noro viirus

[sail7seas]

There are large containers on shower/tub walls containing shampoo, conditioner and bath gel. That is fine, as far as it goes.

 

When we got to our Suite on Nieuw Amsterdam, there was no soap at the sink.

I asked our steward for a bar of bath soap (I hate gel) and a bar of the usual Elemis glycerine soap for the sink. When we returned to our cabin, we found a bar of bath soap and that was all. I asked again for glycerine soap for the sink and never got it.

 

I commented about that here on this board and others who sailed other ships said they also had to ask for bath soap and had no glycerine soap the whole cruise.

 

We were aboard for two cruises and never got a bar of hand/face soap.

 

They still provide the small bottles of body lotion and shower caps.

 

[ASIWISH]

So, I just read it on Fox too...

 

How long of a delay does that mean for the two Princess ships.... and does that shorten their cruise?

 

Wow!

[sail7seas]

[

B] Yah, Wow.....

 

Hope they get the ships cleaned up well and fast.

Certainly hope there is no more illness.

 

[/b]

[HeatherInFlorida]

Before we went on our most recent cruise, I researched this subject more than usual because the ship we were sailing on had been experiencing periodic outbreaks of Noro over the past several weeks. Fortunately, we had no problem because she had a brief drydock before we boarded (it wasn't a HAL ship).

 

So while I'm not questionning some of the observations made here, I've also read that using Purell-type products are not very protective against Noro because it's a virus, not a bacteria which is what alcohol based products seem to kill.

 

Something is better than nothing of course, but the best way to avoid Noro is to wash your hands with soap and water. It may well be, as BruceMuzz states, that overseas there's something anti-viral in these hand gels, but here I think they are primarily alcohol based. I did read about products containing ethanol are more effective. The following article discusses a number of products, but I can't tell if this is some kind of infomercial truthfully: http://www.stopthestomachflu.com/Home/which-hand-sanitizers-kill-stomach-flu-viruses

 

But for the most part, alcohol based hand sanitizers are just not effective. I use them on cruise ships in addition to constant hand washing, but in the end I just hope for the best when I walk across the gangway :).

[localady]

Can someone explain to me why HAL removed bars of soap from cabins when there is such a need to wash, wash, wash our hands ?!????! Are we to lean over the tubs to reach the far wall and get bath gel with which to wash our hands? :confused:

 

Defies logic IMO

What does the soap cost vs the cost of deep cleaning the ship, the huge amount of work from a Noro outbreak, and

bad PR? Of all things to cut back on........ Bars of SOAP?

 

We received bars of soap, (one for each sink) this last week on the Oosterdam. It was not the yellow glycerin soap, it was the white Elemis soap.

[sail7seas]

Good to hear it.

Did you have to ask for it or was it in the bathroom when you arrived?

 

I'm planning on bringing a bar with us, just in case. I really don't like the bath gel.

Luxury vacation and I'm planning to provide our own soap. :rolleyes: I don't want to be 'disappointed' when we arrive.

 

[ASIWISH]

Crown Princess is leaving now... 9:51pm

[SwissMyst]

I've always wondered about the menus. Thank you. But they don't wipe them EVERY time, do they? Just wondering.

 

I can make myself INSANE thinking about this. You use the Purell (assuming you use it correctly) sit down at the table, and your chair isn't just right even though the steward has attempted to make it so. So you put your hands UNDER THE SEAT and schooch yourself forward or back. ARGH! Or rest your hands on the arms. Or touch the salt and pepper shakers! Or....

 

I just do my best and pray. Otherwise I could end up just like Monk. :D

 

Robin

 

Use your fork or spoon to put anything in your mouth and you should have no problems. Just don't touch anything you put into your mouth with your fingers. It is quite simple. Only drawback is you don't get to enjoy HAL's delicious baked breads if you want to be 100% certain unless you eat them with a knife and fork. Think about disease transmission routes, not the mere presence of bugs themselves.

[Cruisinetta]

I just got off the Noordam and contracted the Noro my last night. It was a nightmare.

[MR NW GUY]

I just saw that Princess has 2 delayed sailings from Fort Lauderdale due to Norovirus.

Here is a link and what "Princess" has to say about the Norovirus outbreak.

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=1466328751#!/PrincessCruises?sk=wall&filter=2

 

Several of you have commented about the news coverage today about an increased incidence of gastrointestinal illness on both Ruby Princess and Crown Princess. In collaboration with the CDC, who has told us that Norovirus is widely circulating in the US, our public health, medical and onboard teams are working diligently to ensure illness is not spread aboard any of our ships. On Ruby and Crown, measures include delaying embarkation so we can thoroughly disinfect all cabins and public areas, bringing on additional cleaning crews in Fort Lauderdale and, as an additional precaution, replacing the existing fruit and vegetable inventory with a totally new supply.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Needs to be repeated: contact time with any sanitizer is what makes it "work". Know how long you have to keep your hands in contact with any particular ingredient for it to be effective. Thorough soap and water washing is effective because it physically removes quantities of "bugs".

 

Substituting thorough hand washing with any sort of contact substance is simply not the same thing - there has to be sufficient chemical contact with the "bugs" for it to work and according to studies even then is still not at good as thorough hand washing.

 

This point is belabored because to do "something" that is basically ineffective is the same thing as doing nothing at all. Watch those hand to mouth/eyes/nose transmission routes and always assume you remain contaminated regardless of what you did last. And remember just touching a "bug" does not make you sick. It has to be put inside your body by your own contaminated hand.

 

Become hyperaware of where your hands are at all time. Fascinating studies also show how often people touch their faces - several times an hour without even being aware they are doing this.

 

Plus noro can be a food borne disease as well and scrubbing your hands with anything, even soap and water does nothing for that transmission route either.

 

I think it's worse than doing nothing. People who would normally wash their hands come to rely on the "germ killing" of the hand sanitizer and don't bother to wash their hands.

 

We got noro on a ship from the snacks in a bar. The mixed bar snacks were in a little class carafe. The idea was to tip some of the mix into your hand and nibble from your hand. This kept people (most of the time) from digging their hands into the mix. But everyone who touched the carafe deposited or picked up germs. All four of us traveling together got noro. We had all eaten different foods, and all we could find that we had in common was the bar snacks and the carafe.

[sail7seas]

When we sit at the bar if we wish to have a nut, I always ask for a fresh dish of them. Bartenders/bar stewards are more than happy to oblige.

 

Kathy, I have seen people stretch their dirty fingers into the glass and once you see that, you never again wish to eat from a dish that isn't freshly set out for you. We watched one 'gentleman ?' eat his peanuts, lick the salt off his fingers and reach back into the dish. Groan........

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

When we sit at the bar if we wish to have a nut, I always ask for a fresh dish of them. Bartenders/bar stewards are more than happy to oblige.

 

Kathy, I have seen people stretch their dirty fingers into the glass and once you see that, you never again wish to eat from a dish that isn't freshly set out for you. We watched one 'gentleman ?' eat his peanuts, lick the salt off his fingers and reach back into the dish. Groan........

 

 

 

Euuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwwww! That's digusting!

 

I recently saw a woman use her hand to sift through the sliced mushrooms at a supermarket salad bar. I was about to put together a salad when I saw this. I couldn't stop myself--I yelled at her, pointing out that OTHER people were going to eat food she had touched. I asked her what else she had touched and she said nothing (could be true, it was the only container without a spoon or tongs). But I gave up on the idea of a salad. Of course, there's never an employee around when you want one, but a minute or two after she left the area, someone came out of the back room and i told him he should replace the mushrooms.

[localady]

Good to hear it.

Did you have to ask for it or was it in the bathroom when you arrived?

 

I'm planning on bringing a bar with us, just in case. I really don't like the bath gel.

Luxury vacation and I'm planning to provide our own soap. :rolleyes: I don't want to be 'disappointed' when we arrive.

 

 

Sails- We didn't have to ask, it was in the bathroom when we arrived along with a bottle of lotion.

 

It sounds as though there may have been an ordering/supply snafu on your last cruise....bar soap is NOT the place for HAL to try to cut costs !!:eek:

[ASIWISH]

I just got off the Noordam and contracted the Noro my last night. It was a nightmare.

 

OOOOH, sorry!!!

 

Were you quarantined to your cabin?

[Kabana]

Can someone explain to me why HAL removed bars of soap from cabins when there is such a need to wash, wash, wash our hands ?!????! Are we to lean over the tubs to reach the far wall and get bath gel with which to wash our hands? :confused:

 

Defies logic IMO

What does the soap cost vs the cost of deep cleaning the ship, the huge amount of work from a Noro outbreak, and

bad PR? Of all things to cut back on........ Bars of SOAP?

 

I agree and plan to pack the guest soap from our pre-cruise hotel stay to use at the bathroom sink.

[sail7seas]

OOOOH, sorry!!!

 

Were you quarantined to your cabin?

 

 

She got it the last night of her cruise. (Very sorry about that happening.)

 

Maybe they quarantined her and wouldn't let her leave in the morning. :eek: :)

 

[Robin7]

She got it the last night of her cruise. (Very sorry about that happening.)

 

Maybe they quarantined her and wouldn't let her leave in the morning. :eek: :)

 

 

LOL! I bet they kicked her off first so they could disinfect her cabin. At least it was her last night. What a shame.

 

My BIL and SIL and their four girls all got Noro on their cruise last summer. And they're careful! They were so miserable.

 

It's making the rounds (as usual) at my youngest's school. He was home for two days with it last week. It's that time of year. I am always thankful when I don't get it.

 

Robin

[RMLincoln]

LOL! I bet they kicked her off first so they could disinfect her cabin. At least it was her last night. What a shame.

 

My BIL and SIL and their four girls all got Noro on their cruise last summer. And they're careful! They were so miserable.

 

It's making the rounds (as usual) at my youngest's school. He was home for two days with it last week. It's that time of year. I am always thankful when I don't get it.

 

Robin

 

Getting Noro on our last night is my idea of the worst nightmare - trying to travel while so incapacitated:eek:. Either one is hard enough, I can't imagine the combination.

 

My husband got seasick on the last night of our Panama Canal cruise as we were slamming our way up the west coast from Mexico into LA and we were trying to figure out where we might stay "holed up" in case we couldn't do the flight home that day as planned. Thankfully he was over it by 2 a.m. and we got home reasonable ok, just exhausted. m--

[sugarcharlie]

This weekend two of the Princess ships sailing out of Port Everglades had over 200 cases of noro occur. They both went through extensive sanitizing and their departure was delayed about 3-4 hours.

 

All you can do is be careful, but if someone has it and sticks their hand all over the serving utensils at the salad bar, it will spread.

 

I take a lot of precautions, and have been lucky as well because I never have caught it.

 

One thing about HAL, with fewer passengers there is a reduced risk, and especially with fewer very young kids aboard.

[SwissMyst]

......, but if someone has it and sticks their hand all over the serving utensils at the salad bar, it will spread.

........

 

 

Yes, but you still have to put your own contaminated hand into your own eyes, nose and/or mouth to get the bug into you. Watching more what you do with your own hands and less worry about what others have done with theirs, is the better risk avoidance equation.

[Robin7]

Getting Noro on our last night is my idea of the worst nightmare - trying to travel while so incapacitated:eek:. Either one is hard enough, I can't imagine the combination.

 

My husband got seasick on the last night of our Panama Canal cruise as we were slamming our way up the west coast from Mexico into LA and we were trying to figure out where we might stay "holed up" in case we couldn't do the flight home that day as planned. Thankfully he was over it by 2 a.m. and we got home reasonable ok, just exhausted. m--

 

I am sorry you had to deal with that, but this is the exact reason I think most Norovirus on cruise ships originates on airplanes. He was probably still contagious when he was traveling. I wish there was some way of tracking airplane viruses!

 

We were on the Volendam in New Zealand and Australia and in Code Red for 12 of our 14-day cruise. The Captain said the virus originated with 26 passengers on a Qantas flight to New Zealand from Los Angeles.

 

It seriously shouldn't be called "the cruise ship virus". It should be the 'airline virus' or the 'elementary school virus.'

 

Robin

[SwissMyst]

I am sorry you had to deal with that, but this is the exact reason I think most Norovirus on cruise ships originates on airplanes. He was probably still contagious when he was traveling. I wish there was some way of tracking airplane viruses!

 

We were on the Volendam in New Zealand and Australia and in Code Red for 12 of our 14-day cruise. The Captain said the virus originated with 26 passengers on a Qantas flight to New Zealand from Los Angeles.

 

It seriously shouldn't be called "the cruise ship virus". It should be the 'airline virus' or the 'elementary school virus.'

 

Robin

 

You are right: school children are the biggest source of disease transmission for the common cold. Probably not a good idea to visit grandchildren a week or so before leaving on a trip.

 

Wall Street Journal recently had an article about airplanes and disease transmission: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204058404577108420985863872.html

[Watson's aunt]

yeah they clean the ship it does not good if one or more of the crew is sick

[Watson's aunt]

hi

 

has anyone done a study when the noro virius is most active? I know a lot is blame on kids in schools. but just wondering if its the seasons. Do many people get it in summer months where they take a ship out of service to clean it