luxurysailer

I've long held the opinion that folks don't catch Noro from the ship's facilities, but from travel before they arrive at the ship.

You are correct, but only partially so. Yes, some people do contract noro before boarding ships. And these people may well be the ones who bring the virus aboard and initiate outbreaks. However, when there are large outbreaks on ships the vast majority of persons becoming ill undoubtedly acquire the virus on the ship.

It is a well known fact that highly contagious infectious diseases spread more easily when you have a lot of people occupying a small space. Simply put, under those circumstances the odds are greater that you will contact the virus than if you were in a less crowded environment. A good example is that meningitis outbreaks are more likely to occur in military barracks, school dormitories, etc.

I've observed atrocious personal hygiene practices on most cruises we've been on: people not washing their hands before leaving restrooms being a rather common occurrence. These people then touch elevator buttons, stair rails, table tops, food trays, etc and those coming along behind them are exposed to whatever was on their hands. These miscreants are very unlikely to change their ways, so it's up to each and every one of us to practice good preventive measures and protect ourselves.

It isn't uncommon for patients to make very unwise decisions. It is the obligation of the medical staff to advise of their best medical opinion and against leaving the hospital. However, if the patient insists on leaving they should sign out "against medical advice" thereby relieving the medical staff and hospital of liability.

You can bet your bottom dollar if the medical staff doesn't argue strongly against leaving and something disastrous happens that they'll be sued.

Our NZ/Australia cruise was in 2006, so things may well have changed in the interim. With that in mind here are my recommendations with your preferences in mind.

New Zealand

Sheep ranch out of Christchurch: beautiful rural scenery and enjoyable lunch

Wai-O- Tapi thermal area a waste of time if you've been to Yellowstone

Rotorua: Maori show interesting

Dunedin: train ride through Taieri Gorge out of Dunedin excellent

Australia

Melbourne: beautiful city. De Bertoli and Yarra Valley winery tours beautiful

scenery

Cairns: Great Barrier Reef. Be sure you're on something (meclizine) for

motion sickness

Sydney: Beautiful drive along harbor. Sydney Opera House. Walking around on your own in area of Opera House

Hope you don't get caught in a storm for four days crossing the Tasman Sea from NZ to Australia. A real adventure but it caused us to miss Hobart.

RuthC is right. Anytime we're on a cruise ship we must conduct ourselves as if there is a major outbreak of norovirus. No exceptions. We must protect ourselves. This requires constant vigilance and flawless hygienic technique. I admit this is very difficult. Being a retired physician and chair of our hospital infection control committee for about twenty years I pride myself on good hygienic practice., but I admit that on one cruise I contracted norovirus. Possibly my fault but perhaps not. Either way, I've never been so ill before or since.

HAL serving grits?!!!! Progress is being made. Now let's start working on them to serve real honest to goodness biscuits and mayhaw jelly.:D

What was your suite #. I wish people would include cabin/suite numbers so we on upcoming cruises can hopefully avoid them or at least go with updated knowledge.

 

Thanks

It seems to me that posts about trouble with Zuiderdam occur more often than any other ship in the fleet. We experienced multiple problems on our cruise on this ship.

My suggestion is to avoid Zuiderdam like the plague.

A few months ago I read this description of an old safari guide sitting in a bar somewhere in Africa: "a magnificent wreck of an old man." Although at 72 I'm 6'3," weigh 190 pounds, and am still physically active, I must admit that "looks like he's been rode hard and put up wet" is more appropriate.

My experience is that the R class ships generally provide a better ride than the Vista class. On a documentary that I recently saw this was said by a naval architect to be the result of the larger ships being more susceptible to wind.

Insofar as controlling motion sickness is concerned, I heartily second the recommendation to use meclizine. It will produce an actual physiologic response rather than folk lore remedies such as sea bands, ginger, green apples, etc. If you decide to do this you should check with your physician to be sure that drug isn't contraindicated for you. We take the meclizine tablets at bedtime and haven't had any difficulty with drowsiness during the day. I have been seasick in the past, but that's a thing of the past since we started taking meclizine.

The problem with Zuiderdam's toilets and A/C have been being reported on this forum for at least four years. These issues must be either unfixable or prohibitively expensive to fix. Otherwise, why would HAL put up with a ship that has been giving them a black eye for so long? The best thing HAL could do is sell Zuiderdam to some third rate cruise line. Or maybe it should just be converted into a fishing reef.

We are repeat cruisers with HAL and have a cruise scheduled for March 2013. But, based upon our experience sailing once on Zuiderdam and the multiple comments we've read on CC, we will never sail on Zuiderdam again. No ifs, ands, or buts.

After reading this post again, I feel that I should make it clear that HAL is our favorite cruise line. We've never had a bad cruise with HAL, or for that matter, any other cruise line. They were all enjoyable. On our one cruise on Zuiderdam we were affected only peripherally by plumbing problems; however, this experience along with the continued multiple postings about plumbing and A/C problems on Zuiderdam have warned us off that ship. There is just no point in taking a chance when so many other HAL ships are available for our enjoyment.

We are repeat cruisers with HAL and have a cruise scheduled for March 2013. But, based upon our experience sailing once on Zuiderdam and the multiple comments we've read on CC, we will never sail on Zuiderdam again. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Oops. Somehow posted a reply on the wrong thread.

 

If they require a person to already be seasick before giving them packets of meclizine they need to change their policy. This is ridiculous and a prime example of austerity measures taken too far.

The cause of seasickness is overstimulation of the semicircular canals in the inner ear by excessive motion of the ship. The nausea is caused by excessive stimulation of these semicircular canals.

So, what is a scientifically proven way to prevent excessive stimulation of the semicircular canals? Take Bonine or its generic equivalent meclizine. But there are some side effects of this drug, the most frequently encountered being drowsiness. My wife and I take ours just before retiring in the evening which has minimized this effect during waking hours. For those with medical problems it is a good idea to consult your physician prior to taking any OTC.

A couple of previous posts have mentioned that it should be taken prior to (preferably 12-24 hours) encountering rough seas, and that is good advice. This drug is used for prevention of seasickness and will not produce quick relief of symptoms once seasickness rears its ugly head.

Our cabin steward told us we could stay in the cabin.

But we didn't and went to the drill.

I wouldn't think it is a good idea to listen to cabin stewards or other low ranking crew countermand ships rules or orders.

Perhaps they've decided to enforce muster drill attendance, because people who refuse to attend could well be a danger to others in the event of a real emergency. Being stupid enough not to do something for your own benefit is bad enough, but if it might endanger others it shouldn't be tolerated.

Incidentally, I'm reasonably certain that roll was taken at every lifeboat drill on every HAL cruise we've ever taken. But due to all the talking I don't see how they've ever gotten an accurate roll call. Perhaps they're now going to enforce quiet during the roll call.

We stopped in Homer on HAL's 14 day Amsterdam cruise last summer and saw tons of puffins at very close range. We went on the Guided Natural History Hiking Tour offered by the nonprofit Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies (http://www.akcoastalstudies.org/guided-tours.html).

Thanks, epixx. Appreciate your recommendation very much. What time of year did you see all these puffins? I've heard that earlier in the cruising season is better, but September was the only time that worked for us.

Not in the ports you list. Definitely out out of Seward or Homer.

We'll be calling at Homer and Kodiak during September. I've tried to determine whether or not there are any particular excursions in these ports that offer a high probability of seeing puffins, but so far haven't been able to learn anything. If anyone has any knowledge concerning this in either of these ports or Sitka, I'd appreciate your help very much.

Some people, my wife included, has difficulty with her feet swelling while on long flights. If you've ever noticed this, your problem may well be beginning before you ever board the ship in which case compression stockings worn during flight might help.

I and my travel companions particularly enjoy team Trivia; however, we'd like to see the name of the game changed to Significa.