Norovirus on Star Princess

I bought a pack of travel Clorox wipes and stuck it in my carry on bag. Won't take long to wipe down a cabin.

Remember that anytime someone else enters your cabin, you need to wipe it down again. This would include the cabin steward, room service, maintenance, etc. All of them may have touched surfaces in other cabins or in the hallways that might contain a virus or bad bacteria.

The main thing for me that I do is not to put my fingers in the mouth, nose , eyes at all. Wash my hands a lot. don't eat with my hands. I only eat hot food during a out break of virus on board. I have been lucky so far because I have been on many cruise with the virus, and so far have been safe. I was on the Crown cruise of 2012 where it was so bad. The next cruise after we got off never made a port of call, the ship was turned back to Fort L..

The main thing for me that I do is not to put my fingers in the mouth, nose , eyes at all. Wash my hands a lot. don't eat with my hands. I only eat hot food during a out break of virus on board. I have been lucky so far because I have been on many cruise with the virus, and so far have been safe. I was on the Crown cruise of 2012 where it was so bad. The next cruise after we got off never made a port of call, the ship was turned back to Fort L..

The Crown Princess is called the Noro ship. We had a Princess transfer and a bus load of us were taken to the Sheraton Hotel. We sat there for hours until too many complained. We were loaded up and taken to the port, however, we were not allowed to disembark from the bus. We had handicapped people on board. No water, and no restroom facilities because the driver of the bus had no key to the onboard restroom. We sat in the bus for 3 hours. Two handicapped people were almost crying because they had to use the restroom. I got off the bus with my cell phone in my hand and gave the driver 2 options. Either take us to the terminal or I call 911 and tell them you are holding us hostage. Take your pick. She jumped on the bus and wheeled us over to the terminal. They gave us colored cards at the hotel and all we had to do was show the card. We were on the ship within 15 minutes. Those who arrived early at the port were given the option of taking a ride to downtown Long Beach for shopping and lunch. Once you are on a Princess transfer, they are in control of you. Haven't taken a Princess transfer since, and haven't been on the Crown since either.

Oh wow! Good to know and that is why I only do a taxi on our own to the ship. We are currently waiting at our hotel at YVR (the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, what a great hotel btw) since embarkation is delayed. Was hoping some other June 23rd Star passengers would be on CC and post on here, but so far is just me :-)

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Oh wow! Good to know and that is why I only do a taxi on our own to the ship. We are currently waiting at our hotel at YVR (the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, what a great hotel btw) since embarkation is delayed. Was hoping some other June 23rd Star passengers would be on CC and post on here, but so far is just me :-)

 

 

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Have a great trip, Alaska is beautiful. We live north of you here in California, and my father is buried in Rocklin.

Curious about people who wipe down all surfacess in the cabin. While you wipe down grocery carts. Do you also wipe down the gas pump buttons and lever? How about when you go to an ATM either drive through or walk up?

While I do the 20 second hand wash and use a paper towel to exit a public bathroom on-board ship. This whole using a wipe mystifies me as it is mostly ineffective for most things.

Curious about people who wipe down all surfacess in the cabin. While you wipe down grocery carts. Do you also wipe down the gas pump buttons and lever? How about when you go to an ATM either drive through or walk up?

 

I'm also curious about those who still work, especially in large offices and large office buildings. Do you go through this process every day in your office, conference room, building elevators and restrooms, etc.? When traveling (not cruising) do you do it in every hotel?

My DH and I have never had norovirus in close to 25 cruises in the last 20 years. On the other hand, our son got in college and our daughter's entire family got it from our granddaughter when a number of her preschool classmates came down with it. We take precautions (washing hands frequently) but don't obsess over it.

Curious about people who wipe down all surfacess in the cabin. While you wipe down grocery carts. Do you also wipe down the gas pump buttons and lever? How about when you go to an ATM either drive through or walk up?

 

While I do the 20 second hand wash and use a paper towel to exit a public bathroom on-board ship. This whole using a wipe mystifies me as it is mostly ineffective for most things.

I carry hand wipes in my car for use after pumping gas. I rarely go to an ATM machine. I'm not a germ freak, but when there's an outbreak of the flu, I pay attention. I just pay attention to bad habits that people practice in public, and more so on a ship.

My wife and I just got off the Star today. They announced about 3 days into the 7 day cruise about the norovirus and put into place safety and cleaning measures quickly. Nothing on the tables in dining rooms,no self service in the buffet and constant cleaning everywhere! At one point the captain announced 14 cases quarantined which dropped to 4 cases by day six! As others have said wash your hands constantly and avoid touching everything! That’s what we did plus we avoided the buffet once it was announced! Happy to say we are off the ship and the crew did a fantastic job cleaning and keeping us safe! The captain did a great job keeping everyone informed and reminded everyone daily about proper hygiene!

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Wash your hands singing the entire happy birthday song, otherwise you may still get sick.

You can also sing row row row your boat. The length of time washing makes the difference.

Soap and water work against most viruses. The hand gel that’s alcohol based does not.

We are supposed to board the Star this Saturday June 23rd and I just got emails saying that there are numerous cases of norovirus on the ship right now. Boarding is now delayed several hours for a deep cleaning and to sanitize the ship. We leave in the morning for Vancouver and this is not news I wanted to hear!

I am really worried about getting on a cruise after norovirus. Has anyone had any experience with that, and can I just hope that the cleaning will make it safer for us? Such a damper on the excitement I had until I got the email :-(

 

 

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Precautions we take on every cruise:

1. Try not to use public washrooms unless necessary. If you do, wash your hands thoroughly and use paper towel to open the door when leaving.

2. Before every cruise I get a prescription for Lomotil and Histantil from my Doctor. These are the meds used to stop stomach and intestinal issues. If one of us does get sick then these meds will put the whoa nellie on the issues to limit the chance of serious dehydration that can land you in the hospital. We learned this one the hard way with DS who landed in the hospital with Noro BEFORE a cruise. He got it off the airplane on the way to Florida we think.

3. Try not to put your hands near your mouth - that's a toughie.

4. Bring hand sanitizer and use if before meals on and off the ship.

If you can't get any meds then follow the other 3 rules to minimize the chances of getting Noro but I would think that the fact that they are doing a deep clean and sanitize on the ship should be of some comfort.

Enjoy your cruise

Wash your hands singing the entire happy birthday song, otherwise you may still get sick.

You can also sing row row row your boat. The length of time washing makes the difference.

Go with the birthday song, it’s a little weird when fellow passengers join you in the round while singing “the rowing song”

They don't wash their hands either.

(y)

It may not be available much longer https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/09/02/492394717/fda-bans-19-chemicals-used-in-antibacterial-soaps

I read about the change in formula last year and bought enough to last me the rest of my cruising life

In numerous scents so I don't get tired if it

50c a bar you cant go wrong, and its nice to use, much better than the Princess product IMHO

Now when we cruise on Windstar its a difficult decision, they have such lovely L'Occitane soap etc. that I take any unused ones home.

Windstar having the combination of small ships, shorter cruises and it seems an overall different type of passengers there seem to be few GI upsets.

They don't wash their hands either.

Wow! not only do you know everything about medicine but also spelling!

Reminds me of my doctor who thinks he is God. I guess its part of the training?

Also just off the Star Princess yesterday. It was not confirmed as Norovirus, but "gastrointestinal issues" similar to Norovirus and they were taking no chances. The first day it was reported, many were on shore and came back to new procedures so it was a bit confusing and a few disgruntled folks in the buffet line. By the next day everyone knew the drill and all was OK. The way it went from 2 people quarantined to 6 to 16 and back to 2 so quickly almost seems like it may have been food poisoning. I would have thought Norovirus lasted longer than that. The captain was very appreciative of the staff, they took the brunt of the extra work.

Also just off the Star Princess yesterday. It was not confirmed as Norovirus, but "gastrointestinal issues" similar to Norovirus and they were taking no chances.

The ship does not have the capability of analyzing an appropriate sample (I am not sure of what) to determine if it is noro or not. Only by sending sample to an onshore lab such as the CDC can that analysis be made.

The ship does not have the capability of analyzing an appropriate sample (I am not sure of what) to determine if it is noro or not. Only by sending sample to an onshore lab such as the CDC can that analysis be made.

I believe they send a stool sample(s) off to be analyzed.

We were on the Crown Princess doing a Pacific Coastal cruise. Got the letter in the terminal while checking in. Had a delayed boarding, no food finally allowed on about 5 Ish. Announcements from Captain about hand washing at lunch. Then added numbers of new illness, heard of people stuck in their cabins, new updates and admonishments from Captain. Each US port we stopped at, we googled the Crown Princess (plague ship) and got news reports with actual numbers. Last US stop, people wanted to get off the ship early due to the Noro outbreak, but Princess would not let them. Hubby was washing his hands constantly. Noro got him second from last day of cruise. He was confined to cabin after medical staff phone interview. His food tray was brought by garbed personnel. Room steward could not come in,fresh towels placed by the door after a knock. We were assigned a time to debark the ship, and told to stay in cabin until they came for us. When they came for us, we were greeted by garbed personnel, complete with face masks, paper type suits and gloves. Hubby was wheeled to edge of ship, and had to walk off and through customs. Everyone in terminal had masks, it was surreal. It took him a few days to recover. Hope to never encounter this again!

The ship does not have the capability of analyzing an appropriate sample (I am not sure of what) to determine if it is noro or not. Only by sending sample to an onshore lab such as the CDC can that analysis be made.

Stool samples are still sent off for analysis by the CDC, but in the last 3-4 years there have been the development of rapid, on site noro testing kits. These kits are not as accurate as the CDC testing, as they may give more false negatives than lab testing, but they are still within 70-80% accurate. Kits the size of a shoe box can provide about 60-80 tests, and take less than two hours to complete.

The ship does not have the capability of analyzing an appropriate sample (I am not sure of what) to determine if it is noro or not. Only by sending sample to an onshore lab such as the CDC can that analysis be made.

How do you know that?

It is now day two of the cruise (Monday 6/25) and so far so good. There are people complaining about having to wash their hands - I hope they are the ones who get sick if it happens.

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how do you know that?

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Wash your hands singing the entire happy birthday song, otherwise you may still get sick.

You can also sing row row row your boat. The length of time washing makes the difference.

I make my grandkids sing it twice.........:)