Norovirus on Crown Princess!

[caribill]

I'm curious about a couple of things. When one person in a room had Noro and was quarantined how did that effect the other people in the same room?

 

The other person is not quarantined.

[caribill]

Princess was the only cruise line where using 'cleaning' your hands before entering the dining rooms or buffets was NOT mandatory. The others handed out disposable cloths or squirted your hands with disenfectant and then you could enter. Maybe it is a policy Princess should adopt?

 

If the outbreak is caused by a virus, then the hand sanitizers will not be effective as they do not kill a virus.

 

As pointed out by others, proper washing of the hands is the best way to avoid getting a virus.

 

If the outbreak is caused by bacteria (example e-coli), then the hand sanitizers will be effective.

[gazzas127]

I was going to take my wife Bev on the crown princess in august for our 25th wedding anniversary but will wait until her mum n dad get bk to tell us about there cruise now before booking,may have to go on another line which deals with this problem better.

 

Gary&Bev

[Sauvignon]

I was going to take my wife Bev on the crown princess in august for our 25th wedding anniversary but will wait until her mum n dad get bk to tell us about there cruise now before booking,may have to go on another line which deals with this problem better.

 

Gary&Bev

 

I feel that this is a slightly naive response. Once noro virus has been brought on-board by a passenger(s) the speed at which it spreads AND in which it is eradicated is to a large degree quite literally in the hands of us the passengers. By that I mean in terms of both the hygiene regimes which we practice ASWELL AS the approach we have to to the sanctions enforced. There is no blame to be apportioned or accusations to be made, it is case of everyone passengers and crew alike working together to deal with the outbreak - "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts".

Edited June 12, 2011 by Sauvignon

[Ann262]

Well, on our NCL cruise last year, you couldn't enter anywhere without someone squirting your hands with santizer. I know one thing, if I ever get sick on a cruise, I am not telling anyone unless I really think I am going to die without a doctor. I have heard stories of ships really over reacting when someone isn't feeling well and being confined ot their cabin for days. I would guess if you really had the norovirus you wouldn't care.

[cruis247g]

Thanks for the info. We noticed the same lack of hand sanitizers at the beginning of the cruise. Thus Princess may have been somewhat responsible for the outbreak. The ship was well clean during this Code Red, except for the buffet eating area.

 

We were on the crown in late april and noticed the same lack of hand sanitizers and also a lack of use of sanitizers when available, especially compared to other lines we've sailed recently. We were surprised that (some, not all) pax and crew weren't more diligent.

[curtdesilets]

We were on the crown in late april and noticed the same lack of hand sanitizers and also a lack of use of sanitizers when available, especially compared to other lines we've sailed recently. We were surprised that (some, not all) pax and crew weren't more diligent.

 

Hopefully, they will be more diligent in the future. As I and several posters in the past have said, Holland America's program makes the most sense. They do a "Code Red" scenario for the first 2 days of the cruise: thorough enforcement of hand sanitizers and serving all buffet food and drinks. If after 48 hours they see no sign of norovirus, they open up the buffet to normal operation (but they do retain the hand sanitizer enforcement before entering the buffet). Makes sense, and it educates the public before it's too late.

[curtdesilets]

I was one of the people who became sick on this cruise - and I'm 30 years old. The nurse who checked on me said that there were 75 cabins quarantined at the same time as me, and that the cases were still going up.

 

I hope you are doing better and that the condition didn't adversely affect your entire 12 day cruise.

 

75 cabins is quite an outbreak, but there were over 2800 people on board.

 

3% is what needs to be reported to CDC.

 

As others have said on this post, only the sick person in the cabin was quarantined. It seems to me that a spouse or roommate of an infected passenger could definitely contribute to the spread of norovirus. Also, aparently a lot of the "confinees" were not staying confined.

[curtdesilets]

I'm curious about a couple of things. When one person in a room had Noro and was quarantined how did that effect the other people in the same room?:confused: Also, people say that it is irresponsible to not report having the virus. But maybe it is just motion sickness or such, so as long as you stay in your room and take appropriate steps why does it matter? This is a genuine question not sarcasm.

 

I have never been on a cruise with a virus outbreak but, from everything I'm hearing the only thing you can do is wash your hands frequently and avoid touching anything. Since I will be on this ship in July I hope they have the problem taken care of by then.

 

I think despite the initial problems, things will be in control by your cruise. Perhaps bring those clorox wipes...bleach makes sense. If noro breaks out, avoid the buffet and eat solely in the dining room or room service. That's my advice. And avoid coughing people which we saw a lot. I came home with a nasty cold that I'm sure I contracted from one of the coughers on board. Stay vigilant, but focus on the sights. They will be unbelievable and unforgettable.

[warringtonian]

We are on the Crown at the moment and we were not told about the previous outbreak. The ship was late boarding and I did hear a crew member saying that they were doing a deep clean. The only noticeable changes on board were that the crew served at the buffet and that all the toilet main doors were permanently fastened open (not the cubicle doors!).

I haven't heard any reports of recent cases and we only have two full days to go. There are plenty of hand sanitisers but they are not that effective and not everyone uses them. I will do a full report when we get home.

[senior lady]

I was going to take my wife Bev on the crown princess in august for our 25th wedding anniversary but will wait until her mum n dad get bk to tell us about there cruise now before booking,may have to go on another line which deals with this problem better.

 

Gary&Bev

 

if you plan on going this year, I wouldn't wait to long to book. We're going Aug 16th and the ship is mostly waitlisted and final payment has been made.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Why would you want hand sanitisers for noro, almost all do not work against a virus like noro,

 

have cruised were the ship removed the sanitisers as folks were not washing there hands,

 

the best defence is still regular hand washing

 

 

have cruised with noro a few times and never caught it.

 

 

 

yours Shogun

[Nanatravel]

We are on the Crown at the moment and we were not told about the previous outbreak. The ship was late boarding and I did hear a crew member saying that they were doing a deep clean. The only noticeable changes on board were that the crew served at the buffet and that all the toilet main doors were permanently fastened open (not the cubicle doors!).

I haven't heard any reports of recent cases and we only have two full days to go. There are plenty of hand sanitisers but they are not that effective and not everyone uses them. I will do a full report when we get home.

 

Well it sounds like this week's cruise is doing well. You certainly would have been notified by PA and written announcement if the Norovirus was suspected of being on board affecting many passengers.

 

Curt, my DH also caught a cold/sunus infection as soon as we got home. The cabin pressure of our aircraft caused me terrible ear pain and blockage for a few days, but I didn't get sick. With so many people, busy schedules and airplane travel, you never know where the germs come from.

[Sauvignon]

Once noro virus has been brought on-board by a passenger(s) the speed at which it spreads AND in which it is eradicated is to a large degree quite literally in the hands of us the passengers. By that I mean in terms of both the hygiene regimes which we practice ASWELL AS the approach we have to to the sanctions enforced. There is no blame to be apportioned or accusations to be made, it is case of everyone - passengers and crew alike working together to deal with the outbreak - "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts".

[Islanderman]

We were on the May 22 cruise. We visited HC every morning for breakfast and it was obvious that the staff was stressed by the extra work that was required. We did not feel inconvenienced by the extra steps that were being taken to deal with the outbreak and appreciated the efforts of an overworked staff.

 

Even before the outbreak, we felt that Princess could have been more proactive with the placement of hand sanitizers, but, after the outbreak, we washed our hands often and avoided using the public rest rooms. At the end of the day, it was a fantastic cruise and we are very grateful that we did not contract the virus and were able to enjoy every one of the ports.

 

Rich & Robin

[jeromep]

What Holland America does is they do a Code Red sort of enforcement for the first 48 hours or so, and if everyone is fine, they open up the buffet. Princess is opposite. They are lax in enforcing clean hands at the beginning, and once an outbreak occurs they go into paranoia model for the rest of the cruise. For 5 days of a 7 day cruise, that might be okay.

 

In all reality, if you want to spread a disease around any group of people who concentrate in one place, the best way to do it is through touching of shared surfaces that are in high demand, i.e. buffet utensils. I’m not much on buffets on dry land and am not much on them on board a ship, either. Being on water doesn’t make a buffet a better place to eat and buffet food even from the best of providers is still buffet food.

I think that HALs viewpoint on preventing the spread of disease is probably better. 48 hours of general observation of what condition the passengers are in and having the employees serve food from the buffet tables during this “quarantine” is a lot better than the self-service nature of buffets.

I’ve seen lots of gross behavior at buffets by patrons: re-use of used plates; touching face, nose and mouth and then touching the serving tools, coughing and sneezing while at food stations. A buffet is a great place to get a disease.

If the cruise lines want to limit the spread of disease on board a ship they need to reconsider buffets and move toward 24 hour restaurants with table service.

Sure this doesn't eliminate the spread of disease that may occur from touching door handles and such, but it is a really strong start.

[jeromep]

We are on the Crown at the moment and we were not told about the previous outbreak. The ship was late boarding and I did hear a crew member saying that they were doing a deep clean. The only noticeable changes on board were that the crew served at the buffet and that all the toilet main doors were permanently fastened open (not the cubicle doors!).

I haven't heard any reports of recent cases and we only have two full days to go. There are plenty of hand sanitisers but they are not that effective and not everyone uses them. I will do a full report when we get home.

Not to post a second time, but bathroom door handles are a great place to pass on disease. It is one of the reasons that I'm always using a paper towel to open a restroom door to exit the place. The best designed restrooms have doors that you can just push through without touching them with your hands. Good to know that they had thought of keeping the access doors latched open to reduce the spread of disease.

[Grumpy100]

We just got back from this cruise and out of 8 of us 5 got sick. I washed my hands constantly and did not get sick. I also used hand sanitizer.

I was kind of freaked out praying that I would not get sick especially on the long flight back to the US.

I never got sick.

[FredZiffle]

For the first several days of the 6/3 cruise, all of the preventative measures were still in effect. But, apparently there were few new outbreaks because everything went back to normal after that. I did notice that most bathroom doors were propped open throughout the cruise, but never even realized that was a preventative measure as well. I was just happy to be able to fix my own coffee.

[curtdesilets]

For the first several days of the 6/3 cruise, all of the preventative measures were still in effect. But, apparently there were few new outbreaks because everything went back to normal after that. I did notice that most bathroom doors were propped open throughout the cruise, but never even realized that was a preventative measure as well. I was just happy to be able to fix my own coffee.

 

The buffet situation was a joke...if you asked for cream in your coffee, the waiter would pour about 4 ounces in there. Buffets, by design, are supposed to be self serve. Glad to hear that they got it under control. The one thing...that ship was sparkling clean for the entire cruise.

[curtdesilets]

OP Here. I am rereading this thread about the Norovirus situation on Crown Princess a few years ago. I do think Princess has learned from the situation. But this one skipped my collective consciousness...

 

In response to a question about 75 cabins being quarantined on our cruise and what the policy was if only one person in the cabin was sick...

 

The other person is not quarantined.

 

Do you all see a problem with this one?? :confused::confused:

[voljeep]

ok. i'll bite - what's your motive for reviving a 7 year old thread?

 

what do you get out of rehashing this?:mad:

[john watson]

Hopefully, they will be more diligent in the future. As I and several posters in the past have said, Holland America's program makes the most sense. They do a "Code Red" scenario for the first 2 days of the cruise: thorough enforcement of hand sanitizers and serving all buffet food and drinks. If after 48 hours they see no sign of norovirus, they open up the buffet to normal operation (but they do retain the hand sanitizer enforcement before entering the buffet). Makes sense, and it educates the public before it's too late.

 

Holland America Line appear to be the experts in this field. If you look at post #67 and click on the health statistics link during 2017, the last full year statistics are available. There are eleven outbreaks listed, five cases (just under half) are listed as relating to Holland America Line. These are spread across three of their vessels, Volendam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam. Noordam is almost an eponymous vessel.

 

Regards John

[Stevanb]

Hi All

 

Why would you want hand sanitisers for noro, almost all do not work against a virus like noro,

 

have cruised were the ship removed the sanitisers as folks were not washing there hands,

 

the best defence is still regular hand washing

 

 

have cruised with noro a few times and never caught it.

 

 

 

yours Shogun

 

YOU are right they do not work .Just on Holland in April the have a machine that sprays water on your hands with a noro killing liquid in it then there are paper towels to dry . Very few people use it . Best defense for noro keep sick people off ships scan forehead for temp when you board,

[curtdesilets]

Holland America Line appear to be the experts in this field. If you look at post #67 and click on the health statistics link during 2017, the last full year statistics are available. There are eleven outbreaks listed, five cases (just under half) are listed as relating to Holland America Line. These are spread across three of their vessels, Volendam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam. Noordam is almost an eponymous vessel.

 

Regards John

 

Thanks John. There was a lot of talk recently about this subject as Holland America has just had an outbreak on their 14 day Alaska Cruise. The consensus is that HAL has gotten quite lackadaisical in terms of enforcing clean procedures and reminding people to use good hygiene (washing hands, using hand sanitizer, paper towels on bathroom doors, etc.)

 

Seems each cruise line goes through a series of outbreaks and then responds. Oceania Rivera was a problem child a few years ago. Crown Princess obviously had some problems. Al in all though, norovirus is still a very rare occurrence. Consider the number of reported cases on the CDC website vs the totality of US cruise passengers yearly (about 15 million). The numbers are tiny.