No code red anymore ?

I just got off the Oosterdam this am. There was no code red the first two days....passengers could fill their water glasses, select food under the sneeze guards on the Lido deck, etc, from the start of the cruise.

When did HAL relax their earlier 48 hour hold on that ?

I just got off the Oosterdam this am. There was no code red the first two days....passengers could fill their water glasses, select food under the sneeze guards on the Lido deck, etc, from the start of the cruise.

 

When did HAL relax their earlier 48 hour hold on that ?

Code red will always (sadly) be there IF there is noro on board.

I think you are talking about the old code Orange with the 48 hour limitation?

Most of the HAL ships are no longer self serve. Salad is served, cheese plates are out (no cutting cheese you want), etc. So, code orange is not necessary.

I stand corrected....orange is the new red :).

Anyway, I thought that during code orange one couldn't fill water glasses, salt and pepper shakers weren't on the tables, the natcho bar wasn't available, etc, the first 24 hours ?

It's been over a year since I've been able to take a cruise, so I'll be the first to admit my memory might be off :).

I can't remember when Code Orange was dropped, but I do remember it was before my last cruise, which ended over a year and a half ago.

HAL started trying a new approach, with more foods being served, common serving utensils being changed out more often, and perhaps other things that skip my mind at the moment.

I take it that the new approach has been at least as successful as Code Orange was, as HAL has not returned to the former procedure.

Ruth, as usual, you are the voice of reason and amazing knowledge. It's nice to hear from you. Thank you for confirming that, at least in this situation, I'm not going crazy :).

I hadn't cruised on HAL since 2012 so I was surprised on our recent cruise on Eurodam that the food in the Lido was served by the crew the entire 7 days. Drinks were self serve.

As far as we know there wasn't any Noro virus on board, if there was they didn't make it known.

So does the policy differ from ship to ship even when Noro virus isn't present?

On our first cruise on HAL in 2012 they only served us for the first two days.

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The way food is served or pre-plated now reduces the number of communal serving utensils and the temptation to pick through food with your hands. As Ruth said, this system seems to be working.

If they get some cases of noro, HAL will remove the salt and pepper shakers, add servers to the beverages, etc. In my experience, HAL is not shy about telling people when there's noro. Twice I've been on a ship that went to code red. Both times, there was a fairly small number of cases. The ship seemed as full as ever--it wasn't as if half the passengers had taken to their bed. HAL is very quick to control it, and they make lots of announcements reminding people of the importance of washing hands. HAL captains are fond of the expression "abundance of caution."

It was Code Orange in the Lido for 48 hours.

We did not have it on our 2015 Zuiderdam or Eurodam cruises or our 2016 Westerdam cruise.

So it has been gone for a while.