck 11 by the pool it could take anything up to 45min to arrive and guess what, they were out of what was ordered so they took it upon themselves to bring an alternative.

So, can you tell us if this happens if you have a bartender get your drinks, or does this happen at the actual bar? I would just like to know so I might be able to prepare for what I might likely expect.

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So, can you tell us if this happens if you have a bartender get your drinks, or does this happen at the actual bar? I would just like to know so I might be able to prepare for what I might likely expect.

 

I never had a problem getting drinks on deck 11. You can either go to the bar yourself (a bit quicker I guess) or the waiter will come and take drink orders. They have an AMAZING memory and would take orders from a lot of people at once then go get the drinks then bring them all to the tables. At peak times it would take a bit longer but I never waited more than 5-10mins and always got what I asked for.

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So, can you tell us if this happens if you have a bartender get your drinks, or does this happen at the actual bar? I would just like to know so I might be able to prepare for what I might likely expect.

 

Drinks are a big problem on the ship, we were told that the cruise previous had a lot of trouble with drunks so I got the impression that they were on a go slow. It wasn't just one bar that we had a problem with it was all bars and each bar was out of different spirits, beer, mixers. By the way don't buy the package, we did and had nothing but trouble with it, but that is another story. The drink service was extremely bad. Hope you have better luck getting your order than our gang. By the way we are all in our 50-60s and don't wont you to get the wrong impression that we were a bunch young piss pots complaining about not getting wasted, that's not the case but I do like a drink or two.

 

Sorry to answer your question, if you go to the bar yourself you will get served fast, but all the bar waiters are shockers some worse than others.

Edited by CamenNSW
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Have you ever been shopping and not allowed to touch things. Try buying a watch and you have to point and then the sales person picks it up and holds it just out of site so you don't breath or touch it. Voyger is one big virus floating on the water. Most people we spoke to had some sort of digestive problems, us included. Our cabin constantly smelt like a sewer, it was coming from the drains in the bathroom.

 

Don't try and get a drink on deck 11 by the pool it could take anything up to 45min to arrive and guess what, they were out of what was ordered so they took it upon themselves to bring an alternative. Funny thing is exactly what you ordered, and what they were out of, just walked past on another waiters tray. Harry the bar waiter what a joke, he should have been working on the welcoming committee because all he wanted to do was talk to all, bugger about your order. It took three days for the scotch to be delivered from down stairs - only god knows where down stairs is because it must have been a long way, then hey presto day 4 the scotch arrived, but I wanted a scotch on day one, in the mean time I took a shine to beer, guess what "were out of VB so I bought you a XXXX gold' were is the VB I ask ÏTS DOWN STAIRS". Were is the cherry in the cocktail, non of them they too are down stairs. Someone down stairs is having a good party because all the grog is down stairs. :rolleyes::(

 

I had the same experience last march! You ask for a drink and they just give you an alternative.

 

Everything you want is in another bar! they just cant seem to get the stocking possess right. Plenty of Ales at the pool bar and only draught larger in the pub lol.

 

But you must remember the ship is not stocked in australia, everything comes in in containers from O/S, so if one or more doesnt arrive on time they leave without it,that is why so many items are always missing.

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I just did back to back Voyager cruises to the South Pacific and New Zealand. Wanted to also do the Australian itinerary but couldn't make it happen. (But sounds like I got lucky and missed the norovirus!)

 

I, too, experienced frustration with the drinks situation. For me, it was the fact that many of the wines on their dining room wine list were out of stock. I figured after the first cruise they would restock in Sydney but on the second cruise, all the same wines were out of stock.

 

Also, on the first cruise, they ran out of Corona so one would think they'd properly stock up on it for the next cruise but on the 2nd cruise they also ran out of Corona.

 

But don't want to seem like a complainer. I had a great time and I'm a devoted RCI cruiser.

 

p.s. Does anyone know of a brand of sanitizer that does kill norovirus? I was relying on the ship's hand sanitizers and surprised to hear they aren't effective for norovirus.

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Yes I should have been more specific ... Alcohol based hand sanitisers don't work against Norovirus. Alcohol rub sanitizers are not very effective against Norovirus (winter vomiting virus) unless they are combined with benzalkonium chloride in a hand sanitizer.

 

I use a sanitizer with benzalkonium chloride and is a foam not a gel and I take it everywhere we go. It's available in Australia and is excellent. Have been using it for about 3 years now.

 

Jill:)

Edited by Gold Coast Cruisers
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p.s. Does anyone know of a brand of sanitizer that does kill norovirus? I was relying on the ship's hand sanitizers and surprised to hear they aren't effective for norovirus.

Here in OZ, the hand wipes "Wet Ones" have benzalkonium chloride in their ingredients. Don't know if you can get them in USA.:confused:

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Also just off the Voyager and believe me.....the norovirus really was alive and well. Lots of passengers suffered. Thank goodness we didn't - but we really were extra careful.

 

I am a Royal Caribbean fan and it is usually my choice of cruise line if possible. However, I will never sail on Voyager again. We were in an inside cabin on Deck 7 aft and our hallway smelt heavily like a sewer from Day 1 until Day 9 when we disembarked. We, and many others also on our deck, complained and the only response we got from Customer Service was "we're working on it". We never saw any evidence anywhere of "them" working on it.

 

Generally we just go with the flow and don't complain about things - but by Day 4 when talking to others on our deck who had put in complaints about the smell, we decided that we would add our complaint to theirs. Funny thing....Guest Services told us that there had been no other complaints. Hmmmm. Strange. And not true!

 

Many times you could smell the sewer smell in the Library and sometimes in our cabin. Not pleasant. But in the hallway it was just horrible and I felt for Patrick our cabin steward who worked in that environment ALL day.

 

Now my questions are ..... Was that sewer smell on the cruise before us? And will the cruise after us suffer the same awful smell? Could this smell and its source be a contributing factor to the norovirus?

 

We are receiving a 10% refund on our cruise price paid because of the inconvenience.....

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We're just off this cruise too.

Overall it was an enjoyable holiday and unless you actually fell I'll, the norovirus issue would not have affected you. I prefer the servers in Windjamer than the messy free for all without them.

 

agree there should be people serving all the time, I seen some disgusting displays of food handling.

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Also just off the Voyager and believe me.....the norovirus really was alive and well. Lots of passengers suffered. Thank goodness we didn't - but we really were extra careful.

 

I am a Royal Caribbean fan and it is usually my choice of cruise line if possible. However, I will never sail on Voyager again. We were in an inside cabin on Deck 7 aft and our hallway smelt heavily like a sewer from Day 1 until Day 9 when we disembarked. We, and many others also on our deck, complained and the only response we got from Customer Service was "we're working on it". We never saw any evidence anywhere of "them" working on it.

 

Generally we just go with the flow and don't complain about things - but by Day 4 when talking to others on our deck who had put in complaints about the smell, we decided that we would add our complaint to theirs. Funny thing....Guest Services told us that there had been no other complaints. Hmmmm. Strange. And not true!

 

Many times you could smell the sewer smell in the Library and sometimes in our cabin. Not pleasant. But in the hallway it was just horrible and I felt for Patrick our cabin steward who worked in that environment ALL day.

 

Now my questions are ..... Was that sewer smell on the cruise before us? And will the cruise after us suffer the same awful smell? Could this smell and its source be a contributing factor to the norovirus?

 

We are receiving a 10% refund on our cruise price paid because of the inconvenience.....

 

 

We were on deck 10 and halfway through the cruise they ripped up the carpet in the hallways. It was after that the virus on our deck took hold. Most people affected with the virus were from deck 10. I do this type of bio-science for a living and when they removed the carpet the infectious spores that were in the carpet were able to find there way into peoples lungs and blood steam after being placed into the airflow system. I think they knew that was the case as they washed the walls from top to bottom every day during and after the carpet process. I actually found them washing the underfelt one afternoon, suspicious with disinfectant. We were told that they were doing a full decontamination of the ship after we disembarked in Sydney.

Edited by CamenNSW
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We were on deck 10 and halfway through the cruise they ripped up the carpet in the hallways. It was after that the virus on our deck took hold. Most people affected with the virus were from deck 10. I do this type of bio-science for a living and when they removed the carpet the infectious spores that were in the carpet were able to find there way into peoples lungs and blood steam after being placed into the airflow system. I think they knew that was the case as they washed the walls from top to bottom every day during and after the carpet process. I actually found them washing the underfelt one afternoon, suspicious with disinfectant. We were told that they were doing a full decontamination of the ship after we disembarked in Sydney.

 

We were on deck 10 too. Did you notice the smell in the hallways? We assumed it would go when the old carpet was ripped up. Unfortunately it stayed even once the new carpet went down. We thought the sloshing of that solution on the walls could have caused a mould issue but also could be done to mask the smell.

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That sounds just awful. I'm so sorry some of you had such a terrible experience.

 

For the 1st time ever, I'm actually not looking forward our cruise on Voyager in a few weeks. Having been the victim of Noro on Princess in December (and I was super careful with washing hands etc...) the memory is still fresh in my mind.

 

If I could, I think would actually cancel my cruise :(

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