Brittania Novovirus Red Alert

How many passengers actually went down with the Novovirus on the Britannia last week (16th of July) ? The Captain reported a serious outbreak on the Monday 18th - 129 passengers reporting vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps. It was rumoured that the ship was on red alert to return to Southampton early on Wednersday with 500 passengers reporting illness - is this true ?:mad:

The Facebook chat page didn't mention a number that high (double figures). Someone doing a B2B said P&O had paid them to get off the ship so it could be deep cleaned.

Yes, numerous passengers who where staying on for the Norway cruise where asked to vacate the ship on Saturday (some also given cabin upgrades) - given monies given for meals, expenses, etc while the kitchens where deep cleaned.

Several emergency tannoy calls throughout the night for emergency medical teams to attend cabins - all very scary :mad:

Yes, numerous passengers who where staying on for the Norway cruise where asked to vacate the ship on Saturday (some also given cabin upgrades) - given monies given for meals, expenses, etc while the kitchens where deep cleaned.

 

Several emergency tannoy calls throughout the night for emergency medical teams to attend cabins - all very scary :mad:

Interesting re cleaning the kitchens. Had the infection been isolated there? Usually the focus is on the public rooms and it's unusual for the kitchens to be mentioned though they would be unlikely to admit it if it had.

Noro certainly can be passed on by food contamination but toilets, hand rails etc are normally thought to be the main problem.

David.

Norovirus causes nearly 60% of all foodborne illness outbreaks. Norovirus is transmitted primarily through the fecal-oral route, with fewer than 100 norovirus particles needed to cause infection.Transmission occurs either person-to-person or through contamination of food or water. CDC statistics show that food is the most common vehicle of transmission for noroviruses; of 232 outbreaks of norovirus on cruiseships 57% were foodborne, 16% were spread from person-to-person, and 3% were waterborne.When food is the vehicle of transmission, contamination occurs most often through a food handler improperly handling a food directly before it is eaten. P&O would never announce that the virus was foodbourne (57%) it would be a PR disaster NOT to blame passengers for the contamination.

Norovirus causes nearly 60% of all foodborne illness outbreaks. Norovirus is transmitted primarily through the fecal-oral route, with fewer than 100 norovirus particles needed to cause infection.Transmission occurs either person-to-person or through contamination of food or water. CDC statistics show that food is the most common vehicle of transmission for noroviruses; of 232 outbreaks of norovirus on cruiseships 57% were foodborne, 16% were spread from person-to-person, and 3% were waterborne.When food is the vehicle of transmission, contamination occurs most often through a food handler improperly handling a food directly before it is eaten. P&O would never announce that the virus was foodbourne (57%) it would be a PR disaster NOT to blame passengers for the contamination.

We actually got on half way through a transatlantic cruise from Barbados to Mallorca, but I have heard that the illness was on board before we got on in Tenerife. When I suggested on another forum, that it could be caused by bad food handling, I was slated by people who said it could not possibly be the staff's fault, but the dirty passengers!

Staff can spread disease if they don't follow the correct procedures. I was in the buffet at the salad area and someone made a mess of one of the dishes, leaving the serving spoon lying on the servery. the crew member in plastic gloves replaced the spoon and then adjusted the positions of all the others, oh um! so now the germs are on all the tongs etc :eek:

Out of my last 5 cruises I have had upset stomachs 3 times, twice on P&O and once on Thomson. One of the P&O ones (Britannia) was norovirus.

I think all buffets should have staff serving, no helping yourself.

Couldn't agree more with you Dave, all buffets should have staff serving you. I only know of one cruise line that does this on a permanent basis. HAL usually do this for the first 24 hours only.

But makes complete sense to get the servers to serve all the time.

All cruise lines suffer from ships getting noro from time to time, it seems to be brought on by the passengers opposed to the staff.

Hand cleanliness is the best way to avoid infection.

Food poisoning is a very different infection to noro.

A lot of rubbish is talked on this board every time that a noro outbreak takes place on a P&O ship.

I was on this cruise, I and most passengers were fine, the next day after the announcement the captain announced that things were better, I don't know how many people were affected as this was not announced. The ship carried out the rest of the cruise and I didn't notice any 'red alert' we were only asked to use hand gels frequently.

I can't say I'm surprised about this. On our cruise on Britannia last October the hand washing sinks outside the buffet were filthy. A good idea if kept clean but we never saw that being cleaned. Water stains all down the front and used hand towels. It disposed of in the bins. Ships rely to heavily on hand gel which is ineffective against Noro.

I can't say I'm surprised about this. On our cruise on Britannia last October the hand washing sinks outside the buffet were filthy. A good idea if kept clean but we never saw that being cleaned. Water stains all down the front and used hand towels. It disposed of in the bins. Ships rely to heavily on hand gel which is ineffective against Noro.

The Purell hand gels on Britannia are effective against Noro virus.

Oh well, now perhaps people won't continue to say that only Oriana get NV! It happens everywhere.