Code Red on the Royal

Not good news we get on her Saturday, is it likely that boarding will be delayed?

Hi flo71

Deep clean will delay boarding, but they do not deep clean for every outbreak

however no harm in calling Princess the morning of your boarding, and checking

yours Shogun

There are definitely a LOT more than 10 cases onboard. One of our friends heard 150-200, but I can't confirm that number. Washing hands like crazy!

Cruise lines have to report outbreaks that exceed 3% of the ship population during the length of the cruise. So with a 3600 passenger that is 108 over the complete duration. So if there is 150-200 cases then it will certainly show up a reported CDC outbreak.

If it doesn't show up then not only was their not 150-200 sick passengers, but the total number of cases over the entire cruise did not exceed 3%. On a 12 day cruise that would mean an average of less then 10 per day of new cases.

Considering how contagious Noro is, and how low the reporting requirements are, the cruise lines actually do a good job.

A lot of time it is picked up on shore, during excursions, and carried back onto the ship. The main reason why they have the sanitizer available when you go back onto the ship.

Cruise lines have to report outbreaks that exceed 3% of the ship population during the length of the cruise. So with a 3600 passenger that is 108 over the complete duration. So if there is 150-200 cases then it will certainly show up a reported CDC outbreak.

 

If it doesn't show up then not only was their not 150-200 sick passengers, but the total number of cases over the entire cruise did not exceed 3%. On a 12 day cruise that would mean an average of less then 10 per day of new cases.

 

Considering how contagious Noro is, and how low the reporting requirements are, the cruise lines actually do a good job.

 

A lot of time it is picked up on shore, during excursions, and carried back onto the ship. The main reason why they have the sanitizer available when you go back onto the ship.

Bit of misinformation here.

This is a cruise that does not call at a US port, so it does not have to report anything to the USPH. The UK and/or EU may have reporting requirements, but I am not aware of them.

A ship that does call at US ports, must make a report to the USPH evey cruise whether there has been a single case of GI illness or not. When the number of cases reaches 2%, of passengers and crew, an additional report must be made at that time, along with a remediation plan. When the level reaches 3%, a further report is made, along with further remediation plans, and the USPH will decide whether to send an inspection team or not. At this point, the USPH will post an "outbreak update" on their website, which is the only indication that a ship has had an outbreak, but there has been quite a lot of reporting prior to this that the general cruising public is unaware of.

Hi

See light reading if you have problem sleeping

http://www.shipsan.eu/Portals/0/docs/Manual_October_2011.pdf

yours Shogun

Not good news we get on her Saturday, is it likely that boarding will be delayed?

If so you should receive a notification.

Hi

 

See light reading if you have problem sleeping

 

 

http://www.shipsan.eu/Portals/0/docs/Manual_October_2011.pdf

 

yours Shogun

Thanks. I actually have a copy of the USPH VSP manuals saved, I'll save this as well. Quick read, while it says that the reporting level is 2%, it says that the ship must report to the competent authority in each port, so this reporting goes to the various EU member nations' Public Health departments, and I don't know if they, collectively or separately, are as open with posting information as the USPH (and they are less open than many believe). So I'm still not aware of any "central clearing house" that would track all this data, and make it available to the cruise public. If you know of some resource like this, I'd like to know where to find it.

Hi

 

See light reading if you have problem sleeping

 

 

http://www.shipsan.eu/Portals/0/docs/Manual_October_2011.pdf

 

yours Shogun

Looks like they followed the CDC with their reporting

Specific recommendation for gastroenteritis outbreak

reporting

• For gastroenteritis outbreak reporting, an initial report should be

prepared and sent to the competent authority at the next port of

call, when the percentage of reportable cases reaches 2% or more

among passengers or 2% or more among crew. A second update

report should be sent when the number of cases reaches 3% or

more among passengers or 3% or more among crew.

ST

• For updates the report should be sent not less than 4 hours before

the next port of call.

ST

2.10 Outbreak

reporting

• The case/outbreak recording form found in Annex 10 may be used

for reporting of any gastroenteritis outbreak.

ST

Tools to help with communicable diseases surveillance

Bit of misinformation here.

 

This is a cruise that does not call at a US port, so it does not have to report anything to the USPH. The UK and/or EU may have reporting requirements, but I am not aware of them.

 

A ship that does call at US ports, must make a report to the USPH evey cruise whether there has been a single case of GI illness or not. When the number of cases reaches 2%, of passengers and crew, an additional report must be made at that time, along with a remediation plan. When the level reaches 3%, a further report is made, along with further remediation plans, and the USPH will decide whether to send an inspection team or not. At this point, the USPH will post an "outbreak update" on their website, which is the only indication that a ship has had an outbreak, but there has been quite a lot of reporting prior to this that the general cruising public is unaware of.

For some reason I had thought some foreign cruises had shown up on the over 3% outbreak list, but all the ones I can find did touch a US port of some kind or another.

Thanks. I actually have a copy of the USPH VSP manuals saved, I'll save this as well. Quick read, while it says that the reporting level is 2%, it says that the ship must report to the competent authority in each port, so this reporting goes to the various EU member nations' Public Health departments, and I don't know if they, collectively or separately, are as open with posting information as the USPH (and they are less open than many believe). So I'm still not aware of any "central clearing house" that would track all this data, and make it available to the cruise public. If you know of some resource like this, I'd like to know where to find it.

Cannot find a central EU clearing house. However, lately the media in the EU has seemed to be pretty effective at reporting major outbreaks, usually quoting the appropriate national entity.

This may be the first code red for the Royal!

It was code red on Royal when we were on the 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise 2/27 to 3/9 early this year. In fact it started with the previous cruise and our cruise was delayed leaving the port due to massive cleanup when quite a few passengers got sick on the previous cruise. One passenger who was doing a B2B cruise told us there were many ambulances lined up at the pier when the ship arrived. The captain did lift the code red couple of times but reinstated that due to increasing number of passengers getting sick again. He said bulk of sick passengers ate at the Horizon Court which was not surprising. We ate primarily in the MDR and International Café and avoided Horizon Court all together. As long as you take precautions, you should be fine and it shouldn't ruin your vacation. We avoided handshakes and used our finger knuckles to hit the floor button in elevators instead of finger tips. We carried hand wipes everywhere we went.

We do not EVER eat in the buffet. We use the bathroom in our cabin. Careful not to touch handrails. In over 30+ cruises norovirus has not attacked. Frequent hand washing of course. What else can you do?

Don't eat anything with your fingers and you're probably safe.

If so you should receive a notification.

They have issued delayed boarding notifications now, embarkation now starts at 3pm :(

oh no, our last Princess cruise was just after a gastro-bug outbreak; and that was 8 years ago! The staff were all so grumpy

Now we need to find some means of entertaining the kids in Southampton for a few hours

My sister who is at the moment on the Royal texted me saying that the captain had made an announcement at 7:30 PM...half an hour after departure from Edinburgh...that there was a norovirus outbreak on board and guess who had got it...she has. She was confined to cabin and awaiting medical staff.

On her last cruise...on the Emerald...she had the norovirus then. There was a party of them of well over 20 and the majority of them all came down with it but there was no announcement then from the captain so that leads me to believe that this outbreak must be quite a serious one.

Last time when she had it it took her months to recover from it but as we all tend to think "lightening doesn't strike twice" but unfortunately it does.

Needless to say after two consecutive cruises where she has had norovirus...both on Princess...her cruising days are over with any cruise line.

Just a couple of points I would like to make:

The captain must have been aware of the situation before he set sail from Edinburgh..why didn't he make an earlier announcement so that people had the opportunity of disembarking...especially people from the UK...I know that my sister would have done that and also my brother who is on the same cruise who has a serious illness that has lowered his immune system would also have disembarked to try to avoid it.

Also you can take all sorts of precautions..washing hands...gel etc but it can be on any conceivable surface so what we do is take a pack of fine surgical gloves and if there was to be an outbreak then you have a protective barrier on all occasions..restaurants/theatre/lifts etc. may look a bit silly but I would rather be safe than sorry.

If your sister has already had nor virus on a previous cruise, what changes or precautions did she take to ensure she wouldn't get it on this cruise? Noro virus is easily avoidable by frequent hand washing with soap and hot water, using the bathroom in your cabin (not public rest rooms), using an alcohol based hand sanitizer, and properly disposing of used tissues etc.

I know you said lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place but if you stand under the same tree, it will get you again.

If your sister has already had nor virus on a previous cruise, what changes or precautions did she take to ensure she wouldn't get it on this cruise? Noro virus is easily avoidable by frequent hand washing with soap and hot water, using the bathroom in your cabin (not public rest rooms), using an alcohol based hand sanitizer, and properly disposing of used tissues etc.

I know you said lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place but if you stand under the same tree, it will get you again.

I agree. 2 times. :o Must be missing the basics. :eek:

oh no, our last Princess cruise was just after a gastro-bug outbreak; and that was 8 years ago! The staff were all so grumpy

 

Now we need to find some means of entertaining the kids in Southampton for a few hours

Take them to Stonehenge

Take them to Stonehenge

Portsmouth is closer and a lot more interesting - HMS Victory; Mary Rose and loads of other stuff. Also easier to get to by train.

Stonehenge - you've seen the pictures - it really is not much more than that IMHO.

So sorry but I have made a mistake. On the previous cruise...Emerald...it was not norovirus but food poisoning but it still produces similar results.

As to using your common sense regarding norovirus and taking every precaution I can assure you that she would have taken all precautions...she certainly is not one to "skip" washing of hands after using bathroom .gel sanitizer ...using tissues etc.

Some comments on here have said that they only use the MDR but one can easily pick the virus up there...backs/seats of chairs...condiments. In fact any surface and do we all use tissues all of the time on all occassions...when I have cruised I haven't seen many people...if any...with tissues in hand all of the time. You would certainly need quite a large supply of tissues to carry around with you because every surface you touched the tissue would have to be discarded so as not to spread the virus.

Once again apologies to you for my mistake.