virus on celebrity equinox

about to go on in 2 days and just got this email from celebrity.

I googled the equinox and it happened earlier this year.

depressing. I hope they kill it all but only time will tell.

leaving Barcelona for a two week cruise......

anyone ever experience a cruise right after an outbreak?

"

Hello, this is Celebrity Cruises. We would like to provide you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing onboard Celebrity Equinox sailing from Barcelona on August 1, 2015. During the current sailing, guests onboard experienced gastrointestinal illness. In an abundance of caution, we are conducting enhanced sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting your cruise. Due to this extra cleaning and sanitizing, we ask that guests not arrive to the terminal before 2:00 PM as seating is limited. We apologize for this delay to your boarding process and we thank you for your understanding and patience. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

"

Hi there, Im on this cruise with you and if you have a look further down you'll see I posted something before. I'm sure we'll be fine and a very clean ship is never a bad thing.

We have been on two cruises that required enhanced sanitizing. It delays embarkation, you will not be able to self serve at the buffet for a few days, they will not be any salt, pepper, butter, sugar on the tables and the library and computer center should be closed as well as there will not be any paper goods, magazines in your rooms. Do not worry, they do a great job and take this step to ensure that the health of the new cruisers will be watched out for.

No one got sick on either of the cruises we were on after the sanitizing

Welcome to Cruise Critic Mratner!

I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the viral illness on the Celebrity Equinox. Celebrity takes these norvirus outbreaks very seriously and does an excellent job of sanitizing the ship to prevent future outbreaks. I would rather have a later boarding time than get sick and not enjoy my cruise.

We were on the Equinox early this year and we were fine even though there were outbreaks on earlier cruises.

Bon voyage Mratner!

We have been on a couple of cruises in this situation. To protect ourselves, we stayed away from the buffet and tried to have as many meals as possible in the main dining room and restaurants in which you were served. Less chance of contamination. We also washed our hands with soap and warm water several times a day and tried not to put our fingers in our mouth.

And use the sanitizer they provide...even if it dries you skin.

As posted above, just take extra precautions in hand hygiene, stay clear of the high touch areas -- handrails, public bathrooms, I-lounge, library, buffet, etc.

I was on a cruise to Hawaii once (not Celebrity), where embarkation was delayed due to an outbreak on the previous cruise. When we boarded, we were under restrictions -- served in the buffet, food was salted for you at your table, no bread baskets at dinner, etc., etc .

So, after 3 days of restrictions, we were given our tong privileges back ... but only for 2 days and then revoked 2 more times during our 15 day cruise. No lie, one show in the theater had seven people in attendance. We are habitual hand washers and were able to stay healthy.....2 of the 7 in the theater. The captain was pleading with passengers over the PA system to wash their hands. So, it can happen so be very careful.

PS -- here is a link to the CDC regarding norovirus if you are interested.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6003a1.htm?s_cid=rr6003a1_e

I recently read an article about Noro at an airport. It got onto shuttle busses and was making everyone sick on the shuttle busses, of course no one realized it till they got home, and never thought about it being Noro or getting it from a shuttle bus.

The article noted how Crusie ships get the bad rap because its easily publicized and everyone on the ship knows what happened, but thousands of people pick it up in daily life in many other places, and don't realize they have noro, just think they "ate something bad" and got over it.

They noted cruise ships are actually far safer than anywhere else along the way to get to the ship and back home again, and the norm is typically brought on from picking it up at all these other spots prior to boarding, and not from the ship once on board.

And use the sanitizer they provide...even if it dries you skin.

This is important, DO NOT use the Purell you may travel with, it doesn't kill Noro, but the formulation they use on cruise ships is a special version formulated specifically to kill Noro. Your purely is good for other sanitizing purposes, but do note it doesn't kill Noro, which is what you are concerned about. So Use the ships, or use both, but don't use just your standard purell. Might as well not even wash hands with that as the plan.

anyone ever experience a cruise right after an outbreak?

We went through this in May on the Infinity. Delayed embarcation. Other things as described above. No big deal. Wash your hands often and well and do not touch your face.

I hope they kill it all but only time will tell.

leaving Barcelona for a two week cruise......

anyone ever experience a cruise right after an outbreak?

You'll be boarding the cleanest ship in the fleet that week...they go above and beyond to sanitize after an outbreak. They'll kill it all but there's always likelihood that sick passengers disembarking passed the virus onto people in the terminal (that's how virus manages to "persist" on the same ship between sailings). That's why they do the "no buffet, no salt shakers, etc." thing for 2 days, to see if new passengers develop symptoms.

As I also think that the ship will be cleaner than usual, I think there was a recent HAL sailing that had this issues and delayed embarkation, too. The next cruise even got worse and they had to shorten it by one day to have time to REALLY clean the ship before the new guests arrive.

So I personally would try to be even more cautious after a noro outbreak on the cruise before the one I board. I would clean my cabin with noro-killing swipes/liquids.

The cruise after ours is a charter. Bet that ship will be scrubbed clean tomorrow.

Just bought some alcohol liquid to wipe handles down with.

Alcohol liquid doesn't kill norovirus. You need a product specific to norovirus. In the Uk there is only one on sale that I've heard of called ecohydra. The packaging specifically mentions norovirus. The usual alcohol ones don't work- and aren't what they offer around the ship.

I recently read an article about Noro at an airport. It got onto shuttle busses and was making everyone sick on the shuttle busses, of course no one realized it till they got home, and never thought about it being Noro or getting it from a shuttle bus.

 

The article noted how Crusie ships get the bad rap because its easily publicized and everyone on the ship knows what happened, but thousands of people pick it up in daily life in many other places, and don't realize they have noro, just think they "ate something bad" and got over it.

 

They noted cruise ships are actually far safer than anywhere else along the way to get to the ship and back home again, and the norm is typically brought on from picking it up at all these other spots prior to boarding, and not from the ship once on board.

Above is absolutely correct, cruise lines get a bad rap because of the old media line "if it bleeds it leads." Fact is according to the CDC some 35 Million Americans get Noro every year and about 5000 of them are on cruise ships.

As far as the sanitizers, in many places they are just feel good measures. Some cruise lines and I understand Celebrity is one of them use a formulation that kills virus's. The everyday ones you purchase do nothing to kill a virus, they are bacterial in nature and are as good as washing your hands, which is a good thing.

Then there are people like myself who depending on the formula of the sanitizer may break out. I did not have a problem on my last cruise but have had on others. Some other cruisers have reported the same thing so be careful making judgements about people.

Alcohol liquid doesn't kill norovirus. You need a product specific to norovirus. In the Uk there is only one on sale that I've heard of called ecohydra. The packaging specifically mentions norovirus. The usual alcohol ones don't work- and aren't what they offer around the ship.

Sure. But we dont even know its noro do we? Are you still thinking of cancelling?

How does handwashing prevent spread then if only a couple of products will kill it?

We had the same thing happen to us on the Solstice out of Barcelona, like everyone else said, not a big deal, but we did avoid the buffet. It was also raining before departure and they delayed the muster until the next day. That was the November before the Costa Concordia sank -- I bet that doesn't happen again!

We had the same thing happen to us on the Solstice out of Barcelona, like everyone else said, not a big deal, but we did avoid the buffet. It was also raining before departure and they delayed the muster until the next day. That was the November before the Costa Concordia sank -- I bet that doesn't happen again!

Were you able to access your cabin?

This is what we have done when we sail .first we wash our hands frequently .We also use our knuckles when pressing elevator buttons . We never touch our faces with our hands . We do not shake hands with others on board ;).

We have been on ships with this virus & we never got sick:D

This is important, DO NOT use the Purell you may travel with, it doesn't kill Noro, but the formulation they use on cruise ships is a special version formulated specifically to kill Noro. Your purely is good for other sanitizing purposes, but do note it doesn't kill Noro, which is what you are concerned about. So Use the ships, or use both, but don't use just your standard purell. Might as well not even wash hands with that as the plan.

Thanks cle-guy! I would have assumed Purell would do the trick, as I always carry it in my purse and use it before I eat. Good to know that the ship will have better sanitizers that work on Noro.

Just checked, some Purell does have it. I have a bottle of Purell Advanced and it says it "kills Norovirus, E. Coli, Staph". Just gotta get the right kind.

And I just researched the effectiveness of ethanol. Thought to be effective against human noro but not cat noro which is where the initial studies were done.

Just remember that even if you use handrails, push elevator buttons and get the virus on your hands you won't get sick!!! The only way you can get sick is if the virus can enter your body through your eyes, nose or mouth - not through your skin!! So no matter what other precautions you take, keep your hands away from your face!!

Were you able to access your cabin?

Not until right before dinner. And it was our first time with the beverage package (pre-123 go) days -- I think we got our money's worth waiting to get to our cabins! :eek: