Princess Cruise Terminated due to Noro

[Martini Mom]

Just curious - where are you from ? With the mention of cheap/free vaccines, I am guessing a fellow Canadian ?

 

I live in CA and you can find free flu vaccines all over the place. In addition, our insurance has called and emailed us relentlessly to go in to get ours for free. We always decline, but that's another thread.;)

[maritaysa]

Oh this is not good. We will be cruising with our will be 13 month old DD. Any tips on how to keep her healthy on a cruise? I would hate for her to catch anything. She's currently at the age where she puts everything in her mouth.

[janabm81]

It's all over the place right now!

We even had a whole school district close for 3 days in order to clean because they had more than 10% of the kids and teachers out because of what they called a "stomach bug".

Of course when it relates to a land destination (ie. school/office building/hotel) they never call it norovirus but I knew what it was the moment they reported it on the news.

[bplazo]

My daughter is on the VOS and they were delayed boarding Saturday because of an outbreak of Noro and so I have been worrying all week about her. I sure feel sorry for anyone affected by this. It has to be sad to do all that planning and then get sick on vacation.

[cruisnfool]

Couple of other things to remember is try to just use your restroom in your room.....only you should be using that one.....also avoid the buffet and if you must go to the buffet sanitize your hands on arrival but also after you have gone through the buffet and touched all the handles everyone just touched.

[Cruzface]

I think they need bathroom police to make people wash their hands!

 

Absolutely!!!

[donoiv]

Well I guess I am just thinking that Norovirus is like a flu?? probably wrong..sorry.. but as I said we dont have a lot of people sick with the same thing- not just on a ship-we dont hear about whole schools or towns or families of 16 unless it is a flu virus..hence the encouraging of getting flu shots..

there was another thread about the norovirus that talked about whole areas of a state being affected..that is what I meant..

 

Do you live on a deserted island? :) (JOKE!)

 

As the father of a 6 year old, it's hard to believe that you don't get these types of things... you may just not hear about it. If a kid gets sick at school, it's inevitable that it goes around the school... if people are sick at work, others tend to catch it.

 

Cruise ships are relatively small spaces... wash yor hands as many times as you want... once it's there... it's everywhere. I saw a special a while back where one person had "blue-light" dust sprinkled on their hand... and then were sent into a party... within a hour, the blue-light proved that it was EvErYWhEre!

[spleenstomper]

Well, this particular stomach virus was the worst one BY FAR for the last decade that I or anyone I know has experienced.

 

By the time my third child got it, I called my sister (we were at a different house trying to avoid it!! But they did come over to say hi for 30 mins AFTER they were over it-- but obviously still contagious) and told her that I was "scared" because I knew I was next. Her reply: you should be.

 

The only one worse was a Stomach virus my friend's FIL brought back from Africa about 12 years ago that put a few people I know in the hospital for dehydration!

 

This one is particularly nasty and violent. I hope this is different than what is on the ship!!

[Corntea]

We also had a Christmas "Sharing" incident a few years ago. My brother flew in from Hawaii, and somewhere in some airport or something his little 2 year old picked up a "bug". When my brother and his wife came down with it, they were too embarrassed to tell anyone, so they stayed in the bedroom while the other 35 family members, mingled, ate and played games for several hours and then went home. Within two days, 32 out of 38 had been infected. They were only exposed to my brother for a matter of 20 minutes. We affectionately refer to that event as the "Christmas We All Had the Plague". Ugh! Hard to avaoid once it's begun.

[ccruisequeen]

2 Princess & one R C ship were affected this weekend.

[trvlqueen]

How awful - both for the people who got sick and those who didn't.

[halos]

I dont know if it was Norovirus, but my sister brought some virulent, horrific stomach virus to the family over Christmas, and within 9 days, 16 members of the family had it. We were all compulsively washing our hands, too, as we saw each member go down one at a time.

 

It was NASTY!

 

Poor cruise ship passengers.... especially the ones who didn't get sick and still lost out on their cruise!

 

Some strains are that powerful...and some people are prone to get sick with it (like me)

I have never had the cold type of flu (congestion, extreme body aches and fever) in fact, I can count on one hand how many times I have even had a fever in my lifetime (and I am 49)

But, the stomch flu....I have had that so many times it isn't even funny and my hands are washed to the point of my skin cracking.

 

You can wash your hands and 30 seconds later pick this germ up. I think hand washing combined with trying to remember to keep your hands away from your face is vital but nothing is a guarantee.

[jaxfl]

My DD was home sick one day last week with the sickie bug - I had it this weekend, then DH! Better now than next week though!! :p

 

Better now than next week though!! NOT TRUE :eek:

 

It can take more than a week to become non-contagious. Please do not put others at risk if there is an sign of it before you cruise.

[halos]

Better now than next week though!! NOT TRUE :eek:

 

It can take more than a week to become non-contagious. Please do not put others at risk if there is an sign of it before you cruise.

 

let me get this straight.

Say you have a cruise starting on feb 18th...and today, you have that 24 hour stomach thing.

Are you going to say..."Oh. I may still be contagious, so I am going to bail on my cruise vacation because I am so honorable and don't weant to infect anyone."

?????????????????????????????????????????

 

Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

[jaxfl]

let me get this straight.

Say you have a cruise starting on feb 18th...and today, you have that 24 hour stomach thing.

Are you going to say..."Oh. I may still be contagious, so I am going to bail on my cruise vacation because I am so honorable and don't weant to infect anyone."

?????????????????????????????????????????

 

Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

 

YES! So you are saying that knowing you can cause sickness and possible death because you are contagious ...you HALOS, yes you, are willing to infect others (maybe 1000's) just so you can have a good time?

Thanks.:eek:

[halos]

YES! So you are saying that knowing you can cause sickness and possible death because you are contagious ...you HALOS, yes you, are willing to infect others (maybe 1000's) just so you can have a good time?

Thanks.:eek:

 

if I have noro today and my cruise starts next weekend...absolutely.

I promise not to spit on the railings :rolleyes:

 

You are extremely dramatic....

 

The questionaires they used to have you fill out prior to boarding asked if you had stomch issues in the past 48 hours. I would be able to answer that honestly AND board the ship.

[Redsfan]

my wife runs a Home Day Care and 2 weeks ago after 1 kid brought a stomach flu to the house it ran through all of us, and the other kids. Parents need to keep kids home when ill, and keep themselves out of work!

 

There was a horrible stomach running a mock here, and as I read all over the place. The unusually mild winter is not good for fighting germs and it has spread.

 

And to boot, my 4 year old daughters school has reported cases of Fifth Disease now....

[katiepe]

See.. now we are jumping from Noro to stomach flu/virus and back again.

Regardless of what you want to call it..

I am and have always been a conscientious hand washer. I carry a little bottle of Sanitizer in my purse and/or pocket everywhere especially during "flu" season and always when travelling.

I have a large bottle sitting on my desk for clients to use and I sanitize our office counters, door knobs, debit machine and anything else I can reach! with Clorox wipes.

I can only ask that everyone does the same!

[sonicbuffalo]

The CDC says hand sanitizer does NOT help. You need to scrub your hands with soap and water. The hand sanitizer helps against bacteria, but not a virus.

[bplazo]

let me get this straight.

Say you have a cruise starting on feb 18th...and today, you have that 24 hour stomach thing.

Are you going to say..."Oh. I may still be contagious, so I am going to bail on my cruise vacation because I am so honorable and don't weant to infect anyone."

?????????????????????????????????????????

 

Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

 

I would also go and so would 99% of everyone else.

[halos]

See.. now we are jumping from Noro to stomach flu/virus and back again.

They are one and the same

 

I would also go and so would 99% of everyone else.

 

 

 

I think 99% is a low estimate ;)

NOBODY is going to bail on a cruise because they were sick the WEEK before.

[Cruzin2paradise09]

People, relaxxxxxxx.....

 

It's all about using common sense (ok, I know there are some out there who have none!). First WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER! Second, don't suck your thumb or fingers! And Third, if you are traveling with children, pay attention to them and make sure they are washing their hands and not touching things they shouldn't.

 

For those thinking that if someone is sick a week or better before a cruise and they shouldn't cruise ... c'mon - that's a paranoia that may need some counseling! Typically, the incubation period when a virus is present is BEFORE you get sick - not AFTER. If you are that freaked out and paranoid, maybe you should go to your family doctor and have them explain all of this to you.

 

Also, not everyone bringing the sickness onto cruise ships are doing so purposely ... someone could pick it up in the airport, airplane, train, wherever and unknowingly bringing it on the ship.

 

Be mindful of your own hygeine and do what you know is right. You cannot police anyone else!!!

[kelkel2]

If we could just get everyone to wash their hands. That's all it would take....

 

It only takes one person to not wash their hands on a cruise and they can get tons of other people sick. Think about it. What do you touch in a day? You wake up in the morning, go to the bathroom and then you don't wash your hands:eek:. You touch: bathroom door, cabin door, breakfast buffet utensils, elevator buttons, hand rails in the stairs, chairs, tables, doors etc. Think of all of the people who touch things right after you do. You take an elevator and someone else touches the same button 30 seconds later. This is how people are getting sick. It only takes 1 or 2 people...

[mn311601]

Regular acohol based sanitizers do not help. Alcohol based hand sanitizers do not kill norovirus, no matter what the concentration. The active ingredient that you must have to kill noro is Benzalkonium Chloride. This can be found in household cleaning items such as Lysol, etc. They can also be found in Wet Ones travel hand wipes, and Germ X active foaming hand sanitizer.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Wet-Ones-Antib.../dp/B000P9EN0O

 

http://www.germx.com/product_detail.aspx?id=38

 

Notice that these all have active ingredients of at least .13% Benzalkonium Chloride.

 

The most effective method would be if everyone just washed their hands after using the bathroom, of course. Noro is not airborne, if everyone washed their hands even if they were infected transmission would go drastically down.

[jaxfl]

People, relaxxxxxxx.....

 

For those thinking that if someone is sick a week or better before a cruise and they shouldn't cruise ... c'mon - that's a paranoia that may need some counseling! Typically, the incubation period when a virus is present is BEFORE you get sick - not AFTER.

 

Typically, the incubation period when a virus is present is BEFORE you get sick - not AFTER----------- WRONG.

 

From the CDC Website:

People with norovirus illness are contagious from the moment they begin feeling sick until at "least 3 days after they recover". But, some people "may be contagious for even longer".